Author: Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Week 35- Back To

Upcoming Races-

SLO Ultra 5 Mile
Rock n Roll San Jose 13.1???
Rock N Roll Las Vegas 5K
Rock N Roll Las Vegas 13.1!!!!!

I ran 4 days this week! And bought a bed! I don’t know which is more exciting.

Ok, truth, my miles were still super low but 2 of those 4 days were still technically when I wasn’t “supposed” to be running. Combine that with our crazy heatwave and I was pretty stoked. Until I looked at the overall number. Then I felt a little bummed. Apparently I’d done my math wrong somewhere, I thought I’d run more. Boo.

Back to the bed. My freakin’ bed is breaking me. My back hurts, my arms hurt, my left hip hurts. Sleep is just no fun. To be fair- my left hip can often be fussy- I sleep on my left side. I went to another bed store to check out more options. Blech, less blech, yuck, too soft, wait. Wait a second- no left hip pain? Sold! It’s some sort of hybrid- memory foam and springs. I can’t even remember who makes it right now, I just want it but instead I have to wait for it to be shipped and then delivered. Boo.

Back to running, my miles were a bit of struggle this week. I feel like that break made me lose so much fitness. Well that and a lackluster July due to conversion. I’m also not using either inhaler right now because it can still have a reaction with the meds in the antibiotics. Never taking those again. So each run has been super slow and a lesson in breathing. But the doc gave me the all clear to run on Thursday as long as it’s slow and easy, so woo hoo!

Monday- 3.2 miles It was 100 degrees in home town so I ran in work town which temp wise was about 30 degrees cooler but a super dense marine layer moved in so I was a little worried about how my lungs were going to react. I kept it super slow and walked whenever I needed to. I might have run longer but a man popped out of the bushes in the eucalyptus grove and scared the crap out of me so I hightailed it back to my car. I think he was just waiting for a ride but it weird-ed me out.

Tuesday- Rest

Wednesday- 2.5 miles. Miserable miles. It was over 100 degrees after 6. My shorts kept riding up into non existence. My pack kept either trying to choke me or the bottle was smacking me in the back of the head. My breathing was nuts considering I was barely moving. Finally I decided I was doing more harm than good. Why I thought a 5 miler was a good idea with temps like that when I wasn’t even technically supposed to be running anyways? Who knows?

Thursday- 2.3 miles All clear! However it was 101. So in deference to the heat and the migraine I could feel coming, I just stuck to 2 laps of the lake path. Either way, it was still better than the day before.

Friday- Rest Migraine City, baby. Fun.

Saturday- 6.22 miles I planned for an 8 mile long run but when my alarm went off, I was a little too ill to run (stupid stomach), I managed to get out the door by 9 but with the temp predicted to hit 112, I knew it was going to get hot too fast. I signed up for the #RunforTexas virtual run to help raise funds for those affected by Harvey so I knew I was making myself finish a 10K. To make sure I took it easy, I ran 1 min, walked 1 min which actually put me around a 12 minute pace. Who knew? This was working out ok until 4.8 when my stomach forced me to stop for a bit. So I parked it on the sidewalk for a few minutes hoping it would calm down so I could continue. Funnily enough- there was a bright red Corvette for sale on the road side about 20 yards up from where I was sitting. It was getting a lot of attention from drivers passing by. I was trying not to stereotype but by the time the 4th car had stopped to check it out- #midlifecrisis anyone? I finally got up and ran on. I slowed a bit more, but finished the 10K. It was 98 when I finished. 8 miles wasn’t happening.

Sunday- Rest I thought about running but couldn’t get a handle on the weather. It was 100 again but we also had thunderstorm and lightning warnings. The humidity was intense and the sky looked weird. Rain is cool- lightning, not so much. The rain did come, the storm mostly hit southern county though.

14.2 miles for the week. Better than previous weeks but not what I had somehow convince myself I had done. Oops. Well, at least I’m not a rule breaker anymore.

How was your week?

Any funny run stories?

Rambling On 14

Howdy people!

I kind of fell of the grid there for a bit. I kept meaning to post all week but then just never followed through. I’ve had a very short attention span all week. Oops!

3 day weekend ahead!! Woo hoo!!!! Who has plans? I am going to try and avoid this crazy heat wave we’ve been hit with. I need to attempt a longish run somehow but Saturday is showing a high of 110. Yay.😒

I also need to go bed shopping. Partially Doc’s orders now too. Need to figure out what part of my tiredness is from my shitty bed and what is thyroid based. I was like great, can insurance help pay for it then? 😛 Plus bed shopping sucks. How do I know what feels good? It’s 5 minutes in a store- totally awkward. Bed stores should have sleep overs. You like this bed? Alright, come on in on Friday night- 8 to 8. Sleep a whole night on it. That will give you an idea of how the bed sleeps.

I love my Escape in all ways but 2. I miss 2 things about my Altima and the day I bought it just popped up on Timehop so I’m feeling nostalgic. The gas tank. That car had a 19 gallon tank and damn I miss that. I get the same gas mileage now but with a smaller tank I feel like I am in the gas station all the damn time. And hills- that car ate hills for breakfast. Whereas the Escape cries big crocodile tears. I live at around 1000 elevation and work at 50. Depending on which way I go to work I can get up to 2000 and down again. The Altima purred. Seriously, it was a source of pride that my tachometer was rarely above 1500 RPM’s. If someone was tailgating, I knew I’d lose them on the hills. This one? Not so much. I call it names when driving over the grade. It’s getting better though. I’m a firm believer that you can train a car. I said that to mother once and she said I was a nuts. 😛

And the news just gave a heat warning again. Oh joy. They even canceled all the high school sporting events due to “excessive heat”. Home town may break a record high. Yay.

What are you doing this weekend?

Week 34- Kind Of

Upcoming Races-

SLO Ultra 5 Mile
Rock n Roll San Jose 13.1???
Rock N Roll Las Vegas 5K
Rock N Roll Las Vegas 13.1!!!!!

With less than 80 days to go to Vegas, I figured it was about time to add it up top. 😛

While this week was better than last week, it was still very lazy, a little too Slacker like even for me. I was still taking it easy after last week’s UTI and antibiotic fiasco. Truthfully, I have no idea how long I am supposed to take it easy. ” A while” is very unspecific.

Then, I’ve been blaming all my tiredness on either the conversion or the fact that my bed is crap and I’ve only been averaging 5ish hours of sleep a night. Found out last week there’s another possibility. Thanks to some blood work ordered by my neurologist, we now know my thyroid is in the crapper. Which is not cool as I am already on a high dose thyroid medication. The call your primary now call is not a lot of fun. The blood work trip was interesting- the tech couldn’t find a vein and the man in the room next to me almost passed out. I hate needles.

So what did I actually do?

Monday- 2.3 miles I headed for the lake path after work thinking that it was nice and flat and would be a good place to try and run. My body was not on board. I struggled for 2 laps of the lake before deciding that I was dong more harm than good and called it.

Tuesday/ Wednesday – Nothing– Called it rest. My bed is starting to make my body hurt in the oddest damn ways though. Blood work on Wednesday.

Thursday- 3 miles Headed for the river path and planned to go soooo easy. Walked the first 14 minutes and then ran 1 minute, walked 1 minute, repeat. Even on the downhills. It felt so much better than Monday. Even though my legs were very confused on the downhill walking portions. 😛

Friday- Rest I had a little dizzy spell- 1 of 3 this week actually- yay hormones. So I treated myself to a very large burger at lunch. Didn’t feel guilty at all.

Saturday- Rest Tried to catch up on my sleep. Dinner the night before hadn’t agreed with me so I decided to just run errands and avoid the heat. I could do a longer run on Sunday. I went bed shopping. So many options! I have no idea what to choose and man are they expensive.

Sunday- 3.3 miles Except I hit snooze a few too many times. Then it was 103. Then 105. I was losing all motivation to run. I was tweeting about. I knew that if I waited until it cooled off I would not run. But it was too hot to run. Oh wait, I have a gym membership I never use. Seriously. Haven’t been since last November. I Hate the treadmill. But I changed and drove myself across town. I walked the entire first mile just to be sure I was going to be in massive pain like my last treadmill run. No pain, so I started running. It wasn’t horrible! Only had time to squeeze in a few miles before Sunday dinner since I procrastinated so long but it’s better than nothing!

8.6 miles for the week. Twice last week so at least they are going up. Which is good because there is a list of races up there! Here’s hoping I can get an actual long run in this week.

How was your week?

Any bed buying tips? Anyone have a memory foam bed?

Kick the Dust Up

Disclaimer: I received a pair of Horizon RTT from Under Armour to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!”

Surprisingly enough, dirt and trails are a few of a my favorite things. I say surprisingly because in some ways I am a huge germophobe and if I’m not in running gear, odds are high that I’m in a dress and heels. Get me on a trail though and I turn into a 5 year old and run free. Sometimes a little too free but that’s another story.

When I had the chance to try the Horizon RTT’s from Under Armour, I almost jumped for joy. My current trail shoes were trashed and it had been way too long since I had run recklessly down a mountain. I needed it. Then they arrived and they were so pretty. But hopefully they wouldn’t stay that way for very long, I wanted to get them good and dirty.

Ok, let’s cover the technical details first-

Ok, first impressions.

This is a serious shoe. So much sturdier than my previous trail shoes. How was that going to feel on my feet? Ok, where’s the dirt? 😀 My first run in them was a couple laps around the lake. Not bad, nice traction, good grippy feel, I never felt like I was going to skid out in the loose dirt.

Next adventure- 3 Bridges Preserve, a new trail with a little more zig-zag up than I was expecting. 😛 The shoes felt good, kept me sure footed on the path and helped me explore a little more of what run town has to offer.

Other adventure- An unexpected illness turned a planned Bishop’s Peak hike/run into a calmer ocean trail adventure where I took the shoes over paved paths, hard packed sand, sandy dunes, boardwalk, gravel and roads. No problems at all. And something else I noticed that day? This hike was done with my mother and she had just purchased a new pair of trail shoes that day. Her shoes and socks were full of dune sand when she took them off but mine weren’t!

Overall, I wore the shoes for about 20+ miles of mixed routes and surfaces since I received them. Full disclosure, that unplanned sickness kept me from testing them in my favorite way. My favorite part of trail running is careening wildly down a mountain side in a barely controlled fashion. Yes, people usually look at me like I am crazy but I love it. I need a trail shoe that grips tight so I can run free. Being sidelined kept me from 2 planned mountains. Boo. So as soon as I can run crazily down a mountain, I’ll be back with an add on to this review. And probably a big smile on my face. 😛

That said, I do have some thoughts on the shoe. While the outsole is great for traction, I feel like it is very stiff on your foot. Now maybe I have just become used to a more cushioned shoe lately thanks to my everyday running shoes. I have a tendency for taking the wrong turn on trails and turning a 5 mile run into 9 or 10 and I think more cushion in the sole would be nice. This can also probably be corrected with a good pair of inserts, I’ve just never had any luck with those. We shall see. However I plan on putting in many more miles in these in the months to come. 😀

Want to hear more? Check out these thoughts by other Bibrave Pros-

Tedrick– Lindsey– Jessica– Casey

How do you run on trails?

Week 33- Sidelined

If there is an upside to not running, it’s the fewer loads of laundry you have to do on the weekend.

Gotta find the shiny side, right? Or try to. 😛

So yeah, thanks to the UTI from hell and me not checking about the medication first, last week was super Slacker like. But maybe I needed it? I didn’t really have time to worry about my mysterious groin pain issue as the medication issue forced me to rest anyways.

Work wise, things are a little more under control after this week. I finally managed to get my inbox to 50 ish. Which is still not great but it’s way better than it was. I treat my inbox like a to-do list so the triple digits were starting to get to me. Now if I could just get my piles of paper under control. 😛

So let’s get to the very abbreviated work out week-

Monday- 1.3 miles I felt crap all day but I was trying to ignore it. I’d been living in denial for quite some time. I headed for the lake path to get in some miles but it only took one loop to admit defeat. I had a problem and I likely needed medicine. Grrr.

Tuesday- Rest Made it to the doctor and they confirmed my suspicions and my denial. Ha! Never been so thankful for medicine…until I realized the side effects.

Wednesday- More rest.

Thursday- 3 mile walk I had an appointment with my neurologist so I was home a little earlier than normal. I figured I would try a walk. Walking is not running. I listened to a podcast to try not being so bored but I so wanted to be running.

Friday- Rest Holy crap, I was so sore. What gives- it was only a walk!! And I know I have a hip imbalance but for the most part I can ignore it during and after running. After a little walk, I felt like I was walking crooked!

Saturday/Sunday- Rest I really did think about a trying for a long walk but in the end I just didn’t. I napped a lot which seems to be my MO these days. I have to get a new bed. I just keep waking up in pain and feeling more tired than I did before. I just keep hoping to make it Labor day and hoping that there will good sales. I didn’t exactly plan for this purchase. Grrr.

4.3 miles for the week. Yes, I’m counting those walking miles, they freakin’ hurt me. 😛

Now as for this week, the medication has been completed but the effects linger so I think I am going to do some walking/jogging intervals. Fingers crossed!

How was your week?

Any good running?