Category: Reward

Then I ended up in the natural history museum…

Wednesday was a late day at work, so that turned into another rest day. Oh well, I just considered it a way to distance myself from Monday’s frustration. I have class on Thursdays but there are two hours in between school and work that I need to fill. This week I decided to try running.

So I have worked in this town for 8 almost 9 months, but run there once, and it was race on the beach so it doesn’t count. I mapped out a route that I was going to take and then had to change it because everyone I work with said I would be hit by a car on that particular road. Awww, so confidence inspiring. So they helped me make another route. Since this was the first time running before class, I figured 3.5 miles was a good goal. It would give me a good run and some time to stretch out before class and maybe study a little.

I set off with a goal of turning around 2 streets past a major street in town. According to Google maps that is. So I pass the main street at about 1 mile, thinking ok a little a farther than I turn around. By then I was in the state park. The first street is right inside the state park, so I knew I was still on track, so I ran on. The park had towering eucalyptus trees lining the ocean on one side and a golf course on the other so I was enjoying the view. It was heavily overcast but it was still pretty. I was running and looking for the road on the left when suddenly was I was in the natural history museum. Umm what? That was the 2 mile mark, not 1.25. How did I miss the street? Pulled my phone out and checked the GPS, yep, 1.95 miles. Crap! So I turned around and starting running back.

The route to the museum had been all downhill. So now I was on a time crunch, farther away from my car than planned with just shy of 2 miles uphill to go. Passed a dirt track on the way back that was the service trail for golf courts, was that what Google maps showed as a street? That is not a street!!!

I pushed all the way back, only having to take a walk break once up the worst hill. Got back to my car and was at 3.95 miles, figured what the heck, I am already late, I might as well hit 4 exactly and went around the block another time. 🙂 So Thursday’s easy run turned into a tempo by necessity. It felt good though. I think I like running in overcast chilled weather. I live in the wrong town, hehe.

Which brings us to Sunday’s long run. I set out with a plan for 8.5 miles. I planned on running to the track. Same route as my previous long run with an additional loop, so I only would have to do 3 miles on the track. Turns out the loop only added .5 mile not a full one. So that meant 3.5 miles on the track. I started out before 9 and it was already hot. It gets hot here and I know that, but it’s a dry heat, I can handle that. However these last three days haven’t been a dry heat, it has been so muggy. Yuck! 😦

I woke up tired Sunday morning but knew I had to get going. I finished all 8.5 miles with another .5 mile cooldown, but they were some slow, hot, tired miles. It was so steamy; I had a salt problem for the first time ever, or lack of. I was sweating salt. I had water and Gatorade, too. That has never happened to me before, hopefully it doesn’t again. Maybe I need to try something else. If the weather stays like this I may run my next long run in the gym on a treadmill. I don’t think I can do 10 miles in that humidity. But that’s 2 weeks from now, so the weather should break by then. Fingers crossed.

On the upside, I spent Saturday car shopping and managed to get rid of the clunker!!! Woo hoo!!!!!! Moving on from gas guzzling crap to (hopefully) sleek, heavy mileage friendly. My SUV sure looked pretty but it stranded me the day after I bought it, made it 3 years but commuting 35 miles one way 2x a day was killing me. I am so looking forward to the drive this week!!!!

Now onto to a relaxing Monday off! With some cross training stationary bike later.

Hope everyone had an amazing weekend!

Frustration leads to…

After the great race on Saturday morning and the festivities later that night, I made Sunday a very lazy, slacker day. Got to say, it was very nice. 🙂 Official chip time was also announced- 57:17, hell yeah!!!!

My left ankle was fighting back on Monday so I decided to take another rest day. I figured that since I had a split volleyball schedule, I could hopefully get in at least 25 minutes of running between matches. It wouldn’t be a lot but I figured it would be an easy jaunt that would test my ankle.

I have to say that I love the camaraderie of the running community. 🙂 The majority of runners I meet are good people and they are just as excited as you are when you do well at a race. I wish I could say that holds true in a women’s volleyball league. By the end of the first match I was so frustrated I was going to scream. So I lost the knee pads, changed my shoes and ran it out. Oh and I was wearing these socks-

Perhaps running when frustrated or angry is not best idea, at least not when the goal is to take it easy. I set the timer on the Nike+ app for 25 minutes and was off. My ankle protested for about half a mile and then it was quiet, woo hoo! Brought in my first mile under 9 minutes, oops. That’s not easy. Slowed down a little and kept going.

Turns out I didn’t know the area as well I thought, got a little turned around but worked it out. Towards the end of my run, I saw a crowd a people a block ahead but thought they were just bbq’ers. Nope! It was a drug bust or probation, didn’t get close enough to read the vests. Turned around when I figured out there were about 10 cops and 3 police cars milling about. So, yeah, that’s a new one. I ended up doing shy of 3 miles in 25 minutes. So maybe running cranky is a good thing. Who knows but I’ll take it!!! And I played the next volleyball match in much better mood:)

The good thing about my training plan is the flexibility, so this week, I am adjusting my two week day runs to Tuesday and Thursday. Starting today, I am on vacation until next week, so yea for morning runs!!! Today I did a little shopping in a nearby town and came back with some new running gear. Always exciting!

I also ate my post-race reward meal this afternoon. After most every race, I go to the same restaurant and get a burger. However after Saturday’s race, scheduling made that impossible so I postponed until today. Oh so yummy 🙂

So what about everyone else? Any post-race traditions?

The Slacker Way

So, yeah the 4^th of July planned run didn’t happen, the weatherman lied! Over 100 again, too hot even for the chair, couldn’t even be a Slacker the right way.

So a little bit about the Slacker way:

My goal is to run 3 times a week, cross train twice and have two rest days. In the beginning I stuck to the training plan really well. Then come January, I was offered a promotion in a different town and began commuting every day. The plan took a hit 😦 I managed to stick to the running 3 times a week but the cross training took the hardest hit. I had been riding a stationary bike twice a week as my cross training. It was helping my running; I felt that it helped with my breathing which in turn helped my pace. Then the slacker-ness set.

Over the past few months, my training has looked somewhat like this- Run Monday, Wednesday and one weekend day. I play in a volleyball league on Tuesdays so I was treating that as cross training (ha!). As for my runs, I would aim for one speed-work and one long run and the other would just fall in the middle. Shortest run would be around 3.5 and my long run around 5.5 when not training. My running has at least stayed on pace and I can see improvement in my times, so woo hoo for that!!!

This week after posting and reading what everyone else was posting, I just felt like more of a Slacker than usual. I ran on Tuesday and Wednesday plus volleyball on Tuesday but not following through with a run on the 4^th just made me sad, hehe. So Saturday afternoon in the middle of a migraine and the nausea that came with it, I was like what the heck, let’s hit the track.

I love the track, for me it’s faster than a treadmill (boring!) and it’s a good place to go when you are feeling a little crappy. So much easier it walk back to your car than 3 miles back to your house :). Plus, when I run the track my mother joins me to exercise as well. It’s perfect, she does her pace and I do mine. Also good to have someone there when you are feeling wobbly. So my goal was to out run my headache. I figured an easy 45 minute run would help, bring on those endorphins! Forgot that I have troubles with the Easy part when on the track, oops! But even though I pushed harder than I should have (not the best idea) I defeated the headache!!!

As a reward for the 4.5 miles, the weather cooperated enough to make the comfy chair comfy again, yeah!!!!

And on Sunday, I followed through and got back on the bike! 8 miles done, heck yeah!!!! Now, if I can just keep it up:)