Category: Run!

2016 Firehouse 5K Recap

I love this race but I knew going in I was unprepared. I don’t think I’ve ever been prepared for this race. Even know what is coming doesn’t help. I thought I was last year but it ended up being slower than the previous 2 years. Oops. The last few months I have been more focused on getting in the long runs than I have speed work. I’ve done 1 speed workout this year, 1. Guess it’s a good thing this is not a PR possible race for me.

Packet pick up was a breeze. The town is on my way home so it was easy to stop by the day before and pick it up. New this year- no bibs just a shirt. Our county has odd rules about what makes a race versus a fun run and that can affect the permits. I was fine with not having a bib as they never really mattered in this race. The race is gun timed not chip timed and times are recorded via post card handed to you as you cross the finish line. The race is almost free ($25!) and the money raised by the firehouse goes to local charities.

Race morning dawned early and dreary. Cloudy but no rain, I’ll take it! Since the race is short and close, my dad usually comes too so we all headed out early. My legs were still feeling the cramps from Thursday so I though about running a short warm up but I was afraid it would hurt. The sun started to come out as we all lined up. After getting stuck in the back last year, I had learned my lesson and moved up to the front. After a few announcements from the race director, we were off!

Mile 1-

The race starts with 1/2 mile on neighborhood streets before we hit the trail. My legs were feeling pretty good actually and my lungs were happy which surprised me as I ran an 8:30 pace for that portion. Then we hit the trail, passed the one water station, and started climbing. The trail is single track and switch backs up the hill for a 1/4 mile. I ran 2, then walked 2 and repeated until we were out of that section. I passed some people and some passed me. My lungs were on fire. I ran without music and all I could hear was my breathing. It sounded more like panting. I also realized I was overdressed and lost the top layer. Then I just kept trucking. 11:22

Mile 2-

Just keep climbing, just keep moving. I passed a few people but then got stuck behind some people walking. I could have tried to pass but I honestly didn’t think I had enough in me to pass and then maintain. I wasn’t going to be one of those people who surges around and then comes to a stop. I stayed behind the pack until we hit the teardrop. The tear drop is a tiny out and back we run at the top. Except it’s not the top. There’s one more climb and it’s steep and short. From mile .6-1.5, we gained 500+ feet. I happened to see my lap pace at the top of the mountain and it said 18:something. What?!

Time for my favorite part- the downhill. I seriously throw myself down the mountain. Which is what trashes my quads but I don’t care. I did keep it a little calmer as there is a marathon looming in a few months though. ☺ I only skidded out twice. However the damage was done, I maybe should have passed earlier. 12:25

Mile 3-

More downhill- woo hoo!! At this point I was hauling but I knew there was one last hill lurking. I took a walk break on the hill but overall maintained until the last downhill where I tried to open it up. Unfortunately I was hung up behind some people and it took a bit until the trail was wide enough for them to get over so the person in front of me and I could pass. Then it was out of the park, back on the streets and trying to finish strong. I won’t lie, I was tired. The finish line seemed so far away. 9:45

Finish- 34:23

I felt like I was crawling to the finish but my watch claims I was running an 8:20. I crossed the line and my legs were shaking. I was smiling but I was whipped. I noticed that my index card said 52- so I was about 15 people further up in the field than I was last year. I put my name on the card and checked my watch as I left the chute. Well crap, I was slower than last year by almost 30 seconds. Yay for a course worst!! I am not mad, a little bummed but I love this race and just running it was awesome. I know a few places I could have shaved some time but it wouldn’t have changed how I felt about this race. I will be back for more pain next year. ☺

And major shout out to this woman-

Meet Peggy. She ran the race in full turn out gear. That would be bad ass at any race but this was a mountain! She does it to raise money to fight cancer. 4 days later and I am still sore. How does she feel?!

See you gain next year, Firehouse. Maybe I will be fully prepared. 😛

Week 15 Training Recap

Upcoming races– Firehouse 5K (this week!!)
SLO Marathon 13.1

Focus– Take it easy and bump it up to 4 days of running

Maybe it was something in the air or the water but this week kicked my trash. I haven’t been sleeping well and that hasn’t helped matters any. I was so tired most days I ordered a coffee and a soda most mornings. Not the best, I know. Towards the end of the week, I made a choice about my stomach meds and that threw some things out of whack as well. I was also feeling very hermit like this week and I ended up bailing on all my public involved plans. #horribleslacker

Running was rough but I hit the days I set out to. Last week was the week of the my first 16 miler attempt and this was the week where I stepped it up to 4 days a week. In retrospect, I should have scheduled those 4 days better.

Monday- 3.5 miles I ran on a Monday! Say what?! I was supposed to have plans later in the week, so I decided to run on Monday. I also ran in some new shorts that I had picked up over the weekend. I have to get over my sudden phobia of running in shorts in public somehow right? Even if it means buying a bigger size. 😭 The run was average if anything. I wasn’t sore after the 16 miler but my legs felt tired. I headed to the lake path for a few easy laps. I kept the pace slow and easy and just tried to enjoy running. However I had shoe issues. I started out in my Launch’s thinking the extra cushion would be a good thing right? My calves tightened up so badly, I changed my shoes 2 laps into the run. Luckily I had my Nike’s in the car as well. I made sure to stretch really well after my run.

Tuesday- Rest This was a rough day at work and a big part of me wanted to run it out. However I was trying to rest my legs after the previous days issues. It was also the lovely shattered make up morning.

Wednesday- Rest– I wanted to run after work, I had everything packed. I had a meeting in SLO in the morning. Part way through the meeting my head started to hurt. By the time I got back to work, I had a full on migraine. I still told myself I was running after work. Around 4:30, I realized that just wasn’t going to happen. I wanted pizza, then comfy clothes and a dark room and an ice pack. So I did just that.

Thursday- 4.5 miles– Ouch, ouch, ouch, damn it. Another run in the Launch’s and a ouch filled 4.5 miles. I probably should have called it sooner but I was stubborn. I kept stopping and stretching out my calves. No luck. I was thisclose to taking my shoes off and finishing the run barefoot. But instead, I went back to my car, then home to stretch. It was probably payback for not going to the work social thing that I was supposed to that evening.

I don’t know if it was the shoes or what but I woke up in the middle of the night with the worst cramp in my left leg. I damn near screamed. It was like a charlie horse all over my calf. I felt like I had barely dozed off when it happened again- in the right leg. WTF?!

Friday- Rest– Ha! Standing in the morning and walking around was real fun. My upper calves were so painful and tight from the cramps. Compression socks can be had to conceal at work but thankfully it was a casual Friday. And I pushed it to the limit when I wore my old dark blue Pureflow’s with my jeans. I meant to change them, I really did but never did. So bad.

Saturday- Firehouse 5K, 3.75 walk– First 5K of the year! It was rough, no lies, recap will be up on Wednesday. I tried to get ahead of the soreness I knew was coming by heading out for a walk later that day. I could tell that I was getting super stiff already. I was really hoping the walk would make things better. I also missed another social situation- this one was family related. #horribleslacker

Sunday- 7.5 miles– Oh my quad. Serious ouch! Full disclosure- I have never run the day after Firehouse. I usually take 2-3 days off, sometimes 4, I’m that sore. I ventured out Sunday morning for a long run. I was hoping for 10 miles but I knew that was unlikely. My quads were so tight, my feet hurt and my knees were sore. Throw in 90% plus humidity and this run was Rough. I slogged my way through 7.5 miles. I welcomed any break so when some cyclists needed directions, I was more than happy to. ☺ 7.5 is better than none right?

All in all, it wasn’t a bad week. The runs weren’t the best but I got them done. The mileage was a little lower than I would have liked but I knew that was likely with Firehouse in the mix. It’s suddenly dawned on me that SLO is only 3 weeks away. How did that happen? I feel unprepared, I’m not ready! I need more time. So this week, I am just going to keep my head down and just keep running. Hopefully the soreness will ease up and I can have a decent week of running. And foam rolling, I really need to do that more. 😛

How was your week?

Ever get horrible cramps in the middle of the night?

Have you ever had a week where you just wanted to be a hermit?

Friday, Finally

Friday– oh you are so pretty.

It’s been a coffee and soda kind of week. This week has me like-

Tuesday for example- You know it’s going to be a rough day when you drop your brand new foundation bottle on the floor. The glass bottle. On a tile floor. I felt like I watched it in slow motion as it shattered. Yeah, that was fun.

Considering how stressed and ~~hormonal~~ crappy I’ve felt this week, I haven’t gone completely crazy with the food. But it’s cookie Friday and it’s the new bakery. I can’t decide if that is going to an uh-oh or a good thing.

Running has only been so so this week but I got it done. My right ankle is a little achy. Not cool. I think another pair of shoes and I need to break up. This is getting ridiculous. Odd aches aside, I’ve had some great scenery to enjoy.⬆️

I have a 5K on Saturday. I haven’t run a race in 2 months. I think I forgot how. I haven’t raced a 5k since September. I’m gonna hurt. Did I mention it’s up a mountain? And the forecast calls for rain? Rain on the mountain. Yay. Now I am glad it’s only 3 miles. But, in all honesty I love this race. This will be my 4th time running it. I need to remind myself of that when I can’t walk on Sunday. Or Monday. Maybe Tuesday.

How was your week?

Ever had the day where you should have just stayed in bed?

Bets on my ability to not eat all the cookies?

Wednesday Words

I had to.

Thank Kate from Did that Just Happen for the inspiration. I had to play with it after that. 😛 I would like a better shoe graphic but my feet will work for now.😛

Happy Wednesday!!!

Week 14 Training Recap

Upcoming races– Firehouse 5K
SLO Marathon 13.1

Focus this week– Keep Calm and Run Long

This week has been in the back of my mind for a month now. Looming and lurking all at the same time. The first real test of my crazy decision to run a marathon. The first big effort for this Slacker. Throw in some stress in my personal life and some work stress and the week had the potential to go south real fast.

Monday- Rest Attack of the crazy wind! Well, spring had been here. The temps dropped and the wind came in. How those palm trees bent so far without snapping, I have no idea.

Tuesday- Rest I had every intention of running after work, I really did. My mom started texting and wanted to move pizza night up. I said I wanted to run. Her response was that it was still crazy windy everywhere. There was truth to that as we had lost part of a tree at work but I still wanted to run. Then she dropped the kryptonite- my dad would come with us if went on Tuesday instead. All right, she won.

Wednesday- 3.81 miles Baby speed work!!! I headed to the lake path for some intervals. After a 15 minute warmup I did intervals of 1:30 at 5K pace and then 1:30 recovery. Baby intervals but you have to start somewhere right? I did 6 intervals- 8:29, 8:44, 8:34, 8:19, 8:31, 8:35 pace. Which is about 30 seconds under my 5K pace but hey they were fairly consistent right? I felt pretty good and wanted to do more but knew I had big plans for the weekend and was trying to be smart.

Thursday- 5.69 miles I met up with NikeC after work for a few miles. Ouchie McOucherson. This run hurt. I am not sure if it was because I had run the day before or because I was once again wearing shorts. It also could have been the Launch’s; I was wearing different socks than usual. Whatever it was, my shins hurt the entire run. Not enough to quit but enough to be concerned. Other than that, it was a great run. The company and conversation were great and NikeC ran us up a street I had forgotten about. It was the course for a 10k we had run years ago. The race was so miserable for me, I tried to forget everything about it, it took me 2+ years to run another 10K. However, now that I remember the route, I have more ways to add mileage with out doing incessant loops.

Friday- Rest Can I say how much of a win it was that I only ate 1 cookie on Cookie Friday? Anyways, once off work I was home by 7:30 and prepping for Saturday. I was ready to go to bed by 10:30, which is early for me but I knew I had an early wake up call the next day.
So much for good intentions, I could not sleep. I was tossing and turning and felt like my heart was racing. Either the stress of the week caught up with me or the next days’ plan was really freaking me out. Either way, I got less than 4 hours of sleep.

Saturday- 16 MILES!! Holy crap, people, I followed through! I knew the likelihood of me completing this run on my own was small so weeks ago I called in reinforcements. I met up with Ashley and Heather bright and early Saturday morning. The sun was barely up!! Not that we could see it as it was a very gray morning. Heather was running 24 so she ran to where Ashley and I were and then we ran from SLO to the Avila pier and back. That sounds like a lot when I type it.

We kept a steady pace up for the first 9ish miles and I was feeling pretty good. I had to take a few walk breaks which I knew I would but I felt bad for slowing them down. The route ran through the Bob Jones Trail which I had always heard about but never really run. A mile of it was in the City to the Sea half but I was riding the misery train and hadn’t paid that much attention to it. It’s nice, paved and scenic and full of people enjoying it. We hit the bay around 8ish miles and I had to take a break. My right knee was twinging in an odd way. I told them to go ahead so I could stretch it out. Speeding up usually helps me work out the kinks so catching up to them worked perfectly. Once at the pier we turned around and headed back towards SLO.

My lungs started protesting around mile 11. Which wasn’t surprising given how heavy the marine layer was. I started to slow down. We played leapfrog for the last few miles. We would run together until I tired, then I would walk, they would pull ahead. Then I would either catch up or they would wait for me. I didn’t hurt until mile 14. Then my knees started aching and my right toes ached. Just keep running, just keep running. At this point we lost Heather, she had a much longer run back and the sun finally came out and the temp was rising. On a side note- she’s a rock star and ran 25 miles that morning!

Then my watch buzzed- 16 miles!!! I did it! And I didn’t hate myself! In fact, it kind of rocked. I have Ashley and Heather to thank for that, they were both awesome.

Funny thing- because we ran all the way to the pier, the mileage was a little off. When my watch hit 16, we were still 3 miles from the cars. I contemplated walking it, but instead we took an Uber. I’d never done that before! It was a morning of firsts.

Sunday- Rest After a much better nights’ sleep, I headed down to SLO for a little bit of shopping. I also cleared 10K steps for the day so let’s call it active rest. Stairs were the only times I noticed a little soreness from the run.

Weekly miles 25.5

Last week was a good week. I feel a little better going into future training. I know it’s going to be hard and going to kick my ass but this was the week I needed. I needed a litle reassurance to continue. I got it. Now I just need to keep running and training and taking it one week at a time. I need to work on fueling. I ran those 16 miles on an empty stomach and only ate 1/2 a package of fruit snacks along the way. I felt fine but I know that won’t always be true. My hydration was good- I had Gatorade and Skratch.

Low-carb- speaking of food, last week was kind of an odd week. I did pretty well on most days but really bad on others. It was kind of an emotional eating week but I didn’t give in anywhere near as much as I could have. I passed on In n Out for crying out loud! I am concerned that this week will be more of the same but we will see.

How was your week?

What about weather? What is it like in your neck of the woods?

Do you fuel for long runs?