Category: Run!

Training Week 12 Recap

Upcoming Races– SLO Marathon 13.1

Focus this week– Getting back on track after a sickly week.

After a less than stellar week 11 and being truthful, week 10, I was eager to get back on track. Coming clean about San Francisco also provided a good kick in the pants as well. Eagerness aside, I also knew that 2 crappy weeks didn’t mean I should go all crazy this week. So, that meant I needed a measured improvement. Umm, what does that mean?

We had a full crew at work last week for the first time in a long time. We actually had more people behind the counter than we had stools. I was actually looking forward to it, I need to sit less and what better chance?

Monday- 4 miles stationary bike– Had I realized it was going to be a short ride I would have stopped at 3.14 for PI day. But I did not. I planned on riding longer but then my mom texted me and asked if I wanted to go to Subway for dinner. For some reason, it sounded amazing so it didn’t take much to convince me.

Tuesday- 3.5 miles– I love Daylight Savings, I really do. I headed for the lake path after work. I missed it. This also means that speed work is about to make a reappearance in my life, just not today. I was taking the Launch’s for their second spin and was aiming for between 3-5 miles. My left calf was freakishly tight so it ended up being 3.5 miles. I kept a fairly easy pace but had to stop to stretch more than a few times. My back was also hurting and my stomach muscles were super sore. It’s sad how badly 2 days of standing kicked my ass.

Wednesday- Rest– Pizza night!! Also, I was still so damn sore, that I sat for most of the day. Luckily, Wednesday is a usual day off for one employee so M and I weren’t fighting for the chair. 🙂

Thursday- 4.34 miles– I finally figured out the best way to run easy- run with friends!! They say your easy pace should be a pace you can have a conversation at but it’s not like you can run and have a conversation with yourself, right? NikeC and I made plans to meet up for a run and we stuck to it! It was so great catching up!! Plus I was finally able to give her her baby shower gift! Only 4 months late.

Friday- Rest day– My boss was on vacation all week and while the week wasn’t crazy busy, there were some fires to put out. By Friday, I was feeling frazzled and needed a new fire extinguisher. Grrr. Plus my left knee started hurting towards the end of the day, pretty badly and I couldn’t figure it out. I had played catch with a 40lb box- it had started to fall so I caught it, then lost it and caught it again. Probably shouldn’t have done that.

Saturday- 9 mile long run– I am trying to switch my long runs to Saturday mornings but it’s been hit or miss the last few months. When I woke up and saw that there was heavy fog and my weather app said the humidity level was 98%, I was thisclose to saying F* it. My lungs maybe doing better but they would not appreciate that at all. They just might revolt. I had all weekend right? Then marathon training creeped into my thoughts. Other than its hills, San Francisco is known for fog. So after a few more moments of denial, I dragged myself out of my warm, cozy bed and went for my run.

I had originally hoped for 10 miles but I wasn’t sure I had enough time. The plan had been to run then meet my mom and S after tennis practice for lunch. So I was running from home across town. Which meant 7 stop lights and an unspecified amount of time spent standing still. 😛 Combine that with a slower pace due to the moisture in the air aggravating my lungs and I finished 9 miles.

Once again, my goal was to just run as easy and steady as possible. I knew I would need walk breaks and was fine with that. Overall I didn’t take as many as I thought I would. Other than the bridge miles, I kept a pretty steady 11:00 min pace, which is actually on the fast side of my current pace guidelines. The bridge mile saw a 9:41. Typical, I hate running the bridge. The mile following was also faster, coming in at 10:00. I have a serious issue running in the busy areas of town. I tend to speed up. I slowed down again by mile 6 and kept it steady until the end. I almost ate asphalt around mile 8 though. I was coming up on a stop light and was crossing through the dirt to punch the signal button. I didn’t notice the cover for the power lines and caught it with my left foot. I stumbled hard and almost went down. Luckily, flailing my arms about seemed to help me stay upright. Un-luckily, this is one of the 5 busiest intersections in town. Doh!! I recovered and finished my run. It might have been slower than my pride would like but it was where it should be right now. And it was done before lunch on a Saturday! I celebrated my getting a much needed haircut.

Sunday- 8.5 miles stationary bike– I still felt a little achy in my knee but other than that I felt pretty good. I decided to err on the side of caution though and leave my running mileage where it was at. Just shy of 17 miles was a significant improvement on the previous weeks 4.5.

Low-Carb– Ummm, oops. Monday through Thursday were great. From Friday on, not so much. And I feel puffy and gross after a few less than stellar eating days. I only have myself to blame, I should know better.

Overall, it was a pretty good week. I was feeling good about it until I realized that SLO is only 41 days away. 41 days?!?! How did that sneak up on me? I’m not ready!! Oddly, though my mileage is down from last year, my long runs have drastically improved so at least something is working. Finding the shiny, right? That said, it’s time to bring some speed work back into play. Oh crap, that sounds scary.

How was your week?

Anyone race over the weekend?

Ever almost fall in a public place?

Never say Never?

So, about that marathon thing. And how I said never.

This has been simmering for a while. A long while. January of 2015 saw my first (and only so far) 25K. 16 miles. While that is still 10 miles short of a marathon, I was out there for 5+ hours. That started me thinking. Yes, I was still 10 miles short but whatever marathon I chose wouldn’t have 3000+ ft in elevation gain or involve actual mountains. But a trail 25K was still a long way from a road marathon. The seed was planted.

Then last fall, in the middle of my running funk, I read Ultra Marathon Man by Dan Karnazes. That book will give you all sorts of crazy ideas. Plus he eats pizza while on crazy long runs- how awesome is that?! Now, a marathon was a crazy enough idea for me. I wasn’t going to running in Antarctica or any 200 mile solo runs. But even then it was still just a seedling. It was still a maybe someday, far away.

New Year’s saw me stating emphatically that this was going to be the year of no goals. After spending 2+ years chasing a sub 2 half and failing, I was burned out. Some health issues added to that as well but I was feeling fried. This was going to be the year to just enjoy running. That is still the plan. With a twist.

Running is a lot like shopping at Target... You intend to run only $30 5Ks and before you know it, you're registering for $175 marathons!!:

Back in January, in one long text message session with Ashley and Heather, we started talking about The San Francisco Marathon. Ashley loved the race and Heather and I had always thought about running it. So we made plans to all take a road trip and run one of the half marathons. San Francisco has 2- the first half and the second half. I joked that if I was going to San Francisco, I was running the Golden Gate Bridge. So we were running the 1st half. Cool, right?

Then a week or so later, they decided they wanted to run the full. Well crap. What do I do? I had 2 choices- run my first full marathon or deal with public transportation in a very large city all by myself for the first time in my life. Both were scary propositions.

I chose the marathon.

Never+say+NEVER+with+ anything++running+related...+ "Never+could+I+run+a+5k." ....+DID+IT!+ "Never+could+I+run+a+10k" ...+DID+IT! "Never+could+I+run+a+ Half-Marathon."+ ....DID+IT!+:

Here’s my thinking- it was already in the back of my mind, so why not San Francisco? I had 2 friends running it and it was a city I’ve been wanting to visit again for a long time. The potential for hills was a little intimidating but I’ve said repeatedly that I hate flat courses, right? Plus Golden Gate Bridge! And friends!

But I still wasn’t ready to commit. Remember back in January when I asked for Excel help? I was cobbling together a training plan. I affectionately call it the McHig plan. I took my customized McMillan plan from last year and worked it into a Hal Higdon Novice plan for marathon training. I started training for SF the first week of February. Surprise!

Before I would register though, I needed an escape plan. My first 16 miler falls in the beginning of April. I told myself if I completed it and hated myself or running after I would pay the change fee and drop to the half. If I pulled it off and felt ok, training would continue. Next step would be to complete a 20-22 miler in late June, early July. Same rules applied-I could drop at the race expo before the race. And lastly, if all hell breaks loose, there is a finish line at the halfway point. I could call it there and Uber myself to the finish to meet Ashley and Heather.

I had a training plan, friends to run it with and an escape plan -all I had to do was register. Except when I tried to register in February, the website refused to cooperate. It wouldn’t let me use my discount code- Ashley’s an ambassador!- and it kept throwing up an error message. I missed a price deadline because of this. Finally after a few weeks of Twitter conversations and emails back and forth with the staff of the SF Marathon, I was able to complete my registration. Holy crap, I registered for my first marathon!!

I wasn’t going to tell anyone until post SLO half but I wasn’t very successful. After some Twitter convos and IG posts, I decided to come clean. I had my first panic attack after that blog post– ha!! Shit just got real. People know now- I have to follow through! Also, now my crazy shoe buying lately seems a little more understandable.

Did I bite off more than I can chew? My plan is deliberately long, I know I will miss a few runs along the way.

Ever run San Francisco?

Words of advice?!!? Please!

Training Week 11 Recap

Upcoming Races– SLO Marathon 13.1

Focus– Breathing😛

Yeah so this was a lackluster week. Lot’s of sleeping and eating and watching whatever was on my DVR. Why does that always sound awesome until it’s actually happening? Boo. But here we go.

Monday- Rest Called in sick

Tuesday- Rest Made it to work, man that was exhausting. I did participate in another Twitter chat though.

Wednesday- Rest The day the room spun. Work was tiring again. But yay for cheat pizza night!!

Thursday- Rest Sensing a pattern here? This cold thing was really starting to piss me off. Did it not know I had new shoes to test out?!

Friday- Rest At least Friday’s are typical rest days. And it poured all day! I hydroplaned 3x on the way to work. Now I know where random flooding spots are on the highway.

Saturday-Rest You could have guessed, right? I slept some more and then went to dinner with the family. I tried cauliflower for the first time, it’s kind of tasteless? The tri-tip was amazing though.

Sunday- 4.5 miles I ran!!!!! Skipping my race meant that I could sleep a little more and not have to stress about waking up on time with the time change. I won’t lie, that was nice. I headed out late morning during a break in the rain to get in a few miles. Even though it was wet and I knew I was going to be finishing on dirt path, I wore my new shoes. What’s a little dirt? I started out slow and then just tried to keep it steady. I didn’t care about my pace, I just wanted to run. It was pretty good! I had to walk a few times but I expected that. I was bundled up pretty well so I was overheating for a few miles but when the wind picked up and it started raining I was glad I had picked a thicker jacket. 4.5 miles put me back at my car and only 1/4 mile had been in the rain. It was so good to just get out there.

So yeah, a 4 mile week. Woo hoo!!! But if I had to get sick, I guess I am thankful it was now. Not right before SLO or summer long runs. Granted there’s no guarantee I won’t get sick again just hoping based on previous years. With Daylight Savings going into effect, I am looking forward to getting in longer runs after work now. I love Daylight Savings. I am hopeful to get in some solid miles this week.

Low carb– Yeah, why can’t I be one of those people who doesn’t want to eat when they get sick? I only seem to want the horrible things. Seriously, on Monday I dragged my scary self to McDonald’s because all I could think about was fries and a Diet Coke. My lunches were all on point but I indulged with a few too many cookies this week. And jellybeans. Grrr. This is a new week right?

Oh and this officially happened this week-

I may have lost my damn mind. More on that insanity next post.

How was your weekend?

Anyone race?

Do you like Daylight Savings?

Smart Sucks Sometimes

And the streak comes to an end. Waah. 😭😭

I called in sick on Monday. I don’t really remember doing it. When I woke at 1- 1 PM!- I panicked. I was late! Oh, wait, my phone shows that I both texted and called my boss. Oh ok, then. But really?! I called in sick?! To emphasize how rare that is- my boss told me she was proud of me for calling in sick. Proud. And I’m sad I’m no longer in the 200’s for accrued sick time.

Wednesday, I woke to find the room spinning. Boo. I still sound like an angry Minnie Mouse. I’ve made it to work since Tuesday but it’s been rough. Talking tires me out. And when I momentarily forget and try to sing along with my iPod while driving, it comes out more of a wheezy screech.

Combine all of that with a projected storm on race morning and even I can see the writing on the wall. I will not be running Wine Country this weekend. My streak stops at 5 years. My wine glass collection stalls at 4. This year’s medal will probably be awesome. I briefly considered trying to run the 5K instead but I’m not up for that kind of pain right now.😁

I have run this race post flu before. In the rain. It was my second half marathon. It was miserable, it made me want to quit running. I burst into tears around mile 10 and scared the crap out of a volunteer. But watching them pick up the mile markers while you are still on the course is pretty demoralizing. It still stands as my slowest half ever. It was also my first experience with an out and back. So not a fan. Thankfully, they changed the course the following year. Granted the new course included a beast of a hill at mile 12 but that’s ok. I mean beast- it climbs around 130 feet in less than 2/10 of a mile. The race itself has around 1000ft gain in elevation throughout. Ok, I’m making myself sad now.

So, here I am being smart. Smart sucks. This cold sucks. Boo.

Do you run the same race every year? Longest streak?

Should I be stupid?

How has your week gone?

Week 10 Training Recap

Upcoming Races- Wine Country 13.1??
SLO Marathon 13.1

Focus– Keep it slow and steady but solid.

The lament of runners all over- Easy is hard! Grr. I’ve been thinking a lot about pace. It’s part of that insecurities post I’ve been sitting on for a while. But in short, I’ve been thinking about how I ran better when I didn’t care about my pace as much. 98% of my runs were also “easy” runs. So, I’ve been revisiting 80/20. I bought it about a year ago but really just skimmed it. With my lungs being what they are lately, I figured this would be a good time to read it again. Plus, running slower is fun when it’s the plan. 😀 But still hard.

Monday- Rest I really love Monday rest days. I really do.

Tuesday- Rest I usually run on Tuesdays and that was the plan. Work was insane that afternoon and ran late. By the time I would have changed and gotten out the door I would have only had time for about a mile before the sunset. I took it as a sign that I should just head home and get to the pharmacy for my new medications before it closed. Since I’m still only running 3x a week right now, I figured I had plenty of time to make up my run. Plus I was able to take part in my first Twitter chat. Damn that moves fast!

Wednesday- Rest Spanish tutoring. Or I tried. My mother volunteered me to help one of her tennis players. Except that the days of me being fluent have long since lapsed. Conjugating my verbs is not something I do anymore. But I tried…and since we met at the pizza place, I still had my Wednesday pizza night.

Thursday- 3.91 miles I headed out after work for a few miles. El Nino has been threatening to drop some heavy storms in the area so I knew the humidity level was up. A heavy marine layer was rolling in and I knew this run was going to be a struggle breathing-wise. It was but I just slowed down and tried to keep my breathing under control. It was rough but there was an amazing sunset so it all evens out right? I hit 3.9 miles at my car. I was going to run around the block to hit 4 miles but there was a crowd of cops outside the police station so I just called it. Running around the block a few times looks crazy to most people- what would the police think?

Friday – Rest day Something about this week kicked my ass. I was so tired by Friday and the scale pissed me off in the morning. I was waiting for closing time a little more eagerly than usual.

Saturday- Rest This was not the plan. My mom had been wanting to go shopping in SLO so we were going to head down in the AM and I was hoping to get in a few miles later in the day. It was also supposed to pour all day. SLO did happen but running did not. I felt super tired when I woke up but other than that ok. I didn’t realize anything was wrong until my first few words to my mom. I had no voice! I sounded like a squeaky frog! What the?! It continued to get worse throughout the day and I felt off. Like I couldn’t keep my body temp regulated. So I skipped my run. Boo. But I did indulge with some pretty kicks.

Sunday- 8 miles My training plan called for 10-12 miles but I wasn’t even going to try for that. I still had no voice but I felt ok, just tired. I decided to head to the lake path and attempt my long run. Lapping the lake meant I was never even a mile from my car so if I had to bail, I could. I also had my mom and S along for the ride; they were going to walk while I ran. This way I had backup if things went south. The weather was sunny and high 50’s but I wore pants and long sleeves just in case. I tried to keep things easy. I went back to my old method of running at the lake- ran all of the lap except the park. I walked through the park. That way every lap had a built in walk break and it was easier to avoid all the children playing. I felt tired and sore but not bad. I just kept moving. I told myself I would be happy with 6 miles. That put me on the backside of the lake so I figured why not finish out the lap? Then back at the parking lot I could see my mom and S on the backside but they seemed closer so I figured I would keep running until I caught op to them. Yeah, my eyesight must have been off. I didn’t catch up to them until 7.6 miles. Then I figured I may as well just run until I hit 8 miles. So I did. But there was nothing else left in me. Surprisingly though, the run was one of the steadiest paced runs in a long time. Go figure!

I don’t feel any worse right now but I don’t feel better either. Wine Country is 7 days away and I am on the fence about it. It’s one of my favorite races and this would be my 6th year running it. I will just have to see how I feel this week. Hopefully my voice comes back soon, I am tired of sounding like an angry Mickey Mouse. At least according to my mom and S.

Low-carb-– I did damn good last week, I really did. I was so proud of the myself. Then the scale pissed me off on Friday and I let it derail me this weekend. Time to start over on Monday- again.

So it wasn’t the best week but it could have been worse. Right?

How was your weekend?

Ever lose your voice?

Do I have a shoe problem?