Category: Run!

Of Choices and Coughing

I have a great new ab workout- coughing!

Oh, it doesn’t work like that? Well, it should. If you can’t count that than the only thing I have been even slightly productive at since my last is sleeping. And even that hasn’t been done well.

My hope that resting on Thursday would get me through my long runs turned out to be in vain. I was miserable all Thursday night but made my way into work on Friday. I have this thing about calling in sick, I hate it and rarely ever do it. Particularly on a Friday or Monday. That’s a huge no-no for me. But with a 45 min to an hour commute, I really need to get over that. I made it 3 hours before heading home. I proceeded to spend the next 2.5 days alternating between my chair and my bed. It turned into some cold- flu thing and I have had body aches and chills and a pounding headache. I spent a lot of time sleeping and it wasn’t even good sleep. Ugh.

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Running did not happen at all this weekend. I am hoping that I feel up to a few miles on Tuesday but I know they won’t be easy. The last time I was sick was actually last January and it kicked my ass energy wise for a few weeks. Doing laundry exhausted me today. This has me a little nervous. The 25K is in two weeks and I was already doubting it.

My left leg has been a little achy lately, and my mother has had a bum knee. She is ok going uphill but as we all know, down hills can be evil. And the 25K has a lot of downhill. She did see a doctor about it but he left it up to her. One of the points of the 25K was that we were going to do it together. Now I am concerned that both of us may push too hard when we really shouldn’t. This weekend was supposed to be a 18-20 mile weekend, half road, half trail. I feel unprepared and don’t think I can catch up. Plus there is the fact of Surf City 7 days after the 25K.

I am torn. I feel like backing out would be the smart idea but it feels icky. Between coughing fits and naps today, I went online to look at other races my mother and I could do in the area. We are pretty sparse on trail races but I did find a half marathon on an army base in a month that looks like a better fit. Just not as scenic. So yeah, torn.

Alright, sorry for the downer of a weekend update!

Tell me how awesome your weekend was? What kind of running did you get in?

Thoughts on the race conundrum?

A Sleepy Frog

Happy almost Friday! And the first full week of the year. 🙂

I don’t know what it is but I have been so tired this week. I have slept through my first 3 alarms every day. That’s even with going to bed earlier- since Directv and NBC have been fighting, I haven’t been watching the news or Jimmy Fallon. Last night I actually clocked the first 7 hours of sleep on a work night since I bought my Fitbit. Wow. On Tuesday, I headed to the gym after work for a few miles. I was actually sore after hiking Cerro San Luis but per usual the DOMS didn’t kick in until Tuesday. But that just helped me not push it. Finding a consistent easy is kind of hard. I’ve noticed that it takes almost 2 miles on the treadmill to feel comfortable. Then when I do, I have the problem of running into the front of the machine because I want to run faster. I managed 5 miles around a 10:41-10:54 pace. Once again one of the tvs had North Woods Law on and it made the miles seem less miserable.

When I first arrived at the gym I was surprised to find around 10 treadmills free, I had expected more Resolutioner’s to be there. The ellipticals were full though. Part of me feels bad being irritated that they filll up the gyms in January. I mean at least they are making an attempt right? But when you see a man talking on the phone while on the elliptical and a woman reading with a book right up to her face while walking so slowly, I feel less guilty. Then there were the chatty trio who got on the treadmills to my right. They were so loud! I could hear every word of their conversation over my headphones and I wasn’t willing to blow out my own eardrums and keep turning it up. I said this in a comment to FL Runner Boy but I think a gym should be like a library- necessary conversations only. 🙂 But then again, I am the one who hit the emergency stop 2 miles in- oops. My mind is like, "Let's go to the gym!", but my body is all, "Dude chill, this couch is really comfortable." The plan was for another 4-5 treadmill miles tonight but after changing and starting my drive to the gym I had to admit that i don’t feel so well. It feels like a head cold which I could have run on but I decided that running back to back longer runs this weekend was more important for training than some treadmill miles tonight. My 25K is in less than 3 weeks with Surf City right after. I am trying to think smart here but I feel like a baby. Plus I also didn’t think anyone at the gym would appreciate my excessive coughing or throat clearing. Asthma already puts a frog in my throat but now I feel like his friends have moved in to party. Ugh. So instead I am bundled up in the comfy chair catching up with you guys! Oh maybe I should be productive and go update my Goals and Gear page that I haven’t touched in way too long.

How has your week been?

Have you braved the gym?

Sunday Summit- Cerro San Luis

December put a monkey wrench in my run/ hike a trail every other week plans. I feel like I blinked and it was January. I originally planned on hiking on New Year’s Day but quite frankly it was just too cold. At least for this California girl. I mean come on, I use a space heater every day, even in the summer. After working in the morning and a rough, abbreviated 5 mile run on Saturday, my mom and I headed out Sunday for Cerro San Luis.Cerro San Luis is located in SLO and otherwise known as Madonna Mountain. It overlooks the Madonna Inn and has a large M painted on the side representing Mission High School. And I think it may be my new favorite view. I just realized I took 165 pictures! The mountain has a series of interconnecting trails, so I never actually found the M. Guess that’s something for next time! We wanted to add some distance so we parked at a nearby park and headed for the mountain via a trail there. The trail wasn’t very technical and ranged from a dirt trail to a horse path. Could have done without the horse poop everywhere but it was really cool being that close to the horses. I had no idea you get that close to them on the trail. It had an elevation gain of 1160 feet. Which wasn’t that bad until the very end. There were quite a few times that the trail branched in different directions and we had to choose left or right. At one point my mother chose right and holy crap, that was hard. It was super narrow and super steep. I was about ready to start hand over footing it when a woman came down on a bike. Then I was jumping out of the way wondering if I was going to have to call for help. I was afraid she was going to crash. As she passed me she admitted that she should not have gone down that way. She did not look comfortable or confident at all. There were a ton of people out on the trail that day. Bikers, walkers, runners, families and dogs.

Look- it's Bishop's Peak! — Look- it’s Bishop’s Peak!

It was a very warm day which was great but man we felt like we were working. We finally made it to the top! Talk about an awesome view! We then did have to hand over foot some to get to the top of the rocks. I could see another trail down but we weren’t sure where it went. We could have investigated but it was way past lunch and I hadn’t eaten anything all day (stupid stomach) so we just headed back down. We took our time going down because my mom has been fighting a knee thing off and on since we hiked Cerro Alto.

This slacker forgot to charge her Garmin and it pretty much died at the top of the mountain. Oops. But it was 3 miles up and I think it was around 3 miles down but we went a slightly different way. The clouds rolled in and the wind picked up as we got back to the park- perfect timing! Oh and randomly, someone was base jumping off of one of the hills. It wasn’t that high but umm, no thank you.

It was great weather and a great hike. I look forward to going back again and exploring the other trails. I want to find the M! I like to call hiking my training and cross training all in one! It was a great way to end the weekend! The plan is to hike part of the 25K route this weekend but that also depends on how my mom’s appointment goes in regards to her knee.

How was your weekend?

2015 Goals- Time to Polish

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year’s. Mine was uneventful- just how I like them. Actually, I ended up being sucked in to watching The 100 on Netflix which is why this post is going up one day past schedule-oops! So without further ado, let’s talk about those hoops I want to jump through, err, I mean goals for 2015.2015 Goals

Health-

So I received a notice from my doc that says “congrats, you are negative for cancer but we have no conclusion as to what is wrong with you”. It seriously said that. So, ummm, yay? So it’s back to the drawing board. That means it’s time to play with my diet some more. I am not going paleo (I like dairy) although I am buying the book, nor gluten free but I have been trying to cut my grain intake by about 85%. When I follow through, I feel a little better, holidays made following through hard. And yes, this means I need to limit my pizza intake to once a week at most. I started this in December so I am going to give it a few more months while I see if it helps. I’ve known I should restrict my carbs so I need to work on that again. On the upshot, I ran better when I did this, so fingers crossed!

Fitness- who am I kidding- Running-

Find Easy– Well, that sounds odd as a starter. I pushed a lot in the beginning of 2014 and I ended up sore, tired and sick. I’m not saying that they are necessarily linked but I want to run as long as I can not a short period of time. That means finding an easy pace that I can sustain for long periods of time. I want to enjoy my long runs and look forward to them, not dread them. Right now I aiming for around 11:15 and averaging 10:50. Would I love my easy runs to one day be 9:00- hell yes- but I want to work towards that the smart way.
Cross-training– Yeah, I know I should and I admit I ran better when I also rode the stationary bike twice a week. But it’s just so boring! Admittedly, I am setting the bar low here- I want to cross train at least 3x a month. Yes, I said month not week. If I can pull this off for 6 months, I will reassess in July.
Races– Quality over quantity. No 15 in ’15 for this Slacker. I hit 14 in ’14 and that was cool but there were some I probably should have DNS’d. That said, I am confirmed for 3 half marathon distance races in the first 4 months of the year and am debating another and a 5k. Bold is confirmed, italicized maybe. Wine Country and Firehouse have sentimental value but I won’t commit to those until the last minute. The rest of the year is up in the air.
1. Spooner’s Cove 25K
2. Surf City 13.1
3. Wine Country 13.1
4. Firehouse 5K
5. SLO Marathon
Break 2:00 in a half– The goal of the first 2 months of the year is finding easy, after that I would love to find speed. I set this as a goal for 2014 but spent the year going the opposite direction. Yes, I valid reasons but it just makes this goal all the more enticing. Now, I know I am horrible with following training plans and prefer to do my own thing but I realize I may need guidance to pull this off. An I would really, really like to go sub-2 at SLO. To that effect, this Slacker may have committed to an 8 week training plan that would start after Surf City and a week of rest. But more on that later, I don’t even know much right now.
1000 miles in 2015– Oh, man, typing that was scary. I am trying to tell myself that 1000 isn’t that far from 832. And I went from 558 in 2013 to 832 in 2014, so it’s doable…Right???????
10 down, 990 to go

Life and other stuff-

Read more– or get back to it. I used to read 4-5 books a month and I think I barely hit 12 this past year. Work was crazy and I didn’t get a lot of lunches but that should be better in 2015- fingers crossed. That put a serious dent in my reading. I would also like to get back to reading before bed which mean I need to turn off the computer and that is hard. 🙂

Socialize more- I admit I am a homebody. See above for my NYE plans. 🙂 I need to try to get out a tiny bit more often. A couple of my coworkers and I are talking about running together after work, so that’s something! I would also like to spend more time with ML, A, C and NikeC and R, I am hoping we can make something work.

The blog– I would like to redesign the blog. Which I have started on but am not where I want to be. Sorry if you saw it in it’s various states in the last few days but there’s likely to be a few more in the pipeline. Bear with me while I try to be tech savvy and will likely fail! But on the upshot, most times the mobile version looks good and it’s just the computer version that looks off.