So the planned easy 6 for Saturday turned into 4 miles of hell. I put it off until late Saturday afternoon and I really did not want to go. But there was this little voice in my head nagging me into going. So I put on my shoes and headed out the door.
Mile 1 was slow and cranky; mile 2 was a little better. By mile 3, I was in trouble. Ever have a moment when your stomach just completely wigs out on you? Yeah, that happened. The last ½ of mile 3 and all 4 turned in a walk. I really needed to run but that was so not gonna happen. Ugh.
Today, I was just over it and decided not to run at all. So I went shopping instead. A little retail therapy never hurt’s right? Other than maybe your pocketbook. 🙂
I would like a new running belt so I decided to check out the options. I hit Dick’s, Sports Authority and The Running Warehouse… no luck. I currently have a Fuel belt, but it drives me bonkers. It bounces up and down while I run, no matter what I do. I have tried to wear with the bottles on the front, or with the bottles on the back, usually I end up wearing it with them on my side. I swear if I had any sewing skills and it wouldn’t hinder my movement, I would sew a leg strap to it, Tomb Raider style.
I have run my last 2 long runs and just carried a water bottle. I am debating if I just want to do that for my half marathon, but not sure. I need to figure it out though, I have less than 5 weeks to go. Eek!!
On the upshot, I did pick up some Nuunto try and I replaced the headband I lost around mile 11 of last half marathon.
New Toys!
I also found the best part of the season already for sale-
Yum!! Sugar and Carbs 🙂
Yeah for race fuel!!!!! And yes, I really use candy corn for my half marathons.
I just didn’t feel like riding 8 miles on the bike on Monday but the nagging part of me said I should do some form of cross training. Or something. So I decided to work in a bit of strength training with a kettle bell work out. It was short but intense and I felt like I had done something productive. At least until Tuesday morning.
Oh crap, it hurt to move. My thighs were in pain, hehe. I spent the day trying not walk like a duck and wearing heals was not helping. Needless to say, Tuesday night’s run was a little rough. I completed my 3.5 miles but my legs were so stiff and sore. I think I hurt less after my last half marathon. How sad is that? Each lap around the park just seemed slower and slower. In reality there was only a 13 second gap between mile 1 pace and mile 3, but let’s be honest, they started out slow. Wednesday was a much needed Slacker day.
Which brought me to Thursday, my long day. After work, I planned to run there before heading out to class. My legs still hurt; seriously?! I left work, running the same route as last week, however this time I didn’t get lost. I figured I would base my distance on my pace. If I was still dragging and feeling lame, I would turn around at the service road, the 1.75 mile mark. If I was feeling ok, I would push on to the 2 mile mark then turn around.
The way backAhhh, the rock
The day was bright and sunny, so opposite of last week’s heavy fog, same temperature thankfully. I enjoyed the scenery along the way; it was pretty in the sunlight. I felt good, so I pushed on to the natural history museum before turning around. I knew I was going to slow down a bit on the way back as it was mostly uphill, but I pushed on. Last week I took 2 brief walk breaks and this week I just powered through.
Got to my car and was pretty pumped, figured I at least beat last weeks’ time. So I checked my Nike+; and nope. I was slower by 28 seconds. Ugh.
I feel like I am in a running funk. I just feel frustrated with the workouts I have completed the last week or so. Maybe if I didn’t have 2 big races coming up, I wouldn’t care. But I do and right now I feel like I am getting slower not quicker. I realize that any run is better than no run but I had finally started to see progress these last 6 months. I still have a 6 miler that I need to do this weekend, maybe I should just do that as an easy run?
On the upside, we got out of class early, which means I made it home before 10 last night. And I got to see this view on the way to work this morning:
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.
Grey but pretty!
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!!!!
Goodbye gas hog…Yippie!!!!
Now onto to a relaxing Monday off! With some cross training stationary bike later.
Ever have one of those runs that make you wonder why you started running in the first place? Yeah, Monday was one of those days. I like to call those runs Elephant runs.
To me, an elephant run is a day when your legs don’t seem to work. They feel like stone, and like they just fling in any which way. Except the way you want them to go. It also feels like your feet are louder than usual, like they hit the ground harder, but not in a good way. It’s all you can hear. This run wasn’t quite that bad but it was damn close.
After the race on Saturday, I had a company picnic on Sunday. Between the bus ride there and the event itself, that was pretty much my Sunday. As it was my only morning to get a little more sleep, I chose to take the day off. Figured it would just make me more rested for Monday. Ha!
I was just exhausted on Sunday; I was so tired that by the evening, I swear I regressed into a cranky toddler. Not good. Plus I still felt a little ill. Monday was actually a pretty good day at work. I didn’t feel a hundred percent, but then does anyone ever really? I left work ready to run.
The plan was to do around 3.5 miles at the lake. I was aiming for a mile warm up, 2 miles of speed work and a half mile cool down. Since I was at the lake and not the track, I knew that the speed drills were not going to be exact, but why should they only been done on a track? It’s not like the races I do are run on the track.
I was hoping for 4 sprints per mile during the 2 miles. From the second I started running, it was horrible. Just crappy. I felt like my legs were made of lead. Ever seen that e-card about running though peanut butter?
Yeah, I felt like that. I wanted to quit a half mile in. I pushed through but felt like I was crawling. The 4 sprints in mile 2 turned into 3 and the 4 in mile 3 turned into 2. Plus it was more like the sprints were just running and the cool down in between was almost walking. I felt completely off, it made me so frustrated! I took a picture of the lake because I thought it looked like I felt-totally drained.
An empty tank
24 hours later, I am still frustrated with how it felt but I have gained a tiny bit of perspective. The pace of the miles actually didn’t suck. Monday I was so cranky, I barely looked at the Nike app. Looking at it today made me feel a little better. I am still a little nervous about my next run. Plus this week is a little busy, so I am trying to figure out how to fit in a 4-miler before the weekend. Today probably would have been the best day but after yesterday that was not gonna happen. I took the day off. Call it a mental health day. Those are important to training too, right?
If anyone has ever had runs like this, I am sorry, but I feel your pain.
Thursday and Friday were planned rest days, even if Thursday was far from restful. Work was crazy and I had my first class that night. I got good news at work but I was too tired to muster up much enthusiasm. Thankfully, Friday was better. I finished the day with some lovely carb heavy French toast and getting my things together for today’s race. I was excited!
So yummy!!!!
I woke this morning with my usual nervous stomach. Since my goal today was to just have fun, what did I have to be nervous about? Nothing but try telling that to my tummy. I have trouble eating food before any race, even my half marathons; I tried a Belvita cracker today. Not a lot but it was still better than usual, I ate 2! Since my race photographer (aka mom) has been complaining that I run every race in all black, she claims it makes it hard to find me in a crowd, I picked out some of the brightest clothes I own.
Can you see me now?
The race was about 45 minutes away, so I set out with enough time to meet up with my friends about 30 minutes to the starting whistle. Yea for race buddies!!!! My friend, C and her husband are the ones that have run the most races with in the past but it’s been since a Turkey Trot debacle last November that we have made our schedules work. Hopefully we are back on track now!
Buddies!!
This race claimed to be in its 25th year but it need some better organization. The starting line was a chalk line and there was no electronic timing. Yea for the Nike+ app! When picking up your race bib, you were told to fill out the bottom portion. Not being told why, I figured it was for a raffle and didn’t bother since I never win anyways. There were no race shirts or finishing medals. About 15 minutes to go time, my friends and I were catching up when a very perky announcer and friends held an impromptu jazzercise class as a race warm-up! Definitely a race first for me.
a little step ball change
The horn sounded and we were off! I wore the wrong belt so the Nike app had 13 seconds on it before the race officially started, oops. Told myself to remember to subtract that off later. We started out on the street headed for the beach and the boardwalk. About 2/3 a mile in, we cut across a parking lot to get to the boardwalk. I saw some painted arrows on the outside of the lot so I followed those while everyone else cut across. I was thinking that everyone was trying to cut a little mileage off along the way, but nope, think I followed the 10k line. Both races merged at the boardwalk so I was back on track. Just in time for Nike to say my mile 1 stats. Mile 1- 8:38, hell yeah, a new mile record for me!
woo hoo!
Running the boardwalk my music crapped out. I think I am done with particular music app. I debated if I wanted to fix it or just run without but eventually slowed down to start another playlist and snap a picture or two. Like I said, today’s goal was to have fun. Still I felt I was maintaining a decent pace. That all ended when we hit the dunes.
Run more, snap less photos
Running on hard pack sand at the ocean line is kind of nice. Running on soft loose dune sand? That sucks, literally and figuratively. I felt like every time I tried to lift my foot, the sand pulled it back. Plus the trail narrowed to single file and it was almost impossible to pass anyone. It turned into a bottleneck, not fun. Once out of the dunes, we had to cross more soft sand to get to the hard pack. Once there the 5k runners went right and the 10k went left to the pier. I went right across the beach to the next left which brought us to more soft sand. Once we crossed that, we went up the ramp and were then back on the street. I felt like I had 2 pounds of sand in my shoes.
Running past the last water station, I felt tired. That sand had taken a lot out of me and the weather was muggy. Because of the race the traffic was backed up on the street, but instead of the drivers yelling angrily, they were giving shout outs and encouragements to the runners! It was great, you would start to drag a little and then someone would yell out “keep going, you look awesome”! Can I hire people to do that at every race?
Can you tell when I was taking pictures?
I rounded the corner to the end and crossed the finish line at 30:03. Turns out bottom portion of my bib was needed to staple to the card that said I finished 15th. Oops, nobody told me that! After a little lecture by the lady at the finish line, they just wrote my name and age on the card and placed it in a little bin. Met up with my mom and waited for my friends to come across. They came in a few minutes behind me. 🙂 Awesome! As we were chatting, we figured I went a little too far in the beginning. Nike had me at 3.2, so I didn’t get really lost. We did a head count and C and I figured out we were some of the first women to cross the finish line. So did that mean we made age division leaders? The awards ceremony wasn’t supposed to start until 10:15, did we want to wait that long?
We also figured out that the race clock was a little off. My mom said that it had stopped working at some point while we were running, and their solution was to bang on it. Umm, ok then. So Nike had me at 30:11 for 3.2 miles. Take off the first 13 seconds and that is 29:58. Hmmm, I like that number better. Hehe, either works but oh well it was still fun.
My friends had to leave before the awards ceremony since 10:15 turned into 10:45. It was so cold waiting around. Again, the race could have been better organized. They finally started announcing the age groups. I was waiting for the 30-39. Starting with 3rd place and it was C! Luckily they let me pick up her medal. I placed 2nd for our age group. Woo hoo!!! This is an upside to smaller, local races.
2nd Place!!!! Shiny silver 🙂
My mom and I finished the day with a yummy lunch and a little shopping. I picked up 2 more pairs of bright shorts. I am really liking these Nike Dash shorts. Also, I really should not be allowed anywhere near a Dick’s, so many pretty things.
All in all would have been a great day if it wasn’t for how sick I got when I got home. I am calling it food poisoning because I do not have the time to be sick. So now that I have taken all your time with this post, I am going to curl into a ball and get some rest. I will run again Monday.
Slacker Runner 