Category: Run!

Week 24- Heat Wave

It’s begun.

The work week was long and they are only going to get longer from here on out. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. The last big conversion/ merger I went through was 4 years ago and I ended up falling back to running 1x during the week and both weekend days because I was putting in so much overtime. Oddly enough, that’s also when I was the fastest but I am sure the 2 have no correlation. 😛 Difference is, last time we were the company doing the buying not so there wasn’t a huge learning curve for me- it was just a super busy time. This time, I’m looking at a Grand Canyon of things I don’t know and not knowing what I don’t know makes me uneasy. I am trying not to stress about it though.

Trying. I need to read more. For relaxation I mean. So I ordered some new books.

Monday- 2.5 miles First day back at work. Couple hundred emails, schedule overload, work ran late, and we were down 50% of our staff. By the end of the day I had zero desire to run after work. Zero. But I changed, laced up and headed for home town. I turned it into a game- could I keep my heart rate in the green zone? Yeah, no. But I tried. 😛

Tuesday- Rest I meant to do something productive workout wise but I didn’t. And something about the shoes I wore to work pissed off my right foot.

Wednesday- Rest Meeting #1 of meeting/ training polooza of the next month. The day started abnormally early and by day’s end I was just living in migraine city. I left my gym bag full of running gear at work and just went home.

Thursday- 4 miles It had been too long since I ran in work town so that was my plan. Success! Similar MO to Monday- try to stay in the green zone. Hell for the first 2 miles I had trouble getting into the green. I felt like I was working but I guess the temp in the 60’s and a downhill made things easier than I thought. Then there was the climb in mile 4 and my heart rate went right past green and into threshold. Grrrr. Once home I did 8 minutes with my kettle bell. Ouch.

Friday- Rest Seriously 8 minutes with a kettle bell should not kick my ass that much.

Saturday- 9 miles bike I admit I slept in. Then it was 106 and there was no way I was running in that. I stuck to the bike. Except I still haven’t replaced my fan so I was still ended up a sweaty mess.

Sunday- 7.3 miles Long run fail. I headed out around 8 to get in my planned long run of 10 miles but it was already too late. It was 80 when I started. It wasn’t bad in the beginning but it never got any better. I started to feel the warmth around mile 4. My mother was supposed to meet me around mile 5.5 and she was going to walk while I finished the rest. She drove past me before I even hit 5. I took a shorter route to her but I knew I wasn’t hitting 10. I decided to try for 8 but at 7.3 when I was running- not sure what I was doing could be called running- brought me past the car again, I said F* it. It was 90 degrees and it wasn’t even 10 yet. I had somehow gone through 38 oz’s of water in 7 miles and both my packs were empty. I was done.

13.8 miles run, 9 miles bike, 1 strength workout

Not exactly what I was hoping for this week but also not too shabby for a Slacker like me. Now if I can just drag myself out of bed earlier on the weekends.

How was your week?

What’s your weather like?

Rambling On 10

What’s up people? Happy Fri-yay!

I’ve only been back at work for 4 days and I am only treading water. I was prepared for July to be crazy but that crazy started 3 weeks early. I came back from vacation to find hundreds of emails and that the next 4 weeks are full of trainings and meetings. I need more hours in the day. And more caffeine. Some of these meetings are 8 hours long. I apologize now if I start making no sense over the next few weeks. 😛

Speaking of long meetings? Any tips for staying awake? I have troubles in enclosed spaces and after a few hours a meeting room becomes a small space.

Can I just say that I’m loving the extendable visors in my new car? It’s the little things right?

There should be a bullshit detector at the DMV. I have to renew my license this year and my last few have all been by mail. My picture and information haven’t been updated since I was 19.😯 My weight was wrong then- 40 pounds more than what I really weighed at the time- and I didn’t bother to correct it today. She asked if it had changed and even though I know full well I weigh 30 lbs more than it says- I said it’s all good.

How old is your driver’s license picture?

What are you doing this weekend?

Week 23- Vacation!

Awww, the awesomeness of a stay-cation. I planned this week to do nothing really. I knew there were things I should do- like clean my car, overhaul my closet, switch out the winter running stuff for the summer, go to the dry cleaners, make an eye appointment- yadda yadda but I overall I wanted a really chill week.

After 3 half’s in 5 weeks and knowing that July will be a little crazy I figured a down week would be a good thing. My boss is taking the majority of July off and we will be going through a system conversion. My next scheduled race isn’t until Las Vegas- I know I will add more before then but right now I figured a chill week would be good.

I slept in. I finished Eli Stone. I caught up on some blog stuff. I finally watched Beauty and the Beast– meh. I went and saw Wonder Woman– great. I did move some of the winter and summer stuff. I had a doctor’s appointment. I wasn’t completely useless. 😛

Monday- Rest My legs hurt in the fun way that flat course make them ache. I actually wanted to get in a short recovery run but I spent the majority of the day messing with my new phone- I had some technological issues. My phone dying in the starting corral before the race was the final incentive to go upgrade my phone. I’ve only been meaning to for the last 8 months. 😛 I moved up to the iPhone+ and I am loving it.

Tuesday- 3.1 miles Wow, this was slow. Yeah it was 90 degrees but still. Let’s just call it a recovery run. My legs weren’t sore, I just couldn’t get them into gear. Oh well. And I discovered that my new phone does not fit in my running belt. Oops.

Wednesday- 3.3 miles You have to run on Global Running Day, right?! I headed out mid afternoon again but it was a good 15* cooler. This was a better run than the day before but I may have worn the wrong shoes. Lately whenever I wear the Brooks, I tend to feel a little broken after my runs. My legs were pretty achy the rest of the day.

Thursday- 7.6 miles bike My legs were still feeling pretty achy from the day before so I just decided to spend some time on the bike. I felt like I was working up a decent sweat but according to my watch I could never get my heart rate out of the easy stage. I can’t figure out if my heart rate monitor is working- on runs my heart rate is really high but I could not get it higher on the bike. It was probably higher when my mother and I were sprinting to the movie theater that evening since we parked so far away.

Friday- 4 miles Nice, easy-ish run over on the river path. My legs were were feeling mostly better but still not quite right. Hmm. I am also over the crazy wind lately. I know I’ll regret saying that when it’s 110 outside though.

Saturday- Rest Everything I planned to do went out the window because well, ummm, I made a little purchase-

And it took up most of my day. 😛. Seriously- emptying my trunk was ridiculous- am I packing for a Ultra I forgot?

Sunday- Rest I planned to run but when it came right down to it, I just didn’t. It was my last day before going back to work and I just felt like being lazy. So I let it happen.

10.4 miles running
7.6 mile bike

It was a half lazy week and half quasi productive week. Not bad for a vacation/ recovery week. Really, who can complain about a week where you get a new phone and a new car? And now it’s back to real life. Working and running and NO more spending money!😛

How was your week?

Give Me a Boost

Disclaimer: I received a pair of Adida’s Ultra Boost X to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

I think I’m in love.

If you’ve been following along for awhile now, you know I’ve bee struggling with shoes since last year when they changed my beloved PureFlows to an unrecognizable shoe. I’ve been through numerous shoes since- various brands and types. Some I’ve suffered through and then “donated” to my mother’s emergency stash for her tennis team and others I full on returned to the store. Sorry Running Warehouse. I hate returning shoes, I feel bad. So when an opportunity came up to try the Ultra Boost X from Adidas you’d think I would jump on it. But I deliberated- I’ve become leery of new shoes and these looked different. Curiosity won me over. Then I was overly impatient to get my hands on them or more like my feet in them. 😛

These are so different than any of my other shoes. In some ways they feel like more shoe than I am used to and in other ways they feel like less shoe. The more shoe comes from the sole- I went from a 4mm drop to a 10mm drop. Whereas my previous upper was more of standard upper and the Ultra Boost X foots your foot like a sock. In the beginning I wondered if I even needed the shoelaces or if they were just for looks. And a floating arch? I could stick my finger through it- how would that work?

Ok- first some data straight from Adidas-

Adidas snip

Ok, first impressions- what the heck is on my feet? They felt so tight. I kept loosening the shoelaces. Turns out I just wasn’t used to the arch support. I kept trying thinner socks before I realized the shoes are actually slightly too big. Oops. Thicker socks and 3 runs in was all it took and I was all adjusted to the extra support and cushion. 🙂

Then I started to notice something. My shin pain was going away. My knee pain was a thing of the past. My feet and ankles were happy. Was this for real? It had been so long my legs hadn’t hurt in some way I felt like it was a trap. I was to the point that I was wearing them for every run but the longest run I had completed was 8 miles. I didn’t know what to do about San Diego. Should I try the Ultra Boost X for 13 miles? Spoiler: I did and they were awesome, my feet felt great for all 13 miles.

In short I am loving these shoes. I do have some concerns though. 1- go to a store and try them on. Mine are big, which I correct with either thick socks or 2 pairs, but I think I probably could have and should have sized down. Never thought I would say that. 2- the cost, these shoes are not cheap but then again injuries and pains aren’t either so it’s 6 in one, half dozen in another. One of the Pro’s who met with an Adidas rep said that they were made to last longer than most shoes so we shall see. You know I will report back on that. 😛 That said, I have already added a price alert to ShoeKicker to let me know if they ever go on sale. 😀😀. Too bad Adidas doesn’t want to give me a pair in every color. Until then I’ll just keep running in these.

Ever worn Adidas?

What do you run in?

Rock n Roll San Diego 13.1 Recap

Disclaimer: I received an entry into Rock n Roll San Diego as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

I love Rock n Roll.

This race made a liar out of me in so many ways. Ok, maybe just changed my mind about some things.

Going into this race, I wasn’t a fan of large crowded races, preferred rural views and hated humidity and flat made me cry. But I had heard great things about the Rock n Roll races, San Diego in particular, and always wanted to run one but never made it work. Until now. And now? Well I still hate humidity.

The odd thing was that going into this race I wasn’t stressed at all. I wasn’t worried about the miles or how long it would take me. I was mildly concerned about the humidity I knew I was coming but even at the Bibrave meet up I was just joking that I should probably run with my inhaler in my hand. I still wasn’t sure what shoes I was going to wear and I was mostly irritated that I had to run with a portable charger because I didn’t think my phone was going to last the race. I was also taking a race shuttle for the first time ever but I managed to sleep better than I did for my previous 2 races.

Race morning-

I woke up and knew that my food choices the day before were not going to sit well. Well yay. I dressed, decided on wearing the UltraBoostX, bibbed up and headed for the shuttle bus. They were charter buses not school buses- sweet! I checked the weather, saw 86% humidity and then tried not to think about it again.

Once at the starting line outside of Balboa Park I just followed the crowd. We came upon about 6 port-a-potties and I was confused. Ummm, 6? For 30,000 runners? As I got further in I found more scattered around in lines. There were probably between 50-100 around. I ended up parking myself near the solutions tent and just runner watching. People were everywhere! They even had a fitness warm up going on- I thought only small town races did that! I met up with Mai and after hitting the baggage trucks we ended up sprinting across the grass to the We Run Social picture meet up by corral 3. We just barely made it!

After meeting some more IG people in real life, listening to the National Anthem and ditching my top layer, I headed for my corral. I was in corral 19. Of 37. They were releasing the corrals at a steady pace so once I found an opening in the fence I stopped and just waited for the corral to get to me. I hopped in and pulled my phone out to take a pic only to realize it was almost dead. Grrrr. I plugged in my portable charger and turned off anything in the phone that was non essential. The race announcers were doing a great job of keeping everyone pumped up and things were very organized. I suddenly found myself at the very front of my corral on the start line and it was go time.

Miles 1-3 9:41, 10:22, 10:48

Haha, ok starting at the front apparently put wings on my feet. Slow your roll, Slacker. There was a guy on a megaphone shouting inspiration at us as we ran by. It was crowded but I was ok with it, I had to dodge people sometimes but I knew I wasn’t breaking any records so it wasn’t a big deal.

The first music distraction was a DJ on a bridge or was it a band? I should have written notes! The first aid station was well stocked with plenty of water and Gatorade and awesome volunteers. The gloomy clouds and some of the buildings I was running by made me feel like I was more in San Francisco than San Diego but I was enjoying the sights. And sounds- to save battery life- I hadn’t turned on my headphones. There were college kids handing out beer around mile 2 as well. There was a selfie/ picture station too but it may been in the next set of miles.

Miles 4-6 10:28, 10:31, 10:44

Oddly, I hadn’t really slowed down yet, I was walking the water stations but that was it. The streets were still crowded, water stops were every 2 miles, live music was every few miles. Around mile 4 we headed into more residential area but I notices that the cheering increased. Yeah, we were near an aid station but this was too loud. Turns out I was coming up on Harriet! I passed her and told her she was awesome. I mean, 94! Geicko had a full on bar on mile 4.5. You name it, they had it.

My legs were feeling good and surprisingly so were my lungs. I was beginning to feel optimistic. Then at mile 5.3, my stomach cramped in a rather unpleasant way. Oh come on! I took a walk break and deep breaths to try and calm it down but I was a little ticked. And I would be nauseous for the remainder of the race.

Miles 7-9 10:57, 10:35, 10:28

6 and 7 slowed me down while I tried to get myself under control. We passed the relay exchange a little past 6 and once again I thought I really need to do a relay. There was a man handing out tequila shots at one point saying that while we may think it was too early for tequila, he thought it was too early to be running so why not meet in the middle? We had entered Normal Heights and I thought it was an awesome name so I had to take a pic. At mile 8.4 the marathoner’s split off from the pack and the crowd thinned up a bit. I was still feeling nauseous but I was trying to ignore it, I wasn’t going to let my stomach win. I was listening to the on course entertainment and truthfully some interesting conversations from the runners around me. My legs were feeling ok but by my standards this course was flat and I knew I would eventually be sore if I didn’t get a hill somewhere.

Miles 10-11 10:58, 11:06

We were coming into Balboa Park and I could hear drums and see the big inflatable guitar guy and I knew I was almost to mile 10. Yay! Except, around mile 9.5 the battle my lungs had been fighting the humidity got harder. And my lungs started to lose. I had to walk again and use my inhaler. Grrr, Of course, just past mile 10 was the first real hill of the course and my lungs were being whiny. I walked it. I also had a moment where I thought I was going to lose my cookies and may have mentally swore off pizza. I turned on my music just to drown out my breathing.

Miles 12-13- 9:45, 11:14

So, yeah coming out of the park lead to a decent downhill and I flew. I was still taking walk breaks due to the humidity and my lungs. The last mile was a struggle. I thought I had kissed a sub 2:20 goodbye and I was pissed. I haven’t seen that in 2 years and that I had gotten so close, I almost cried. But I sucked it up and kept going. The crowds were cheering, runners were walking away with medals and I was still taking walk breaks. Grrr. The finish line was in sight and I decided enough was enough and just ran for it.

Finish- 2:19:56

I crossed the line and bent over wheezing. Medical was on me in seconds. Damn, you’re fast! I felt embarrassed but said I was ok, I just needed a moment. It wasn’t until I got a hold of myself and received my medal that I looked at my watch. I did it! It’s been so long since I’ve seen I’ve been below 2:20 even if it is by the skin of my teeth.

I made my way through the picture station and then the food goodies before attempting to find my mother. It was crowded! We met up and hung out for a bit before I realized I needed to return to the hotel. So much for the finish line festival. That nausea and cramping I had been fighting reared it’s head I was very glad that my hotel was 2 blocks from the finish. I could hear Micheal Franti though and he sounded great.

Overall, this was an awesome race. I would recommend it to anyone. The course and the crowd support was great. The aid stations were on point. As was medical. Now I want to run another one.