Category: Run!

Week 4 Recap-Finding Calm

Just like that, we’re 4 weeks into the year.  Dude, how.

The weather here is crazy.  On one hand we finally had a break from the crazy rain, yay!   Which made room for the hard freeze.    I hit ice twice on Wednesday morning… I screamed like a little girl the first time while the rear end of my car fish tailed all over the road.    We actually get freezing temps frequently out here but that was the fist time I’ve ever hit ice while driving.   Yikes!

In better news, I found out last week that I get to keep my job.  🙂Which is great news and while it will help with some of my stress; right now I admit that I have mixed feelings about the whole thing.  There are still so many unknowns about the merger as a whole.  I know that this was a huge part of what is stressing me out so I hope I can start to dig myself out of the stress hole I keep crawling into.  But it’s like quicksand, the more I dig, the more I sink.  I did sleep a little better last week, so there’s that.

Monday- News day.   I didn’t know I was getting the news about work and wasn’t feeling mentally prepared.  I went home and ate pizza.    🍕🍕

Tuesday- Rest.   I can’t remember what I did.  Oops.  I know I did my planks and push ups all week.  Still can’t hold a plank up to a minute without falling on my face but I’ll get there. Maybe.


Wednesday- 3.1 miles.  I love my Knuckle Lights.  Seriously, they let me run in work town in the dark and I really needed that run.  I called it a therapy run.   I wanted to run down to the Eucalyptus grove but the path was blocked off.  Boo.  I made due with a 5k but that’s ok.  It was enough.   I watched a few moments of the sunset and just enjoyed the views.

Thursday- Rest   I had to sit through a class on driving for the school district.   I’m chaperoning a trip for my mother’s tennis team and I had to be re-certified.  Mostly I spent the class thinking how I wanted to redo their entire PowerPoint.

Friday- Nothing 😛


Saturday- 8 ish miles   I decided to try last Saturday’s run again, same route, same plan to end at the high school and catch a ride from my mother.  I need to stop planning.  I was 15 minutes late getting out the door because my Garmin wouldn’t turn on.  What?!  It had been fully charged on Wednesday.   So I plugged it in and ran with Strava instead.  I turned on the voice cues and auto pause so I didn’t have to fish my phone out of my belt at all the stop lights.   It reminded me why I dislike autopause.  It turns on too soon and takes too long to turn off.   I also realized how much I like my 3/1’s on this run.  Without my Garmin I was trying to estimate the 3/1’s by songs and it just wasn’t working.   I like that the watch does all the thinking for me.  Such a whiny problem I know but I missed my watch.    This run just felt more tiring than I would have liked.    I think it was mostly mental but I was just dragging for most of it.  Almost getting hit by a car at the halfway point sure didn’t help matters.  The guy never even saw me.  He was too busy staring at his lap.  I’m guessing he had just left the Wendy’s drive thru.  Whatever, I was pissed.   Grrrr.


Sunday- 3.6 miles  I planned a nice, easy 4 mile recovery run.    Yeah, plans.    I set out with my mom planning to walk a bit and then run ahead and double back like we used to do.  Half a mile in, my stomach let me know it was having none of that.  I cramped… bad.   Grrrr.  The me of 2015/16 would have turned around and called it.  Instead I slowed way down and it turned more into a wog, heavy on the walking but I got something done.

Weekly total- 14.8    That puts me exactly where I wanted to be for January and there’s still 2 days so that’s not so bad.   Training for Santa Barbara and Livermore starts this coming week so I know my mileage will start to increase.    I’ve also realized that I need to rework my training plan thanks to the landslides but more on that later.

It was an interesting week and this likely to be another interesting one too.   Will I actually get in 5 workouts????? We shall see.

How was your week?

Is your weather crazy?

Share something fun!

 

Run to the Music 6

I’ve made no secret that I’ve been a little stressed the past few months.  Between work and waiting for news about my job, all the rain, the longer commute and just life in general; I’ve been kind of a hot mess.   I’ve started taking my Fitbit off because I don’t need to see my heart rate numbers climb like that.

Enough is enough.    I’m doing what I can to take back my calm.  Music is huge in my life.  A lot of memories are tied to songs and a lot of songs remind of books and times past.  I sing way louder than I should in my car.  And sometimes at work.   So in an effort to help myself calm down I made myself a new playlist.  I called it “Calm the Frak Down”.  You know, in case I needed a reminder.  😛

It’s an odd mix of Bebe Rexha, Rise Against, Papa Roach and Florida Georgia Line.  Eclectic but it’s working for me.  I tend to only listen to country in the summer when it’s 110 outside and the Fair is in town so I’m usually always a year behind when it comes to Florida Georgia Line.  When I was working on my playlist I saw they had a new album… oh nope-2016, oops, I’m behind a year again, damn.  I clicked buy without even previewing it.  Why not?  It’s not summer yet but let’s shake things up.

I heard this song on my way to work thinking that the words fit my mood.  So I played it again.   Then I actually saw the name of the song and started laughing.   Well isn’t that fitting.

The other song I have on repeat is Bebe Rexha’s “Sweet Beginnings”.  Little different vibe though.  😛

How do you calm down?

What are you listening to?

 

Week 3 Recap- All Wet

For a person who chose the word Challenge as a guiding principle for the year, January is doing a great job of laughing at me.  I’m chalking it up to job stress and hoping that learning way or the other in the next week or so will help some of the stress go away.   Maybe, hopefully…oh who knows.

In other news, it is still dumping buckets here in CA.  Which would be awesome if I could stay at home under a blanket with my cats all day.  But I can’t so yeah.  I miss my night runs, who knew I would ever say that??  My boss and I were supposed to attend a Chamber function after work on Friday night but the storms and wind were so bad that we both agreed it was smarted to just go home.  Somehow there was a break in the weather that lasted right until I got off the freeway in home town- best idea ever!

I had troubles keeping my blood sugar regulated this week as well.  If you’ve been following this blog since the beginning (if you have, thank you!) you know I had this problem a few years ago.  It’s been a long time since I bottomed out like that so that was fun.  It happened Thursday and Friday…what gives?!     Last week ended up being more Slacker-ish then I would have liked.

Monday- Rest–  Haha, I wasn’t this sore after my marathon.  This is what happens when you run 13.1 miles under trained.  😛


Tuesday- 4.5 miles  I had a vacation day from work so I was able to enjoy a longer run in the middle of the afternoon.   I really do love those.  My shins were a little sore but I ran it off within a mile or two.   I enjoyed being back on the river path for the first time in months.  Come on spring and time change, where are you??


Wednesday, Thursday, Friday- Rest.    Yeah, that wasn’t planned but that’s what happened.  I actually did some pushups and a plank all of those days but I am not sure those count.   I packed my bag and while it actually left my car but I never changed into my running gear.   Grrr.


Saturday- 7.65 miles  Reality moment run.  We had a break from the rain but it was still cold so I thought an afternoon long run sounded good.   I planned 8 miles where I left my house, ran across town, ending at the high school and hitching a ride with my mother at the end of tennis practice.   I don’t know where I went wrong.  I swear I left my house with plenty of time.    I felt like I was running a steady pace, the bridge mile faster like always.   I was stopped at traffic lights but it didn’t seem like an inordinate amount of time.    I did get distracted on the river trail.  Water!!!!   In all the time I’ve been running that path, there has never been water in the river let alone moving water; I had to stop and admire it for a moment.  Or 2.   Climbing the last big hill I got a text message from my mom asking where I was.  Then I saw the time.  What the hell?!!  Not only was I not going to get in a leisurely 8 miles, I was still well over a 1.5 miles from the school and would have to haul ass just to get there and still be late.  So I tried.  I did…but there was no haul in my legs.  I literally felt like I was running with a stick up my butt.   TMI?  I don’t know if it was because I was cold and my legs felt frozen, maybe I was tired, whatever, I could not move faster.  With 1/2 miles to go I get another text.  “Where are you”.  Again my response is trying.  Her answer is “meet us in front”.  Oh great, so now I get to share my red face, huffing, out of breath, out of shape self who didn’t hit 8 miles with her AND whichever tennis players needed a ride home.  Oh boy.   😞  They caught me at the streetlight.   Yeah, reality check moment.

Sunday- Rest  I woke to the power being out.  Yay.   I was hesitant to run because I wasn’t sure my water heater was 100% gas and the idea of cold run followed by a cold shower followed by a cold house… yeah, umm no.  So I ran some errands then took a nap.  I kept pushing my run back hoping the power would come back on.   Then PG&E called and said that it wouldn’t be back on until Monday.  What?!?  So then it was hitting the store to find flashlights and ice for the freezer while wishing that I hadn’t gone food shopping on Saturday.  Not that I buy much but still.   All this to get close to my house to find the traffic lights back on…ummmm?  So, power was back!   I guess it could have been worse- my neighbors rented a hotel room and had just left to check in when the power came back.

Miles 12.1  Ouch, that’s sad.  That’s like one good long run.   That said, I am on track with the mileage target I set for January so I feel decent with starting training for Livermore and Santa Barbara Wine Country on the 30th.    Also hopefully by then the rain will calm down and I may have an answer on the job front, fingers crossed.    If low numbers get me through January while I face all its other Challenges, so be it.

How was your week?

Anyone else totally unprepared for power outages?

 

Carlsbad Half Marathon Recap

I put this race on my calendar back in November.  Something about it just looked awesome.  Then the December of flu happened and I ran a whopping 14 miles.   Well crap.   I took time off in November intentionally so that meant a long break with very little running.  Well, crap, what now?  Cue freak out.  I seriously debated a DNS but I couldn’t start the year like that right?   Right.


I was doing this but I was under trained, out of shape and freaking out.    I had no idea how this was going to go.   I was too tired to even pull off a flat runner, how about a pile?  😛  The longest run I had done in months was 7 miles.  The farthest I had run in my Sayonara’s was also 7 miles.  This was going to be interesting.    I told my mother I was going to take awhile, how long I wasn’t sure but that she shouldn’t even start looking for me until the 2:30 mark.


Race morning dawned all too early and a little cold while standing around in the corrals.  I knew it would feel good when we started running though.   The race had a wave start and the announcers were upbeat and trying to keep the crowds entertained while we waited.   Which I appreciated until the man introduced corral 4 as the “back of the packers”.  Corral 4 contained the 2:00 hour pace group.   WTH? I was in corral 5 in between the 2:20 and 2:30 pace groups.  His comment did not go over well with the runners around me.  Grrr.

Mile 1- 11:05

The plan was to run the first 2 miles and then go to a run/ walk of 3/1.    Mile 1 had a pretty decent uphill and I was pretty proud of myself for almost running the whole thing until I remembered that I had another 12 miles to go after this and probably shouldn’t flame out after mile 1 just due to stupid pride.  So I forced myself to walk that last part of the hill.


Miles 2-5- 10:30, 11:18, 10:37, 11:17

The course has 2 decent inclines (mile 1 and 7) but otherwise it’s a nice rolling course, which is kind of my jam.   My plan of 3/1 was kind of thrown to the wind and I was just running when it felt good and walking when I needed to.  The views of the ocean to the right were pretty awesome and the village of Carlsbad was pretty cute.  Aid stations were on point and there were surprisingly more people out cheering than I thought.   There were also bands playing music along the way.  I was warming up too but it felt good to be running in a tank top though.

Miles 6-7- 10:49, 11:41

Well crap, I can see that hill coming, sure looks fun.   At least it has a decent downhill leading up to it.     I also had a moment where I mentally checked out.   Not in a bad way but in a nostalgic, spiritual way.  The 15th was my grandmother’s birthday and there was something about the way the sun was peaking through the clouds that gave me pause.  And peace.   Then it was on to the hill… and a fair amount of walking.  Well, until Last Resort by Papa Roach started playing on my phone and then I randomly started bounding down the course.


Miles 8-11- 11:21, 11:22, 11:42, 11:37

Know what I forgot?  Humidity.  Yeah, silly, you’re running next to the ocean, it’s going to be humid.   My lungs let me know they weren’t happy.  Inhaler time!  I was feeling surprisingly ok though.   I was tiring but that was to be expected but I didn’t feel bad.    I knew there weren’t any hills (by my definition, only rollers) ahead and I had a good downhill towards the finish.   I had no idea what my time was, I had my watch face on my intervals.  I just knew that the 2:30 pacer was still behind me.  But they had also started behind me so that didn’t necessarily mean anything.    My 3/1’s had never fully formed and I was still running whatever I felt like.

Miles 12-13- 11:29, 10:45

Damn, my toes were kind of hurting, boo.   Well, it could be worse.  I was so close!  And a downhill was coming!   Just as I was coming up on mile 12 I noticed the 2:30 pacer coming up on my left. No!!!  I bolted.  It helped that we were coming up on the downhill section even if it seemed shorted than I thought.  Alright, I got this, lift and coast.  Weee……Baaaaam!!!    Halfway down the hill, someone came to a complete stop right in front of me. I couldn’t stop, I slammed into them.  How neither of us hit the ground, I have no idea.  I went pinwheeling while colorful words spilled out of my mouth.     We briefly checked on each other before moving on.  I kept running towards the finish.   I ended up taking a walk break not too long later, I felt like I had wrenched my right leg in the collision.  Boo.    I tried to shake it off so I could run it in to the finish.  Except I had to dodge a woman with a giant purse meandering through the course!  What?!   Finally around her and to the finish.

Finish- 2:27:49


Sub 2:30? Where the hell did that come from?!  I mean it’s miles from my PR but it’s also a helluva a lot better than I thought I was going to pull off going into this race.    I know I have a lot of work ahead of me this year but maybe this was the race I needed start the year with.     🙂😀   I can do this.

 

Light It Up

Disclaimer: I received Knuckle Lights 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!

My town has a lack of street lights and sidewalks.  The sidewalks that it does have tend to be very uneven and of abnormal heights.  Seriously- the city was actually sued at one point due to this.   Throw in the occasional mountain lion sighting and cranky dogs and I had plenty of reasons to not run at night.    All of which I embraced wholeheartedly but I really, really dislike the treadmill so something had to change during these dark winter months.   I ventured on one evening run last winter with a flashlight to guide my way.  Not bad but not great.    I tried again this winter.  Again not bad but not great.  Also I kept accidentally hitting the setting for the emergency flash on the flashlight.  Oops.


Enter Knuckle Lights.   These pint size puppies pack a punch!   They come with a charge right out of the box and I was unprepared for how bright they would be.  I saw stars for a few moments after I pointed the first one right at my face.  Oops.    Ok, so they blinded me in close quarters but how would they work on the run?


Freakin’ awesome!  My first time running with them didn’t end in full darkness so while I thought they helped cars see me in the twilight, I didn’t really feel like it was a good test of them.  My next run with them was after work and returning home so in complete darkness.   I geared up and set out for my run.  I was surprised just turning on one of the lights, I felt like I could see everything so much better, what would two do?  Holy crap, the night lit up.  Not only could I see the ground and the bushes and everything around me, I knew cars could see me.  In fact I was worried I might blind an oncoming driver!   Now, granted I haven’t asked one to stop to get their opinion.  😛


In fact I love the lights so much that I did something I thought would never be possible.  I ran after work in work town.   I always considered that route to be off limits in the dark- not anymore!    Now I didn’t go all the way into the state park because I do want to do a daylight check for downed trees thanks to all our recent rain but I got pretty close.  Yay for more running options!!

Now for some technical jargon from the website-

 

  • 2 LIGHTS PER SET: The 2 units are held comfortably on your hands with soft silicone straps. The straps are easily adjusted to fit any size hand and even over gloves. The units connect together magnetically so they can easily be stored when not in use. The units are super lightweight at less than 3 ounces each.
  • 280 TOTAL LUMENS: Each unit is 140 Lumens on high power, so you get a super bright 280 Lumens combined. The LED pattern is a WIDE FLOOD BEAM, so it puts out light in all directions, providing a steady, even light in front of you that does not bounce around, even with your arms moving.
  • 3 POWER SETTINGS: High, Low and Blinking.
  • BATTERY LIFE PER CHARGE: 4 Hours on High Power | 8 Hours on Low Power | 14 Hours on Blinking.

 

There a few things I wish were slightly different-

  • I like to run with pepper spray and have a free hand to grab it.  More often than not, I run with both Knuckle Lights in one hand.  They are super light weight so it’s not noticeable at all.
  • I run with a handheld water bottle so with my desire to keep a hand free for my pepper spray something has to lose and that is my water.  So far all my runs with the lights have been shorter and that has been fine but eventually I will need to figure something else out.
  • The order of the lights- Instead of High*Low*Flash, I wish it was Low*High*Flash.   Now, I have that preference because I start running at twilight or later so it gets darker as I run. I imagine that morning runners like the standard set up because it gets lighter the longer they run.

All in all, I love these little lights and wish I had them sooner.  I can see them lighting the way for my runs for a long time to come.  It almost makes me sad that the days are getting longer again.  Almost.

Want your own Knuckle Lights?  Use code “bibravepro” for 10% off your order.

Do you run in the dark? 

How do you light up your path?