Category: Run!

Week 41 Training Recap

Training for:

City to the Sea 13.1 ✅
Harvest Marathon 13.1
Golden Gate Half

I wish I could I could be all sunshine and daisy’s about last week but I can’t. I am looking really hard for the shiny because I know it’s there somewhere. It has to be.

Work has been stressful, we are still down an employee and haven’t been able to replace them yet. Also, the shift back to being an hourly employee is affecting me more than I thought it would but I’ll keep trucking along.

My sleep is still crap. I used to be the type person who while being a night owl, once asleep I was dead to the world. Seriously, you could throw things at me and I would sleep through it. I would fall asleep in one position and stay that way all night. Lately I can’t fall asleep and when I do I wake up repeatedly and I toss and turn. Toss and turn to the point that my quilt and top sheet are usually on the floor in the morning. 😞 This weekend I went shopping for new pillows and I’ve ordered some essential oils to see if they help. Fingers crossed!

Loss. I was somehow lucky enough to get this far in life without having to deal with loss often. This year has been different and last week was more bad news. I really need to work on being less of stress eater.

Monday- 2 miles This was supposed to be a rest day but with all weekend off due to my stupid leg, I wanted get in a few test miles. We got out of work late so by the time I made to home town I was racing the dying daylight. 2 miles is what I was able to fit in. I was a little achy but nothing hurt more than that.

Tuesday- Rest. Something came up and I didn’t get off work until almost 7. I didn’t even attempt to run that day.

Wednesday- Rest 2 days off in a row seemed like a good idea. Plus it fit perfectly in my training plan from Ekiden Coaching. 😛

Thursday- 3.5 miles Another chance to test the leg and see if I would be racing this weekend. The plan called for 5 x400 but I knew I wasn’t getting up to 5k pace. I stuck to the 400’s but kept them around a 9:30 pace and walked the recoveries. My calves were super tight per usual and I stopped at one point to completely re-lace both Hoka’s but other than that it was ok. I realized that I will be on the treadmill much sooner than I would like though. It is getting dark so fast!

seawinner

Friday- Rough day. But I did win my entry in City to Sea from a Facebook contest so there’s that right?! Thank you to everyone I badgered into voting for me! I registered for Sunday’s race on Friday morning.

Saturday- Rest day. Went to SLO for packet pickup and wandered around doing some shopping. Shopping and food make great distractions from life right? The race shirt was tiny, like Stitch size tiny.

Sunday- City to the Sea 13.1 To be continued…😛
How was your week?

Have any sleeping tips for me?

Weekly Musings

It’s Friday!! And I have a 3 day weekend. I can’t wait. Sleep has not been my friend these past few weeks.

I’ve been in a weird non chatty mood this week. My last post was Monday! 😔 I am not sure what put me into a little funk but I am working my through it. Donuts were involved on Thursday. Apparently we were all feeling it, the clock hit 10 AM, we looked at each other and said donuts.

I wore my amazing new socks!!!!

I have a race this weekend! I think. Truth- I haven’t registered yet. Oops!! I always procrastinate but this time might be the most extreme. Part of it was due to my leg and it’s achiness. Part of it was due to a late giveaway I entered. Fingers crossed!

That said, I am nervous for it. But mostly about my shoes. I’ve been wearing the Hoka’s and while they don’t suck, I’ve never gone past 6 miles in them. Yikes!!! I have almost 30 miles on them but I am nervous.

It’s almost blanket weather! Almost. I love curling up under a good blanket. Nights are finally in the 40’s out here. There are still 90+ degree days in the forecast but we’re getting closer to fall like weather. 😛

I did get some short miles this week. Overall my leg felt ok. Saw a pretty great sunset too-

I have not had pizza or bought a bag of chips this week. Who am I?? 🍕 Can I make it through cookie Friday????

Hmmm, I thought I had more to share but nothing’s coming to me right now. Oops. And why does the iPhone want you to use 🙊 instead of oops? Silly auto predict.

What are you doing this weekend?

How late have you ever registered for a race?

Share something random!

Week 40 Training Recap/ September Wrap

3/4 of the year is done! Woah. Already my Facebook feed is full of countdowns to Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Knock it off people!!

Anyways, last week’s training started out great, maintained for most of the week then hit a big roadblock by the weekend. One I am still trying to figure out. Combine that with a truly craptacular week in sleeping and this one was a little rough. Seriously, each night averaged around 6 hours. 😕

Monday- Rest– I somehow got used to running on Monday’s and now resting on those days feels odd. However I was so abnormally sore to the point of painful after Sunday’s races that I embraced it. Plus the temps were in the triple digits everywhere so why put myself through that?

Tuesday- 4.2 miles– I was still sore so I opted for the lower end of what coach suggested. I kept the pace nice and easy and walked whenever my leg felt odd. To avoid most of the heat, I ran in work town. I really wish there was more trail through the eucalyptus grove. That said, it was a decent run and I managed to negative split, which considering it’s an out and back with the first 2 miles down hill is pretty sweet.

Wednesday- 3.75 miles. Float like a butterfly, pant like a dog. Speed work!

Thursday- 3.5 miles. Recovery run. In retrospect, maybe I should have just gotten on the bike and moved my legs that way. I was really trying to stick to the plan though. I crawled. My legs were not happy even attempting to run. I iced and rolled and stretched that night but I had a feeling it wasn’t enough.

Friday- Rest- Ouch. My left leg was pissed. I felt twinges anytime I moved. Which brought me to a very cranky conclusion-

Saturday- ~~5K race~~– Yeah, nope. I had planned on running the inaugural Run the Runways out at the airport but I realized there was no way my leg was up to it. I knew I would get out there and likely do something stupid. I did 15 minutes on the bike though. Work is attempting the Tone It Up challenge for October, I looked at the daily exercises but they all required more leg work then I was willing to do, so fail day 1.😢

Sunday-~~9-10 mile long run~~– 30 minutes bike Another one bites the dust. I woke up with a headache, tried getting up to run but no. Figured I would go out for a few in the afternoon and slept some more. Afternoon rolled around and my leg was not happy. I was trying to determine if it really hurt or if I was trying to be lazy and not feel guilty about it. I hopped on the bike for a very slow ride for 30 minutes. Judging but how my leg felt while riding, I made the right choice not running. Boo.

So now, I am in limbo. I have a half marathon on Sunday and I am hesitant about it. Plus side is that I haven’t registered for it yet. Downside- it’s one of my favorites. So this coming week will be interesting.

Since last week saw the end of September, I added up my mileage- 75.85. Not too bad. Not where I had hoped I would be but it is what it is and now it is time to focus on October. Which hopefully means that the high 90’s and triple digit weather is gone. Fingers crossed!

How was your week? September?

Any plans for October?

1/4 Mile At a Time

Image result for 1/4 mile at a time memes

Or in my case I die 1/4 mile at a time. 😛

In my phone call with Coach Jenny with Ekiden last week we discussed the partial training schedule she had for me. She had intervals scheduled for this Wednesday. Sweet! I love intervals even though I know I do them wrong. Run like hell than slow jog (walk) for a bit? I’m all over that. Except I noticed the plan doesn’t say recovery. It said float.

Wait a second- what the hell is FLOAT?!

So I asked. Float is less of a recovery and more of a push. Instead of a recovery pace, you run closer to tempo pace. The logic behind it is two fold. One is that you get used to running the intervals on tired legs without a full recovery. Second is that your tempo pace should feel a little more comfortable post speedy interval. Ok, makes sense. Sounds intense but makes sense.

But could I do it?

Well, kind of. I headed to the lake path on Wednesday since I knew I would need flat and easy for this. My legs have been achy so I even had compression socks on for a shorter run. I had programmed 5 intervals into my phone but had a feeling I would only be completing 4. Yep. 😛

After a 1.25 mile warmup, I hit the first 400. 8:03 pace, yes! First float? 9:08 pace. Sweet! But I felt like was going to lose my cookies. Could I keep doing this?

Pace
Set 2- 7:50     9:16
Set 3- 7:48     10:49
Set 4- 7:50     10:37

So my speed intervals sped up but my float intervals slowed down. That crap was hard! There were a few times I came to a complete stop just panting. Granted those times were also to avoid being hit by a car or a kid on a motorized mini motorcycle thing but I milked them for all they were worth!

I cooled down with another mile but man I was toast. I felt pretty good but out of shape at the same time. It’s frustrating but it is what it is right now. It gives me something to work on, right? Or whine about. 😛

Do you like speed work?

Ever heard of a float interval?

Happy Friday!!!! What are you doing this weekend?

2016 HOB Fun Run 10k/5k

Woo hoo! First race(s) since the marathon! And it was one of my favorites. 🙂

I think I’ve talked enough about the logistics of this race over the years, even recently with my origin story. But if you’re looking for those details you can check out my reviews over on bibrave.com. Funny thing- a coworker called me today and asked if I had ever googled HOB Fun Run and clicked on images. No, why? So I did it. Holy crap, the images are either of me or taken by me. WTH?! And man, I change my hair color a lot. 😛

Race morning dawned early and of course my stomach was being an asshat. Lovely. I didn’t get to the start as early as I wanted. I had planned on attempting a warm up but was only able to get in a few blocks of walking. I stashed my shirt for the 5K at the refreshment table and lined up at the start.

10K

Loop 1- Miles 1-3 – 9:25, 9:54, 10:08

The plan had been to try and get as close to goal half marathon pace as possible but I knew from the moment I woke up that wasn’t likely. Mile 1 was my quickest of the race. My legs felt ok but I was feeling really sluggish and couldn’t seem to find another gear. Mile 2 was more of the same but I just kept running. I was hoping I just needed some time to warm up and would pick up the pace soon. Around mile 2.25 something felt weird on my left foot. I looked down and my shoelace was completely untied and flapping around. Huh?! I think my shoes have only come untied one other time…ever. I pulled to the side to retie but seemed to have lost all motor skills- it took forever! As I was coming up on mile 3 towards the start line I could hear the motorcycle police officer coming up behind me. Which meant I was about to get lapped by the race leaders. Yay. So they ran a 10K faster that I completed the 3.1 miles of loop one. Ouch. Loop one- 30:25 minutes.

10k-race-133 — Part of me wants to burn this picture source

Loop 2- miles 4-6- 10:24, 10:08, 10:21

I was getting more and more sluggish as I ran. The skies were clear and the smoke has been gone for a while but my lungs were not happy at all. Walk breaks became a real thing and I used my inhaler a few times. A woman came up behind me just before mile 4 and asked if I was ok- I was coughing a bit and she saw me pull out my inhaler. We ended up leap frogging each other the rest of the way. We chatted a bit occasionally too. She was from out of town and had registered the day before when she saw the booth in the park. I said something about how it just wasn’t my day out there and things were rougher than they should have been. I whined. I later felt like an asshat when I overheard her on the phone saying it was one of her best races. And I was whining the whole time- I’m sorry!!! I hit mile 5 around 50 minutes and wondered if I could push the pace to finish under 1 hour. Yeah no.

Finish- 1:02:55

Not the race I had hoped for but it was what I expected in those rare moments that I am realistic with myself. 😛 I missed the group photo opp so I grabbed my other shirt and then hauled ass to my car. I changed my shirt and my shoes. The last 2 miles of the 10k in my Nikes felt like my feet were on fire. Luckily I had the Hoka’s in my car.

Cool thing about this race is that a lot of kids run, bike or scoot with their parents. It’s just an accepted part of the race and there’s never any talk about bandits, which is cool since I ran with 2 coworkers and 2 kids. 🙂 One coworker brought her 2 kids and they were going to ride their scooters with us. I’ve learned that running with kids is more like fartlek training. 😛 Run!!!!!! Walk. Run!!!!!! Walk. Water! It was kind of awesome. And major props to my coworker- she was hauling a backpack with water and at one point was carrying both scooters. Moms rock! About halfway, her son (5) started fading and her daughter(7) started pulling ahead. I caught up with her and from then on we were in two teams. I did whatever she wanted to do and I learned that I should hang out 7 year olds more- she was awesome. At one point she asked why she could smell donuts. I told her we were passing the donut shop and pointed it out. Her response? “Oh, come on!”. I busted up laughing and for the next few blocks we talked about food. 🙂 She tired of the scooter so I started carrying it. It took me a few minutes to figure it out, luckily I only bruised one shin. I asked her is she wanted to wait for her mom and brother to catch up and she said no so we bolted to the finish.

45:17

All in all, was a good day and a fun one. I look forward to next year’s race.