I ended up taking the weekend of from running. It wasn’t the plan but hey, the name fits. On Saturday, I worked then napped then hit the movies to see the new Avengers. Awesome! I planned on running Sunday but I started a spring cleaning project that just grew and snowballed as the day went on. Suddenly it was almost Sunday dinner time and I hadn’t run yet. Oops! In other news, I have way too many pairs of running shorts. And pants.
oh and socks
Monday rolled around and I was looking forward to running. I want to transition to running 3x a week, Monday through Friday as opposed to 2x. So this week is my first attempt. Monday running just seems so hard to me, I don’t know why. I did it a few times during my training cycle but it was usually only because I had other conflicts I couldn’t reschedule. Instead of feeling fresh and ready to run, my legs just felt super heavy. That actually wasn’t horrible. What really irritated me was the wind and the thousands upon thousands of gnats.
It’s hard to get a picture of gnats.
We kind of skipped winter and the warmer weather (then) had brought a gazillion gnats. There are hordes of them around the lake path. I’ve mentioned it before but seriously it’s nasty. I alternate between flailing my arms around my face and blowing air out of my mouth or nose. I refuse to swallow a bug! I also think of the X-Files every single time. Anyone ever see that episode with the loggers in the forest from like first or second season? Where the creepy gnat-like bugs come out of the tree rings and web people in killing them? Blech. I think of that every single time.
Now for the elephant run. I think I’ve posted this before, but what is an elephant run? This is what I call these runs where things just feel off. Not a little off, a whole lot off. Like you feel more like a circus performer flailing about the street than anything remotely resembling a runner. It has nothing to do with pace, sometimes these runs are slow and sometimes they can be speedy. Most often I can hear my feet pounding the pavement and I sound heavy footed. Normally, you can barely hear my feet. I felt like my left ankle was dropping in, my right knee and lower leg felt all off kilter, like they were swinging out. My shorts which I have run in at least 1x a week for the last year suddenly kept trying to turn into underwear. My shirt was riding up under my long sleeved layer. I kept hitting the headphone cord and pulling them loose. I stopped every mile to fix some wardrobe malfunction or another. Oh and the wind! The last two miles were straight into a headwind. Ugh. I think winter’s cousin stopped by for a visit…in May! Temps have been in the 50’s and the wind has been ridiculous for weeks. Yes, everyone back east can shake your head an laugh at me. I have run in pants more in the last month then all winter. Which is a annoying since I just put all my “winter” stuff away. 20-30 mph winds just need to stop. I don’t even like driving in them. 😦
To further add to my elephant running, I crossed paths with another runner on my way back down the hill. I felt like an ungainly mess and was just getting irritated with everything, and here comes this shirtless Adonis running my way making it look effortless. Come on! Actually I have no idea what he looked like. I was running into the sun and he was slightly in the shade. So all I know is that he was male and shirtless. Apparently he wasn’t cold like the rest of us out there. 🙂
They weren’t pretty runs but I got them done. 🙂 That’s what counts right? I took today off since my legs felt so odd yesterday. This 3x during the week is going a little work to get used to.
Ever had an elephant run? Or something of the sort?
Has the urge to spring clean hit you yet?
Is it possible to have too many pairs of shorts? 🙂
On March 30, on doctor’s orders I started the Atkins diet. Yes, I know exactly what you’re thinking- “but, wait, all the yummy carbs!’. Ok, now I want a donut. Anyways, moving on. I may have spent one last weekend indulging in all the things I was about to lose. 🙂 I also bought one of the books, the newer ones- The New Atkins Made Easy. The original book was published back in 2003 and from the free preview I downloaded online, it read more like a science book. I didn’t want or need all that- I didn’t need to be convinced, I was doing this because I was told to.
If you’ve been reading awhile, you’ve seen me talk as nauseuam about my stomach and it’s stupid-ness (gastroparesis). This is not the first time I have been told to limit my carb intake, however this is the most severe it’s been. But as this current flare up has now gone on for almost a year, I made a sad face and told the doc I would do my best.
So in brief- Atkins is a lifestyle change that believes that a lower carb intake will help weight loss and help with some recurring or long term conditions. This is where my doc comes in. He suggested it, so I figured I would give it a shot.
Atkins has 4 phases-
Phase 1- Induction- 20g carbs
Phase 2- Ongoing Weight Loss- 25g-50g- for some people higher
Phase 3- Pre-maintenance 60-70g
Phase 4-Lifetime Maintenance 80-100g
For perspective- the normal recommended intake for carbs is 180-300g.
At each phase, you can add in more foods that were previously restricted. Like fruit and some starchy vegetables among other things. Now Atkins is primarily geared towards weight loss, I didn’t really care about that so I started at the higher end of phase 2. Now I won’t complain about weight loss if it happens but that is not the end goal here. My goal was to aim for an average of 40-50g per day allowing 2 cheat meals a week that should not send my daily limit over 100. If I stuck to that, my weekly average would be around 64g of carbs. Why cheat meals? Because Pizza. I cut way back on the pizza intake but I am not cutting it out completely.
That’s real food, maybe I can do this
I read the whole book but was slow in finishing it so sometimes I was a little misinformed. Like the time I was so proud during family dinner because I substituted broccoli for the pasta in Spaghetti. Too bad I didn’t realize that the sauce could hide a ton of carbs! Oops. It took me a while to join the website. But since it actually confuses me that’s not such a bad thing. I downloaded the app but really just stick to the Lose It app for keeping track of daily carb intake. I also decided to keep some notes about this little experiment was going.
Week 1-
Didn’t do the best grocery shopping, snacking is kind of hard. Also dinner is hard but not as hard as I thought it would be. I had a moderate headache for the first few days. Running felt hard but doable, so I just tried to take it easy. I was so tired, I had thought about cutting back on soda this week too but there is no way I would have made it through the week. It kept me from becoming a crazy person. I think I figured out how to eat out most everywhere except Mexican food. Friday night was an accidental/ intentional cheat at Taco Bell. I am usually not a fan but they had a new item that was pretty good but super carb heavy. Oops! In plus news, I dropped 5 pounds in 4 days. Not the point of this whole experiment but interesting none the less.
Weekly Average- 72g- not too bad
I can add salt, sweet!
Week 2-
Started off so much better. I did a better grocery shopping the prior weekend so I felt more prepared. Monday and Tuesday were great, on track counting wise. Wednesday evening was my first weekly cheat meal but that was fine. What was not fine was the cheating on Thursday evening, Friday evening, all Saturday and Sunday lunch. Umm, yeah that was bad. So bad. I still had a headache most of the week but stomach wise I felt ok. I learned that if Lay’s are in the house, I have zero self control. But on the upside, I pulled off Thursday’s 11 miles on only 15g of carbs. This was the longest run since the dietary changes took places. Until this I wasn’t sure I could pull this off, let alone at the pace I did.
Weekly average- 106-going the wrong direction
Week 3-
Started the week out well, fell apart by Thursday. Why do I have such problems later in the week? I do feel like I feel better when I restrict more but it’s hard. I really want some damn potato chips. My mother asked if feeling better was all in my head and I said well that would work too. 🙂
Weekly Average- 90g
Week 4-
SLO race week. This was a problem. I felt conflicted between following the new plan vs the common consensus of carb loading prior to a race. I couldn’t decide what would be better. In the end I consumed more carbs than the past few weeks and it was not a good idea.
Weekly Average- 130g– Ouch
So that was month one. Even knowing that I need to buckle down and really commit to this to see if it helps, week 1 of month two has been a failure. I do fine while at work. I have actually started eating breakfasts again, I figured out snacks and I look forward to my lunches. I figured out how to eat at most of the restaurants I frequent. Even pizza, replaced a large pizza and bread sticks to share with a medium pizza and a salad to share.
This is awesome, have no idea where it came from but I want it.
I start each week with resolve but stumble hard by the end. Last week, cookie Friday proved too much temptation. I hadn’t really had many since Christmas but Friday I ate way too many. Ugh. I think the diet is helping but it’s hard to tell since I have no follow through by the week end. I have a little less than 2 months before I go back to the doctor, so I really want to try and stick to it to see how it goes. Plus I don’t have a half until mid July at the earliest, so now would be the time to figure this out. Beside the other alternative is some heavy duty antibiotics that will break the bank if my insurance doesn’t always kick in like they have warned me. Expensive like the cash price could be a down payment on a car. 😦 So Atkins and I need a little more time together. 🙂
I wish that my miles were higher but with the dietary changes during the month, I am still pretty happy with that number. The first couple of weeks were a little rough. A full post on what changes I made… or was supposed to make will be up this weekend. I still feel proud of how I handled everything thrown at me during me SLO. I feel like using an actual training plan and following through 85% of the time gave me the confidence I needed in myself. The last half of last year kind of kicked my pride and confidence in the gut. I know I can and will break 2 and when it happens, it happens. 🙂 Plus those hills at SLO didn’t seem very big this year. 🙂
My body seems confused this week. SLO was my last big race for a while and though it’s only been a few days, I feel a little lost. I am sure the Slacker in me will kick in sooner or later and embrace the laziness but this week I just wanted to run. Monday, I was sore from the fall. My legs felt great after the race but my knees hurt and I suddenly knew how hard I had landed on my right shoulder so I rested. I had Monday and Tuesday off and I indulged by being lazy. On Tuesday, I set out for a slow recovery jog. Ha ha! 3.5 miles in 47:51. It was in the high 80’s and I loved it. I wore my new Wave Inspires since I am still trying to break them in. I just can’t, I’ve never met a pair of Mizuno’s that I didn’t like but these are leaning towards hate. They still feel huge and I can feel the insole on the inside of my right foot. I’ve tried moving it around but no luck so far. A coworker described it perfectly- it’s like when you are wearing boots and short socks and your sock keeps slipping down inside the shoe. I finally just gave up and walked most of it. I figured I didn’t make it through 4 months of training and 5 races to hurt myself on a short recovery jog. I am planning on trying the shoes one more time but I am afraid that we may have to break up. 😦
Today’s run was a farce. My head is in the game but my body is not. I did one lap of the lake. One lap. 1.2 miles. And the Garmin registered it short so it doesn’t even show as that long. My mother called part way through the lap asking if I wanted to meet her and a tennis player at Chipotle. It didn’t take too much convincing. So, that brought me to 79.3 miles for the month. Yes, a tiny part of me considered running up and down my driveway to hit 80 but I didn’t.
On to May. I have decided to pass on one of the 10k’s but I would like to up my training. I want to bring my base mileage up so that I when I start training for fall races, I feel stronger. Also with temps hitting the 90’s again, I would like to transition to running 3x a week after work and a long run on the weekends. That would mean a little less heat and sun exposure, plus an entire weekend day off. That sounds kind of nice. 🙂 Or who knows, this could be the start of me transitioning to running 5x a week. Ok, let’s not get that crazy yet… I’m still a Slacker. I also want to get back out on the trails, I miss them. I should also add cross training. Or at least try.
Oh and I finally figured out what to do with my medals!! –Non running goals for May are a little up in the air. I would like to read more, and hang out with friends. There are some movie nights coming up too. I need to focus on the diet a little more as well. And I really need to start that project for the craft swap I signed up for. Oops!! Running may also turn into stress relief because work is about get insane for a month or two.
How was your April? Goals/ plans for May?
Anyone racing this weekend?
Ever been unable to break in a pair of shoes? Any suggestions?
I ain’t even mad, bro.😀. Actually my new motto might be “just hang on”. But before we get into that, let’s talk about the expo real quick.
The Expo-
Expo haul- love the ambassador shirts this year!
Saturday dawned rainy and windy. Those running the 5k ran in the rain. The rain had cleared by the time I arrived to pick up my packet and attend the ambassador meet and greet. Picking up my packet was super easy and I wandered around the expo before heading out to the meet. I was there less than 10 minutes before I spent money at the Lorna Jane booth. Oops, but since that was the only thing I bought, I think I showed restraint!
raceSLO Ambassadors!!
The meet up was outside and it was so damn windy, I thought we were going to blow away. It was nice catching up with the repeat ambassadors from last year and meeting the new ones. A few of them I had been trying to meet since the Ventura half. It was so windy and cold that after chatting, getting our shirts and taking some pics, we all scattered to do our own thing. I headed home to rest a bit and figure out food. I had been having a mental struggle all week, going back and forth between following my new diet rules or following conventional running wisdom. Spoiler- I chose wrong.
Flat Slacker
The Race-
Sunday was supposed to dawn cold and windy, so I tried to prepare for that. I didn’t feel like I got enough sleep and my stomach was cranky but neither of those are new things on race morning so I didn’t pay too much attention. My mom was dropping me off so I didn’t have to catch the 4am bus to the start. I got to the start with 15 minutes to spare so I figured I would hit the port-a-potty line just to be sure. The lines were huge. By the time I got out of there, they had moved the corrals up to the start line, oops.
Miles 1-5- 9:25, 9:14, 9:20, 9:36, 8:31
The whistle blew and we were off- sort of. I ended up starting behind the 2:45 pacer. Rutro. My fault but the first mile and a half were spent bobbing and weaving. I dropped the 2:45, 2:30, and 2:15 pace groups when I decided I just needed to run my own race and not worry about catching the 2:00 pace group. In one way it was freeing not having to worry about keeping them in sight. It meant I had to pace myself and while I knew breaking 2:00 was unlikely, I was feeling strong and thought I could PR- sub 2:05.
We hit the first of the long hills and I still felt good going up. Last year at this time I was already sucking air and tiring out. Thanks to all the weaving I did at the start, my Garmin and the mile markers didn’t match so I just checked my total time at each of the course markers. I was feeling pretty good as we the flat section before turning up another long climb.
Miles 6-8- 9:36, 11:25, 9:29
About a 1/4 mile into 6, my stomach started to make itself known. I began to wonder if I was going to have an issue. But wasn’t even the biggest thing to happen that mile. Maybe it’s because I was focused intently on telling myself I was fine and not paying attention to much else, but the next thing I knew, I was airborne.
It’s still kind of blur but I remember hitting the ground and rolling. My water bottle ended up about 10 feet down the course. WTF?! About 5 different runners stopped their race to come help me. Some helped me up while one chased down my bottle. A bike medic was there in seconds. I was kind of in shock/ denial, so I honestly don’t remember if I thanked all of them. I posted a big shout out to them on my Facebook page but I feel bad if I didn’t say it right then. 😔 I assured the medic I was ok and kept running. It was few yards later that it all set in and then I was trying to talk myself out of hyperventilating myself into an asthma attack.
Eventually I calmed down and I was still on track to PR. Halfway through mile 6, my stomach let me know that I needed a bathroom and I needed it now. There were no bathrooms at that point. I had to start walking because it was either walk or embarrass myself. I walked the rest of 7 just taking deep breaths. I felt a little better by the turn around so I picked up the pace. I said goodbye to the PR hope but knew I could still beat last years course time even with the fall and the walking. At mile 8, I was 4 minutes ahead of a last year.
Miles 9-11- 13:01, 9:48, 9:54
Around 8.5, my stomach reared again. I was near an aid station so I looked for bathrooms. I finally found them off to side and back away and bolted for them. Not sure if I looked urgent or if he did this the whole race but there was a volunteer who directed me to which port-a-potty was open. Thank you!
After that snafu, I was back running but had slowed a bit. Shockingly enough I was still on track to beat last year’s time. I just had to stay under a 10:00 pace the last few miles. My legs felt strong; bruised and bleeding but strong. My mental game still felt on point as well. Despite the morning so far, I wasn’t defeated and I wasn’t giving up. We had a nice decline portion before we went from the roads to the railroad trail. I knew there was the suspension bridge and a few streets left before the finish line and I was still hopeful.
Miles 12-13.1- 10:37, 12:49, 2:17
Mile 12 slowed some towards the end thanks to my stomach again but I thought if I could a 9:00 for the last mile and sprint the .1, I could still pull this off. I shouldn’t have gotten cocky. My stomach threw a fit in the last mile. Why are there no bathrooms at mile 12.5?! Ha! There were 2 times I had to get myself completely off the road, out of the way and just stand still, focusing on deep breathing and calming my stomach. My fastest pace was now a jog but I was mostly walking.
It felt like more than 100 people passed me in that last mile. Including the 2:15 pace group. The last .25 mile is a paved path that goes around the pavilion at the Madonna Inn and I had been looking forward to sprinting it. I walked 90% of it before jogging across the finish line. Half marathon#12 done.
Finish- 2:15:07
Where I wanted to sprint
Once I crossed the finish line and got my medal- which I feel like I fought for!- I was looking for a bathroom. I had wanted a finishers picture but the line had about 50 people in it and that was just not going to happen. I also should have stopped at the medical tent but I had other priorities. Plus, my arm warmers had done a pretty good job of drying the blood.
Oops. But my socks were on point!
My mother found me fairly quickly and we headed for the back of the pavilion where the port-a-potties and UPS trucks (bag check) were. After that, I made it as far as the grass by the trucks and just tried to calm my rolling stomach. I wanted to try to find some of the ambassadors and see how they did but was just not up to moving. I had eaten nothing and had drank very little throughout the race as I knew my stomach was just not up to it. I let myself have a bit of the chocolate strawberry protein smoothie that Jamba Juice made for the finishers. It tasted like a Frosty. 🙂 We ended up leaving not long after that, I was feeling rough again and couldn’t handle another port-a-potty, so we headed to the McDonald’s down the street. Real bathrooms and I got an ice-cold Diet Coke. Oh the magical healing properties. 🙂
Half smile/ half grimace
Like I said at the beginning, I am not mad or even sad. There were quite a few times throughout the race where I could have said screw it and bailed or phoned it in (see Ventura) but I knew I was stronger than that. My legs were feeling fresh, tumble not withstanding, my head was in the game and I was determined. I think that’s one thing that came out of my McMillan training plan that I wasn’t anticipating- the confidence. I knew I could I do it, and I still honestly believe that if it hadn’t been for my stupid stomach, I would have PR’d, hills, fall, headwind and all. Yes, the wind had picked up and was pretty bad but by that point it was the least of my concerns. 🙂 So with everything that race morning threw at me, I am damn proud of that 2:15.I love this race. I love the course and the crowds. The expo is still my favorite and the volunteers and staff are amazing. Seriously, I think the bike medic was there before I stopped rolling. I am already looking forward to next year.
Ever fallen while running? This was my first time.
It’s race week!!!! I hit 2 out of 3 planned workouts, that’s a good thing right?
My training plan called for actual workouts this week so that was new. Usually I embrace taper for all its worth and run lazily once or twice leading up to the race. However the plan wanted 2 easy runs and 1 interval or fartlek workout. Hmmm, ok. I headed out Tuesday and marked off my easy run. It was one of those runs that wasn’t awesome but didn’t suck so it was just meh. My one complaint was the wind. I am so over the wind. It has been windy here for two weeks- it’s never windy around here. It just makes things so much colder.
My stomach was feeling pissy, so I pushed Wednesday’s speed work to Thursday. Yay, more wind…and I ran in a tank top. I was so cold but this was also intentional. The forecast calls for rain on Saturday and wind on Sunday so I figured I may as well get used to it. Plus I was testing out a new shirt. Can’t find out where it chafes if it’s covered up. But I was the only loony out there in a tank. Everyone else was bundled up, jackets, gloves, scarves and hats. Yes, we Cali people hate the cold.
I didn’t really want to think about intervals so after a warm up, I decide to run a few fartleks. I forgot to even look at my watch for the first one so I wasn’t sure what time or mileage I started at- oops! Oddly enough, all of my fartleks ended up being of similar distance, time and pace without too much planning on my part. I called it at 3.5 miles though, I just couldn’t take the wind any longer. I may be rethinking my race day outfit to include some more layers.
The best part of Thursday’s run was the lake cat. For a lot of my runs at the lake, I often see a gray and white cat roaming the back of the lake. I am pretty sure I know which house he comes from but I have always worried that something might happen to him. Quite a few cars drive that road and don’t always pay attention. Plus there are lots of people and more than a few dogs, some dogs off the leash. The last time I saw the lake cat was that run that ended in horrible stomach pain. That was in March. I’ve been looking for him every time I have run there since but no luck. Until Thursday. I rounded a curve on the backside of the lake and there he was. I actually yelled “kitty” out loud. I had to stop and visit, so that was the end of my first fartlek. 🙂 I was so glad to see him.Which made me feel even worse when I got home to find that I had once again traumatized my cat. 😦 After I come home, I usually carry my purse, gym bag, lunch bag, shoes etc into the house to put away. Kimi would come to meet me and walk around my legs. One day I was carrying too much and dropped my boots…they landed on her. It’s been over 2 years and she still bolts if she sees me pick up a pair of boots. Other shoes are fine but boots and she bolts. Now she runs from me if I am holding her yellow food dish too. 😦
The other cat had to go on a diet, so I’ve had a bowl of the normal food for her stashed in the bedroom. The other evening, I went to get it out of a drawer and turned as she was running in. In my defense, she jumped headfirst into the bowl but now she bolts from the room and hides around the corner. Waah, I feel so bad!
I took a few days off around SLO- so today was a lovely vacation day. I planned on getting in my last run but I took a nap instead. 🙂 I tried to work on a new playlist and get this post up sooner but somehow the day ran away from me. I did meet a friend at the movies this evening. We went and saw The Longest Ride. I am not a fan of the books, but somehow we always end up going to the movies. She and I crack jokes that we are the only who can stand them. It was pretty good, not great but good, and luckily not as destructive as his movies tend to be. Which was fine by me since Grey’s Anatomy was rough enough last night. Now I should probably go to bed, I have an expo to go to tomorrow! 🙂
I felt like my left ankle was dropping in, my right knee and lower leg felt all off kilter, like they were swinging out. My shorts which I have run in at least 1x a week for the last year suddenly kept trying to turn into underwear. My shirt was riding up under my long sleeved layer. I kept hitting the headphone cord and pulling them loose. I stopped every mile to fix some wardrobe malfunction or another. Oh and the wind! The last two miles were straight into a headwind. Ugh. I think winter’s cousin stopped by for a visit…in May! Temps have been in the 50’s and the wind has been ridiculous for weeks. Yes, everyone back east can shake your head an laugh at me. I have run in pants more in the last month then all winter. Which is a annoying since I just put all my “winter” stuff away. 20-30 mph winds just need to stop. I don’t even like driving in them. 😦
Slacker Runner 