Category: Slacker

A long week and a rough run

Quick recap of the week so far-

Monday– 2.5 miles
Tuesday– Kettle bell workout
Wednesday– 4.5 painful miles
Thursday –Rest- Business mixer-exercising my lack of skill at small talk (and another power nap)
Friday-11 slow miles
Saturday– 4 mile recovery walk- with the puppy!

How can a 30 minute workout DVD cause so much pain? I followed through like planned and completed the kettle bell workout on Tuesday. I felt pretty good when I was done, but the next morning I was super stiff. It was awkward just getting out of bed. My thighs and hamstrings were so sore. I also wore taller wedge heels than usual all day at work Wednesday. My run let me know just angry my legs were with me. My hamstrings were pissed. That lovely achilles issue from February’s race made a reappearance as well. I decided to run that new route from last week again and I hoped my legs would warm up. Yeah, not so much. I took quite a few walk breaks and even stopped to stretch out twice. Even though it felt miserable, I went a slightly different route to get 4.5 miles in. Overall the pace was good for an easy run; my legs were just super cranky. I didn’t feel injured just super sore.

Luckily, thanks to a business mixer, I had a great reason for Thursday to be a rest day. The mixer was at an Inn that I admit I never knew existed before but it’s actually super cute. It’s in a 100 year old house with pretty grounds. We were lucky enough to get a tour. Which was doubly good because it was less time that I had to think of decent small talk. Parking was tight so we parked at church and were driven to the Inn by trolley. That was fun, I hadn’t been on a trolley since high school. However my legs were still sore and climbing on it in heels and a dress was a little problematic. 🙂

I volunteered to work on Saturday for someone so that meant I was able to go in later on Friday. For some reason I was not feeling the idea of my long run this weekend. I needed to get in 10-11 miles but the idea of running that on Saturday or Sunday just seemed unlikely. I don’t know why. Since I was going in late Friday I figured I would run it Friday morning. When I went to sleep Thursday night I was looking forward to my run the next morning. After another night of less than stellar sleep and some stomach issues, I ended up trying to sleep for an extra hour before heading out for 6 miles. I started out slow making sure I wasn’t going to be sick again but I never got into gear. I felt like I was crawling and I walked way too much. It was also hot! I checked the weather before I left and it said 59. It lied. It was off by at least 20. Sweat and sunblock were dripping in my eyes. It was the kind of run that makes you wonder why you do it, ugh. Friday happens to be scale day, so just for kicks I re-weighed myself after my run. I lost 3 lbs. on a 6 mile run, oops. I even ran with more water than usual. Never trusting that app again.

So what does a crazy person do when they have a horrible, no good run that falls short of their mileage goal? They go to work, make it home by 7, change and get back out there. This time I used the same method I did last Sunday and met up with my mom and the puppy every mile or so. My overall pace was even slower than the craptastic run but I was ok with that this time. 5 more miles done to bring the total to 11. Long, slow run done before the weekend, sweet!

Today, I covered a different location than usual so I had a shorter commute. Awesome! I met my mother for lunch at a local burger place. I was planning on taking it easy today, so I indulged with a tri tip sandwich, so yummy. After a trip to Target and another power nap (I picked up some Epsom salt at Target I will be trying soon) I ended up heading out for a walk with my mom and the puppy. My mom wanted to check out the newer-to-me path. She really liked it and so did Zoey. Zoey was very intrigued by the horses across the street at one point. It was a good 4 miles, the pace has really picked up with the puppy. We were just under 15:00 per mile tonight. And that includes her stops to shove her nose in whatever plant smells interesting. I still don’t think she will ever be a runner though.

Work is done, all my errands are done, so other than some lovely chores tomorrow -can we still call them chores as adults?- I am hoping to have a relaxing day. I should complete the yoga DVD again but we’ll see how it goes. I have stuck to my plan so far and only taken 2 rest days since June 1st. But does a DVD really count?

How was your Saturday?

Anyone race today? Or racing tomorrow?

A Little Truth

Since I joined the blogging world almost a year ago, I’ve that there are some thematic posts out there. Like What I Ate Wednesday, which I don’t understand. I mean I get the premise behind it but most everyone posts in the morning. So is it really “What I’ve been eating lately and I saved up the pics for Wednesday”? I will probably never do this post because I pretty much eat the same thing every dang day thanks to my lovely slow stomach and there’s no need to bore anyone else with that. I’m bored with that. I do post pics of pizza though, because, well, pizza rocks. 🙂

Another theme is confessions. I feel I’m pretty open and honest about things anyways. I’ve always said own your faults. Plus I’m pretty boring… and weird. 🙂 I won’t go as far to say that I am a stick in the mud but I am very set in my ways. My mother can’t stand it. But all that leads to this-

I have 2 little facts about me to share tonight-

I have never driven farther than 45 minutes for a race, at least not one I was running in. I did drive NikeC to Huntington Beach for Surf City a a few years ago. Does that count?
I have never booked a hotel room. I can’t even remember the last time I stayed in one. I am over 30.

Why do these matter? Other than I never get out apparently? This is happening –

13.1 Here I come! source — 13.1 Here I come!
source

Ok so, this race is not super far away so hypothetically I could have driven down super early on race morning. My mother even offered to drive so I could sleep on the way. However, I am too neurotic for that. What if there was traffic? So, instead we are making a weekend of it. I am trying to talk ML into it but no luck yet.

Now, naive little me thought that I didn’t have to worry about the hotel part until later. But I was bored some night last week, so I played around online. Why are there so many booking websites? I couldn’t remember which one I was using half the time. I think I may have mentioned before that I have germophobe tendencies, so I was trying to find what looked to be the nicest hotel that wouldn’t break the bank. The first 5 I checked were all booked. Umm, what? Crap, I better get on this. After lots of searching and talking to people who “kind of” know the area, I chose one and booked. Fingers crossed it doesn’t scar me for life. I am still trying to figure out how to do Rock N Roll- Las Vegas this year. That would definitely need a hotel. Whoever said running was cheap was crazy.

A bonus for this race? It’s primarily flat. Holy crap, I may have a shot at finally breaking 2 hours! I don’t see that happening in 3 weeks with all the dune sand; not that it won’t be fun. 🙂 The Ventura Marathon actually has a few perks that I think are cool. They have the option to defer to 2015 if needed and offer race day pick up for a fee. I haven’t seen deferment in a smaller race. I felt a little more confident registering early. I am usually a last minute registrant. Now I am torn between wanting it to be September now and wanting time to slow down. How is it almost July?!

Happy hump day!

What did you think of my little truths? How weird am I?

Any interesting facts you want to share?

Sleepy and Slow

After waking from my third power nap of the week on Saturday afternoon, I realized that my planned 10 miler on Sunday might not be the best idea. Sleep was not my friend then and it still is not now. Saturday wasn’t even a stressful day. It was a day of relaxing shopping and yummy food. I had a generic gift card to blow so I treated myself to a ridiculous pair of flip flops. They’re black and basic but super supportive, I have high arches and for the first time, I feel like these actually support them. But the price did make me a little squeamish, they better last forever! And of course, I had to spend money at Dick’s. 🙂

I was still tired after my little nap, but I followed through with my no excuses plan and completed my yoga dvd. I almost let myself believe that walking around while shopping could count as my days’ exercise but unless you are running from store to store or aggressively trying on clothes, it’s more of a leisurely stroll. I felt a little better by the end of the DVD though. Since going to sleep at the usual time hadn’t helped and neither had earlier times, Saturday I flipped it, I stayed up reading until 2 hoping I would be so tired I would sleep. Yeah, not so much.

I headed out Sunday afternoon for a run. Since I had decided that running the full 10 wasn’t the brightest, I thought that a least a 10K was 10 of something. I also met up with my mom and the puppy at various points, so those were opportune walk moments or miles. 🙂 Since I was so tired, I made sure to take as many walk breaks as I needed and not care about my pace. The weird thing was that I felt like my form was spot on for the first time. I felt like I was running tall and strong. Of course no one was watching so it could have all been in my sleep deprived head. According to my watch I spent 2 different ½ mile sections at around an 8:00 minute pace. What? I can’t do that when I am fully rested. I was still tired but I felt good after my run.

That feeling did not translate in better sleep last night and I was dragging butt this morning. Work was straight up chaos, more so than the usual Monday but we got through it. I admit to 2 sodas getting me through the day. After work, I hit the park for a very short 2.5 miles. I just wanted to get moving. Plus I had a new visor to break in. I bought the visor to be a spare on Saturday only to discover Sunday that my month old purple one was broken. Ugh. Talk about good timing. The run was ok, nothing great but nothing bad either. No complaints here! If I don’t sleep well tonight, tomorrow will be a complete rest day. I would like to do a kettle bell workout but we will see how it goes. I used to be a night owl/ insomniac (2 AM was the norm) so you’d think I’d be used to this.

How was your weekend?

Ever have rough periods of sleep? Help!

A Little Indecison

Happy Friday!!!

I am so ready for this weekend. I haven’t slept well all week and the tossing and turning is getting to me. So bad, I took a 15 minute break yesterday, set a timer for 12 minutes and took a power nap. It only slightly helped. That being said, I was still looking forward to running after work.

Once we were done for the day, I was suddenly struck with indecision. I had planned on running in work town, aiming for an easy 4 miler, but I didn’t want to wear pants. For some reason I feel uncomfortable running in shorts in work town. I am not sure why but I never said I was always logical. 🙂 I had both shorts and capris packed in my bag, so I chose the shorts and headed to the lake path. Halfway there, I decided I didn’t want to run the path. I don’t know if it was because I have run it so often lately or if it was lingering, uneasy memories of the lurker from Tuesday. So I kept driving. I thought about driving home and running from there but that didn’t sound enticing either. I tried to think of another option.

I finally settled on a path I knew over by a friend’s house. It was an out and back that I had run portions of at various times, but I had never run the whole length before. Walked/ran parts during my first horrible 10K but never run the whole thing. There’s a new portion now that connects to the original, so I was hoping that it would be around 2.5 miles to the turn around which would give me 5 for the day. It would be uphill to the turn around, but I figured that would just ensure that it was an easy run.

I started off with a warm up walk, that was probably too short, before picking up the pace. I felt pretty good going uphill actually. Even though this was supposed to be an easy run I was looking forward to some faster running on the return downhill. I haven’t run this path in well over a year but for the first time I ran the whole way up. I was stoked but also tiring as I neared the turnaround. I was also disappointed. The turnaround came at 1.75 miles, boo. 😦 I turned right and ran until the sidewalk ended but it didn’t add a lot before heading back down.

Then it was all downhill, literally and figuratively. I suddenly felt like someone had hit me with a tired stick. I felt like I was running through water, and as a result crawling. I actually took a walk break just before mile 3 because I just felt rough. A break going downhill? After that I told myself that the faster I ran, the sooner I would be done, so I just pushed on. Hitting the new path section was the hardest, the sun was setting right in my eyes, the trees are still saplings so no shade, it felt like I was running in a desert. I hit the street finally and was only at 3.75 miles. Ugh. The path picks back up on the other side of the street so I ran a little more until I hit 4. And I was done. Later I checked my Garmin and noticed that the elevation gain was only 127 ft, man, that’s barely a hill. I think that first 10K 2 years ago really traumatized me, I remember it feeling so much bigger. Ha! 🙂 I also noticed that my last mile was 8:40, sweet!

Even though I had some lovely sudden onset tiredness, I liked the path, I may run it again. I just wish it was longer. The path actually runs all the way to the other side of town, but that involves running under a bridge. Ummm, no thanks. I did it once with my mom and ML and I felt like we needed protection.

After another poor night of sleep last night and a busy day at work, I was looking for something low-key today. I was also wishing I hadn’t wasted my 1 lazy day on Wednesday, stupid stomach. So it was time for a 5K puppy walk! I headed out with my mom and the puppy. We were dodging graduation traffic, so we kept it pretty leisurely. We had a scare though when some crazy large poodle rushed a fence, barking and growling at us. The fence was useless because the poodle almost cleared it in one jump. Meanwhile the owner is sitting there watching. Really?! Zoey never barked back, just looked at us like “what’s his trauma”? I have to say the dog was actually pretty scary.

Now I am looking forward to a hopefully relaxing weekend. A little shopping, a little reading and a not so little run.

What are your plans this weekend? Anyone racing?

Any crazy dog encounters on your runs? I’ve been attacked before, that’s actually why I started carrying pepper spray.

A Reason for Speed

Happy Wednesday!

After this weekend’s hot miles, I felt like I had a blister forming on my right foot, which is not cool. I have to admit that I have only had one blister since I started running. I think the heat plus the miles made for some uncomfortable feet. So I switched the usual run on Monday for Tuesday’s yoga. Sometimes I feel like that DVD is easy but I always end up ridiculously sweaty. I also still can’t hold the poses very long either and I have to drop my knee while doing side planks. But I am going to keep trying! Like I said before though, I am glad no one can see me. 🙂

Tuesday was a pretty good day work-wise. I was able to get away for lunch and hit up the Dollar store for some pens and things for my coworkers. Not the healthiest choices but guaranteed to bring a smile to someone’s face. 🙂 I was looking forward to an easy 4.5 miles after work. Then I apparently decided to prove that my hair color is natural. Without going into too many details, we were wrapping up at work per usual, and I went and did something I thought I couldn’t fix. It was a pretty big something. I felt like my stomach had dropped to the floor and I went slack jawed. I was trying to figure out who to call first and trying not to panic. What an example I was setting. 🙂 One of my coworkers said that something similar had happened before and she thought she knew what to do. My face now probably showed complete disbelief, because seriously how does a person do what I did?! We were able to get it straightened out but it took another 20 minutes. Whew. But then I was running behind to get running.

After changing in a hurry and finally getting to the park, I saw plenty of people on the path. I still had to change my shoes and get all my gear together so I was a few minutes longer than usual in my car. When I started to get out I noticed a potential lurker sitting on the fence two places down. Really?! I waited to see if I was just paranoid. He finally meandered down by the horse shoe pit. I got out of my car but kept an eye on the pit and ran the path in the opposite direction than I usually do. There were about 20 people on the path and more in the park and on the playground but I still made sure to keep my pepper spray handy. I am sure that he was probably harmless but my theory is that when you are running alone, everyone has the potential to be creepy so it’s best to be cautious. I didn’t see him on first loop back so I did another. The general uneasiness had me only running 3.5 miles. I also went from an easy 4.5 to a closer to pace 3.5. Potential lurker = run faster.

bettersky — The iPhone didn’t do it justice, so there may be a filter on this

The sky looked amazing as I was leaving, so I tried to snap a few, very quick pics before jumping in my car.

That brought my little challenge to 10 for 10 so far. Today, I had planned on completing the yoga DVD again but my lovely stomach chose to rebel again so today ended up being the 1 out of 7 that I allow myself to be really lazy. I hit my goal every day (7 out of 7, what!) last week so I was hoping this week would be the same, but 11 was not my lucky number. But that’s ok, too.

I am looking forward to getting back on track tomorrow. And I have a 9-10 miler to look forward to this weekend. I also may need to look for new socks as well. For shorter runs, I have been using the Target C9 socks, but I really do not want blisters. Any suggestions?

How had your week been?

Anyone else had any lurkers while running?