Category: Slacker

Triple Digits

After my post on Friday, I did feel inspired enough to complete a measly ten minutes of exercise. What could it hurt? I decided 5 minutes of punches sounded like a good start. It didn’t occur to my addled brain that that meant that I also had to hold a squat for 5 minutes. I thought I was going to fall over. But I held it. Then I had to take a break before moving on, ha!

Saturday was a work day for me, so I started my day that way. I’ve mentioned before that I work in a different town than normal on Saturdays and the building is bigger than ours. I wear a Nike+ Fuelband everyday but it’s mostly out of habit, I’ve become a little disenchanted with it. I also rarely hit my goal unless I run and even then it’s rare. However on Saturday, I think it was a little confused. It registered that I had surpassed my goal by 11:30 AM, and had exceeded 10,000 steps… at 11:30. Ok, the building is bigger and I worked standing up but come on, that’s a little fast!

Took a break here, mile 4.5- top of the hill

After work I headed home to find that my home town was a lovely 96º. Yippee! I ran some errands and waited for it to cool. I waited mostly in vain and was losing some of my new enthusiasm, so I headed out for a run at 4:30. A long run. It was 88º. Because of the heat, I did not care about my pace. I just wanted the distance and the time on my feet. I had layered on sunscreen and had a huge bottle of water. I took it slow and walked when I needed too. I took a breather at the halfway point as well. It actually wasn’t bad, if only there were less damn hills. I normally do one hill 3 times and another 4 but I dropped one of each, so it shortened my route a bit. All in all 8.63 miles in 1:37. Yeah, I was slow, I walked a lot, but I felt good. And yes, I was the only idgit out there.Today hit 105º, woo hoo! I got out of the heat for a few hours by finally going to the movies. The Fault in Our Stars was awesome and I managed to avoid crying. There was definitely water in my eyes, but no tears fell. For a YA novel, the theater was filled with adults. 🙂 And I may have eaten too much popcorn. 🙂 But it was yummy. Afterwards, my mother joined me on the crazy train and we went for a walk. My weather app said 102º but it did not feel that warm. Normally I run ahead and double back to her but today we mostly just walked. It was a good walk, just shy of 4.5 miles.

I would say that this was a pretty good week for the challenge that I set myself. I actually had a lot of opportunities to use an excuse last week. Between a later day at work, a raging migraine, the heat and just being female, I was so close to chucking it. But for once I didn’t. Now if I can only keep it going. It’s gonna be a long summer. 🙂

How was your weekend?

How was your weather?

So far, So good

6 days into my No Excuses summer and so far, so good.

Wednesday as most know was National Running Day. My original plan was to hit the gym that night but I also forgot that Wednesday was going to be a later day at work due to a monthly meeting. Oops. So when my gym buddy bailed on me, I raced to the lake park after work to get in a few miles. I had to run on running day right?

I have never worked out after the meetings before, I would always use them as an excuse to not run that day. But in keeping with my theme, I couldn’t bail on the 4^th day! I planned just a quick 2.5 miles. The first mile was just average but then I was feeling spunky so I threw some sprints into the second lap. I was pretty speedy on the sprinting but apparently slow on the recovery jogs so it was still a 9 minute mile. Ha! But it was a fun change. It was also still in the mid 80’s so I was dripping after 2.5 miles. Blech.

Come Thursday, after three days of running, I felt like my legs needed a rest. I had some things to do after work, and then had a completely unhealthy dinner. However I did not use either of those as an excuse, so it was yoga time at 9:00PM. I am feeling a little less awkward with it but then I am also doing this in the privacy of my own home. So when I fell on my face 4 times, no one was around to laugh at me. And I am not even doing real, proper yoga, it’s the Jillian Michaels version. However, I completed the 30 minute circuit and felt better for having done it.

Today I was supposed to have some blood work done but sleeping felt like a better choice. 🙂 Plus I am kind of afraid I will wind up with a huge bruise like last time. Work was pretty good today too. Friday’s always run a little longer so between that and the planned but canceled blood work, I had figured that today would be the 1 of 7 that I said I would do nothing. But as I type this, I feel really lazy so maybe I will do another dvd after posting this. Hmmm, too bad we can’t place bets on it. I do have to restart the ab challenge though. My little stomach flare lasted through Thursday and crunches and situps were not an option.

I hope to get in a 8-9 miler tomorrow but I have a busy day ahead. Not a lot of things to do but time-consuming things. I work in the morning and I am dragging my mother to the movies in the afternoon. I can’t convince anyone else to join me in the amazing sob fest that is The Fault in Our Stars, so I am making her go with me. 🙂 Bring on the tissues and the popcorn! My gym is only open during those same hours on the weekends, so going early or later is not an option. Hopefully my next post will say that I managed to get in my run anyways. 🙂

Will anyone else be crying with me at the movies this weekend?

How was your week?

Anyone racing this weekend?

May Recap = No Excuses Summer

May was a long, kind of rough month that also felt like it passed in the blink of an eye. But enough whining, lets move on to the numbers-

Races-

Run or Dye– ?????
Bands on the Run 10K- 59:28

May turned out to be my lowest mileage for the year so far. This was due to a variety of reasons but at this point I calling bullshit and saying that they were all excuses and poor planning on my part. Which leads into my summer plans-

#noexcusessummer

As of June 1st, I am done whining. This is going to be really hard so I may need your help. 🙂 What this means is that going forward I will do at least 10 minutes of exercise six days a week. Doesn’t really sound like anything at all, but considering all I do right now is run and sit on my butt, it’s a step in the right direction.

So I will run a minimum of 3 days a week, 4 if I’m feeling feisty. But I will focus more on quality than hitting a mileage goal.
The yoga DVD has made it’s way into the dvd player and will be done once a week, the kettle bell dvd should be done once a week as well.
Also on the plan is to start using the gym I pay for but haven’t been to in 3 months. And by use I mean something other than the treadmill 🙂

As for the no excuses, I have made a lot of them lately. Work was crazy, it was hot, my stomach hurt, I had the paper to work on, etc. Enough is enough. Work is going to be crazy until at least the end of the year, so I may as well get over it. The heat? As someone pointed out, I live in central California, it’s just a fact of life. I should be thankful that we don’t have humidity. I don’t know how anyone runs in that. My stomach? Well, realistically, it’s never going to work right, I’ve been told that, so why wait in vain for it to be perfect? As for the paper, it’s done and the class is done. Not my best work. 😦

There are 24 hours in a day and really I have next to no obligations. There is nothing stopping me from exercising before or after work other than my Slacker-ness. While it may be hot in my home town, my work town usually runs about 25º cooler. Granted, to run more than 4 miles I will have to find roads with actual shoulders but I’m sure it can be done. And if not, well then there is the nice air conditioned gym. 🙂

In keeping with this new attitude, Sunday I completed the yoga dvd and day 1 of the AB challenge that is floating around right now. After the race on Saturday followed by a 3 mile hike with my mom and the puppy that night, I gave my legs a break from running. We did the same hike as the Firehouse 5K race, it’s still hard just walking. But yoga equals exercise so day 1, done!

Monday was a vacation day for me, which was awesome. I had planned to run 6 miles in the AM and followed by a busy day of errands and helping my mother with her tennis banquet that night. I woke to find that day 2 was going to be a challenge. My stomach was horrible and there was no way I was running then. I did some thinking and knew I had a small window around 1:00 to squeeze in some miles, so I slept a little longer. By 1:00, my stomach was barely better but I couldn’t quit after a 1 day streak so I went out for a slow run. I kept it easy and walked every time it got a little worse. I came to a complete halt at 3.5 miles for a few moments but I pushed though. 4.5 miles completed! Normally, I would have blown off all exercise for the day.

I was supposed to help my mother hand out the awards during the banquet but the puppy was not doing well with the unusual crowd at the house. Finally to calm her down, I took her for a walk. It was supposed to be short, but she had energy to burn and maintained a steady pace for 2.5 miles. She never does that! So in a hap hazard way, I hit my mileage goal for the day anyways. 🙂 I only completed half of the ab challenge though, my stomach was in no mood to do sit ups or crunches.

Today was another vacation day, yay! I met a friend for lunch to celebrate her birthday tomorrow ( Happy birthday ML!). It was yummy. My stomach is still not happy so I was planning on taking it easy and doing the yoga dvd in the evening. Then I ended up helping my mother with tennis practice. It’s spring practice for fall right now, and she has like 30 girls out there. She likes when I come help because I am more of a drill sergeant out there. I lost count of how many times I yelled bend your knees. Even though that could have counted as my exercise of the day and Tuesdays are a usual running rest day, I couldn’t pass up a vacation day and not run. So I set out for 4 miles.

I don’t know if it was my stomach or just because I mentally think of Tuesday as a rest day but it was hard. I ran so slow. Then I got stuck behind a truck doing an awkward 5 point turn in mile 2 and a phone call in mile 3. Ok, I get it, not a fast run day, but still got it in. 🙂 So 3 for 3 so far! Let’s see how far I can go!

It’s back to work for me tomorrow. 😦 Plus I have to get a few miles for National Running Day! I might check out the gym equipment too. But seriously? How do you use that stuff?

What are your goals for June?

No really, any gym tips?

Someone Kick Me

I had good intentions about getting in some really good runs over the long weekend. You know what that saying about good intentions? Yeah. I had hoped to run a few miles Sunday evening after the hike but it didn’t happen. There was some drama with the mother’s puppy and that made a perfect excuse. Monday was a day off from work, perfect opportunity to get in some miles, but nope, saw Godzilla instead. May has been a pretty off month for me; I am kind of nervous for my race on Saturday. I feel completely unprepared and it’s just the 10K. I am so glad I didn’t sign up for the half this time around.

I did get in a few miles after work on Tuesday. But honestly, starting in 96º was not the best idea. 4 miles turned into a 5K, a slow, hot 5K. I ran at the lake so I am still walking the construction section and I was so thankful for those walk breaks. I even tried to take a picture to show how hot I was. I felt like I was panting like a dog, ugh.

Speaking of dogs, my mom had a banquet thing for tennis, so I hung out with the puppy for a bit after my run. She got hurt on Sunday trying to protect her yard and had to go back to the vet Tuesday. She does not like her medicine. Plus she is sad that she can’t play with her toys for a few weeks. 😦 We just chilled on the patio. She would doze off next to me, then wake up to see if I was still there. It was kind of cute. 🙂

I once again hit the path for a few miles tonight. 4.5 sluggish miles. The goal was a nice, easy pace of 10:00. Pace met, but it didn’t feel easy. I don’t know why running feels so hard lately. I haven’t even run over 6 miles since my last half marathon. Apparently May is synonymous with Slacker. I was very happy to see the walking sections tonight as well. But sooner rather than later, they will finish the construction and I will no longer be able to rationalize the walking so easily. Wah Wah. I really need to kick this- whatever this is.

Ok, it no longer be called a lake — Ok, it can no longer be called a lake

Tomorrow I hope to get to packet pickup for the race on Saturday. It’ll be tight with work but I think I can make it. Less stress for race morning then. 🙂 Is it too much to hope that this race will be the kick in the pants I need? And a cookie counts as carb loading right? Now if I can just hold myself to 1.

How has your week been?

Anyone else have a rough month or so of training?

What are your weekend plans?

Dirty Girl Hike & Brunch

A few of my friends have May-June birthdays, and a few of their friends do too. So it was decided to get a group together to do a hike followed by brunch. The hike chosen was Bishop’s Peak in SLO. This would be followed by brunch at a fancy shmancy hotel a few towns over- in our dirty hiking clothes. 🙂 So, bright and early Sunday Morning, we all met up and jumped in the car and headed down.

There were people climbing the backside of the rockface

I have hiked this peak before and there are 3 different ways to go up for about the first mile. From there they all converge into a narrow, rocky dirt track and switchback the rest of the way up to the top. The trail head we chose is located in a residential area and parking was easy. It starts of with an easy dirt road before it starts to get harder. There were 7 of us out there and we just kept an easy pace going up. It was fun getting to catch up and talk as we made our way up. By about halfway we had split into a group of 4 and then a group of 3 a couple hundred yards back. It was fun taking it a little easier too, I tend to be a little crazy on trails, so this time I was able to enjoy the view. And what a view it was- seriously, I took over 100 pictures!

It really was great getting to talk to everyone. Bix and I were even able to reminisce about our loathing of switch backs (Firehouse 5K). About halfway up, at a particular tricky part, we cracked a joke that we should be singing “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus, but we couldn’t remember the words. Which was probably a good thing. 🙂 But we made it to the top! And I was crazy enough to climb up the last few rocks, too. After taking the obligatory top of the mountain pictures, it was all down hill from there.

I'm the only crazy one going up these rocks — I’m the only crazy one going up these rocks

Going down, we separated into a group of 5 and and a group of 2. D and ML and I got involved in a Supernatural discussion, more accurately our love of Dean. 🙂 More and more people were hiking their way up as well; quite a few made comments about our shirts, apparently we thought alike when we dressed that morning.

M and ML, a little blurry but I still like it

The way the trail wraps around, you can usually hear people long before you see them. About 2/3 down, we realized it had been a long time since we heard from the other 2 so we stopped and waited for them to catch up. It turns out they had gotten a little lost. Trail buddy fail!!!! We all met up again and then we had to step it up to get to the car, we had a reservation at 11! This is also where I couldn’t help it anymore and I ran. I love running downhill on trails, I really do. 2 miles up and 2 miles down and we were back at the start.

another selfie, D is more talented than I am

Then it was quick change time. Even though we had discussed going in our hiking clothes, 5 of us brought a change of clothes. So with the use of plenty of wet wipes (so handy!), we were changing in the car by the roadside. My apologies if I inadvertently flashed anyone. Then we were in the car and headed to brunch. The place was packed, we had to park on a side street. But as one of us pointed out, we had just hiked Bishops’ Peak, we could handle a few blocks.

Brunch was awesome. The company was amazing and the food was great. The service could have used some help and when the heck did brunch get so expensive? Then again, I don’t think I have been to brunch since the last century, so that could be part of it. We all ate too much and enjoyed our champagne and mimosas. I don’t really drink, so I’m usually the DD, but this time it was nice that someone else was. It’s still not my thing but it was fun. Overall, it was an awesome day.

I did have my Garmin with me on the hike. I didn’t care about pace but I had wanted the elevation profile. Well, this blonde had some problems. #1 was auto pause. I do not like that feature, I think that it was what tripped me up with my time at the SLO Marathon. During the hike, it paused when we were going through a cattle fence and never started up again. It took me almost 1/2 a mile to notice. Urgh. Bix had the great idea that I should just start it over at the top, so at least it would be accurate on the way down, and then I could double it. So I did that, but we stopped about a 1/3 of the way down so I paused it. Why? I don’t know but I forgot to restart it and didn’t figure it out until it buzzed with the power save warning. Ugh!!! So yeah, that didn’t work, but we went from around 350 to almost 1500 and back.

But like I said it was an awesome day and I can’t wait to do it again!

How was your weekend?