Category: Slacker

The Slacker Way

So, yeah the 4^th of July planned run didn’t happen, the weatherman lied! Over 100 again, too hot even for the chair, couldn’t even be a Slacker the right way.

So a little bit about the Slacker way:

My goal is to run 3 times a week, cross train twice and have two rest days. In the beginning I stuck to the training plan really well. Then come January, I was offered a promotion in a different town and began commuting every day. The plan took a hit 😦 I managed to stick to the running 3 times a week but the cross training took the hardest hit. I had been riding a stationary bike twice a week as my cross training. It was helping my running; I felt that it helped with my breathing which in turn helped my pace. Then the slacker-ness set.

Over the past few months, my training has looked somewhat like this- Run Monday, Wednesday and one weekend day. I play in a volleyball league on Tuesdays so I was treating that as cross training (ha!). As for my runs, I would aim for one speed-work and one long run and the other would just fall in the middle. Shortest run would be around 3.5 and my long run around 5.5 when not training. My running has at least stayed on pace and I can see improvement in my times, so woo hoo for that!!!

This week after posting and reading what everyone else was posting, I just felt like more of a Slacker than usual. I ran on Tuesday and Wednesday plus volleyball on Tuesday but not following through with a run on the 4^th just made me sad, hehe. So Saturday afternoon in the middle of a migraine and the nausea that came with it, I was like what the heck, let’s hit the track.

I love the track, for me it’s faster than a treadmill (boring!) and it’s a good place to go when you are feeling a little crappy. So much easier it walk back to your car than 3 miles back to your house :). Plus, when I run the track my mother joins me to exercise as well. It’s perfect, she does her pace and I do mine. Also good to have someone there when you are feeling wobbly. So my goal was to out run my headache. I figured an easy 45 minute run would help, bring on those endorphins! Forgot that I have troubles with the Easy part when on the track, oops! But even though I pushed harder than I should have (not the best idea) I defeated the headache!!!

As a reward for the 4.5 miles, the weather cooperated enough to make the comfy chair comfy again, yeah!!!!

And on Sunday, I followed through and got back on the bike! 8 miles done, heck yeah!!!! Now, if I can just keep it up:)

Heat = Lazy Runner

So my neck of the woods has just come off of an excessive heat warning. Perfect for running, right?

Five days of temperatures above 110 makes it really easy to be a slacker runner. It was so unbearably hot that even my comfy chair was a no go. Felt like a dang sauna for your backside, ugh. To make matters worse, I got sick last Friday. Seriously, who gets the flu in the summer? My body couldn’t decide if it was shivering with the chills or melting from the heat.

After the lovely knockout of heat and flu, I was forced to run even less than a slacker like me likes to. Being a commuter as well as inherently lazy makes running in the morning and avoiding the heat highly unlikely for me, I like sleep! With the drop in training and lingering icky feeling, I was forced to postpone a race that I had planned to complete on July 4^th. This totally bites as I was hoping for a new 5k PR there:(. I know the course really well and was very optimistic. Cue inner scream.

I did manage to go for a run this evening after work; if 2.5 miles counts as a run. Since I couldn’t do the race tomorrow, I did the course tonight instead. Turned out to be a hotter 86 than I felt ready for. It was almost 7:00 PM for crying out loud. I actually maintained a decent pace throughout the run but just felt so sluggish. I have a 10k a week from Saturday so I need to get it in gear! Less slacker, more of a runner!

Tomorrow is actually supposed to be below 100, so I am aiming for a good 5 mile run at the local track. Here’s to hoping for a good pace, good overall run followed by some good 4^th of July fun!

And maybe after all that, I can get back to the comfy chair.

Happy 4^th of July!!

What keeps me going…

Ok, so getting out the door is most times the hardest part of running but sometimes I lag in the middle of a run. In the beginning I would try the grade school trick. Remember that one? Telling yourself that can run until that next tree or as far as the green mailbox. You could take a walking break if you just reached the next block. Sometimes it worked; sometimes it just made me cranky. Finding myself cranky in the middle of a run was almost worse than lagging.

As I can’t exactly use Pinterest while running to look at inspirational images, I needed something else. A year or so back I stumbled across an article on Runners World by Christie Aschwanden about mantras. It talked about how a key word or phrase could really get you back in the game. Ok, so just words? I could totally do that! So I set out to make the perfect mantra. I wanted it to be cool and maybe look good on a shirt. Easy right? Yeah, not so much. I tried numerous possibilities that aren’t even worth remembering. Some were famous slogans and some were horrible creations of my own. Nothing stuck.

What finally ended up working sounded a lot like a little Disney fish. Once I was out for a run and starting to drag, when I just started saying “Just keep running, just keep running”, over and over again. Not sure where that came from but it worked! I even made myself a screensaver for my phone.

Anyone have any mantras of their own that they want to share?

Welcome!!!!

Hi! My name is Falyn and this is SlackerRunner! Over the past few years, I discovered that I love to run. Hated it when I was a kid but love it now. However there was a small problem. Know what else I love? Sitting in my big, comfy chair, and Netflix, oh and pizza. Conflict ahead!!

I ran for almost three years with little to no improvement. I checked out all the sites; big names and little ones. I bought books and tried various training plans, nothing worked:( I was ready to chuck everything out the window. About 99% of the sites I researched pushed for running at least 5 days a week, some everyday…um, what?! It didn’t help that their slowest training plans at the time were still faster than me:( Talk about kicking you when you are already down.

I tried theirs, I failed, and so what’s a girl to do? I cannibalized everything I had read and learned, took bits and parts and inserted my own inherent slacker-ness and tada! Results! In less than 8 months, I had shaved 24 minutes off of my half marathon time and lost 35 pounds, woo hoo!

So if you are interested in hearing more about how I did it, or looking for place to talk about running with a little less pressure, come on back! There will be tips, random thoughts and probably some hilarity, but right now I need a break!