Category: Stomach

22/8 CHRAOS

Last week was just crazy chaos, so chraos. One of my favorite made up words. Sometimes my brain and my mouth are not on the same track and combined words come out. My coworkers have started keeping a list of the ones they like the best.

So yeah, chraos, lets not even talk about the weekdays, I don’t want to go back there. I was looking forward to the 3 day weekend, I had plans. Boring plans but still plans. I wanted to get in a least 2 runs and a trail. I wanted to clean my car inside and out and watch some brainless tv. Some of that was accomplished but not all of it. Boo.

Saturday was a good start. Got in some errands and managed to get out in the early afternoon for a run. I got in just over 4 miles and I ran!!! First time really running since COVID. Granted it was still run/walk intervals with a lot of walking, it was still running. Yay!! I also got stalked by a cat which made me laugh. It’s been a while since I enjoyed a run that much.

Sunday was a fail. Again started with some errands but these were farther away from home and I got tired, haha. I decided to rest a bit before heading back out for a run but never followed through. Normally I would feel guilty missing the run especially since I am just getting back into it but not this time. I am trying really hard to listen to my body since COVID not just ignore it and move on.

And it’s my blog, I’ll do what I want so let’s talk about Monday too. This time I got things done. Laundry done, nasty car cleaned and a run! Well, kind of. I headed out for a few miles in the afternoon and I was feeling it. The weather was amazing, I was wearing shorts for the first time in months, I was feeling good. Until I wasn’t. 2 miles in my stomach cramped in that way all runners know and dread. Oh crap, pun intended. From there I took the shortest route home, speed walking as fast as I could. So, that day brought me just under 3 miles, haha.

I am really trying to get back on track with these posts. And life. I used to be organized… what happened?

Whenever

You know I used to pretty good about posting weekly recaps on Mondays. Then Tuesdays… and now? Whenever, wherever… Oops, Shakira moment.

Yeah, my tendency to turn everything into a song lyric has been working overdrive lately. A new way to deal with stress? Throw some levity into life? Who knows.

Any who.

The previous week saw one bike session and sadly only one running session. Boo. I had plans for more, I really did. I can’t seem to get myself running after work again. It’s not a dark thing- night running is kind of fun but I also can’t put my finger on what it is. But I really need to work on it.

I went out for my first virtual race of the year on Saturday- Oakland 5000. It went about as well as I could have expected considering my lack of running lately. Granted it was also an unseasonably warm day but maybe I should stop making excuses? My pace is what it is now and it will remain that way until I decide to make it something different.

I had plans for a nice trail run but things went off the rails Saturday night. I took the Pops to urgent care in the evening- for a tick! Ok, there are some downsides to trails. He’s fine but we picked up dinner at a burger place and eating later than normal and a burger at that sent my damn GI system into a tailspin. I was a mess for the next 72 hours. Yay, me. I probably need to up one of my meds but I really don’t want to. The top drawer in my bedside table resembles a drug store. Grrr.

Which also hammered home my last dr’s appointment. So now I am watching my carbs, cutting back on artificial sugars which is a pain. Hell, even my toothpaste has been swapped out.

Tell me something good!

36-Vacation

I spent the last week sleeping in, not doing my hair, not wearing eyeliner. No alarms, no phone calls, no emails. Ok, that’s a lie, I checked my emails a few times.

I also ran/ walked more miles in the last 10 days than I did in July and August combined. That said, it was still less than I had hoped.

The original vacation plan was the 2 race weekends but COVID. The second plan was to road trip and visit some National Parks. I even ordered new trail shoes and a fancy new pack from Orange Mud. Not that I really needed an extra reason to buy those. But other things put those plans on hold. Reality was a staycation with a little shopping and a little adventuring. And a lot of melting… but we’ll get to that.

The vacation fun started with the previous weekend’s runs. I had planned on a run on Monday, but my stomach decided to remind me that it was an asshat. Boo.

Tuesday, I wanted to break in the new trail shoes but was still feeling a little off. So I headed for the lake path. I think it’s been more than a year since I ran there? I miss it but it’s no longer on my way home from work. Boo. I did 4ish laps of the lake, switching directions while testing my shoes. The lake looked good, I have to say that it had more water than I had expected. I really need to get back there more often. 4.88 miles. And yes, I could have run back and forth until I hit 5 but nah.

Wednesday, I rested in prep for Thursday’s adventure. My legs were slightly sore from almost 15 miles in 4 days. That was more than I ran in July.

Thursday was The Pinnacles! I haven’t been in years, my goal was to reach the top and not get lost. I loaded my pack, my mother prepped and we were off! We got there early in the morning but it was already hot. We’re in the middle of a heatwave here in CA, yay. We started the climb and boy it just got toastier. I was feeling pretty good actually. We got slightly turned around for a moment at the top but success! The High Peaks Trail at the Pinnacles throws all sorts of fun things at you- quasi steps in the rocks, a railing so you don’t fall, and even more tiny “steps” down. The plan was to do the High Peaks and continue on to the old trail before looping around the caves. It would have been around 10ish miles. There’s one last junction which will take you back to the parking lot around mile 3 but after that there is no shortcut. Period. My mother was having a rough time- and if she reads this, she’ll be pissed I wrote that- and I convinced her we had to take the shortcut. She was bummer but hey we got to go through a tunnel! We came out around 5 miles but I know my GPS had some issues.

Oh, Friday…. I had plans to run the 5K portion of the Giant Race Lou Seal Challenge but it was 110. Oh and the air conditioner in my house died. The Friday of the hottest weekend of the year. Oh crap.

Saturday, I was up and off to the beach for the 10K portion of the Lou Seal Challenge. I straight up ran away from the heat- we hit 117. I enjoyed lovely mild beach weather for all 6.2 miles. Yay! But more about that next post. Then it was back to heat.

Sunday, I meant to run the 5K. I mean it was the actual race day after all. However my beach run had left me with some nasty blisters. On both feet. The one on my right foot was the problem. I have never had a blister that big before. What the heck?? I wore the same shoes and socks I used for all my beach runs and never had a problem before- I even kept my feet dry until the very end. Boo. Staying in my house and being lazy wasn’t awesome- it was 93* in my house. My cats are miserable. The dog can be hosed off, they can’t. Every fan possible is running in this house.

So that brought my weekly mileage to just under 16. Not marvelous but massively better that the rest of the year. I’m not calling it a comeback yet. Will my motivation last once I return to work?

How was your week?

19- Tide

I think I finally found some calm last week.

It wasn’t all sunshine and roses but the stress level decreased, I slept a little better and things were generally calmer. I am still sitting on some news before sharing it here but I was able to share it with the people who needed to know. Ok, that sounded more ominous than I meant it to.

And last week was full of creature encounters. We had a lizard get in the building at work and it took us 3 days to catch it and release it. A spider was lurking above my bed. A bat or a bird flew into my bedroom window in the middle of the night.

Anyways.

I was feeling spunky on Monday so I headed out for a few miles. I returned to the river path and while I stuck to the paved path, it was glorious. I so missed that route. I was equal parts impressed and embarrassed when an 8 year blew past me. He was on his way down the hill and I was going up. I didn’t feel any better when he blew past me when we were going the opposite directions either. Ha!! I did wonder why he was by himself though. While I loved the air and route of my run, my legs informed me that I should have rested after the previous day’s trail adventures. 3+ish miles.

Tuesday saw me listening to my protesting calves and sore foot and resting.

I was eager to run on Wednesday but my stomach had other plans. My rule of thumb is that if I am still getting sick 30 minutes before closing, running isn’t happening.

So of course, Thursday was the hottest day of the year so far. 95 degrees. I am slow as it is these days, so I was not ashamed of any walking. I ran when I wanted to and walked when I wanted to. I did keep it short though- 2 miles.

Work things were happening on Friday and I was looking forward to a relaxing weekend.

Saturday and I promised my mother for Mother’s Day we could try the beach for a run as long as it wasn’t crowded. Yay for clouds! She walked and I ran. I knew the humidity was going to do a number on my lungs so I told her I was only going to do 3 miles. Then I figured the pier had to be less than 2 miles from the dog beach where we started and I wanted to get to the pier. I was very wrong. The pier was 5k from the dog beach, ha! So my 3 mile run turned into 6 plus. I also have the habit of never checking the tide so I was racing the high tide. Some places I came to a crawl as I had to go over rocks. My shoes and socks were so drenched that I took them off after 5 miles and did the last bit barefoot.

As I had already cleared more miles this week than so many of the past weeks, I wasn’t stressing a run on Sunday. Instead, I finally cleaned my car. Oh boy, it needed it. And tires but that’s another story.

So just under 12 miles for the week. It’s sad that that is an improvement but it is what it is. Gotta keep moving forward.

How was your week?

Week 38-Sundown

Think I am going to make my motto for the rest of the year to just roll with it. And roll and roll. And now I’m singing that song from Clueless.

Monday- 3 miles
I headed out after work to get in some miles. I was still feeling a little bit of the migraine fog. By the time I felt like I was finally warmed up and moving my legs, I was already done. Maybe I should have run more but I also didn’t want to push it.

Tuesday- Thursday- Rough
I knew I had off site training for work so I knew running was going to be tricky. I was hoping to get in a run or 2 in a new town but what I didn’t anticipate was the massive flare up my GI disorder. That was fun. Food and I were enemies. Even taking myself to Jamba the last day of training didn’t work. I was also starting to rethink my weekend plans.

*See, I thought I needed incentive to run 10 miles this weekend. So I looked online and guess what? There was a race in Huntington Beach! Nothing like drive 5 hours to run 10 miles. 😂

But I also was accepting that I was not ok. So I dropped to the 10k.

Oh-I did hop on the bike on Tuesday for a few miles.

Friday- Rest
I felt a tiny bit better but still felt like I had made the right choice downgrading.

Saturday- Surf City 10! Recap to come.

Sunday- Shopping
That counts as cardio right? I stopped at an outlet mall that I ‘ve driven past for years. It was amazing! I walked all over and shopped til I dropped. I bought running pants so fall weather, come on out!

11.7 ish miles for the week. I am winning at under trained. Ha!

How was your week?