Category: Training

Week 19- Disconnect

Upcoming Races-

Rock n Roll San Diego 13.1

I wish I could say my migraine was all gone when I woke on Monday but no such luck. It did ease up as the week progressed but I swear migraine brain made me feel stupid. And tired. Maybe it’s all because of allergies? My car is covered in a lovely yellow powder these days.

Monday- Nothing- The migraine was still lingering so after making it through work, I just headed home to rest, well after a stop at In n Out for dinner. 😛 Oh, wait I did attempt my PT exercises.

Tuesday- 3 miles I had tried sleep, ice packs, dark rooms, food (so much food), now it was time to try running out the headache. I almost quit less than 1/4 mile in. I felt like the top of my head was going to pop off and I was just walking. Perhaps a hat, headphones and 90* temps was a bit much all at once. I ran super slow and took breaks if I felt I needed a moment to chill on the path. By the end of the 3 miles I did feel a little better.

Wednesday- Rest My head felt better but I wasn’t going to push it and do too much too soon. Instead I took my parents to dinner and almost got run over in a parking lot cross walk. Nice.

Thursday- 3.15 miles My legs and head were not talking to each other. My legs apparently wanted to move but the rest of my body not so much. I kept telling myself to slow down but it wasn’t really working. Which was weird because I also finally understood the meaning of tight hips on this run. It sucks! I stopped my watch with a 1/4 mile to go and worked on squats, walking lunges, side steps and karaokes the rest of the way before stretching out.

Friday- Rest Oh good lord, a few squats and lunges on Thursday and I think I hurt worse the next day than I did after Big Sur. 🤣

Saturday- Mother’s Day Shopping– I spent the day shopping with my mother for Mother’s Day. No running but I definitely got my step count in!

Sunday- 7.16 miles The plan was for 6-10 miles as my first long run since the marathon 2 weeks ago. Except I slept so poorly and woke with a headache. I lay in bed from 6:30 to 9:30 trying to either force myself to get up to run or go back to sleep- neither worked. My brother took us to lunch and I was hoping food would help and I could squeeze in my run before dinner. Except after lunch and a short nap, I really did not want to run at all. I was feeling very Slacker like. But I forced myself to change and headed across to town to attempt a run.

I told myself a short run was better than nothing- 3 miles and I could go home. I started out and just kept going forward. At the turn around point for a 3 mile run, I kept going, I wasn’t happy but kept going. At mile 2.5 I had to stop and lose my top layer, I was way overdressed for the temp but I kept going. Not only was I still running but once again my legs were writing checks that the rest of me wasn’t keen on paying. However, I mostly let them do their thing and took walk breaks when my lungs pointed out my foolishness. Which they did more than once…more like each mile. However, I was somehow turning out my fastest 7 miler in over 2 years and I have no idea where it came from and I was actually feeling pretty good. In an effort to be at least slightly smart I called the run at 7 miles. Less than the original plane but more than I had been feeling!

13.34 miles for the week. If I didn’t have a half in 3 weeks, I would say hell yeah to that mileage post Big Sur. But I do, so I am slightly nervous. Oh and I did more squats and lunges Friday through Sunday- can I keep it up?

How was your week?

Week 18- Recovery is a Migraine

Upcoming Races-

Rock n Roll San Diego 13.1

The upside to starting your marathon training plan with the first week of the year is that it is real easy to slip back into your typical weekly recap patterns. 😛

Coming off Big Sur, I knew I needed to rest but with a race in a month, I also knew I couldn’t exactly become a sloth either. I also wanted to run so it’s not like I was forcing anything. I was trying to walk the line between being smart and eager.

Too bad my body had other ideas…

Monday- Rest We had actually checked out of the hotel late Sunday afternoon and headed home. As much as I appreciated sleeping in my own bed Sunday night, my back was still pretty cranky on Monday. My legs felt fine…except when I had to walk down my driveway, haha.

Tuesday- Rest I took the beginning of the week off from work and I meant to run but I let laziness get the better of me. Plus I went and saw Infinity War. 😯

Wednesday- 2.25 miles New shoes! You have to run when you have new shoes, right??? My legs felt pretty good but I had some discomfort in another area that I wasn’t anticipating. And we’ll just leave it at that… no need to get too TMI here. 🤣

Thursday- Rest Hi ho, hi ho, it’s back to work I go.

Friday- Migraine hell Any movement made me want to cry or hurl. How I made it to work, I don’t know. I’m stupid. I turned the break room into a cave and napped on my lunch. I only made it until 4 before I threw in the towel. Before I left, I had to promise to text my coworkers that I made it home and one took inventory of my outfit “just in case”.

Saturday- Second verse, same as the firstI didn’t even get out of bed until I could lift me head without wanting to scream. So, yeah that was almost 11. I went to lunch with my mom and she drove so I could do some errands and she pointed out that at least the migraine was this weekend and not last weekend. Yes, mom, very good point. That afternoon, I took a long nap, kept feeding the migraine as it was the only thing that helped and went to sleep with an ice pack that night.

Sunday- Rest My head was better in ways but still not normal. I hoped to get a run in but life and plumbing (literal) got in the way.

So, sloth like it was. 2.25 miles for the week.

How was your week?

Big Sur Marathon Training-Week 17

Just like that, it was race week.

I swear that was the quickest 17 weeks ever. Shouldn’t it still February?

With the race being just a few days away, I was being very careful with how I planned out my runs and the week.

Monday- Rest I forgot what else I did other than work.

Tuesday- 2.5 miles This was actually supposed to be 5K but I wore different shoes and I could that my legs were not happy with that decision. So, I decided the smarter choice was just to make the run a little shorter. Aren’t legs supposed to feel peppy during the days leading up to race day?

Wednesday- Rest No back to back running days this week.

Thursday- Rest I thought about running but I decided to get in a few last minute errands instead.

Friday- 2 miles I took the day off work to pack and get things ready to travel the next day. I headed out for my shakeout run in the afternoon. I almost skipped it, I just wasn’t feeling it. Mother Nature had brought me a lovely visitor. 😒 However I made myself get out the door and get it done and it wasn’t bad at all. I was glad I followed through.

Saturday- Travel day! Monterey is not that far away even if I have to take the roundabout way due to Highway 1 being blocked by a large landslide so I was able to sleep in a bit before heading that way. Packet pick up was about the only thing that went smoothly that day. We somehow skipped lunch and couldn’t find anywhere to eat. Then there was the hotel. I swear I Map Quested it and it was with in walking distance of the race morning bus pickups. Ummm, no. It was over 4 miles away, not traversible by foot and in a sketchy part of town. To top it off, it sounded like a herd of elephants was staying in the room upstairs. 😒

Sunday- Big Sur Marathon Did I pull it off? Can I walk now? Recap to follow.

31.02 miles for the week.

How was your week?

Big Sur Marathon Training-Week 15

I may have taken week 1 of taper a little too far. And you know what? I am ok with that.

At this point, cramming all the miles in isn’t going to help me come race day, in fact with this groin/leg issue, it could actually hinder me. Maybe that’s just something I told myself as I embraced the Slacker in me but I’m still ok with it.

Work was busy in odd ways, time moved quicker than I needed it to and things didn’t always work out. I threw my pen in the air a few times. Bad habit, I know but I always make sure there are no customers around when I do it. 😛

I crossed some things off my to do list and went to the movies and saw Rampage. It’s pretty good but then it’s rare that I dislike a movie with The Rock in it so I was kind of biased.

So how about the running?

Monday/ Tuesday- PT exercises & stretching I had planned on taking these 2 days off from running after my last long run. I made sure to stretch really well and focused on my PT exercises each night.

Wednesday- Rest w/ some stretching. I was going to run but I decided to give the leg one more day. There was also something else but I can’t remember what it is. Oops.

Thursday- 3.26 miles I headed to the river path after work a little nervous about my leg. It was a little sore at the start but it loosened up and the run was pretty good. However it was way too fast. I told myself to keep all my miles in the 12’s this week to give my leg a break and my brain too. Plus with how I’ve been feeling, I didn’t think that would be too hard. However these were in the 10’s and a negative split at that. Oops.

Friday- Nada Open to close, my brain was mentally fried and I was just done. I picked up a pizza on the way home.

Saturday- 4.53 miles I headed out in the afternoon for a few easy miles except once again I was moving way too fast. I obviously had no control over myself last week. Luckily I knew my mother was out for a walk on the same roads so I had built in excuses to walk when my route met up with hers. So my running portions may have been too fast but my overall pace looks perfectly slow. 😜

Sunday- Rest. I’m not going to say oops. When my alarm went off in the morning for my long run, I had a pounding migraine. It was the throbbing kind and I can’t run through those, I slapped the phone off, pulled the covers over my head and tried to hide from everything. The pain eased by mid afternoon and I could have headed out for my run but honestly, I didn’t want to. My leg was sore, my head still hurt and overall I was concerned that doing the miles for the sake of the miles would actually do more harm than good. Maybe that’s just something I told myself but I’m still good with it. Besides I wasn’t completely lazy- I did clean my car- well the inside, and trust me that was quite the work out.

7.79 miles for the week. I should be mad or feel guilty about that but I don’t. Whether I regret this later remains to be seen.

How was your week?

Big Sur Marathon Training-Week 14

Don’t freak out, don’t freak out.

My leg is giving me grief. My back is putting up a fight. I feel like I am barely running any miles and I am falling apart. What gives?! I really should be sleeping more. How do I become less of an night owl??

Oh my gawd, I made it to taper. Even though my whole training cycle has been another runner’s taper, haha. Last week was a rather pitiful peak week but it’s done.

Monday- 2.62 miles The irony of the mileage of this run is not lost on me. My leg was not on board. In fact it protested something fierce. Fierce to the point of pain and I decided that rest days after long runs were going to have to become a thing during the next few weeks of this training cycle. I turned around fairly soon into the run and headed back to the car trying not to be alarmed.

Tuesday- Nada I could feel my leg every time I moved. From the car to work. Every time I got off my chair or stood still too long. Boo.

Wednesday-More of the same.

Thursday- 2.3 miles I headed for the lake path hoping the dirt path would be friendly to me and that I could get in a good 4-5 miles. But that did not happen. I managed 2 laps of the lake before I threw in the towel. I may have pushed for more but with this weekend being my last chance to get in 20 miles I figured that was more important.

Friday- Rest I took a vacation day for a once again canceled tennis trip -rain, so I spent the day attempting to catch up on sleep and rest my leg.

Saturday- More of the same. Another rainy day. I had started reorganizing my closet on Friday and it turned into the never ending project. 🤣

Sunday- 18.25 miles I overslept and started a little later than planned, oops. I was also running in what I hoped would be my race day outfit to see how it worked out. With my leg being fussy all week, I wanted to keep the run slow and steady and walk whenever I needed. And things were actually good for the first 10-12 miles. The temp was pleasant, my leg was cooperating and I wasn’t tired. My clothing was another story. My tank was riding up into a crop top, the shorties under my skirt kept moving around, my pack was shifting down my back, I had to put BodyGlide on at mile 6. I don’t usually have to use BodyGlide when I wear skirts. Grrr. And my shoes were starting to hurt my feet.

The problem arose around mile 14- my back started to hurt. And I slowed way down. So much so, that I knew I was going to have a problem keeping my lunch plans with my mother. Hence the 18.25. My lower back was super cranky, I think part of the problem was the bladder of water in the back of my pack. I stopped carrying water on my back due to back pain a few months back and stupidly forgot about it. Silly Slacker. So another lesson learned- no bladder in the pack on race day- bottles in the front only.

When I mentioned how much slower I had gotten towards the end of the run during the lunch, my mother asked what the minimum pace was before being swept at Big Sur. Thanks Mom.

23.17 miles for the week. Not the 20 miler I was hoping for but not horrible. I am trying to think positive… or maybe I am just in denial.

How was your week?