Category: Training

Week 51- Christmas Slacking

In more ways than one. 😛😛

Last week was a little chaotic.   Work was super busy, I was running behind on all things Christmas and I received some not great news about that job interview I had a few weeks ago.    I admit I fell into a cranky funk for a few days but I climbed out of the hole and perked up.  I think….maybe I should get a second opinion on that.

Monday- Christmas shopping.  With barely anything to wrap- this was necessary.   Crossed some things off my list but not much.

Tuesday- Cookie baking!  And eating a few too many.  Also planned. Well, maybe not how many I ate.  Oh and my PT exercises.

Wednesday- Missed run.  My replacement bed was delivered and once again, Pops was there for the delivery.    Instead of running I headed home to take the family out to dinner.

Thursday- 3.3 milesOn the treadmill!!!  Holy crap, who am I? And it wasn’t miserable!    I warmed up with plenty of walking as the treadmill always makes me achy and then I worked on focusing on my cadence.  Both to see if I could improve my average number and if it would help with the on again, off again shin pain.  Partial success to both!  What was not cool was that Monsters Inside Me was once again on the TV in front of me.  Why?!?!?!

Friday-Work My hopes for a calm day were not granted.

Saturday- Missed run.  I had planned on a 6 mile run longish run for the week and scheduled my day accordingly.  However that schedule had me running in the afternoon because I wanted to sleep in.  Which was all fine until my brother decided to take my mother and I to the movies and dinner.    Instead I enjoyed yummy food and walked out of theater with a strange fascination with Adam Driver.  Someone send help.  😛

Sunday- Christmas Eve  Try as I might, I could not get the motivation up to go for a run.   So other than some errands- why did I not grocery shop before Christmas Eve?????- I spent the day with family relaxing and lounging.

So yeah, 3.3 miles for the week.    I’m not going to say ouch because I chose to miss those 2 runs.  I chose dinner and the movies and family time over the runs and I’m ok with that.

How was your week?

How was your Christmas?

Week 50- Behind

Barely running and I still can’t get these recaps up on time lately.  Oops.   End of the year ennui, maybe?  Embracing the inner Slacker? Hmmm.

Maybe I can blame the darkness?  Even though I actually did run more miles in November this year compared to last.  Fingers crossed that pattern holds for December!  Though considering I had the flu from hell last year, that’s a low bar.

Last week saw me starting PT, so you’d think my body would be feeling better.  And it kind of did… on Monday.     And mostly Tuesday.  Too bad I didn’t run those days.  🤔  Instead I deliberately rested since I had run Saturday and Sunday and then had PT.    I completed my PT exercises 3 days last week and would have twice more but my stomach was being a total asshat.   Kind of hard to focus on moves that rely on your core when your stomach is behaving like a demon.   Grrrrr. As for the other 2 days, well that was just me being a Slacker.

So what did happen?

Monday-  Physical Therapy  Why is my right side such a problem child???  And I’m so glad I had the forethought to change into running pants first.  Some of those exercises were awkward enough in pants- what would have happened if I had left my skirt on???  I also experienced a TENS device for the first time.  Kind of odd.

Thursday- 8 miles bike I had planned on running.  Took all of my gear to work with that intention but then the day just ran me down.  Work ran over and I was exhausted and my right leg was oddly sore/ numb.  My head was hurting but I told myself to suck it up and run so I changed into my running clothes and headed for home. Where I somehow put my shoes on the wrong damn feet.  Ok, universe, message received.    I went home and rode the bike instead.

Saturday – 6 miles 6 was always the plan but I underestimated how much smoke was in the air.  Again.  I also may have overestimated what my back was willing to do.  That or it just isn’t used to carrying water with my pack again.  It has been a while.  😛  I felt like I was huffing and puffing more than I would like.  My leg felt tight.  Everything felt rough.  Then my headphones died.  Grrrr.   Of course as I headed towards home, my leg loosened up.   When I looked at my splits later I may have been running a tiny faster than I should have especially considering the air quality.

Sunday- missed run Planned on Christmas shopping and running.  Failed at both.  Went shopping- ALL day but bought nothing and missed my run.

So, 6 miles run and 8 miles bike.  Blah.    Here’s hoping this week is a little better.

Except I already know I have issues.  How is it less than 7 days to Christmas?  I still need to finish shopping.  I haven’t made cookies.  Oh and my replacement bed is coming this week.     Ok, I will gladly miss a run for the bed if the new one is less of a brick compared to the rock I’ve been sleeping on for the last 3 months.  😛

How was your week?

Are you done shopping?

Week 49- Of Christmas Lights and Colds

Last week was a little wobbly.

I ended up feeling like crap for most of the week.  I felt like I was fighting something and I had an odd migraine from Tuesday on.   I actually even went home early one day which is something I rarely do but my head was just so damn fuzzy I wanted to be off the hill before it got dark.

In one way, being sick wasn’t a bad thing- combine with the rest from last week, it kept me off my left leg for 8 days.   Had I not been sick, that would not have happened.  I probably would have run on Tuesday or Wednesday.  Instead by Thursday I was mostly pain free and outside of 2 truly gnarly charlie horses overnight, Friday was pain free.

I also admitted defeat and returned to the bed store.  The brick is going back.  I tried for almost 90 days to break in this new bed and no luck.  My whole body hurts.  Fingers crossed the replacement is epic-ally better because I used up my one return.

In bad news, the Thomas fire is out of control, it’s now pushed into Santa Barbara county.  The smoke has inundated our county.  We’ve had closer fires but not seen smoke like this.  They’re saying the Santa Ana winds are likely partially to blame.   Let me be clear that the fire is still over 100 miles away.

Saturday- 3.1 miles I ran!!  Some parts were so damn slow and other parts were probably way too fast but I ran!  I started off nice and easy and walked the first 10 minutes.   From then on I alternated walking and running.  I’m using a cool new running app and I’m hoping to improve my cadence so I have to say the running parts felt pretty dang good.  In fact, I hauled a** up a hill like I never have before.  It was awesome.  Until my lungs reminded me that I had been fighting a cold all week and I bent over wheezing at the top, haha.

My legs probably also didn’t appreciate the annual visit to Vine St but it’s tradition!

Sunday- 3.1 miles.  I had hoped for more miles but underestimated how much smoke was in the air.    I was wheezing 1/2 mile in.   I stuck it out for the same route as the day before but I took a more than a few breaks as I was wheezing more than normal.  Considering how visible the smoke was I just slowed down and headed for home.

6.23 miles for week.  It’s going up!  Baby steps! Baby steps!

How was your week?

Do anything fun this weekend?

Week 47- R.I.C.E

Boo.

But, first things first- I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!

Ok, back to the boo, maybe boo boo would be more accurate.   Grrr.  Remember how the week leading up to Las Vegas was spent mostly resting due some leg pain after a long run.  However Vegas was mostly fine and I had 2 good runs the week after.  Followed by a not good one.  Then last week happened.

You know that feeling when you’re wearing form fitting clothing but have a band-aid on and that band-aid starts to come loose?  Kind of like it’s not quite flapping around but definitely is not right either.

That’s how my left leg felt on Monday during my run.  Thing was, I wasn’t wearing a band-aid.  So what the hell was I feeling?!!  That’s not normal!  I have a pretty high pain tolerance but Monday’s run attempt pretty much resulted in me slamming on the brakes for the rest of week.   But my leg kept hurting.    Grrr.  There are words I refuse to use that kind of rhyme with best tractor.  😒

So what did I do?

Monday- 2 miles A slow, painful crawl in the dark.

Tuesday– Of course just as I decide I need to take some time off, super pretty new shoes arrive.  I forgot I ordered these after getting home from Las Vegas last week.

Thursday–I vicariously enjoyed everyone else’s Turkey Trot’s while I iced my leg from the couch.

Friday– Does putting up the work Christmas decorations count as a workout?

Sunday- 8 miles on the bike.  I really wanted to run but I can still feel oddness in my leg so I talked myself into being smart.  I was tired of being a lazy lump though so I decided to test the leg on the bike.  I tried to keep a steady pace and not push things.  If I felt even a twinge I backed off.

So yeah, that was a crappy week.  As for the week to come.  I packed my gym bag and as of right now, we’ll just see what happens.  Fingers crossed!

In other news, I have already watched so many cheesy Christmas movies thanks to the Hallmark/ Lifetime channels.   My DVR is getting the workout that I am missing.  😛

How was your week?

Did you run a Turkey Trot?

Week 46- Vacation

I currently have no upcoming races.  Say what?

With that in mind, I planned to take a step back week- run 4 times but no long run.  My thought was to have my longest run be 6 miles.  I was also on vacation so that would change if I randomly threw in a hike (I didn’t) but I didn’t want a return of leg pain from last week.

Other than that, I had a giant list of things I needed to do while I was on vacation that I can’t get done regularly.  Spoiler alert- I didn’t get most of them done.  Slacker.  🙂😛

Monday- Travel day  Between leaving the hotel and getting to airport, then the flight and driving home from San Jose, all of Monday was spent traveling.  I didn’t make it home until after 8 that night.    Plus after the stress of the flight being overbooked, then finding out it was a TINY plane, all I wanted to do was take a shower and go to sleep.

Tuesday- Rest  I had a blood work appointment to get done before an appointment on Thursday.  I also completed the mountain of laundry that I came home from Vegas with.  The highlight of the day though was the DMV- after months I finally have the Slacker plates back on my car!👍

Wednesday- 5 miles  I headed for the river path around 3, taking advantage of daylight and the near 80 degree temps.  I kept the pace super easy but randomly threw in a 9:20 mile just prove I still could.

Thursday- 4 miles I left at a similar time to the day before but talk about a temp change- it was about 30 degrees cooler than Wednesday.   I ran a surprisingly peppy, progressive 4 miler.

Friday- Rest I can’t remember what else I did.  That’s kind of sad.

Saturday- 4 miles The downhill slide.  Same route as Thursday, 2 minutes slower overall and a drastically different run.   My calves and achilles screamed for damn near the entire run.  2 miles in my stomach started yelling in an entirely not good way.  This run was so not pleasant.

Sunday- Rest  My lower left leg was talking all day.  Walking and sitting were uncomfortable.  I have no upcoming races in the near future and hadn’t been planning on a long run anyways so I saw no point in making things worse just to add 5-6 miles to my weekly total.

13 miles for the week.   I’d be happier with the low mileage if it was due to laziness but this is the second week in a row I’ve backed off due to leg pain.   That is not cool.

How was your week?

Anyone planning a Turkey Trot?