Category: Training

The SF Marathon Training Week 15

I have no witty opening for this one.  That’s also assuming anything I’ve ever opened with before was witty.  Hmmm, maybe that was a reach.

Like I said in my Friday post last week, I am tired.  Just tired.  Running wise, the week was actually pretty good.   Work wise, I think my brain went into vacation mode way too early.    Oops.  That wasn’t great considering my boss was on vacation Thursday and Friday.   I needed to be firing on all cylinders.  I believe I completed most of my piles but I can’t shake the feeling that I forgot something.


Monday- 6.7 miles.  4th of July!! I met with Ashley and Heather for a very patriotic themed run down at Avila Beach.  The plan was to do 8 miles but it was my third day of running in a row and my shins and knee were pissed.   I ended up falling behind taking walk breaks but I eventually just sat on a bench 2 miles from the beach and waited for them to come back my way.  Truthfully, I wanted to swing on the swings while I waited but they were occupied by children.  Once they were back, I was able to run the whole back with them.  I was fine with fewer miles.  Then we went for a super yummy breakfast – churro french toast for the win!  It was a great way to spend the morning.

Tuesday- Rest.  Yeah, there was no way I was running a 4th day in a row.  Rest was awesome.   Plus work is always insane the day after a 3 day weekend so it was nice being able to just go home and crash.  I think I did something else but I can’t remember.


Wednesday-2.3 miles.  My legs still felt wonky.  Seriously one 20 miler less than 2 weeks ago and I’m broken for days.   I did 2 laps of the lake and called it.  They were a slow, crawling 2 laps but that’s better than no miles right?


Thursday- 3.75 miles.  Uh oh, 2 days in a row again?  However, this was the day that finally felt more normal.   I kept it short and sweet though as I didn’t want to push it.  Not only is the marathon super close but I had a half marathon on Saturday.  But I really wanted to try out my new shorts.


Friday- Rest.   My boss is on vacation so it was an open to close kind of day.  I did manage to sneak away for 10 minutes and grab my packet for Saturday’s race.    And a Diet Coke because by that time I needed one.  😛


Saturday- 13.1 miles.  Rock’n Around the Pier Half.   My hope was to run the race in the morning and do another 7 in the evening to complete a disjointed 20.   Yeah, that didn’t happen.  The race was rough and I had some problems, but more on that next post.    I did however get in a few miles of walking around SLO with some post race shopping.

Sunday- Rest.  Unless miles of walking around Santa Barbara shopping count as exercise.  😛   My mom, S and I headed to Santa Barbara for a day of birthday shopping, S has hers on Monday and mine is Tuesday.  It was fun but it made me realize how much I prefer SLO.  However I am jealous they have a PizzaRev, that place was awesome.  It was a long and tiring day and my legs/feet were fried by the end.    By the time I was home I was too tired to even finish this post in time for it go up on Monday.   On the upshot- I may have found my marathon outfit.  Priorities right?

Overall, it was a good running week, I was just exhausted.   I know that time frame wise I am at the point in training that I should be exhausted but I don’t feel like I’ve really trained enough for that.  Life has been a little crazy for a few months as well but it doesn’t usually affect me like this.    Maybe my upcoming birthday is just making me moody?  That’s a thing right?

Going forward, this week would start a traditional taper period for the marathon.  However I feel like the past few months have been a taper.  So we will see.  I know I still need to figure out water.   My handheld is not enough and my pack is crap.  Hey I rhymed!    Non running life- I have 2 vacation days!!  Happy dance, happy dance.  😃😃  I have nothing planned- it sounds awesome.

How as your weekend?

When was you last vacation? What did you do?

 

The SF Marathon Training Week 14

14.  14 down, only 4 more to go!

So yeah.  Week 14.   Ummmm, ouch? Week 13 was awesome- I mean, I ran 20 miles and kind of like it?  What could go wrong?  Ha Ha.

Monday- Rest.  I felt pretty good actually, my legs- shins included- felt fine all day.   Part of me wanted to run but I figured that would be silly or worse injury provoking, so I scheduled in 2 rest days.

Tuesday- Rest.   Once again my legs felt pretty good but I had a plan man, and I was sticking to it.  It made sense.    At least I thought it did.

Wednesday- Rest.  Hello freight train.  Body wise I felt ok, but I was suddenly exhausted.  I felt like I could sleep for days.   That said, I was still planning on running after work.    However my family texted and asked if I wanted to meet everyone for dinner.  I first said no- I needed to run.  They ended up convincing me.   So instead of running, I enjoyed too much food at dinner.


Thursday-6 miles.  Seriously I wish someone had filmed the first 3ish mile of this run.   I want to know if it looked as hilarious as it felt.    I had another half day at work so I was naively hopeful that I could get the weekends 10-12 miler in early.  I don’t have a route that length in work town so I headed home.   I walked my usual 5 minute warm up and then started running.  Or tried to.   My legs were not functioning as a team.  Nothing hurt but I could not level out.  I felt like one leg was going forward while the other was swinging to the side.  I felt like a newborn giraffe trying to walk. Mile 1 was 98% walking, mile 2 wasn’t much better.    The final 4 miles were all in the 12 minute range but I finally started to feel a little more normal by mile 6.  I knew I wasn’t doing any more than that though.    This run did put me over 100 miles for June though.

Friday- Rest.  I should have tried to run.   It would have been the smart thing to do.  But, yeah, I didn’t.


Saturday- 5 miles.   I wanted more but after working in the morning, running in the 80’s was kicking my ass.  When did I turn into such a baby?    Once again, I was running while limping.  Again nothing hurt, but my stride was all over the place.   Miles 4 and 5 felt better but were still so slow.   I hobbled/ ran until I hit 5 miles and called it.   My ankles and shins were pretty sore that night.  I iced and rolled.


Sunday- 10 miles.  I was aiming for 13 but knew I was also meeting Heather and Ashley the next day for a run.  I wasn’t sure my legs were up to 3 days in a row so I dropped my mileage back to 10.  I didn’t even think I was going to finish that.  Miles 1-3 were more awkward gait running.  It takes me 3-4 miles to warm up, so I just kept going.   Once again, I hauled ass across the bridge and saw a 9:37 split- oops.  My legs were not happy.  I met up with my mother a little before mile 7.   I ended up walking all of mile 7 with her.  While I do take walk breaks, I don’t think I would have walked a whole mile by myself at that point.   But I was tired of running weirdly.    I think it helped.    The last 3 miles felt the best out of everything- part of me wanted to keep running.  😛

I was sore, bordering on pain by the end of the day though.   I foam rolled, stretched and iced.  I also “recovered” while eating lots of popcorn watching Tarzan.  😛

There’s a reason I’ve been taking a day between each run and I just got stupid this week.   Now my ice pack is my best friend again.  Grrr.    This is not how I was hoping to be feeling 4 weeks out from San Francisco.  I choosing to stay positive and not freak out.   Think happy thoughts right?  Oh, did I mention I have a half marathon in 3 days?  On the beach.  #findtheshiny  I can do it.

How was your week?

How long does it take you to warm up?  I think I am realizing why all my short runs were rough all these years. I was warming up when I was stopping.  Oops.

Seen any movies lately?

June Recap

Holy crap, it’s marathon month!  Where did June go???

June started with ouches and whimpers as I iced and rolled and stretched and dropped my running days down to 3.   I hated doing it but it’s what was needed.   I switched to survival mode and focused most of my attention on my long runs.  That said, my monthly mileage wasn’t too bad for a survival mode month.  😛


I did not run any races in June but did successfully complete my first 20 miler.  And I liked it.   Who knew?     I felt pretty good after it too…at least for a few days.  Now, I feel like I am learning to run all over again.  I think I resemble a baby giraffe at the moment.   But more on that in my week 14 training recap.

Oh, and I hit 502 miles for the year by June 30- sweet!!!

Now, it’s July.   It’s marathon month.  It’s also my birthday month.    San Francisco will be my first race in a new age group.  Truthfully, I can’t decide if I should be more alarmed at the speed that the race is coming or the reminder that I am getting older.  😛

How was your June?

Plans for July?

Happy 4th of July!!

 

The SF Marathon Training Week 13

13 weeks in and the title got a little shorter.  😛

After my last post, this recap may be a little boring.  But I was so excited about my 20 miler that I just had to share it.   Thanks for all your thoughts!   So let’s see how the rest of week 13 went.


Monday- 4 miles.   Home town was a comfortable 106 so I sucked it up and ran in work town.  I love the views there but feel so awkward.  I don’t know why I am so concerned for customers to see me.  I kept the pace nice and easy but it took me 3 miles to warm up.  My last mile felt the best which was funny as it was all uphill.


Tuesday- Rest.  I’m somewhat sticking to a day on followed by a day off running plan as it seems to keep my shins less aggravated.   Plus a rest day meant that I could participate in BibChat- my first as a BibRave Pro!  😃 😃   I’m looking forward to learning more and participating with BibRave.


Wednesday- 4 miles.  I’m sensing a pattern here.   I got off work early since I had to work Saturday.  Home town was still an oven so I headed to a new path in work town.  It kind of rocked.  I still felt super uncomfortable but I am going to work on pushing those limits.

Thursday-Rest.   I actually wanted to try a few miles to break in my new shoes but it didn’t happen.   I had an eye appointment at the end of the day and the dilation messes with my eyes.  I already have issues with too much brightness, even sunglasses weren’t enough protection post appointment.  I stayed in a dark room until they calmed down.  It wasn’t entirely a waste though.  I spent some time working on the blog.  The SLO milestone was still there- oops.  And now I have a discount page!

Friday-  Rest day.   I worked the late shift so I tried to sleep a little later in preparation for the weekend’s plans.   Wishful thinking, right?

Saturday- Rest.  Again, seriously?  This was intentional.  I knew I was planning a huge (for me) long run on Sunday so I was hoping to rest my legs.  I worked in the morning but things went well so we were able to get out on time.   I ran a few errands, rested the remainder of the day and hydrated like it was my job.    I also probably ate all the wrong things, oops.


Sunday- 20 miles.  Hell yeah!!  I am still riding high on this one.  I actually did it, woo hoo!  You can read all about that here.

28 miles for the week.   Could have been better but could have been worse too.   This week’s focus was on the long run and I would say mission accomplished.   Now if I could just stop talking about it.  😛   Sorry!

Food wise, things have been a little rough.   I would say I am around 40/60 right now.  My nighttime snacking has gotten a little out of control.  Oops.  I really need to get a handle on that.   I say as I eat a cinnamon bear…or 3.

How’s your weather?

What candy is your weakness? 

 

20- The White Whale

If you had told me 2 years ago that I would be training for a marathon, I would have laughed at you.  If you had said that marathon training would happen during a CA summer, I would have responded with a “hell no”.  Had you said that I would get up early on a Sunday morning and go run a 20 miler by myself- I would have told you that you needed to have your head examined.

And yet, that’s exactly what I did.

While I was set on following Hansons, I admit that I had planned some adjustments to the long runs.  I had hoped for a 16 in April, 18 in May, 20 in June and a second 20/22 in July.    16 in April was a success- ran it with Heather and Ashley.  18 in May?  Yeah, that never happened.  Could I pull off 20?

I stuck to the training plan for April and May.  Then I got hurt- since then I’ve been taking it easy on my weekday runs and focusing on the long runs.   The long runs are about the only part of Hansons I’m still doing but really I’m just doing my own thing.   And my own thing really wanted to do 20 this weekend.   Ok, maybe want is not the right word.  😛

Is it sad that one of my biggest worries about this run was getting myself out of bed in the morning?   It’s been averaging in the 105 range here so I knew I would have to head out early.  But I want to sleep in!  I set my alarm and just hoped I wouldn’t hit snooze one too many times.

When you turn your trunk into an aid station
I still haven’t quite figured out how to carry enough water comfortably so I set my car up as an aid station.  I had extra water, Gatorade, Nuun and Honey Stinger chews.  I had a change of shoes, a change of socks and a fresh shirt.   It pays to be prepared right?  I had a looped route planned- 5 miles, then 10, then the last five.  I told myself it was less intimidating if I only thought about each loop at a time.


I started my run around 6:15.  I had hit snooze a few times.  Oops.  I started the run in my new Brooks.  It’s one of the reasons I planned my first loop as a short one.   I walked around 3/4 of the first mile just to make sure I didn’t have a sudden bloody blister problem like the last time I tried to break in new PureFlows.     Everything felt ok so I started running.   I am never out that early, it felt odd.  I thought there would be multiple other people put beating the heat but there wasn’t.   I was feeling pretty good so my first loop ended up being just shy of 8 miles.  I hit my car and filled my water bottle back up and ate 2 chews.

Time for loop 2.   People were starting to appear!  It was also warming up.   My loops were actually comprised of 3 smaller loops around neighborhoods- I could tell it was getting hotter faster than predicted so I looped the top one twice on the second big loop as it was the part of the route with the least amount of shade. I figured I should get it out of the way before it was full on hot.    I also threw down a 10 minute mile in this loop. I never felt like I was moving that fast.   I had only used 1/2 of my water bottle on the first big loop, now I was only halfway through the second loop and I knew I was going to run out.  I made another course adjustment and was able to hit my car just shy of 16 miles.

Manual dexterity was tricky as I was super sweaty so instead of pouring water into my Orange Mud bottle, I just switched bottles.  😛  I was also feeling some chafing around my sports bra, so I took one of those extra socks, got it wet and shoved it in my sports bra.  Classy right?


Loop 3.   I won’t lie I was getting a little tired but overall I felt pretty good.  I hit 16 miles in 3:03 and I was pretty stoked- that was faster than my last one!  I might actually finish 15 minutes before my projected time of 4 hours!  Then came the last 4 miles.   Oh holy heatwave.  It was only in the 80’s but it felt like 100 to me.   My legs were tired but felt like they had more miles in them, my stomach was decent but holy crap, I was hot.   I went through almost 23 ounces of water in 4 miles.  The loop turned into more of an out and back up a hill and I kind of crawled.   But I got it done!!!


20 miles in 3:53:13.  I was still under 4 hours!  And considering mile 17 was 13:10 and 18 and 19 weren’t much faster, I’ll take it!     I walked a little ways back towards my car and took advantage of a shady spot on the path.  I plopped myself down and just sat there for a while.   I was kind of surprised at myself.    Holy crap people, I ran 20 miles- voluntarily.  By myself.  On a Sunday.  I actually followed through and got my ass out of bed early.   I don’t know who I am right now.  


I ended up dumping a bottle of water of over my head to cool off and took myself through the McDonald’s drive thru for a much craved Diet Coke.  It tasted amazing.   😊😊

Ever surprised yourself with a run?  Or anything really?

What do you crave after a hot run?