Lions and Smoke- Weekly Recap

Part of me thinks the universe was trying to tell me to take a break and part of thinks I am just trying to rationalize how slacker-like I was this week. Ohhh, it was bad. So bad. But life happens right? You gotta roll with the punches right? Ok, that was a little cliche. So let’s just get to it.

Monday- Sick. I actually called in sick to work. I had felt poorly all weekend and Monday morning just wasn’t happening. Lots of rest, water and sleep.

Tuesday-Rest I told myself I was well enough to run so I packed my bag- I wasn’t. My subconscious must have known better as I forgot my shoes. Then came the air quality warnings due to the Chimney Fire. I found out from my mother that even the schools canceled all outdoor sports practices due to air quality. Ok, I get it.

Wednesday-Rest I had to stay late at work for phone issues so I knew I wasn’t running. Boo.

Thursday- 4 miles I ran!!! Mile one was too slow and mile 4 was way too fast but I got out there. I still wasn’t feeling the greatest and I was moving a little sluggish. The smoke in the air made things rough. My legs were also freaky sore. I stopped to stretch a few times on the run. I was glad I got the run in though, it felt good to be moving. I remember thinking that there were fewer people out and chalked it up to the smoke.

Friday- Rest And backslide. I woke with a very sore throat and some tightness in my chest. Boo, smoke. I used my inhaler on the way to work. Things got a little better while at work as work town is a little farther from the fire. That didn’t stop the sky from glowing when I left though.

Saturday- Rest. I had laid out all my clothes to run the night before and I was really hoping for 10 miles. Surprisingly, marathon training made me like long runs. But I felt worse Saturday morning than I had on Friday. Boo. So I lazed about all day and the ended the day at the movies.

every parking lot is full of fire trucks

Sunday- 8 mile stationary bike, 10 pushups and a plank attempt. My clothes were still laid out to run but yeah. I was exhausted and learned something about my running route. Mountain lion sightings?!!!! Oh hell no. Apparently there have been a few sightings and the game warden has been out. Seriously?!

Ok, enough is enough. Smoke, lions and sickness? I’m done.

So yeah, this was an interesting week. I am over it and moving on. And now debating if that running route is public enough to chance running. I mean there are houses on one side, right? Hmmm.

How was your week?

What creatures do you run into?

Seriously, how awesome was the men’s marathon?

Fri- Yay! Thoughts

The weekend is almost here, woot woot! I am so ready. How about you?

How I will feel at closing time on Friday

My brain has been all a-jumble this week so I figured I would just ramble on a bit. Join me for a stroll?

So you know how some people celebrate races by treating themselves to all kinds of food? I thought I would be one of those people. I mean I already have a messed up relationship with food- reward/comfort but that’s another story- but that’s not what panned out. Instead I seem to have gone through a 3 week period of impulse purchases. Oops!!! New shoes, new shorts, the transition towel, a 26.2 sticker for my car, a new planner and a little something else that I can’t wait to share. To bad the projected time frame for delivery is 8-12 weeks. Boo.

I’m still in that weird spot of wanting to grow my hair but hating where it’s at right now. I’ve been thinking it might be time to dye it again. So I took a pair of scissors to it over the weekend. I now have bangs. And they went a little 80’s on Wednesday. Oops.

We’re doing a Biggest Loser type contest at work. I figured a little motivation wouldn’t hurt right? Oh man, I am losing so badly. And I broke my scale. Not sure how I am weighing in tomorrow. Yikes!

And I thought the Soberanes fire was bad- the Chimney Fire while smaller is a lot closer and burning like crazy. The air is full of smoke. Town is full of firefighters. The smoke is a little insane at times, my lungs are very cranky. Serious thank you to all the firefighters.

I am on Olympic overload. There I said it. Can I have normal tv back? I miss the news. The news at 11 was my sign to go to bed, now I am all confused.I’ve been dvr’ing it and fast forwarding through a lot. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for the dumb way NBC is airing things. And some of the announcers are driving me bonkers. #watchonmute

Instead of the Olympics, I’ve watched a lot of Bones. It’s surprising how much I remember.

Stickers on cars- yay or nay?

Your thoughts on the Olympics?

Any plans this weekend?

Recovery Week 2

I hadn’t really planned on another recovery week but well life right?

I was feeling very out of it all week. I had troubles speaking and couldn’t seem to remember anything. With working last Saturday and then the company picnic on Sunday, it just felt like the longest week ever. I was just so tired and so ready for the weekend. That said, this will not be a very long recap. 😛

Monday- Rest I got a phone call Sunday evening from an employee calling sick. With another one on vacation I knew the day was going to be straight chaos so I left all my running gear at home assuming work would run late. And I was right. I wasn’t completely lazy though, I managed to clean my car after getting home that evening. I am embarrassed at the state that it was in.

Tuesday- Rest Same situation as Monday. However I also had a meeting in another town in the AM and I had the brilliant idea to wear heels for the first time in a month. Oh my word, blisters suck. Ouch! I did make it home in time for #bibchat though. I took advantage of a discount being offered and finally ordered myself the fancy transition towel I had been eyeing on the Orange Mud site for a year. Monday’s car cleaning also aided in me finally clicking buy.

Wednesday-Rest I can’t remember why though. I know I took my gear to work but didn’t run. Hmmm. I ate pizza though. 🍕🍕🍕

Thursday- 4.5 miles Fully staffed for the win! I taped up my blister and ran in home town. It was a little warmer than I would have liked and I started out super cautious thanks to the blister but it turned out to be a pretty good run. I have my watch set on 5 min run/ 2 min walk intervals, I am trying that these first few weeks post marathon. The first mile was super slow due to more walking and mile 4 somehow came in at 9:40. Ummm, oops? I think my new playlist may have been a little too inspiring. I felt pretty good at the end of this run though.

Friday- Rest So damn tired, is it the weekend yet? We also started a Biggest Loser type bet at work and the scale really pissed me off this morning.

Saturday- Rest. I planned on running, I was aiming for an 8 mile mid to long run and had been looking forward to it all week. I could not get out of bed. I stayed in bed past 3 alarms and could not get moving. When I finally did get moving, I was moving like a snail. Ok, running probably wasn’t the best idea. So instead I headed down to SLO for some errands. That included a stop at the Running Warehouse for some new kicks-

Sunday-8 miles. I was still tired when my alarm went off but not like Saturday. That said, I didn’t get started on this run until 9. That was stupid. I only took my handheld with 23 ounces of water- rookie move #2. Miles 1-4 weren’t bad. I was feeling tired but overall ok. Miles 5-8 were a hot mess. I was overheating, slowing down and having troubles with my asthma. I couldn’t smell smoke in the air but a huge wild fire broke out nearby Saturday night and I figured that could be affecting me. My mother met me at the halfway point, well that was the plan, I was so slow I didn’t catch up to her until mile 7. Oops. I just kept telling myself get to my car, get to my car. It felt like forever but finally I was done.

I was glad to have completed the run but things went south in the afternoon. I started to feeling very not right. I couldn’t regulate my body temp and I was burning up. I took the coldest shower possible and was chugging water. I was coughing a little more than normal and couldn’t focus on anything- which is why this post is also a day late. I texted my boss to let her know that I wasn’t doing so great. For me to text my boss, things are bad. At last check, I had 220+ hours of sick time available. Which is now 8 less because I did not make it to work on Monday.

I am feeling a tiny bit better and hoping that it was just too much sun/heat on top of being overly tired that kicked my ass. It was in the 90’s when I finished on Sunday which shouldn’t feel like a lot considering I live in Central CA but it’s better than the alternative. That coworker that had been out at the beginning of the week? Pneumonia. So yeah, I am hoping for too much heat.

12.5 miles for the week. More than the week before, that’s a plus right?

How was your week?

Do you keep your car clean?

Last Marathon Thoughts & Moving On

Did I really run a marathon 2 weeks ago?! It’s been over a week and I am still not sure how I pulled it off. How did I go from the year of no goals to running a marathon?

I mean, there is a reason I call this blog “Slacker Runner”. I am lazy. Sleeping in on weekends and sitting in my comfy chair binge watching Netflix are kind of my things. I’m good at those things. But training for a marathon? Running that marathon? And not hating life during it? That’s not me.

And yet I did it. Training didn’t go like planned but I did ok. Panic attacks leading up to race day were rampant… so was the doubt. Yet, somehow it all went away race morning. I realize that I got really lucky. Incredibly lucky- 26 miles of hills and fog, under fueled by most people’s standards but never hit a wall. I also somehow managed to avoid chafing.

I was so afraid the marathon was going to break me. I feared that I would cross the finish line ( if I made it that far) and hate running. I felt that way after my first half- I took 3- 4 months off of running. Well, I ~~raced~~ ran a 10K after and it just made things worse. But that’s another story.

Instead I went a little crazy the other way. Last week, I was like “run all the races!!!!!”. This week, I’ve calmed down a little. 😛 But that doesn’t change what I did. Yeah… I have 3 half marathons in a 5 week time frame starting in October. Oops. I really should look at a calendar more often. There should be an app that inputs all your races into a calendar that will pop up with flashing lights shouting “slow your roll”. But it is what it is.

My hope is for 2 of the races to be run for fun and one to be a challenge. I think it’s time to push myself a little. Maybe to see what happens? I also really need to get back on track with healthier eating habits. While I made it through marathon training without gaining any weight, I sure didn’t lose any. I rationalized a few too many indulgences. There’s only so many times you can tell yourself that life is short, eat the pizza. 😛❤🍕

I am still sussing out how I am going to train over the next couple of months but I am looking forward to it. And I’ll leave you with a funny-

race_2167_photo_39772647 — Walk break or picture break?

Happy Friday!!!

Have any plans?

Did I go a little crazy or am I still normal?

Recovery Week/ Goodbye July

Is that what you call it?

This week was odd. It was the first week since February that I didn’t have the marathon looming in the back of my mind. It was partially relaxing and partially nerve inducing. You know that feeling when you feel like you are forgetting something? That’s kind of how I felt all week.

There are so many theories online about marathon recovery, it’s easy to get lost. Plus, I had no idea how I was going to be feeling post race- would I even want to run after that?

Monday- Rest I had a few vacation days, so I turned off all alarms and just slept in. It was kind of awesome. Even better was that I had actually unpacked, put everything away and done laundry Sunday evening after getting home from San Francisco. I must be crazy. While relaxing, I finished up Lost. Still not sure about it. My legs felt pretty good. The only time I felt sore was when I moved from a sitting to a standing position.

Tuesday- Rest Another vacation day. I actually thought about running. I didn’t do it but I thought about running. Pretty much all my soreness was gone. That’s not normal right? I kept waiting for other shoe to drop so to speak.

Wednesday- Rest Back to work, boo. I took my running gear to work with me but that’s as far as it got. I once again was easy prey to my family and numerous emoji’s of pizza being texted. 😛

Thursday- 3.1 miles I ran!!!! It was slow, like epic-ally slow, but I ran!!! I also walked a lot of that but whatever- I was moving forward! My calves were a little tight and my right hip was yelling at me. Not yelling at me in a painful way, more of “girl, you’ve lost your mind but I’ll try to get on board” way. I felt like I had a crazy grin on my face the whole run. I could have done with less smoke in the air but it was great to be out there. I made sure to foam roll well that night and slept in compression socks.

Friday- Rest Well, hell. I woke up with a charlie horse around 3am. Grrr. I rolled with the stick before going to work. But the day turned around with an email- race pictures!!!!

Saturday- Rest I had to work so I headed that way in the morning. Talk about smokey! I work in a town much closer to Big Sur on Saturday’s and the smoke in the air from the fire was intense. I then headed home with the intention of doing a bunch of chores and errands but really only accomplished getting my tires rotated and doing laundry.

Sunday- 4 miles I had my company bbq at the beach in the morning. I am so awkward at these things. I stayed the minimum amount of required time before heading home. To where it was nearly 100. Fun. I headed out for a slow run in the evening but let’s be real, it was a walk. Still moving forward right?

So, 7 miles is totally recovery right? I am hoping to add another day and more miles in this week. I have another post in the works about some new post marathon plans. Stay tuned.

Oh and I never did a Goodbye July post- my third hundred mile month!

How was your week?

How do you recover post race?

Do you go to your company picnics?