Guilty….

but then again, not really. I had a post mostly formed about insecurities and doubts but I am in an oddly good mood today and don’t want to spoil it. So, I’m gonna hold onto that one ok?

Like I said, oddly enough I am in a good mood. Not sure why, this week feels like it has been 10 days long already, Tuesday’s run was hard on the lungs and I’ve been hollered and lectured. But, like I said, odd good mood. The shoe can drop later, until then let’s talk about guilty pleasures.

Pizza– Duh, of course I was going to start here. Wednesday has kind of turned into my cheat pizza night. Last week, I was disappointed. I went to the usual place but the pizza was just meh. Kind of too saucy and not very warm. Boo. This week, they made up for it. Also, when this account follows you on Twitter, it may be a sign that you talk about pizza too much-

White chocolate macadamia nut cookies– How have I never had one before?! You’ve probably heard me mention that we have cookie Friday for the customers at work. We are contemplating switching bakeries, so of course we have to try them all out. 😛 Seriously, this cookie was so good!

Sunsets– I mean look at this!!!! The run might have been rough and my lungs were pissed but look at that view! I also had a few tidal wave fears on this run but that’s not the point. (earthquake and no birds= creepy silence). Sadly, I sometimes forget that scenes like this are right outside the door at work. Seriously, I can see the harbor from the sidewalk.

TV– I have odd taste in TV shows. Seriously between Teen Wolf and Downton Abbey– I think I run the gamut. They both air on nights when I am usually trying to type up a blog post. I spend more time staring at the tv screen than I do typing. At least I can say I finally have somewhat of a clue as to what is going in Teen Wolf. I was lost for like half the freakin’ season. And I promise it’s not as cheesy as it sounds. But let’s not talk about what else I watch right now.

My training journal– ok, this is actual guilt. I haven’t written in my training journal since the second week of January. Oops? I am so bad at keeping those!

Online shopping– Seriously, I browse websites all the time. I put things in my cart all the time. Then I let them sit there. I can’t remember the last time I completed a purchase.

Races– Like most of you, I want to run all the races!!! But I procrastinate registration, partly because I am gun shy but partly because I am lazy. But, guess who registered for Rock n Roll LA on the first day it opened? This Slacker did! Dude, that’s in October! I’m running it with Ashley and Heather and it’s gonna rock!!

And I thought I had more but I’ve forgotten what they were, oops!

How has your week been?

What was your guilty pleasure?

Training Week 8 Recap

Upcoming race– SLO 13.1- May 1

Focus– Just keep running, just keep running.

This week was an improvement over last week. Since ignoring my little lung issue for pretty much all of January, I am trying to pay more attention to how I am feeling and actually listen this time. I am also refocusing on eating a low carb diet but more on that later.

Monday- Rest I had the day off and I usually like to run on those days but instead I rested. I had my doctor’s appointment followed by a chest x-ray. Yay for the labs being open on a holiday.

Tuesday- 3.4 miles The fallen tree run. 🙂 Another day avoiding the treadmill and running from work.

Wednesday- Rest It was also my cheat day for pizza. Sadly, it wasn’t as good as it usually is. Boo.

Thursday- 3.1 miles I had a meeting at the end of the day but on the upside it was in home town! I was able to make it home before 5, sweet! I planned on changing quickly and heading out for a run. However the dog had other plans. She went nuts over someone in the neighbors yard. It took me 15 minutes to corral her. Once running, I realized I had overestimated how much time I had until the sun set. Oops. And because I had been frazzled by the dog I had left my flashlight behind. Double oops. Even though the run was shorter than I had hoped it was a pretty good one. Again, I tried to keep my pace slow and easy. It’s kind of sad that mile 3 was around 10:00 min. pace and it felt like it was at tempo pace.

Friday- Rest Work was stressful and I was so glad to see the end of the day.

Saturday- 10.93 miles With Heather! Heather, Ashley and I have been trying to meet up and we made it work on Saturday. Ashley couldn’t join us for the run but we met up with her later. I met up with Heather early on Saturday morning to run one of her routes. I apologized from the start that I was going to be slow and wasn’t sure how far my lungs were going to let me get. I was hoping for 10. We set out at a comfortable pace and just kept trucking. I don’t usually run with people so I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to talk and run at the same time. I don’t think I did too bad! The route was nice, we ran along parts of hwy 1 and streets in Pismo. Running past the cinnamon roll store was brutal- it smelled so good!! My lungs held up well on the way out but got fussy on the way back. I had to take more than a few walk breaks, boo. My legs and my body felt fine but every now and then I just had to slow down, it became too difficult to get in air. I kept apologizing for slowing down. But we finished! Back to the cars at 10.93 miles. I laughed over the mileage.

From there we cleaned up a bit before heading over to meet Ashley for brunch. We met at Custom House and I had heard really good things about their churro style french toast. So even though it broke all the diet rules, I had to try it right? Sadly, I wasn’t blown away. The bacon was amazing though. Know what else was amazing? Lunch with friends! We caught up on what’s been going on and planned some fun race trips for the future.

Sunday- Rest Ummm, I took a 2 hour nap. Can’t decide if it was an oops or awesome.

So other than I seemed to forget all about the bike this week, it was a pretty solid week. I was able to get in some decent miles that didn’t leave me hating either myself or running after. Looking to this week, the plan is to keep running easy and just take each run as it comes. I also need to get back on the bike and get in some miles there as well.

Food– I stopped talking about my diet for a while because let’s be honest- I wasn’t low carb or paleo at all. However in the hope of keeping myself accountable, I am going to start sharing a little recap on these posts. I am working on transitioning back to a lower carb lifestyle. With pizza thrown in once a week of course. This week was pretty good- I would say I was around 55/45%. Which doesn’t sound great but it’s epically better than I was previously. I also had a donut last week. When one of the company presidents makes a special trip to bring your location donuts- you eat them!

How was your week?

The Jury’s Still Out

Before I get to the boring medical stuff, how’s this for a roadblock-

That thing is huge!   And was standing 2 weeks ago.   Wonder when that came down.

Why do I hope for answers from a doctors appointment when those have been so rare in the past? Particularly from this doctor. The only time I have ever seen him show any kind of emotion or urgency was when I was attacked by a dog a few years ago. Anyways, after a scheduling headache last week, I was able to see my doctor on Monday. He ordered a chest x-ray and some blood work and gave me a snazzy new inhaler to try. Instead of a rescue inhaler, it’s a daily use inhaler. Boo, I’m so over medications. My medicine drawer is looking a little crowded. But, I would like to run without gasping for air. Also, a rush at work shouldn’t leave me feeling winded. So hopefully these tests will shine at least a little light on what’s been going on.

That being said, I had a pretty good run on Tuesday. I took the Nike Free RN’s for another little test spin. I set out to run super slow. I was hoping I could maintain a slow, easy pace without any walk breaks. I was running from work so I was a little concerned about the humidity but I was hoping a nice and sloooow pace would keep my breathing under control. This route is not conducive to a slow start though-

I kept my pace calm and just kept trucking. I was feeling ok and enjoying the sunset on the ocean. I was also debating if I wanted to run 3 or 4 miles. I had gotten out of work a little later so the sun was setting quickly. I had remembered my flashlight though and I had my blinky lights on my belt. I love the turn around point for the 4 mile route but thought 3 might be the better idea as the return to my car is always slower. I was feeling sluggish but ok and was going to push for 4 when the roadblock pictured up top put a stop to that. Boo. I never quite realized how damn big the trees in the eucalyptus grove were before. I’m glad I wasn’t running when it came down!

I made it back to my car just before total darkness fell. One bonus about starting so slow? I negative split this route for the first time ever! #findtheshiny right?

How has your week been going?

Ever run into a roadblock like that?

Week 7 Training Recap

Upcoming Races– SLO Marathon- Half

Focus– Recovery

This will be a quick recap. This week shaped up a little fluffier than planned. Not a lot of exercise but eating like I ran a marathon. Or 2. Oddly, I was fine during race weekend and even Disneyland. It wasn’t until Tuesday that I went off the rails. A post race week combined with hormones = #eatallthethings.

Monday- Disneyland!! According to my Up band, we walked around 7 miles that day. Not too bad. My legs held up pretty well, I didn’t really feel sore from Surf City but there were moments my mother left me in the dust. Mostly going up, walking up to Super Hero HQ was a little rough.😁

Tuesday- Rest My chest was hurting pretty badly on Tuesday. I had the day off and thought about riding the bike or going for a short run but decided to pass on it. Instead I caught up on all the laundry from the weekend and worked on some computer issues that I had been having. The computer is fixed but I want to throw my printer out the window.

Wednesday- Rest Back at work and I had a meeting a few towns south in the morning. I kind of feel like I spent the day driving all over the county, so it was a planned rest day. Plus my chest was still sore.

Thursday- 12 miles stationary I had packed my running gear and was looking to try for a short run after work. I still felt a little bruised but nothing like the past few days. However a dense marine layer rolled in around closing time so I took it as as a sign to not push my lungs. I headed home for the bike instead.

Friday- Rest Like always. 😛

Saturday- Shoes! With spring races on the horizon and big plans for the summer, I need to figure out my shoe situation. While my Pure Flow’s aren’t making me bleed anymore, they are not making my feet happy either. My left foot in particular. With that in mind, I headed down to SLO for a little bit of shopping and ended up at the Running Warehouse. Uh oh. It was busy but someone was able to help me fairly quickly. I’m horrible because I don’t remember his name! After explaining all the issues I had been having lately, he brought out 3 pairs of shoes for me to try- New Balance Vazee Pace, Saucony Kinvara 6 and the Pure Flow 5’s.

The New Balance felt great when I was sitting but horrible once I stood up and walked around. The Kinvara’s were super snug. I didn’t want to go up a size because I regret it every time I do. The newer Pure Flow’s were odd. They are firmer than they used to be. I didn’t feel any pinching in the heel and the arch support felt ok but the tongue was ridiculous! It’s harder now so it felt like a piece of plastic digging into my ankle. What is with that?! Based on what I liked and didn’t like, he then brought out a pair of Brooks Launch 3’s. They felt the best out everything but they still felt like a lot of shoe. I’ve really liked the lower heel- toe drop of the Pure Flow 4’s and the smaller foot print of the toe box. He then brought out a pair of Nike’s- the Free Run Distance. Say what?

I’ve tried on numerous pairs of Nike’s over the years and hated every single one. Which is odd since all my tennis shoes were Nike’s. I was predisposed to hate this pair, then I put it on. Holy crap, it felt like a slipper. Snug but not tight and with a 4mm drop. Now, it felt great in the store but running could be a different story. But it was the best fit and I ended up leaving with my first pair of Nike running shoes.

Oh and I had dvr’ed the marathon trials and watched them that night. How awesome was that? Shalane and Amy were amazing and the perfect example of #runningrelationshipgoals.

Sunday- 6 miles First run in a week and it was rough. I was hoping that all the extra rest would have helped my lungs but not so much. My training plan called for a 90 minute progression run but I had mentally changed that to an easy 8 since I wasn’t feeling great since the race and hadn’t run. I started out the run in my new shoes but knew I might end up looping back to the house if they didn’t work. Usually I try to break in my shoes with 3-4 mile runs. My warm up walk was a little longer than usual and felt pretty good but running was hard. I was huffing and puffing a mile in. I wasn’t wheezing, it just felt like it was harder to get in a decent amount of air. I ran slowly and took regular walk breaks. I called it at 6, I didn’t have another 2 in me today. The shoes felt pretty good. I started the run with some soreness and twinging in my left knee but that’s been there since Thursday. It actually got better by the end of the run. They held up well today but I am cautious to see how they do once I run in them more.

So this week ended up being on the lazier side of recovery with only 2 workouts. But I am ok with that as I needed a wake up call to make me go to the doctor and Surf City was that call. My appointment is Monday and I am really hoping that it is something that can fixed fairly quickly. Fingers crossed! I am trying not to plan to far ahead into next week until I hear what he has to say.

How was your week?

Ever had to change your mind about a brand of shoes?

Did you watch the trials?

Slacker does Disney

Sorry, couldn’t help myself. 🙂

Ok, I hadn’t been to Disneyland since Disneyland Grad Nite my senior year of high school. People, that was last century!! I’ve been trying to go for a couple of years now but never made it work. My birthday, mom’s birthday, random day in March, nothing seemed to work out. Then last year, it occurred to me- Surf City! Disneyland is like 5 minutes from Huntington Beach. Ok, more like 30. But then that was in the middle of their not so little measles outbreak. Yeah, umm no thank you. Cut to this year.

We were torn between going to Disneyland on Sunday after the race or Monday. I was concerned with how sore I would feel- Disneyland is a lot of walking. Then my little lung issue put a kibosh on a Sunday trip. After lounging around the hotel on Sunday, we headed to Disneyland bright and early on Monday. Yay! So while this is not running related, how about a little recap of my little adventure?

Favorite Ride-

More like experience but Star Tours rocked. I remember loving it years ago, but the addition of Star Wars made my inner nerd so very happy. We even managed to ride it twice. Which was sweet because there was more than one story line!!! The second time was also the longest wait in line of the day but that’s ok, we had some visitors while in line-

Other Rides-

Throughout the day we managed to ride the Matterhorn (2x), Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (story there), Hyperspace Mountain, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, the teacups, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion and Indiana Jones. Indiana Jones is still one of my favorites, the sharp turns and drops are awesome. Haunted Mansion as an adult is only meh, kind of cheesy. And Pirates of the Caribbean?! Where did that come from? I don’t think I had ever been on that ride before because I remembered nothing! And considering I ended up drenched, I would have remembered that! Oh and there’s a random restaurant inside the ride? How do you get reservations there?

Fun Story-

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Yeah, normally this is a pretty speedy coaster (for Disneyland) and our first ride had started normally. Halfway through, the coaster had just started to go up a hill when it just stopped. There was a pre-recorded message about a slow train ahead on the tracks so we thought it may have been part of the ride. Nope! Soon another voice came on the speakers announcing that all the trains had stopped due to technical difficulties and that we needed to stay in our seats until we were evacuated. What?! Eventually some cast members came out and instructed us to stay in our sits as the coaster had to be anchored before we could get off. Apparently the coaster could roll if it wasn’t tied down. Then the fire department showed up. Meanwhile the couple sitting behind me and my mother were throwing a fit about their lunch plans and trying to get off before the fire department showed up. One of the cast members threatened to get security. Truthfully, I was trying not to laugh. Once off we were escorted through the tunnels on foot.

Bummer-

Due to the building of Star Wars land and some scheduled refurbishments, there were quite a few rides closed. Splash Mountain, Autopia, Jungle Cruise, Mark Twain’s Riverboat, the pirate ship and some other attractions were all closed. Boo. 😦 Also, we were in line for Hyperspace Mountain again when it too was shut down. Also it turned out to be a school holiday so the place was very crowded. And hot- who predicted temps in the 80’s in February?!

Nerd Moment-

Super Hero HQ was nerd-vana for me. Well, that and Star Wars Launch Bay. Seriously awesome. And I finally found myself a trucker hat. I’ve wanted one for running but could never find one I liked.

The take home-

We saved all the stores for last as we didn’t want to have to carry anything. I am not a huge Mickey or Minnie fan (sorry!) nor am I fond of the princesses. My favorite Disney cartoon is Lilo and Stitch. I remember seeing it in the theater when it came out years ago. I was a little over 20 and I went with my best friends-at that time they were all guys. All 4 of us were sniffling by the end, I still get teary eyed watching it today. So I wanted a Stitch stuffed animal. I finally found one in the very last store. I swear I picked it up, hugged it and proceeded to carry it around the store like a 5 year old. #noshame

Fail-

Everyone was gathering to watch the parade in the afternoon but we chose to skip it and go try Big Thunder Mountain Railroad again. While this ride was successful, we missed something big. Peyton Manning was in the freakin’ parade!!! Seriously?!

All in all it was a fun and tiring day. Maybe someday I will finally make it to California Adventure. 🙂

Ever been to Disneyland?

Favorite ride?

Favorite Disney character? Who is Mr. Toad?