It’s Harvest Marathon week!!!! Dude, race planning is stressful and I’m not even really doing anything. 😁 I feel bad for the others.
With the time change coming and my race in 17 days (yikes!) I decided to do my usual Slacker thing until mid-November. I don’t want to change things too much and likely hurt myself. I also want to enjoy the last few runs I can get in outside after work. I am not a fan of the time change, I am not looking forward to treadmilling it 2-3 times a week. It kills my motivation. I’ve thought about the options for running in the evening or mornings outside but there are a few problems there. Yes, the biggest one is how lazy I am in the mornings. But beyond that, the roads I run in my neighborhood are trashed. I almost tripped 4 times on Saturday in broad daylight, low visibility may break me. There are 2 streets with sidewalks but the sidewalks are hinky- uneven and varying heights. Equally dangerous for a klutz like me. 😛
I realized I’ve become a middle of the pack runner. Which is cool because I used to be towards the back but all the people!!! I was always used to crowds thinning out at races. My average pace at races this year meant people were always around. Sometimes it’s cool and sometimes it’s overwhelming. Surf City never thinned out and City the Sea felt similar but there was about an 18,000 person difference between those two! For some reason I thought Big Sur was around City to the Sea size- it’s not. It averages 8500 runners. In my world that’s a lot. And 6:55 AM start time- waah!
I’ve been running without headphones lately. No real reason other than I keep forgetting them. It’s actually not horrible, I kind of like it. Not sure I could do it for a longer run or race though.
And now it’s Thursday. The Slacker strikes again. 😛 Actually it wasn’t my fault. I tried to work on the laptop but instead I had a lap cat. I blame Kimi.
There were 3 days in between Saturday’s run and last nights. I felt like I hadn’t run in forever. It’s interesting how your perspective changes the longer you’ve been running. When I first attempted running, I often still felt sore 3 days later. Granted, I had hell-acious shin splints which in turn led to a 2nd degree ice burn but that’s another story. 😝 I used to take a month off after a half marathon now I feel like I haven’t run enough in the last two weeks. I’ve been eating like I ran an ultra though and that’s not good. Well the food was yummy. 😉
And in good news, check out this weather forecast-
No 90+ temps in sight! 30-40 degree changes but that’s normal out here. 😃
If you made it this far after this rambling, drawn out thought process, thanks!
I hadn’t planned on a recovery week after City to the Sea but that’s how it worked out. But that’s ok. Contradicts my last post though right?
In brief- Monday- I thought about a shake out run but it was 94*. Seriously?! Tuesday- I was looking forward to a good run but only made it one lap of the lake. I felt…off, kind of tired and not right, a little woozy, so I called it after 1.15 miles. Wednesday- The room was shaking and I turned a little green so I ended up leaving work early and going home sick. I spent the afternoon sleeping. On a side note, I found out I have 180 hours of sick time saved up. 😃 Thursday- I still wasn’t feeling great and couldn’t figure out how to change after a work meeting in a different town. Walking around in shorts when the CEO is in the building? Um no. I didn’t count on my stomach making its whale song throughout the CEO’s presentation though. Nice. Friday- My brother’s birthday- I indulged in pasta and birthday cake. Homemade beef stroganoff and marble fudge frosting? Yes, please. Saturday– 3.85 miles. I worked in the morning and was still feeling tired but I really wanted to run. The run actually felt pretty good until my stomach turned on me around 2.7 miles in. From there it was as fast as I could slowly get home. And taking a shortcut. Sunday- Does a 3 hour nap count as training? And more birthday cake.
Did I mention there are goats in the lake?
So yeah, more recovery that running. I finally just decided to go with it. Work has been chaos and stressful for months now, I’ve felt like I have been fighting something for a while. At least it held off until after City to the Sea, or I was in denial until this week. It takes a lot for me to leave work early because I feel sick. Maybe I feel like I have to overcompensate for all my stomach issues? But at one point I was sitting on the ground under my desk; I felt so nauseous, I wasn’t doing any good there so I went home. I slept a lot last week and I am feeling better today. Oh and what does a sick runner do when they are resting? Register for a race of course. 😉
So, last week’s training thoughts. I think I have a plan for a new regimen, not a race training plan per se, but a plan for improving my running over all. What I can’t decide is when to start it. Part of me is eager to start this week but another part thinks it might be better to hold off. I have a half marathon in less than 3 weeks followed by a 25K trail race 7 days later (potentially). Since both of those races are more for the experience than PR’s, I am thinking it might be smarter to wait until after those 2 races. Especially since I am not 100% on the new regimen. There were some great book suggestions after my last post so I want to check a few of those out. Right now I feel torn. Grrr.
Alright, time to be honest. It’s been a long time coming, I’ve hinted at it but let’s be real here. The training I did for 17 weeks for City to the Sea was a mess. I phoned it in. I knew I was phoning it in but I kept on running in denial. But actually, let’s look at all the half’s (halves?) I’ve run this year.
Surf City- 2:19:00 Wine Country- 2:06:05 SLO-2:15:06 Shoreline- 2:14:29 City to the Sea- 2:12:40
Surf City was the very beginning of my training cycle so it really was just a very well supported, expensive long run. Also the 25K trail race seven days prior made for some sore legs. The race was a bucket list race, you could say just running it was checking it off the list. That said, the 2:19 isn’t bad.
Wine Country was in the middle of SLO training. I was using a McMillan training plan for SLO and Wine Country was built-in as a tune up race. I went into it with zero expectations but had my best race of the year. Which I hadn’t expected as I was having some issues with my legs, achy knees and super tight calves.
I was best trained for SLO but even that was mediocre. I would say I followed 75% of my training plan, my very nice, designed just for me McMillan plan. What a waste. I still believe I could have PR’d that race had I not eaten asphalt at mile 5. Throw in the gnarliest stomach issues I’ve ever had running for the last 5 miles and I am still damn proud of that race.
Shoreline was a last minute decision to add a race in the middle of July. It fell on my birthday so why not? Under trained and 75% humidity- why not? Shockingly, I met the goal I set for the race- sub 2:15:00.
City to the Sea was supposed to be my goal race, my time to shine; I was finally going to run a sub 2:00:00 half marathon. Except yeah. A few weeks ago I wrote a post about how I wasn’t in PR shape and a sub 2 just wasn’t in the cards right now. But why not? A hill in mile 9 kicked my ass and I didn’t recover, but why? It was 200 ft, not a mountain, why?
Let’s talk about that training plan. 17 weeks, right? Running 3x a week with one easy, one speed and one long run. In theory it was just what I needed. 3 days was what I could handle having to deal with some serious stress at work and my stupid stomach. On a side note, it has occurred to me that all the stress at work is exacerbating my stomach issues but that’s not the point. So what was wrong with my training?
Choosing quality over quantity means those runs actually have to be quality runs. They weren’t. They were time fillers. Speed work was rare. You can’t race faster if you don’t run faster. Want to know how many double-digit runs I completed in those 17 weeks? One. One lonely 10 miler on a random Friday afternoon. 9 milers? Maybe 2. So how was I expecting to meet my goal when I wasn’t putting in the work for it? Yeah, I have no answer for that. I was more than a slacker, #slackerindenial.
So it’s time to buckle down. Once I figure out what that means. And what it will look like for a Slacker. I know I will never be one to throw down 50 mile weeks and it’s not about the miles, it’s what I put into them. I’m pulling out my dusty running books and looking at that McMillan plan again. I don’t have any races planned for the beginning of 2016 but I’d like to have a solid start to an actual decent base with good running workouts by the end of the year. Can I do it?
I have one half marathon left this year. 23 days away to be exact. I thought about trying to make it another goal race attempt but I think that might make me pissed off at running. Right now I am mad at myself and it should stay that way. Plus, this a travel race and I really just want to enjoy the scenery. It’s Monterey and Big Sur!! And I may be stalking fangirling Kara Goucher the day before. Or trying to. I may be distracted. 😃
The sad thing is that as I write this, I have only attempted 1 mile since Sunday’s race. Unfortunately, I got sick this week. I actually left work early yesterday I felt so crappy. I’ve gone to work with a concussion, so going home sick is kind of big for me. My goal is get in a couple of solid runs this weekend.
So tell me, can a slacker get real? #slackergetsreal
Sunday morning saw the completion of half marathon #14. If I am doing my counting right that is. 😃
Pre-race
I headed down to SLO for packet pickup on Saturday. Pickup was in the Running Warehouse parking lot and super easy. I spent the day wandering around SLO and probably spent too much time on my feet. I actually cleared my step goal that day without running. Oops. I had a general idea of what I was wearing for the race and had created a new playlist on Thursday. Plenty of Shinedown, Linkin Park, AFI, Papa Roach with some Kip Moore thrown in. My mother heard it being played in my car and asked if I had made an angry playlist. 😜I laid everything out for the next morning and set my alarm. I made an effort to be in bed before 11. Which was a moot point as I tossed and turned all night long. If I got 2 hours of sleep I would be surprised. I could not fall asleep. My head hurt, my neck hurt, my arms felt kind of tingly. What the hell? It’s not like this was my first race, why was I having such issues? I was so tired by 1 AM, I even considered a DNS. But eventually I dozed off.
Race Day-
I was up, prepped and on the road by 6. Where I proceeded to have some road-rage-aholic tailgate me on an empty freeway flashing his brights because I wasn’t driving fast enough. Dude, seriously? Once in SLO, I stopped at the same Chevron station I have in years past to use the bathroom. Nice, bright, clean and not a port-a-pottie? Score. I parked 2 blocks from the start line and got ready. This is when I realized that while I made a nice and shiny new playlist, I never actually put it on my phone. #slackerfail
A few moments of cold.
We’ve been in the middle of a heatwave and I knew it was going to warm up fast but I was actually chilled at the start line. I have a habit of going out too fast, so I deliberately put myself behind the 2:15 pacer. I was aiming for 2:10 or faster and didn’t even want to see the 2:00 pacer, I knew I would want to try to catch them.
Miles 1-3 9:13, 9:03, 9:02
These were an eventful 3 miles. I was feeling pretty good but I was also confused. I was running a sub 9:30 pace and the 2:15 pacer was still in front of me. Ummm, what gives? Dude, you should be behind me now. Then there was butt cheeks. I admit I sometimes people watch while racing as a way to distract myself and help me keep my pace. Plus I can check out race shirts and look for new races to run. 😄 But I noticed this girl whose shorts were so short, seriously I have underwear that covers more. Maggie Vessey’s racing outfits cover more. Then I started to feel bad because I could see other people noticing and making comments about her shorts. But then I recognized a pair of socks in front of me- it was Heather of @sloluckystyle. I pulled up along side to say hi. Granted it was 1.5 miles into a 13 mile race but it was nice getting to meet someone I interact with on social media in real life.
Miles 4-6: 9:06, 9:23, 9:24
I was still feeling pretty good and I was pleased with the numbers I saw on my watch. Mile 6 was the first uphill and I held onto a 9:24. That number made me smile because I knew a 9:23 average pace would be a PR of 2:03. I wasn’t banking on that though as I knew I had a big hill at mile 10 and another new hill around mile 12. I was just focusing on how I felt and enjoying the scenery of a good race. I also knew I was about to hit the course change.
Miles 7-9: 10:45, 9:23, 10:02
Right after those good thoughts, I had an inhaler moment. I still haven’t mastered running and using my inhaler so it required a walk break. That’s something that’s hard to practice since I only want to use my inhaler as a last resort. The temp was rising and so was the humidity but I was still feeling ok. I knew I had lost a PR but I was fine with that as it hadn’t been my primary goal of the day. There was also a little more of an incline in mile 7 than I had anticipated. Followed by a dead skunk which made things real fragrant for half a mile. 😖 Mile 8-9 brought us onto the Bob Jones trail which is very nice. Well paved and surrounded by trees which meant shade!!! The irksome part to these 3 miles was the guy shouting out that we only had 5 miles to go…at the 10K mark. Grrrr.
Mile 10: 12:38
I slowed towards the end of mile 9 as I needed my inhaler again. We came out of the Bob Jones trails and were headed to the main drag in Avila. Which I have driven on numerous times and would have bet you money that it was downhill to the freeway. I had been looking forward to that downhill before the hill at mile 10. That downhill didn’t exist. We across a bridge and across traffic before making a left- up a hill. It looked like a freakin’ mountain. The wheels came off hard. The only thing consoling me was just how many people went to a walk on this damn hill. Then we hit the freeway and made a left for the original hill I had been worried about. And another spectator telling us it was last hill. No it’s not! Stop giving me false hope!!
Miles 11-13: 11:02, 10:54, 10:55
I never recovered from mile 10. From there on out, I was in survival mode. I walked way too much. The temp had hit the high 70’s and the humidity had jumped. I was almost out of Gatorade in my hand-held which is rare for me. I tend to run races under hydrated because I found it works for me. I carry a 10oz handheld of Gatorade and usually have half left at the end of the race. I grab water at aid stations starting around mile 5. I made myself sick drinking too much water at more than one race when I first started running. To have an almost empty bottle with 2 miles to go was not a good thing. I kept my head down and just kept trucking. I knew I was in the home stretch and the crowds were picking up. I could see the ocean and I was also starting to see people walking around with their medals and I wanted that medal. 😜
13.1- 2:12:40
The thing I forget about this race, that last .1 seems like it takes forever. I think it’s because of the way the street curves. From the mile 13 marker, you can’t even see the finish line, the road curves 2 more times. But I finally saw it and crossed the line so happy to be done. After being funneled through the shoot and receiving my medal- woo hoo, it’s seriously cool- I just wanted water and needed to find my parents. They were both coming to this finish line. For a local race, this finish area is the most congested I’ve seen. I eventually found my mom and the puppy but not my dad or water. I finally found water and refilled my water bottle then we headed for an empty space where my dad eventually found us. I was hot and sweaty and while I felt pretty good, I ended up going back for more water. We hung out a bit before we headed for their car. They were my ride back to my car. 😏
It was during the ride back to SLO that I knew I had made a rookie mistake. Those 2 bottles of water were a miscalculation. After they dropped me off at my car, I spent the next 30 minutes sitting on the curb by my car trying not to be sick. #slackerfail2
Overall, I didn’t meet either of my pace goals but realistically I am ok with that. I returned to run one of my favorite races and the course change actually made it better. I now know to be prepared for that damn hill in the future. I also have a few things I know I need to work on but we’ll leave that for another post. I do wonder how I might have fared if the temps had stayed down but it is what is. Gorgeous finish line though right?
It seems like this is the ultimate race weekend. Chicago, Long Beach, Brooklyn, Hartford, Steamtown, Tyler Rose- and those are just the ones I know of from reading your blogs. I am sure there are numerous more. Congratulations to everyone who ran today and good luck to everyone racing tomorrow!
Then there’s City to the Sea. I’ve run this race twice before, both times were a PR. A pretty big PR each time- around 10 minutes each time. My current half marathon PR was set at City to the Sea in 2013- 2:05:53. No pressure, right?
PR smiles..and trying to hide my shaking legs-2013
Being real though, I am not in PR shape. And then there’s the course. I aim to positive split this course. Intentionally.
That was my plan 2 years ago and it worked. However this year also brings a change in course. The race starts in SLO and ends in Pismo- 2 towns over. The former course had you running down the main drag, under the freeway, up a frontage road then over the freeway, up a frontage road then under the freeway again before heading up another main drag. And roads weren’t closed. This year the course deviates after mile 5. The previous hill towards the end grew in size.
At the start 2012
I didn’t run this race last year due some health issues so I am looking forward to this year. That said, I am going in with minimal goals. They are as follows-
Goal A– No pressure, have fun running what was one of my favorites races. Enjoy the new scenery. Part of the course covers the Bob Jones trail. I’m told it’s a lovely paved trail with great scenery in a nearby beach town but I’ve never run it. Now I get to with a couple thousand runner friends. 😃
Goal B- Sub 2:10 This should be doable. Maybe not comfortable but doable. That said, you never know how race day will go. I think my biggest obstacle with this is new medication I started a week ago that turns me into a walking zombie. If that happens, then I will just be the fastest walking zombie ever. Why is there not a zombie emoji?!!?!
Goal C- Sub 2:05- New PR Highly unlikely but stranger things have happened. I think every starting line brings visions of a PR. Which is fine. I set myself a goal breaking 2:00 someday and every run and every race will bring me closer to that. Even if it takes a little longer. 😏
Did I mention that SLO hit 105* on Friday? Go home weather, you’re drunk. I am suddenly looking forward to the 7AM start time. Well sort of. I am a slacker after all.
Who raced/ races this weekend?
Ever meet a social media friend in real life?
Do you have fall weather?Seriously jealous right now.
Slacker Runner 