If this is February-

I am getting a little nervous for summer. It was 80 today. Really? On one hand I love it but on the other hand- man it was warm.

I had a big work meeting on Thursday and I was a little stressed about it and figured that combined with the driving to and from and back to work, I would not be in the mood to run on Thursday evening. So I moved my 45 min easy run to Wednesday. After Tuesday’s tempo, I knew it was going to be a little rough but man it was a slog. I was just not feeling it. I hit 42 minutes but it was only 3.5 miles. I straight up walked 1 mile of it. Yeah, it was ugly.

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Thursday was my dress meltdown and the big meeting. They were presenting the President’s Award to one of the Heritage winners so part of the meeting was fun. My coworker took 1st runner up- woo hoo! My former boss and I cracked jokes that since we hired him, we could be equally excited. It was also pretty cool that when they called out the Heritage winners to the front, there were 3 from my location. 🙂 3 out of 19- sweet!

Friday was girls night and yes, we saw 50 Shades of Grey. I was proud of myself for not getting kicked out of the theater. ML and I always sit next to each other so we can whisper things but she knew I was going to be a total smart ass so she put everyone else between us. 🙂 This was the worst behaved theater I have ever been in, it was ridiculous. Some people had had way too much to drink before the movie and kept drinking the whole way through. The woman in the row behind us made a phone call during the previews because her friends had not arrived. Said friends arrived 5-10 minutes into the movie, laughing and talking about how they couldn’t find their seats in the dark. Seriously?! I think I heard 3 wine glasses break and the women in the front couldn’t go to the bathroom without going in multiples while laughing and yelling at each other as they left. At the end all the men in the theater boo’d and I laughed out loud. But other than that and the fact that the Mexican place we went to for dinner made me sick- it was an amusing and fun night.

This is my in pain grimace- why do my grimaces look more like smiles?

I worked on Saturday, so I knew I would be eating a later lunch than usual. This was also apparent when I set out for my run. The training plan called a 45-55 minute run and fairly shortly, I knew it was going to be closer to 45. My stride felt off and everything ached. I was at the top of a hill, 1/2 mile from home when I wanted to curse out loud. The outside of my right knee and the area a couple of inches up started screaming. Are you freakin’ kidding me?! My right leg never hurts, my left one is the problem child. It felt like something was about to rip. I instantly stopped and just started stretching on the side of the road. A few minutes later I decided to see how it felt, I ran home and concentrated on my form just keeping an easy pace. I felt a little tight but made it home. I walked up half of my driveway backwards and spent extra time stretching and rolling with my foam roller and stick.

Yesterday’s pain made me nervous for today’s long run. The plan called for 10-12 and yeah, 12 wasn’t happening. I headed to the lake path, thinking that flat and outside would be best. It was also easy access to my car if I needed it. I was a little worried I would get bored lapping the lake so many times but I have run 10 miles on both a treadmill and the track before so it had to be better than those. Right? I headed out around 2:00, thinking that I should take it slower and might need more time. So for the second time in 2 days, I ran too soon after lunch, for me at least. According to McMillan, my long run pace should be between 10:34-11:54. I was aiming for 11:15-11:30, I was afraid it was going to hurt and I did not want to push. My knee felt ok but my left hamstring is still sore from last week’s strength training fail. I walked my warm up as usual and then picked up the pace.

When miles 2, 3, and 4 clocked in at 10:04, 10:10, and 10:11, I was a little ticked. It didn’t feel hard but I knew I wasn’t going to be able to sustain it with the way I felt and the temp being around 80. My mom had joined me today and was walking the path and I ran into her on lap 4. I took that opportunity to extend my walking break. Since the park was so busy, I walked the playground section every lap- easier to dodge the little people and their parents. 🙂 Even with that longer break, mile 5 was 10:36. 6-10, the heat was getting to me and I finally slowed down a bit. Those miles clocked in between 10:41-10:50. Except for 8, that was 11:12. I admit I almost quit after 8 miles just because I was tired and hot and irritated that I just could not control my pace. I had a conversation with myself and decided that I wasn’t hurting and should just start acclimating to the heat now since it’s only going to get hotter. So I finished my 10. 10 miles is a little more than 8 laps so the last .5 mile was me running back and forth between 2 of the exercise stations because I didn’t want to do another lap. 🙂 Plus by then my mom was waiting for me.

I am a little concerned by all the achiness that I have been feeling lately. It’s one of reasons I passed on my long run last weekend. I am hoping it’s just the treadmill. Normally I dropped to running 3x a week during winter so only one run would be on the treadmill. I run differently on the treadmill and I remember being a little achy last year but not like this. I am kicking that thing to the curb in 20 days. But for now, I am pretty sure I can get in a 30-35 minute run outside after work. I can do my easy run that way and just use the treadmill for my speed work of the week until Daylight Savings time. The work route is all hill so I could still get in hill repeats too, the workout might just be a little shorter.

How was your weekend? Who raced?

Anyone else go to the movies?

Anyone else run differently on the treadmill?

Nonexistent Bridges

Ever have one of those days where it’s all just off? Nothing wrong, nothing bad happens but it’s still off? I think I have had one of those days brewing for a while. And it was set off by a dress this morning. Disclaimer- this is longish and disjointed.

If you’ve read “My Story” page you know my mother and I set about getting healthy and losing weight back in 2012. If not, skip it as I really need to update it- which is why I’m not linking it. That was the first time I ever really dedicated myself to getting fit; granted it was the competitor in me that kept me going in the beginning. Growing up I was a stick, like seriously, turn sideways and you lost me. However it was the wrong decade for that to be in fashion, so I remember a lot of digs about my lack of curves. One year, our team tennis skirts were handmade by some lady. She measured us in public on the tennis court saying the dimensions out loud. Yeah, that was fun. One girl laughed and another responded by saying that everyone else would be a normal size while I was measured. Whatever. I ate like a bottomless pit so that apparently redeemed me when we went to Carl’s Jr after every away match. Oh and lunch everyday was fries and Dr. Pepper. Occasionally a malt. Does anyone remember those? I only ever saw them in the school. I’m not a fan of chocolate ice cream but man those were good.

Senior Year, please ignore the tennis ball on the side

Then came the combination of growing up, a slowing metabolism, less physical activity, oh and let’s not forget Taco Bell. Managers ate for free. 9 years of free food, however I wanted to make it, 5 days a week, more than one meal. Yeah, you can guess how that went. My stomach was a jerk even back then, so I wore the guys uniform pants which made it easier to live in denial as well. Oddly though, I don’t remember ever really thinking about the 60+ pounds that I had put on. Like I said- uniform denial.

Then I started working with my current employers. I had to wear real clothes! Which meant shopping and realizing that maybe I could lose a few. I naively hoped that no longer having access to tons of free food would take care of that. Ha! I didn’t take into account that while my new job wasn’t exactly sedentary it was a drastic cut back from 10 hours of standing, walking, cleaning, lifting 40 lb boxes every day. I was also suddenly introduced to baked goods. Who knew brownies tasted so good? I had a new coworker who was an amazing baker. To this day, she still makes my favorite chocolate chip cookies. A couple years of half-assed, yo yo dieting followed, that included another 20 lbs gained then lost. I started running. Nothing seemed to click until late summer 2012.

Second Wine Country 1/2 - 30lbs over goal? — Second Wine Country 1/2 – 30lbs over goal?

I don’t know if it was the slight competition with my mother or if I was finally just over it. By making healthier choices and upping the exercise, we both succeeded this time, I hit goal weight in January 2013. Sweet! Truthfully, I think I felt the best that year, health wise, stomach wise, running wise and just comfortable in my skin. Let me be clear that my goal weight was not some ridiculous insane number -I lost 40 lbs.

The pops again! — FYI- Pops is wearing the same jacket as the above picture

I kept it off for all of 2013 but put on 5 around Christmas. Not a huge surprise, no big deal, I’ll just lose it again. Right? I upped my running in the beginning of 2014 but the weight would just not leave. I admit that part of the problem was a new “what the hell” attitude. For example- ” I just ran 10 miles, I can totally have that pizza”. Seriously faulty logic. An odd note- I never liked pizza until I lost the weight. I only ever ate it as a last resort, now I love it. Weird right?

Then June came along, and my stomach threw its temper tantrum. And it’s been a looooooong tantrum. More reinforcement for the faulty logic- if everything makes me sick, guess I should eat whatever right? Now on good days, I am up 10 lbs, on bad days up 15. Yes, I can fluctuate more than 5lbs on ~~an hourly~~ a daily basis. Stupid stomach.

I think it's weird how somedays I feel skinny and somedays I feel like a busted can of biscuits. — source

It pisses me off but I can’t seem to get out of my own way. I’ve cut back on sugar, soda, and pizza. I’ve upped the fruits and vegetables. I have a stand up desk. I quit cookie Friday. Like cold turkey- none on Fridays. Barring the flu incident in January, my running has been more consistent 3-4x a week. And still the scale doesn’t move. Oddly enough, my gastro told me I looked skinny at my last appointment. We bickered about it for a bit. Muscle does not weigh more than fat- a pound is a pound. And trust me, this is not muscle.

A dress made me cry this morning. I had an important meeting at work- all the managers and executives- and I had planned my outfit for a week. Then I put it on this morning. I wore it not too long ago. The weight is different this time. It’s all in my bottom half and things don’t fit right. I wonder if it’s part of what is slowing me down running wise. Then I wonder if that is just an excuse I am telling myself. Maybe I just won’t get faster. And round and round we go. Then there are days like last Friday where something sets me off and I eat too many donuts. More bridges to nowhere. It’s not even the number on the scale really. It’s how I feel.

In fact, I am not sure where this post is going. Maybe I just needed to vent, maybe I am looking for advice, maybe commiseration. I’ve been thinking about writing this for a while but never followed through. Maybe this is my way of burning bridges that lead nowhere- a trip down memory lane and some venting.

So…thoughts? Did I even make sense?

And a light-hearted one- Ever disliked a food for most of your life then suddenly love it?

Tempo Fail?

I think Jillian Michaels broke me. Ok, it was me but, ouch.

I did not run my long run on Sunday. Oddly enough, once I committed to that choice and stopped vacillating back and forth, I felt like it was the smart choice. That said I didn’t want to be a total Slacker and since I had been meaning to get back to cross training, I figured I would do a kettlebell workout. I think I must black out the memories of these workouts. I seem to do one about every six months and the kettlebell collects dust the rest of the time. I like the fact that it’s a short workout but you feel like you did something. Oh son of monkey, I feel it. Like I need to use the handicap bars in the restrooms just so I don’t fall on my face. Seriously, how can I be this sore?! I found out yesterday that I was likely going to get off early today (I work Saturday) so I was stoked. I figured I would hit the lake path for the first time in months and get an afternoon run in. I admit to momentary delusions of grandeur where I considered moving this weekend’s long run (10-12) miles to today and pushing today’s workout to the weekend. I have a busy weekend ahead, so I thought this could be doable. The effort it took to get out of bed this morning put a kabosh on that. My glutes and my hamstrings were screaming at me. Wow, I am out of shape.I ended up staying at work longer than planned but still headed to the lake. I like that my training plan sometimes gives me options on Tuesdays- speed vs power (hills). I didn’t feel up to hills plus the lake is pancake flat. I will probably do most of my speed work there once the time changes. It’s as close to a track as I can get during the week. You just have to dodge the dogs and bikes, kids and cars. 🙂 But I still love it. The first mile was rough. Like my legs were so heavy- I was shuffling my feet trying to warm up. So what do I do? Take it easy? Nah- I aim for a tempo. I never said I was smart. 1 mile warm up, 4 mile tempo, 1 mile cool down. So yeah, that didn’t go according to plan. But then it depends on how you look at it. My tempo miles were too fast if I base my paces off of my Surf City finish time but too slow if I base them off of my goal half marathon time. So, yay for middle of the road? Miles 4-6 weren’t that bad actually. Cool down was awesome! 🙂Once I completed the 6 miles, I used one of the workout stations around the lake to stretch out. For some reason I still wanted to move but knew I was too sore to run more. Instead of taking the short way back to my car I headed off to finish another lap around the lake. So with an added walking mile I pulled off 7 for the day. Not too bad for being sore, hopefully I can move tomorrow. 🙂I loved being back at the lake, come on daylight savings!!! There was actually water in it too! Hardly anything at all but more than the last time I was there in the fall. We need more rain like we had this weekend.

Happy (almost) Hump day!

Please tell me I’m not the only one who gets their butt kicked by a dvd? Pretty please?

Any YouTube workout recommendations?

A Slow Start to February

I feel like all I have been doing this week is playing catch up. I’ve posted recaps of Surf City and January but barely anything else. So I guess let’s keep with that theme and cover the week-

Monday– If I hadn’t made the appointment before Surf City, I would have done it myself after that race. If I had had a pair of scissors I would have chopped off my ponytail at mile 8. Seriously. And it wouldn’t have been the first time I cut my own hair. Luckily I restrained and had the professionals do it the next day-Can’t take non running selfies apparently- it looks longer here. It hits my chin. I have zero post cut guilt- woo hoo!

Tuesday– the schedule called for either a rest day or an easy run after Sunday’s race. Neither option sounded appealing, so I grabbed the puppy and took her for a puppy jog instead.Wednesday– This was the last day of my mini vacay so I decided to move Thursday’s speed work up. I had no desire to run it on the treadmill and on Wednesday I could run it outside. However I had a very tiny window of time. Probably should have gotten out of bed sooner- nah. Also not good was the fact that I had eaten lunch an hour before starting my run. Lunch that was a tri-tip sandwich. Oops. But I did it. At least in a tiny way- first intentional speed work in way too long. Oh, and speed work without a heavy, swinging pony tail was awesome! Then I headed off to the tennis courts to help my mom out at practice. It was time to scare a new group. #goodtimes 🙂

Thursday and Friday were back to work. I actually got caught up on a lot of things. Reviews are done and submitted and now they just have to be presented. The bad thing was my serious overindulgence in donuts on Friday. So not good. But so good. 🙂

Saturday– my alarm went off early- too early. I had plans to attend a nutrition and training seminar put on by the SLO Marathon. The plan was to start the morning with a run. It was raining. Now, rain is so rare here, that I usually love running it. What I did not take into account was just how wet I was going to be and how that would feel over the 2 hours of sitting. I was so damn cold, I was shivering. I also looked like a drowned rat. Once the seminar let out, I found a pair of flip-flops in my car and a light sweatshirt I luckily had been too lazy to take out after tennis on Wednesday. The flip-flops were so much better than wet socks and shoes and the sweatshirt helped after stripping off my outer layers. My tank was still damp so I cranked the heat. It felt so awesome but I think I turned my car into a sauna. I picked my mom up for lunch after getting home and changing and she had troubles getting into my car it was so warm. Ha!The seminar was good. I think the rain kept quite a few people away which was a bummer. I was nervous about the run because I’ve never run in a group outside of a race. We set out for an easy 40 minutes, I ended up in the middle of the pack. There was one person near me on the way out but on the way back I was by myself. It was still nice knowing that other people were out there though.

The seminar briefly covered nutrition and training, Team in Training and the Challenged Athletes Foundation. The nutrition information was basic but helpful as well. It also emphasized how much I have been slacking on that lately. Team in Training is always inspiring and I keep telling myself I should participate at least once but I admit that fundraising goal intimidates me. I don’t think I had heard of Challenged Athletes Foundation before. Talk about inspirational. The woman giving the presentation would have been inspirational before her accident, what she’s accomplished after is just awesome. All in all it was a good morning.

Sunday– As I sit trying to finish this post, I am arguing with myself. My original plan when I knew I had back to back race weekends was to take this week off prior to resuming training for SLO. Then I received my fancy training plan and it said different. It calls for a 90 minute Thirds progression run today. Up until now I hit all the planned workouts for the week. But I am tired and achy and I have little desire to go out in the pouring rain and run. The treadmill sounds even less exciting. I really just want to take a rest day but I feel lazy thinking that. I am just tired, have I said that already? So, the argument continues.

How was your week/ weekend?

How do you solve your internal arguments?

Ever gone to a running seminar thing? Or run for Team in Training?

January Recap

How is it 4 days into February already?! I am not ready for that!

Backtracking to January- well it started great and then derailed. I rang in the New Year and new month with a great 10 mile run. I was ready to get to my training and get started on that 1000 mile goal for 2015. I was doing great up until January 8. Then the sickness hit. I took 11 days off. 11?! That hurt both my training and my miles. According to Smash Run, I ran 10 days in January- 10. That’s 21 days off. Ouch. So with that in mind, I suppose the below number is actually a good thing- 🙂

So 68 miles? Not too bad. January included one race- Spooner’s Cove 25K. My farthest race/ run to date and the most time I’ve spent on my feet outside of working at Taco Bell. Just kidding. However, with the way that my runs were so spaced out, I am not sure how well they added to base building.

As for some of my other goals? Well, socializing didn’t happen because well, who wants to hang when you are contagious? And I finished one book. One of the 4 I started. I did read your blogs and some fanfic online but that last bit doesn’t count. January did have some shiny though- sorry- still excited.So now on to February. The original plan was to run easy/ rest this first week of February and then get to work on speed. My spring goal race is SLO and it is 11 weeks out now. I admit I am nervous about breaking 2. Part of me doesn’t think I can and the other part thinks I need to get out of my own way. Luckily my training plan has me easing back into things the next two weeks so that’s a little comforting. Oh and for added incentive- I received this shiny news in my email this morning-

Runners take their finisher medals seriously because it is a tangible badge-of-honor and proof of their accomplishment. The 2015 finisher medal with the barn and windmill highlights our local rural heritage, and like competing a marathon or half-marathon, it represents hard work and tradition,” said Heather Hellman, Event Director. “Our medals are unique and we change it every year, so they become very collectible. On race day, we look forward to placing our 2015 medals around the necks of all our proud finishers so they can take a little piece of San Luis Obispo home with them.” Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2015-san-luis-obispo-marathon-half-marathon-5k-april-24-26-registration-10056923529

That was just the kick in the pants I needed! Plus I’ve kind of always loved old barns, so I think it’s kind of awesome! The email helped get me out the door today for the baby speed work that was on my training plan. Woo hoo! Let’s see if I can keep this motivation going!

And on the socializing front, ~~my friend talked me into~~ I signed up for a craft swap online. What the hell was I thinking? Oh yeah, I heard Harry Potter and signed up. However I have the crafting skill of Longbottom (nerd moment!!) so I feel sorry for my partner. Fingers crossed!

How has your February started?

Are you crafty? Help!!

What’s your shiny/ dull for the week so far?