Tag: beach

Run!, Stomach, Training

19- Tide

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

I think I finally found some calm last week.

It wasn’t all sunshine and roses but the stress level decreased, I slept a little better and things were generally calmer. I am still sitting on some news before sharing it here but I was able to share it with the people who needed to know. Ok, that sounded more ominous than I meant it to.

And last week was full of creature encounters. We had a lizard get in the building at work and it took us 3 days to catch it and release it. A spider was lurking above my bed. A bat or a bird flew into my bedroom window in the middle of the night.

Anyways.

I was feeling spunky on Monday so I headed out for a few miles. I returned to the river path and while I stuck to the paved path, it was glorious. I so missed that route. I was equal parts impressed and embarrassed when an 8 year blew past me. He was on his way down the hill and I was going up. I didn’t feel any better when he blew past me when we were going the opposite directions either. Ha!! I did wonder why he was by himself though. While I loved the air and route of my run, my legs informed me that I should have rested after the previous day’s trail adventures. 3+ish miles.

Tuesday saw me listening to my protesting calves and sore foot and resting.

I was eager to run on Wednesday but my stomach had other plans. My rule of thumb is that if I am still getting sick 30 minutes before closing, running isn’t happening.

So of course, Thursday was the hottest day of the year so far. 95 degrees. I am slow as it is these days, so I was not ashamed of any walking. I ran when I wanted to and walked when I wanted to. I did keep it short though- 2 miles.

Work things were happening on Friday and I was looking forward to a relaxing weekend.

Saturday and I promised my mother for Mother’s Day we could try the beach for a run as long as it wasn’t crowded. Yay for clouds! She walked and I ran. I knew the humidity was going to do a number on my lungs so I told her I was only going to do 3 miles. Then I figured the pier had to be less than 2 miles from the dog beach where we started and I wanted to get to the pier. I was very wrong. The pier was 5k from the dog beach, ha! So my 3 mile run turned into 6 plus. I also have the habit of never checking the tide so I was racing the high tide. Some places I came to a crawl as I had to go over rocks. My shoes and socks were so drenched that I took them off after 5 miles and did the last bit barefoot.

As I had already cleared more miles this week than so many of the past weeks, I wasn’t stressing a run on Sunday. Instead, I finally cleaned my car. Oh boy, it needed it. And tires but that’s another story.

So just under 12 miles for the week. It’s sad that that is an improvement but it is what it is. Gotta keep moving forward.

How was your week?

Run!, Training

Week 32- Ragged

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

I was so glad that I didn’t have any races to worry about this week.

With all of the conversion craziness and trying to stay somewhat ready for Salinas Valley, I was beginning to feel a little run down.    As much as I want to run all the miles to get my numbers back up, I also need to not break myself.  And this was my thought process before the stomach flu tore it’s way through the office.  So glad I’d already decided to keep things chill this week.  😛


Monday- 3.55 miles  I had taken the day off as a vacation day post Salinas with the hope of getting some rest and catching up on some things I woefully behind on.  Umm, not so much.  But I did make it to the new trail in run town for a few miles up and down.   The trail is great, the drive to the parking lot though is ridiculous.

Tuesday- Rest Sticking to any sort of post work schedule has been difficult.

Wednesday- Rest  I am sure I did something but I don’t remember what it was. 😛


Thursday- 3.1 miles  I had zero desire to run after work.  None.  The long days were catching up to me.   But I changed and started driving towards home.     I ended up at the River path and told myself a mile was better than nothing.   I started out walking and had a hard time convincing myself to run but eventually I started.  I expected the crappiest run ever however I ended up running the smoothest, most consistent miles since marathon training last year.      I stopped once when I thought I heard a stray kitten.  If you follow me on IG then you might know that I spent a few moments looking for it in the bushes before thinking that this might be a good way for creepers to lure people into the bushes.  😛   Ok, the exhaustion is making me delusional.

Friday- Rest Yay, it’s Friday!  It was the first time I worked the late shift without opening too in months.  I couldn’t remember what time to set my alarm for, ha!


Saturday- 4 miles  After spending some time shopping in SLO, I hit up a path in work town that I haven’t been on since last year.   I love it but there are parts that I don’t feel comfortable by myself in the evenings.  This time it was the early afternoon and I took my mother along for the ride.  😛    The route is great and very scenic but about a mile from the car my left leg did that buckling in pain thing again.  WTH?!  I hadn’t felt it all week and I now I felt like it was going to knock me flat.   Grrr.


Sunday- Rest  I was still super tired and with my leg acting all wonky, I decided not to push it.    There are races I would like to run in October and I can’t do that if my leg is still giving me fits.    Stupid leg.  Where’s my foam roller?

10.65 miles for the week.  Not great but not too bad either.  I stayed upright during the stomach flu epidemic and my leg didn’t start screaming until Saturday, so I was able to get in some decent short miles.    Now if I could just figure out what is going on with my leg.

How was your week?

Any tips for odd leg pain in the groin area?😛

Random thoughts on the run?

 

oops!, Run!

Call Me Calamity

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

What do you do when a Sig alert comes across your phone saying that your route home is currently blocked due to a string a fires?

Well, first you stare dumbly at the phone.  Then you check the CHP website, followed by the local news sites, no one hurt- fires mostly contained but freeway blocked.  Hmmm, now what?  You adapt.    Running gear still in car from a failed attempt at running on Monday?   All right, time for a Tuesday run.

Running on Tuesday’s is odd.   Smashrun told me that only 7% of my runs are on Tuesdays.😛   I’d had a day where I was surprised I didn’t break something.  Slammed my fingers into things so many times I lost count, dropped things,  knocked my elbow, kicked things and popped my toes out of joint at one point.   That said I was looking forward to my first run since last Thursday.


I headed out for a run in work town.   The humidity was higher than I would like but there was no smoke so bonus points there!   It didn’t feel like a walk in the park after 4 days off but it felt so good to be out running.

That is until I hit a root on the path and went pinwheeling.

Seriously, my thoughts alternated between- “pull up!, pull up!” and ” I’m going down!”.

I swear I pinwheeled half running, half falling, arms swinging for almost 50 feet before I somehow pulled myself out of it somehow.    Then I came to complete stop, gasping for air- mostly out of shock- damn that jarred my whole body!   Geez- what else could I do to myself?  Shouldn’t have asked- I was only 2 miles into the run.  😂😂


I ran on to the turn around point and then made my way back towards my car.   Around  mile 3, I looked down at my watch once I got to a sidewalk. Only to look back up and immediately dance right. Holy sh**, phone pole in the face!!  No pausing this time, just running on to avoid embarrassment of both the pole face and some colorful language that escaped as now people were around.

Apparently I needed to be put in a protective suit on Tuesday.   😛  I finished 4 miles and drove home on mostly clear roads and tried to just not further injure myself.    Then I realized that it was my last run at that particular age so maybe I really wanted it to be memorable?  Ha! Or maybe I was saying goodbye to a hazardous year?  Who knows?

Ever have a hazardous run?

 

Run!, Slacker

Boundary Boardwalk

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

I’m socially awkward.

I wasn’t as a child.  I was obnoxious, outgoing and a bit of a daredevil.  I don’t know what happened to me.  😛

Crowds make me uncomfortable- sometimes running in public still freaks me out.    I’ve mostly gotten over it in home town.  Granted the bridge still stresses me out.  For crying out loud, I still sprint across the damn thing.  Last weeks long run saw the bridge mile clocking in at 9:14.  Which doesn’t sound that speedy until you take into account my stupid shins and the fact that I walked part of that mile too.

Running in work town?  Oh hell no.  I do it very rarely.   What if people see me?  I don’t want customers to see me in a sweaty mess.    And shorts?  Forget it.  If I run in work town, I wear capris, no matter what time of year.   Throw in the fact that I only have only the one 4 mile route and I don’t run there very often.   Too uncomfortable.

The week has been running around 105ish in hometown.   Mid 70’s at 7 am. Yay. 😭😭  I ran in work town on Monday- tried to be invisible.   Wednesday was my half day and I wanted to run but 100+ temps?  Not so much.  Whereas work town was a lovely 72.  Decisions, decisions.

I stepped outside my comfort zone.  I ran in work town.  On a new path.  In shorts.  In the middle of the day.  There were people around.  It’s summer in a beach town-  what was I thinking?

It freakin’ rocked.

Don’t get me wrong- those 4 miles kicked my ass.  First I was cold then I was hot.  The path I thought I was on turned out to be not what I thought.  My shorts rode up every 5 steps and I spent most of the run trying to discreetly dig them out of my crotch and yanking them down.  Cover those legs! My legs hurt, my shins ached.  I was sinking in the sand.  The pavement seemed too hard.  I lost the cover to my new handheld Orange Mud and didn’t even notice for 1/2 a mile. How?   I was breathing like I was sprinting but I so wasn’t.   I walked more than I would have liked.  People saw me.

But —

I ran through a tunnel of Cypress trees–


Found three stacks–


And a rock–


Like I said- this run rocked.  Can’t wait to push my boundaries ( a little) again with a longer run.   And maybe with different shorts.  😛

How do you push your boundaries?

 

 

Race Day, Recap, Run!

Bands on the Run 10K 2016

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

I love this race but man I have a short term memory when it comes to dune sand. 😝

This is my 3rd time running the 10K portion of the event and I keep cracking jokes that I get slower every year. The race benefits a local high school music program and is very low frills. Which is fine by me, I am always impressed that they have their own designed bibs. Most smaller, local races use the free Road ID ones. They offer a 5k, 10k and a half marathon. All the races are out and backs. I considered running the half in lieu of my long run that week but decided against it. I am so glad I made that choice.

Packet pickup took less than 5 minutes on Friday and that included parking. 😃 I was able to get what is a decent nights sleep for me pre-race- 6 hours- but that was only because the race had a late start. The races started at 10. 10? This is California! I have never had a race start that late. Most half marathons start at 7 or earlier, 10K’s around 8. If you’re really lucky, a 5K may start at 9. Maybe. I have troubles fueling properly on a normal basis, how the hell do I fuel for a late 10K? I know that beach races are dictated by the tides though so this must have been the best option. It was ridiculously cold when we first got to the high school so I was optimistic it would stay that way. After a fitness warm-up, the presenting of the flag, the Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem, we lined up and were off!


Miles 1-2 9:35, 10:41

Mile 1 takes you around the track out the parking lot into the cypress tunnel trail and down to the beach. Since I was running this in place of the week’s tempo, I was perfectly content with mile 1. I also don’t think I could PR this course if I tried. 😝 Just before you exit the cypress tunnel to hit the beach you run through the drum line which is always awesome. Then mile 2 starts. And I pretty much came to a standstill. I’ve run 6 races on the beach but I still have no idea how to run over soft dune sand. I just keep sinking. I swear one of these times I am just going to take my shoes off and carry them. I tried to bring my pace back down once on the hard pack but the damage was done.

Miles 3-4 9:59, 10:03

I was tiring and that was not cool. I wasn’t even halfway, what was going on? I also noticed that there were more rocks and pebbles and things on the beach, then I realized how far up the beach we were. This was not low tide. We had to cross some rocks to get to the turn around point. Little rocks but they were still wet. The half marathoners were scrambling over big rocks as they kept going. To my untrained eye, it seemed like the tide was coming in but I had to have been wrong. How were the half marathoners going to come back?! Once at the turn around, I knew I only had 3 miles left and told myself to pick up the pace. Except I couldn’t seem to find another gear. The moisture in the air was aggravating my asthma but I just tried to ignore it. I just told myself to focus on running towards the rock.

From 2014, the tide was much higher on Saturday

Miles 5-6 10:42, 10:31

Damn, I’m consistent on the dune sand. Those miles are within 1 second of each other. I hit the dune sand with a lap pace of 9:40 for mile 5. By the time I was out, I was at 10:42. I was also regretting running without my headphones as all I could hear was myself sucking wind- ha! I was hoping to pick up the pace on the last mile but I was toast. The sun had come out the last 2 miles and it felt like the temp had jumped 20 degrees. Once more through the drum line and the cypress tunnel then back around the track to the finish. I saw my mother on the sidelines and tried to muster up a smile. Some of the pictures she shot show that smile, some show some truly horrible form. 😛 My Garmin shows that I picked up the pace for the last bit but I felt like I was running in quicksand.

Finish- 1:02:38
See, slowest one yet! 😉

Now, if my intention was to treat it as a true tempo for marathon training, then I mostly succeeded. My overall pace was right where I needed it to be even with dune sand miles. In all honesty though, I was hoping for a better showing. I don’t even think it was my time that disappointed me, it was how hard it felt. This was only 6 miles, how on earth am I ever going to run a marathon?!

All that aside, I still love this race. Sore calves, sand in my shoes and all. I look forward to running it next year. Maybe a little faster? 😉