Winter has arrived. The last few nights have been in the 20’s-yippie. 😓 I will adjust but haven’t just yet. My toes feel like Popsicles. Between a long, cold hike and the frozen Turkey Trot last week they still feel frozen. But besides that, I put more miles on my legs last week than I had in any training week in a long time. Yay for vacation!
Monday– 4.5 miles- progression. I chatted about that in this post but this was a good run. It wasn’t the speediest but it felt comfortable. I hadn’t felt that in a while while running. 😃
Tuesday– Rest. With 8 miles on Sunday and then Monday’s run I decided to implement a 2 days on/ 1 day off schedule for vacation. I figured my inherent laziness would kick in at some point but I also didn’t want to push too hard too fast.
Wednesday– 9+ mile hike/ trail run. More on that will be in Wednesday’s post. I’ll just say this- I had to climb up—out of a bat cave. With my iPhone flash to light the way.
Thursday– Turkey Trot! Also mentioned in my last post- so cold!! And all the miles caught up with me.
Friday– Rest. I really wanted to be outside hiking for REI’s #optoutside but my right leg was so sore and tight from #allthemiles in a short time, (for me) I could barely walk. I spent the day taking it easy and alternately cursing/ crying with my foam roller. 😒 Zero shopping was done on this #blackfriday.
Someone else thinks it’s cold too.
Saturday– More rest. My right leg was still super tight and sore. It would actually buckle every now and then when my quad locked up. Fun. I spent the day wandering around SLO and made nice with my foam roller again.
Sunday-3.8 miles. Night 3 of sub 30* temps, there was no way I was running in the morning. I’d like to say I’ll get used to it but yeah, probably not. Winter is the time of year that running in the mid afternoon rocks. 😄 I was pressed for time as I was going to an afternoon movie but I wanted to see how my legs felt. The right one felt great, nothing at all like the past few days. The left on the other hand was back to it’s old tricks. I had to stop a few miles in to stretch out a super tight calf. Grrr. It loosened up for the last mile or so but I need to figure out why that calf tends to get super tight. Other then the tight calf issue, it was another good run. All of this week’s runs had zero walk breaks. I can’t remember the last time that happened. 😃
Weekly mileage- 23.42
Who am I? 😄 Throw in last Sunday’s 8 and my 8 day total hit 31.42. How many rules of running did I break there? 😃 To put that in perspective let’s talk about how November as a whole went.
So yeah, half of this month’s mileage happened last week. Oops. Seriously why can’t I run at 3 all the time? I know my treadmill motivation is seriously lacking. I run so awkwardly slow on it, it also makes my legs overly sore. New goal for December- conquer the treadmill. Either that or invest in a headlamp and brave the cold, dark mornings. Hmmm, decisions, decisions.
How was your November? Are you ready for December?
Anyone brave the shopping this weekend? Score any good deals?
Saturday I ran the third annual Bands on the Run 10k. This race did nothing to disabuse me of the notion that 10K’s are hard. Maybe reinforced it; that said it was a fun race.I managed to run away from work for a few minutes on Friday afternoon for packet pickup. For a small local race, they are very organized. I was impressed last year and this year was more of the same. Last year, I though it was really cool that the volunteer shirts all said “I’m with the band” instead of just the usual “volunteer”. So this year I was very excited to see that the race shirts said “I ran with the band” on the back. I also like that for a smaller race, only in their 3rd year, they design their own bibs. There’s nothing wrong with the Road ID ones, I just like the extra touch that the personalized bibs gives. The race is a fundraiser for the high school music department. Start and finish are the high school track and a band performs through out race morning. They also have a bag drop table which for a small race is virtually unheard of.
Pre-race shiver
The weather here has been very odd for May and with the race being predominantly on the beach, I knew it was likely to be cold, windy and more humid than I would like. I wore pants, a tank and a long sleeve layer for the race and I was still cold. My 25K in January was run in shorts and a tank and it hit 80. Get it together, California! Race start for the 10K and half marathon was 9:00 with the 5K starting at 9:15. Some of the local races like to have a warm up/ fitness routine before them. This was like a full on Zumba class. I don’t think I could pull off those moves on a normal day let alone right before a race!! I just observed. 🙂 Following the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem, we headed to the start line. Having been so far back in the pack at my last 2 races, I made sure to move up to the front this time. I had placed 2nd in my Age Group in 2014 but the crowd looked bigger this year and I felt out of shape so I was just aiming for a steady race. After some confusion about the starting horn, we were off!
This slogan made me laughVery hard to see Zumba warm up
The course is very scenic for this race. It starts on the high school track before heading through the parking lot to a paved walking path before turning in the Cypress Tunnel. The tunnel is a dirt trail that comes out a street before turning right and heading across the dunes and down to the shoreline. That’s all in the first 1.2 miles. From there to mile 3.1 you run along the water then turn around to go back the way you came. It’s one of the few out and back races I like. A half mile in, I felt like I was huffing and puffing already and that wasn’t a good sign. I had used my inhaler 3 times over the course of the morning, so I thought that would help. Then I checked my pace- 8:15. Oh yeah, that explains it. Oops! I knew I was hitting a dune sand patch – in the tunnel- and would slow down so I just kept running. Then we hit 20-30 yards of sand and we all slowed. The upside though is that this is where the drum line was and it’s kind of awesome running past a drum line. 🙂
I lied to myself after last years’ race. I really believed there was only about 20 yards of soft, dune sand total through out the race. Yeah, no. There was 20-30 yards in the tunnel and then a freakin’ football field worth to get to the water line. I tried to run it, but knew walking was more efficient. Now that my pace had been reigned in, I was breathing much better too. 🙂 From there I just kept a steady pace to the turn around and back. There were hula dancers at the right before the water line and 2 guitar players along the beach providing the on course entertainment. Once turning around, I notice that the clouds, the beach, the rock and the stacks at the old plant looked kind of awesome but I wouldn’t let myself stop to take a picture. Particularly when I had to pause to tie my shoe that had come undone. I was beginning think I had a good shot at breaking an hour and didn’t want to miss it. I had forgotten how hard beach running is but I thought I would be close.
I finally made it back to the hula dancers and had that dang football field of sand to deal with again. I tried running it once more but my calves and quads were feeling the burn. So walking again. A woman came running up next to me and mentioned that I was zig-zagging. Oops, but I was just trying to get through it. We paced each other for the remainder of the dunes discussing how much we hate sand. Once through that, I felt exhausted and all I wanted to do was walk but I could hear the drums so I pushed on. Past the drum line again, through the tunnel one more time and back into the parking lot towards the track. I knew I might just miss an hour. Once hitting the track, I tried to push it but I felt like I had nothing left. Rounding the last corner, I could see the clock and knew I just had to hang on. Finish- 59:37. This was one of those cross the finish line gasping kind of races. Some of the pictures my mother took are hilarious, I look beat, like I am going to fall over. I stretched a bit and then began the process of getting the 5+ pounds of sand out of my shoes. I was very happy that I finished under an hour. It was about the only real goal I had for this race. I also realized just how tough this course is, maybe I hadn’t phoned it in last year after all. I felt like I was passed by more than a few people on the way out and only managed to pass a few on the way back so I figured an age group place was unlikely. I wanted to check my finishing time though, so once we figured out where the board was this year, we headed over. Times hadn’t been updated yet so we waited a short moment while a volunteer hung new pages. At which point I laughed out loud. I’d finished 1st in my age group. How? Sweet! Last year, my only complaint about the race was the lack of communication about how the awards were going to happen. Even when they did start, things were announced in an order I still don’t understand. This year, there was little fan fare- you just walked over to the awards table, gave them your name and they handed you your ribbon. So much smoother than last year. And since I was cold, the ease of it was awesome.
Overall, I am still impressed with this race. It is very organized and the volunteers are great. The course is tough but pretty and I look forward to running it next year. When it is sunny and hopefully a little warmer. 🙂
California is confused. The weather has been cold and windy for a month. It’s May and it’s California, what gives!? I have run in pants and long sleeves more in May than I did all “winter” long. Plus I put away all my “winter” clothing except for 2 pairs ofcapris so I have to keep washing them. Grrr. It was cold, windy and rainy tonight so I decided to stick to my original running schedule instead of trying the new one again. I am so over the wind. Wind aside, I did have a couple of pretty good runs this week.
Wednesday’s run
I headed out Monday after work to get started on the whole 3x weekday running. Running on Monday seems so much harder but it wasn’t as rough as it was last week. I headed to the lake with my new shoes to get in some easy miles. You’d think the cold would make the gnats less annoying but no such luck. Every third mile or so, I ran with my arms flailing around my face trying to keep them away. But no such luck, again. After finishing my run, 3.5 miles at 10:04 pace, I stopped to stretch and take a pic or 2. I tried to get a selfie showing that I was actually wearing a race shirt- Surf City, long sleeves for the win!- but I failed. However I noticed a speck on my face later. I zoomed in and there was a gnat stuck to my sweaty forehead- gross!!!Sometimes I have to work on Saturday and when I do, I usually get a half day during the week. I love half days. 🙂 To me they seem like an invitation to run more miles. Sweet! I had a half day on Tuesday and I was looking forward to at least 6 miles after work. Thanks to a training meeting in my hometown that went 3.5 hours, I didn’t even have to drive to work town so I had even more time to run. However, my stomach laughed at my plans and I eventually gave up trying. I felt like it was a waste of a half day. 😦 But I did get some laundry done and took a small nap.
Work ran late on Wednesday (it started!) and then I spent 10 minutes looking for myFitbit. When I was changing into my running gear I realized that it had fallen out of my sock at some point during the day. Crap! Luckily I found it by the front door. I headed to the river path hoping for less wind. Ha! Luckily I found a headband in my car to cover my ears. I can’t stand cold ears.
I look kind of scary in a headband. 🙂
I spent the first mile trying to talk myself out of running. I was cold, tired and my stomach hurt. And apparently feeling very whiny. 🙂 But I trucked on telling myself to get over it. I kept my watch covered with my sleeves since I really didn’t have a pace goal, my only goal was to finish 4 miles. I walked when I needed to and did pause for a break at one point for my stomach. Overall the run felt comfortably hard and I felt that was more due to the wind than the actual running. Then I checked my splits.
?????
Say what?! My last mile came in at 8:15 and I didn’t feel like throwing up? My fastest mile since high school was 8:05, set last fall in broken down shoes, running in a straight shot, going downhill. I thought I was going lose my cookies after that mile. So how did 8:15 seem fairly comfortable? Still mostly downhill, but across 3 intersections and a couple of streets. Huh? How did I do that? Actually the last 3 miles were pretty speedy and didn’t feel horrible. Sweet! Can I do it again though?
As exciting as that last mile was, I was also very happy that I did not have to deal with any gnats. 🙂
I ended up taking the weekend of from running. It wasn’t the plan but hey, the name fits. On Saturday, I worked then napped then hit the movies to see the new Avengers. Awesome! I planned on running Sunday but I started a spring cleaning project that just grew and snowballed as the day went on. Suddenly it was almost Sunday dinner time and I hadn’t run yet. Oops! In other news, I have way too many pairs of running shorts. And pants.
oh and socks
Monday rolled around and I was looking forward to running. I want to transition to running 3x a week, Monday through Friday as opposed to 2x. So this week is my first attempt. Monday running just seems so hard to me, I don’t know why. I did it a few times during my training cycle but it was usually only because I had other conflicts I couldn’t reschedule. Instead of feeling fresh and ready to run, my legs just felt super heavy. That actually wasn’t horrible. What really irritated me was the wind and the thousands upon thousands of gnats.
It’s hard to get a picture of gnats.
We kind of skipped winter and the warmer weather (then) had brought a gazillion gnats. There are hordes of them around the lake path. I’ve mentioned it before but seriously it’s nasty. I alternate between flailing my arms around my face and blowing air out of my mouth or nose. I refuse to swallow a bug! I also think of the X-Files every single time. Anyone ever see that episode with the loggers in the forest from like first or second season? Where the creepy gnat-like bugs come out of the tree rings and web people in killing them? Blech. I think of that every single time.
Now for the elephant run. I think I’ve posted this before, but what is an elephant run? This is what I call these runs where things just feel off. Not a little off, a whole lot off. Like you feel more like a circus performer flailing about the street than anything remotely resembling a runner. It has nothing to do with pace, sometimes these runs are slow and sometimes they can be speedy. Most often I can hear my feet pounding the pavement and I sound heavy footed. Normally, you can barely hear my feet. I felt like my left ankle was dropping in, my right knee and lower leg felt all off kilter, like they were swinging out. My shorts which I have run in at least 1x a week for the last year suddenly kept trying to turn into underwear. My shirt was riding up under my long sleeved layer. I kept hitting the headphone cord and pulling them loose. I stopped every mile to fix some wardrobe malfunction or another. Oh and the wind! The last two miles were straight into a headwind. Ugh. I think winter’s cousin stopped by for a visit…in May! Temps have been in the 50’s and the wind has been ridiculous for weeks. Yes, everyone back east can shake your head an laugh at me. I have run in pants more in the last month then all winter. Which is a annoying since I just put all my “winter” stuff away. 20-30 mph winds just need to stop. I don’t even like driving in them. 😦
To further add to my elephant running, I crossed paths with another runner on my way back down the hill. I felt like an ungainly mess and was just getting irritated with everything, and here comes this shirtless Adonis running my way making it look effortless. Come on! Actually I have no idea what he looked like. I was running into the sun and he was slightly in the shade. So all I know is that he was male and shirtless. Apparently he wasn’t cold like the rest of us out there. 🙂
They weren’t pretty runs but I got them done. 🙂 That’s what counts right? I took today off since my legs felt so odd yesterday. This 3x during the week is going a little work to get used to.
Ever had an elephant run? Or something of the sort?
Has the urge to spring clean hit you yet?
Is it possible to have too many pairs of shorts? 🙂
I ain’t even mad, bro.😀. Actually my new motto might be “just hang on”. But before we get into that, let’s talk about the expo real quick.
The Expo-
Expo haul- love the ambassador shirts this year!
Saturday dawned rainy and windy. Those running the 5k ran in the rain. The rain had cleared by the time I arrived to pick up my packet and attend the ambassador meet and greet. Picking up my packet was super easy and I wandered around the expo before heading out to the meet. I was there less than 10 minutes before I spent money at the Lorna Jane booth. Oops, but since that was the only thing I bought, I think I showed restraint!
raceSLO Ambassadors!!
The meet up was outside and it was so damn windy, I thought we were going to blow away. It was nice catching up with the repeat ambassadors from last year and meeting the new ones. A few of them I had been trying to meet since the Ventura half. It was so windy and cold that after chatting, getting our shirts and taking some pics, we all scattered to do our own thing. I headed home to rest a bit and figure out food. I had been having a mental struggle all week, going back and forth between following my new diet rules or following conventional running wisdom. Spoiler- I chose wrong.
Flat Slacker
The Race-
Sunday was supposed to dawn cold and windy, so I tried to prepare for that. I didn’t feel like I got enough sleep and my stomach was cranky but neither of those are new things on race morning so I didn’t pay too much attention. My mom was dropping me off so I didn’t have to catch the 4am bus to the start. I got to the start with 15 minutes to spare so I figured I would hit the port-a-potty line just to be sure. The lines were huge. By the time I got out of there, they had moved the corrals up to the start line, oops.
Miles 1-5- 9:25, 9:14, 9:20, 9:36, 8:31
The whistle blew and we were off- sort of. I ended up starting behind the 2:45 pacer. Rutro. My fault but the first mile and a half were spent bobbing and weaving. I dropped the 2:45, 2:30, and 2:15 pace groups when I decided I just needed to run my own race and not worry about catching the 2:00 pace group. In one way it was freeing not having to worry about keeping them in sight. It meant I had to pace myself and while I knew breaking 2:00 was unlikely, I was feeling strong and thought I could PR- sub 2:05.
We hit the first of the long hills and I still felt good going up. Last year at this time I was already sucking air and tiring out. Thanks to all the weaving I did at the start, my Garmin and the mile markers didn’t match so I just checked my total time at each of the course markers. I was feeling pretty good as we the flat section before turning up another long climb.
Miles 6-8- 9:36, 11:25, 9:29
About a 1/4 mile into 6, my stomach started to make itself known. I began to wonder if I was going to have an issue. But wasn’t even the biggest thing to happen that mile. Maybe it’s because I was focused intently on telling myself I was fine and not paying attention to much else, but the next thing I knew, I was airborne.
It’s still kind of blur but I remember hitting the ground and rolling. My water bottle ended up about 10 feet down the course. WTF?! About 5 different runners stopped their race to come help me. Some helped me up while one chased down my bottle. A bike medic was there in seconds. I was kind of in shock/ denial, so I honestly don’t remember if I thanked all of them. I posted a big shout out to them on my Facebook page but I feel bad if I didn’t say it right then. 😔 I assured the medic I was ok and kept running. It was few yards later that it all set in and then I was trying to talk myself out of hyperventilating myself into an asthma attack.
Eventually I calmed down and I was still on track to PR. Halfway through mile 6, my stomach let me know that I needed a bathroom and I needed it now. There were no bathrooms at that point. I had to start walking because it was either walk or embarrass myself. I walked the rest of 7 just taking deep breaths. I felt a little better by the turn around so I picked up the pace. I said goodbye to the PR hope but knew I could still beat last years course time even with the fall and the walking. At mile 8, I was 4 minutes ahead of a last year.
Miles 9-11- 13:01, 9:48, 9:54
Around 8.5, my stomach reared again. I was near an aid station so I looked for bathrooms. I finally found them off to side and back away and bolted for them. Not sure if I looked urgent or if he did this the whole race but there was a volunteer who directed me to which port-a-potty was open. Thank you!
After that snafu, I was back running but had slowed a bit. Shockingly enough I was still on track to beat last year’s time. I just had to stay under a 10:00 pace the last few miles. My legs felt strong; bruised and bleeding but strong. My mental game still felt on point as well. Despite the morning so far, I wasn’t defeated and I wasn’t giving up. We had a nice decline portion before we went from the roads to the railroad trail. I knew there was the suspension bridge and a few streets left before the finish line and I was still hopeful.
Miles 12-13.1- 10:37, 12:49, 2:17
Mile 12 slowed some towards the end thanks to my stomach again but I thought if I could a 9:00 for the last mile and sprint the .1, I could still pull this off. I shouldn’t have gotten cocky. My stomach threw a fit in the last mile. Why are there no bathrooms at mile 12.5?! Ha! There were 2 times I had to get myself completely off the road, out of the way and just stand still, focusing on deep breathing and calming my stomach. My fastest pace was now a jog but I was mostly walking.
It felt like more than 100 people passed me in that last mile. Including the 2:15 pace group. The last .25 mile is a paved path that goes around the pavilion at the Madonna Inn and I had been looking forward to sprinting it. I walked 90% of it before jogging across the finish line. Half marathon#12 done.
Finish- 2:15:07
Where I wanted to sprint
Once I crossed the finish line and got my medal- which I feel like I fought for!- I was looking for a bathroom. I had wanted a finishers picture but the line had about 50 people in it and that was just not going to happen. I also should have stopped at the medical tent but I had other priorities. Plus, my arm warmers had done a pretty good job of drying the blood.
Oops. But my socks were on point!
My mother found me fairly quickly and we headed for the back of the pavilion where the port-a-potties and UPS trucks (bag check) were. After that, I made it as far as the grass by the trucks and just tried to calm my rolling stomach. I wanted to try to find some of the ambassadors and see how they did but was just not up to moving. I had eaten nothing and had drank very little throughout the race as I knew my stomach was just not up to it. I let myself have a bit of the chocolate strawberry protein smoothie that Jamba Juice made for the finishers. It tasted like a Frosty. 🙂 We ended up leaving not long after that, I was feeling rough again and couldn’t handle another port-a-potty, so we headed to the McDonald’s down the street. Real bathrooms and I got an ice-cold Diet Coke. Oh the magical healing properties. 🙂
Half smile/ half grimace
Like I said at the beginning, I am not mad or even sad. There were quite a few times throughout the race where I could have said screw it and bailed or phoned it in (see Ventura) but I knew I was stronger than that. My legs were feeling fresh, tumble not withstanding, my head was in the game and I was determined. I think that’s one thing that came out of my McMillan training plan that I wasn’t anticipating- the confidence. I knew I could I do it, and I still honestly believe that if it hadn’t been for my stupid stomach, I would have PR’d, hills, fall, headwind and all. Yes, the wind had picked up and was pretty bad but by that point it was the least of my concerns. 🙂 So with everything that race morning threw at me, I am damn proud of that 2:15.I love this race. I love the course and the crowds. The expo is still my favorite and the volunteers and staff are amazing. Seriously, I think the bike medic was there before I stopped rolling. I am already looking forward to next year.
Ever fallen while running? This was my first time.
Slacker Runner 