Tag: Cross-training

Run!, Training

Week 10- Rain, Tears & Consistency

Fallon @ Slacker Runner
  • 2019 Race Schedule (so far):
  • 3/24 Oakland Running Festival (Thanks BibRave)
  • 4/28 SLO Half Marathon
  • 8-11 Oaktown Half (Thanks BibRave)

This week was a little all over the place. I am so over the rain. Work was busy, like stupid busy. I took Monday off from running to rest my leg, turns out it was the driest day of the week.

A Target mirror gave me a rude awakening, I managed to stick to a workout plan- mostly. Now if I could just get my eating habits in order. It was a fairly consistent week that ended with a slight emotional breakdown when I thought I lost the necklace I’ve almost everyday since I was 17. I eventually found it but not before more tears than I ‘ve cried in recent history.

Other than that-

Monday- Liift4
Restarted the entire program- liked it the first time, decided to commit again.


Tuesday- Liift4
Following the plan.

Wednesday- PiYo
Rest day from Liift4, more rain, thought this would be a good stretch. Haha, this made me sweat.

Thursday-2 Miles
One last run in the twilight before the time change. The moisture in the air angered my lungs but other than that it was a decent short run.

Friday- 5 Miles
A day off from work meant I could run in the afternoon! I almost never run on Fridays so it was kind of cool. I played dodge the rain drops for a few miles and melted the other few. I also chose to run #allthehills. Why? I was feeling decent so I was looking forward to powering up the last hill and was doing so when my watch vibrated. I looked down to see “power save”. Oh for crying out loud! I stopped in the middle of the hill cursing out loud. Seriously, again?! I legit back tracked to the point I had paused my watch and ran the damn hill again. Which I did not make it all up without a walk break but then it was my second time up it. The only downside was the almost blisters my Altra’s gave me. I have to admit that they are dead.

Saturday-Liift 4, PiYo
My right leg and left ankle were feeling a little cranky so I opted for a non-running day.
I did make myself productive though and completed 2 more workouts.

Sunday-4 ish miles
I set out for my long in the early afternoon. Right as I parked my car there was a random lightning weather warning. I debated it because how likely would that be? Knowing my luck? I turned around and headed for the gym. Oh lord, I was melting. A blister was forming on my right foot and felt chafing on my left side- my butt. I was seriously overheating and thankful every time someone opened the door and the cold air puffed through. I couldn’t hack it anymore, I called it a little after 4 miles.

So 11 ish miles for the week and 4 cross training workouts. I worked out everyday this week. Who am I? Now, can I keep it up?

How was your week?

Recap, Training

Week 9-Close

Fallon @ Slacker Runner
  • 2019 Race Schedule (so far):
  • 3/24 Oakland Running Festival (Thanks BibRave)
  • 4/28 SLO Half Marathon
  • 8-11 Oaktown Half (Thanks BibRave)

Last week was a mixed bag.

Some things went like I hoped and others not. My leg was angry for more days than I would have liked. I know it’s due to the stool I was using at work. Last week I switched back to the desk chair, which is only slightly ridiculous as I have a counter height desk with a Varidesk on top. It usually takes a couple weeks to unkink though. I attempted cross training but didn’t check that box as much as I hoped.

It also rained quite frequently which put a damper on some of my runs.

I did sign up for 2 more races though. I also finally got my tires rotated. Oh and I paid off my bed so there were plenty of positive things too.

Wednesday- Liift4
Haha, I was so sore after this. Starting it over may be harder than I thought.

Thursday- 2 miles
Wanted to run at the lake which meant a shorter run. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of the time change. I ran a fairly easy 2 miles and called it a night.

Sunday- 8ish miles
I headed out for a long run but wasn’t really feeling it. I was aiming for between 6-10 miles and would see what happened. A car parked at the end of one my frequent roads had me rerouting so I turned down a street I’d never run on before. I did have a vague idea of where it would let me out though. However I soon realized that if I kept running the adjusted route, I would be short of 8 miles. I also failed to resume my watch after a picture break so the mileage is at least a half mile off. Grrrr. Also around mile 4, I noticed that my feet were going numb. What?? It hadn’t happened since Surf City where I blamed my old shoes. Well, I was running in newer shoes this time. So much for that theory. I walked until they felt normal and then would run on. This repeated for the next couple of miles until they felt completely normal. I finished my run and everything felt fine. What gives?

So, 10ish miles for the week. Not great but better then the beginning or middle of February.

How was your week?

BibRave, Run!, Training

Week 32:Upcoming Races-Rock n Roll San Jose Training Week 5

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Upcoming Races-

  • SLO ULTRA 5K-9/2
  • Rock n Roll San Jose 13.1 (Thank you BibRave!)-10/8
  • City to the Sea 13.1-10/14
  • Rock n Roll Los Angeles 13.1 (Thank you BibRave!)- 10/29
  • Monterey Bay Half Marathon (Thank you Bibrave!)- 11/12

If I had one word to describe this week, it would be- pain.

I think I watched more stupid movies than ever before.  Netflix shamed me with “are you still watching” a few times.  😛I kind of buried myself in a dark hole, I was barely even paying attention to those movies, I just needed background noise (there were some good ones though).

The plan for this week was 3 runs- 4 miles, 40 min tempo, 8 mile long run- and 4 Liift4 workouts.  Reality, however-

Monday- 2.5 miles 
I was looking forward to my run after work.  I thought I had 5 miles on the plan -oops – but I was on board with that.  The bottom half of me apparently was not.  Right from my first few steps, things felt off.  My legs hurt- not just sore but hurt.  I walked the first half mile hoping they would loosen up but no luck.  I tried running and it felt like the pain was deep in my bones.  WTH?  A little over a mile in, I stopped to try and stretch it out and almost screamed.   It hurt from my hips to my knees but in the bones.  I turned around and hobbled back to the car.     I didn’t know what was going on but it wasn’t worth risking an injury.

Tuesday- Liift4
My legs were still not right so I focused on my form and modified anything that required any jumping. I kind of do that anyway as I know my limitations but I really did it now.

Wednesday- Liift4
I drove to the lake path to run.  I had changed, I had my pack in my lap but I wasn’t feeling it.  Like deep down, really NOT feeling it.   I’m not a believer in there are no bad runs.  Yes, there are.   The times in the past that I have forced myself to run when I feel that against it I have either hurt myself or broken a piece of running gear.  I drove away without running but I wasn’t completely lazy.

Thursday- Migraine
Bring on the pain.  I woke up to the oncoming pain but hoped it would ease up.  Both because I had an early morning meeting and because I wanted to run after work.   I finally admitted defeat around 11:30 and did something I rarely do- I went home sick.  Then I spent the rest of the day napping, watching movies and alternating between being too hot or too cold.

Friday-Liift4 ish
I still had a migraine but I made it through work.  I attempted Liift4 in the evening but I only pulled off the lifting portion.  When it transitioned to the HIIT work, I tried one move and was like, umm, not happening.

Saturday-8 miles
Maybe it was the migraine that was still around but this was the hottest 8 miles of my life.  In hindsight, I maybe shouldn’t have tried for my long run after 2 days of pain.   I started my run around 9:15 and while that is early for me; it was already hot.   Miles 1 and 2 were good and I was optimistic.  I slowed during mile 3 but I was also entering the section I lovingly call the “surface of the sun” so that was to be expected.  However mile 4 went south.   It got super warm, I was too hot, I was feeling dehydrated and I almost threw up.    I was almost out of water and I was only 4 miles in.  I rerouted back to my car but I had slowed to a shuffle.  I refilled at my car and sat there a bit as it was fully in the shade.  By then I needed less than 2 miles so I dumped my pack thinking running without it would be cooler and just shoved my phone in a pocket and carried a water bottle and my pepper spray.  I then looped the river trail and the neighborhood until I hit 8.   This route needs some shade!

Sunday- Rest
I may have gotten in my long run but I was kind of broken the rest of the weekend.  Not only did the migraine not go away, it was a little pissed at me after those 8 miles.  The most strenuous thing I did on Sunday was clean my car.  Except it was so dirty, that really was a workout.

10.5 miles for the week.   I couldn’t have 2 good weeks in a row, could I.  Shake it off.

How was your week?

BibRave, Run!, Training

Week 32:Upcoming Races-Rock n Roll San Jose Training Week 4

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Upcoming Races-

  • SLO ULTRA 5K-9/2
  • Rock n Roll San Jose 13.1 (Thank you BibRave!)-10/8
  • City to the Sea 13.1-10/14
  • Rock n Roll Los Angeles 13.1 (Thank you BibRave!)- 10/29
  • Monterey Bay Half Marathon (Thank you Bibrave!)- 11/12

I was fussy, cranky and tired this week.   I had a few too many balls in the air at work at one point.   Home town was in the middle of an almost 20 day streak of over 100* weather and I was sleeping poorly.

I like to sleep with the window open during the summer which is odd because I am also one of those people who tends to over react at every sound.   Unfortunately this week, some creature decided to come visit the yard every night a little after midnight.  And it was not a small creature.    I tried to tell myself it was a family of deer.  Which is likely was but I worry about the bigger felines.   I digress…it was every single night.  So eventually I would end closing the window but then it would feel super stuffy and sleep would still be crappy.  Grrr.

Ok, training.  This week called for a 5 mile run, 4 mile run, 7 mile long run and 4 Liift4 work outs.

So how did I do?

Monday- Liift4
I planned on running after work but work ran long and I was feeling cranky so I decided to push my run to Tuesday.  Then while I was driving home I was feeling guilty for doing that only to arrive in run town and then home town to realize they were both completely socked in with smoke from fires.  Combine that with the 3 digit temps and somehow my lazy choice was the smart choice.

Tuesday- 3.78 miles
Another hot day, it was around 95 when I started running and there was still a ton of smoke in the air.  I decided to stick to the run/walk intervals I had programmed since I had also forgotten any way to carry water on my run.   Short and easy miles, that was the plan.   My legs had other plans and those running intervals were some of the fastest paces I’ve seen in years.  Oops.  I did keep it relatively short though.

Wednesday-Liift4
I am sure I did something else but I can’t remember what it was.

Thursday-3.5 miles
I had woken with a gnarly Charlie horse around 1:30 that morning and it never really went away. That said, I still wanted to attempt a run. Oh, my gawd, I was melting.  I don’t know why.   It was 93, so this was coolest run I had had in weeks.  Or it should have been. It was so muggy at the lake path though.  I had 3 decent, consistent miles and even though I was able to stop at my car for water, I could tell I was overheating. My leg also hadn’t loosened up at all so I finished 3 laps of the lake and called it.    If the lake wasn’t so nasty I may have jumped in.

Friday- Rest
My tiredness and crankiness caught up to me.   Could the animal outside at night just stop?!  I told myself I was going to work out when I got home from work but I didn’t.  I just zoned out watching Netflix’s Insatiable.  That show is on crack, people.

Saturday- Liift4
I meant to do my long run.  I laid out my clothes and charged my Aftershokz.  I set my alarm- 5 of them.  I slept through all of them.  Grrrr.    I thought about running my 8 miles (I also had the number of miles wrong) in the afternoon/ evening but although we finally break the streak of over 100* days it was still hot. Also, ended up taking the cat to the vet so that took up some of the afternoon.

Sunday-7.4 miles
My mother was planning on cleaning her tennis courts in the morning so I figured that would be good incentive to actually get my butt out of bed and run to the high school to meet her.    75* should have felt amazing after the last few weeks but it was more humid than I would have liked and I felt a little wilted.

Pace wise, I was doing fine for a long run but by mile 5 I was feeling hot.    My mother was also feeling it on her end as she called me around that point saying she was done at the courts- it was too warm.  I convinced her to wait for me in the shade instead of coming to get me and I tried to pick up the pace to the school.    I am hoped for 8 to make for the run I shorted on Tuesday but 7 is just fine with me.

14.69 miles for the week.  Much better than last week and almost all the miles the plan called for.  So close!!

Now if the damn creature in the yard could just go away.

How was your week?

BibRave, Run!, Training

Week 29/ Rock n Roll San Jose Training Week 1

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

That was a mouthful.  All right, when I said things were getting serious, I wasn’t exaggerating.  So let’s do this-

Upcoming Races-

  • Vintners 5 Mile-7/28
  • SLO ULTRA 5K-9/2
  • Rock n Roll San Jose 13.1 (Thank you BibRave!)-10/8
  • City to the Sea 13.1-10/14
  • Rock n Roll Los Angeles 13.1 (Thank you BibRave!)- 10/29
  • Monterey Bay Half Marathon (Thank you Bibrave!)- 11/12

Still with me? Ok, that tired me out just typing that up.   But I have a game plan.  I really do.

Remember how I mentioned in my San Jose post that I wanted to get as close to a PR as possible?  That is still my hope.  So with that in mind, I know I need to change things up.  Oh, so many things.

The real title of this post should be Shit Just Got Serious.

As my social handle suggests sometimes I lack motivation.  In my “about” section I mention that it was a competition with my mom that got me into the best shape of my life.  Well, outside of high school but we can never go back right? 🤣

So I put my money where my mouth is and joined a challenge group.    Now I have a partner I don’t want to let down as well as getting my jiggly butt back into PR shape. So how did week 1 go?

*If you’re interested, I am using Hal Higdon’s H3 training plan.

Monday-  AM- Liift4/ PM- 3.77 miles
Look who worked out in the morning??? 40 minutes of weights and a little bit of HIIT.   Who am I?

However, I may have hydrated way too much during the after that because I kind of bottomed out right before my run.  That and my run was extremely uncomfortable as I felt like I needed to pee the entire time.  It was supposed to be 4 miles but I could not hold it any longer.  I needed to be done and I needed a bathroom.  Lesson learned- don’t consume almost 200 oz of water in 9 hours.

Tuesday- Liift 4
More weights.  However I woke up with a headache so I snoozed for another hour so this workout was done after work.

Wednesday- 2.5 miles
It was a rest day from Liift4 and even though my next running day wasn’t supposed to be until Thursday but it seemed perfect to move it up so I didn’t have to double up.  I didn’t feel sore and the plan only called for 3 miles so easy peasy right?  Haha!  My legs quickly let me know they were not on board, all the soreness I had been missing suddenly showed up.   I could barely move and was just getting slower and slower.  I figured I wasn’t doing myself any favors and called it at 2ish laps of the lake path.

Thursday- Liift4
I slept right through my alarm- first and second ones- so that meant my workout was pushed until after work.  However, my family ended up texting me asking if I wanted to join them for dinner.  I am never one to turn down free food.  😛  Instead of being my usual Slacker self, that meant I was doing a shoulder workout at 9:30 at night.  But I got it done.

Friday- Liift4
Once again, I hit snooze one too many times plus I had an early morning lab appointment.   So after a long day of work, some slacking in the evening, I was again completing the workout after 10PM.   Part of that was also due to some animal drama outside though.

Saturday- Rest
I thought about getting my long run in.  I thought about going to the fair.  Did I mention the Fair is in town? It’s chaos, just chaos.   In the end, I did neither.  I had the beginnings of a bad headache that I really didn’t want to turn into a migraine.  So got my errands done, hydrated and just tried to rest.

Sunday- 6.2 miles
My fight to stave off the migraine failed.  My alarm went off to get up and run and any movement made me either want to cry or hurl.   I set the alarm for another hour and hoped for the best.  Nope.  Another hour and repeat.  Nope.   Finally I gave up and decided to push my run to the evening hoping the temps would drop enough- we’re under a heat advisory for the next week.

I headed out a little after 5 when the temps dropped to around 90.   I knew I was going to be moving slower than normal and I was ok with that.  That turned out to be true and it was hot but it was actually a decent run.

12.7 miles of the 13 on the plan.  All Liift4 workouts completed.  My training plan starts out on the lower mileage side and I am fine with that as I incorporate cross training in for the first time in years.   Only time will tell if this pans out.

How was your week?