Tag: fog

Wine Country Run 5K Recap

Having mostly decided the night before that I was actually going to do the smart thing and drop to the 5K, the temps that I saw upon waking on race morning almost made me DNS. 32 with heavy fog?? Say what? What was that all about?? On a good day, that would be rough, the morning after so many days of feeling horrible? I just wanted to burrow under the covers and hide until summer.

But I didn’t. I got up and dressed and headed to the race. I had to get to the race early enough back to bib check in and down grade from the half marathon to the 5k. Never having done that before I didn’t know how it would go- it took maybe 5 minutes. And only that long because the computer network crashed. I then went and hid in my car until the start.

I haven’t “raced” a 5K in so long I can’t even remember and I still didn’t feel good so I wasn’t holding out hope that this was going to work out so well. 😛

Mile 1-9:30 Oops, can’t hold that, least not today. Truth is, I was so damn cold, I felt like I was crawling. The first mile took us on a dirt road back through the vineyard before dumping us out on the street. I wish we could have stayed on the dirt but we were still running past vineyards and at least the roads were mostly closed.

Mile 2- 10:25 My calves/ achilles were tightening up which I kind of expected as it was cold, I was wearing my Altra’s and the miles had been pancake flat. I don’t like flat. We had turned onto a street and were running past a few houses and mini ranch’s. I use that term based more on the horses and goats and chickens than the land size. We ran past the one water station before hitting the turn around and making our way back.

Disclosure- this was taken the day before at packet pickup hence the sun

Mile 3- 10:26 Oh, the tightness. My legs felt so tight. I was surprisingly feeling ok though in both my stomach and the fact it’s been a while since I’ve run without walk breaks. Like I said in a recent post- they’ve become a crutch and that is not what I meant to happen. However I had a choice to make about my calves. My pace had slowed and was showing 11:20 something. I could run on with the tightness or I could stop and stretch it out. I stopped and stretched for 10-15 seconds. It wasn’t enough but it helped. I pushed on back towards the winery. Once I knew I was within 1/4 mile, I pushed play on my Aftershokz with a perfectly cued up song for that finish line push.

Finish- 31:12

Well, hey now, that’s actually way better than I was expecting! And I ran the whole thing! Small victories. 😀 I was nowhere near PR pace and I am fine with that. The fact that I had a finish line push after 4 days of hell is more than enough for me. Though I should probably give some of that credit to Shinedown‘s latest- Devil. It was just the kick in the pants I needed. It also turns out that stopping to stretch was also the right choice.

5K’s are kind of fun… why did I seem to forget about them???

Rambling On 2

The rain is back! Which wouldn’t be so bad if it hadn’t come with some freaky fog this time. There was one time last week where I was on the highway in a row of 4 cars and it was raining pretty hard . All of us were keeping a respectable distance from each other. Then the rain slowed and the fog rolled in. Rolled in like a horror flick. Ever seen that movie “The Mist”? Where the creatures come out of the fog and attack? Soon enough all 4 cars were as close to each as we could get and still safely drive. Do not break formation! Break formation and you get eaten! I could barely see the car in front of me let alone the car in front of it but they apparently decided they could not be the lead car anymore. They pulled over, let the 3 of us pass and then got behind us. Tag out! It was a stressful but amusing commute. 😛

I want to do all the things! They just announced that Alabama is going to be playing at a semi local concert venue and I have always wanted to see Alabama in concert. Well, again. I think I saw them when I was like 3 years old but I don’t remember. It’s the same day as a race. Eek! And I want to run all the races! But that means hotels and gas! I should start buying a lottery ticket once a week.

I am trying to quit Diet Coke again. Some days are great, some not so much. I have cut way back though. Now if only I could say that about pizza. 😛

I’ve officially lost count of how many times I’ve been fingerprinted. Thanks to work, I’ve been fingerprinted every couple of years. Today I was fingerprinted again but this time for the school district so I can chaperone an overnight tournament for my mom’s tennis team.

I am debating a 10k race this weekend. Part of why I want to run it is because I think half of it will be on trails. However part of my hesitation is because it is supposed to rain all week. Trails = yay! Mud bath = umm, not so much. I admit I like dirt but not mud. I can’t decide.

How has your week been?

Share something random!

Week 47 Un-training Recap

Training for-

…..Nope, still nothing!

Another week of taking it easy. I don’t think I realized how run down I was feeling until I stopped moving. Granted, part of that could also be due to me deciding to cut back on caffeine, sugar and calories. All at the same time. Oh and throw in some new migraine medication we’re trying and it just seemed like a good idea to take things easy. But I wasn’t totally lazy.

Monday- 2 miles A short but sweet night run. Baby steps while I work my way into this night running thing. Baby steps. 😛😛

Tuesday- 15 minutes yoga I’m so awkward and inflexible! Then the video I was using crashed partway through so I had to start another one. Grr.

Wednesday- 4.47 miles It’s been so long since I ran a short run from my house I forgot what distance my routes were! I had an odd doctor’s appointment with a radiologist and a speech therapist of all things so I was able to get the whole run in before dark. Which was sweet but damn it was cold! We went from 80 to 50 with 20 mph wind overnight. I was wearing so many layers. And I wanted more.

Thursday- Rest Migraine from hell. This was the worst headache in weeks so I figured I would try the second new medication. Holy crap people, I couldn’t add 2 +2. The pill took about an 1.5 hours to ease the pain but for about 4 hours I was mired in a serious fog, I could barely function. It was ridiculous.

Friday- Rest That migraine usually lingers 2 days but I wasn’t taking another pill. So instead I got a big Diet Coke and a big coffee on my way into work, lesser of 2 evils right?

Saturday- Rest I worked in the morning and planned on running in the afternoon. Work ran super late and I was just exhausted. I watched a couple of cheesy Christmas movies instead.

Sunday- Rest It rained all day. I still have unhealed marks on my chest from the chafe of the Harvest Marathon. After 2 races in the rain, I think I am little leery of running in the rain right now. It may be a while before it happens again. I realize that makes me a big baby but that’s ok. I did a bit of shopping though and picked up a reflective vest for more running in the dark.

6 miles is way better than last week so I’m calling it a win. I’m realizing that I need a little more time off than I thought. That being said, I will not be turkey trotting this week. Boo. But the only trot available to me is a 10K and I don’t think I have a 10K in me right now. Plus, this will also be the first time in 4 years that I am working the week of Thanksgiving so that’s going to be odd.

How was your week?

Are you running a turkey trot?

What are your plans this week?

Training Week 12 Recap

Upcoming Races– SLO Marathon 13.1

Focus this week– Getting back on track after a sickly week.

After a less than stellar week 11 and being truthful, week 10, I was eager to get back on track. Coming clean about San Francisco also provided a good kick in the pants as well. Eagerness aside, I also knew that 2 crappy weeks didn’t mean I should go all crazy this week. So, that meant I needed a measured improvement. Umm, what does that mean?

We had a full crew at work last week for the first time in a long time. We actually had more people behind the counter than we had stools. I was actually looking forward to it, I need to sit less and what better chance?

Monday- 4 miles stationary bike– Had I realized it was going to be a short ride I would have stopped at 3.14 for PI day. But I did not. I planned on riding longer but then my mom texted me and asked if I wanted to go to Subway for dinner. For some reason, it sounded amazing so it didn’t take much to convince me.

Tuesday- 3.5 miles– I love Daylight Savings, I really do. I headed for the lake path after work. I missed it. This also means that speed work is about to make a reappearance in my life, just not today. I was taking the Launch’s for their second spin and was aiming for between 3-5 miles. My left calf was freakishly tight so it ended up being 3.5 miles. I kept a fairly easy pace but had to stop to stretch more than a few times. My back was also hurting and my stomach muscles were super sore. It’s sad how badly 2 days of standing kicked my ass.

Wednesday- Rest– Pizza night!! Also, I was still so damn sore, that I sat for most of the day. Luckily, Wednesday is a usual day off for one employee so M and I weren’t fighting for the chair. 🙂

Thursday- 4.34 miles– I finally figured out the best way to run easy- run with friends!! They say your easy pace should be a pace you can have a conversation at but it’s not like you can run and have a conversation with yourself, right? NikeC and I made plans to meet up for a run and we stuck to it! It was so great catching up!! Plus I was finally able to give her her baby shower gift! Only 4 months late.

Friday- Rest day– My boss was on vacation all week and while the week wasn’t crazy busy, there were some fires to put out. By Friday, I was feeling frazzled and needed a new fire extinguisher. Grrr. Plus my left knee started hurting towards the end of the day, pretty badly and I couldn’t figure it out. I had played catch with a 40lb box- it had started to fall so I caught it, then lost it and caught it again. Probably shouldn’t have done that.

Saturday- 9 mile long run– I am trying to switch my long runs to Saturday mornings but it’s been hit or miss the last few months. When I woke up and saw that there was heavy fog and my weather app said the humidity level was 98%, I was thisclose to saying F* it. My lungs maybe doing better but they would not appreciate that at all. They just might revolt. I had all weekend right? Then marathon training creeped into my thoughts. Other than its hills, San Francisco is known for fog. So after a few more moments of denial, I dragged myself out of my warm, cozy bed and went for my run.

I had originally hoped for 10 miles but I wasn’t sure I had enough time. The plan had been to run then meet my mom and S after tennis practice for lunch. So I was running from home across town. Which meant 7 stop lights and an unspecified amount of time spent standing still. 😛 Combine that with a slower pace due to the moisture in the air aggravating my lungs and I finished 9 miles.

Once again, my goal was to just run as easy and steady as possible. I knew I would need walk breaks and was fine with that. Overall I didn’t take as many as I thought I would. Other than the bridge miles, I kept a pretty steady 11:00 min pace, which is actually on the fast side of my current pace guidelines. The bridge mile saw a 9:41. Typical, I hate running the bridge. The mile following was also faster, coming in at 10:00. I have a serious issue running in the busy areas of town. I tend to speed up. I slowed down again by mile 6 and kept it steady until the end. I almost ate asphalt around mile 8 though. I was coming up on a stop light and was crossing through the dirt to punch the signal button. I didn’t notice the cover for the power lines and caught it with my left foot. I stumbled hard and almost went down. Luckily, flailing my arms about seemed to help me stay upright. Un-luckily, this is one of the 5 busiest intersections in town. Doh!! I recovered and finished my run. It might have been slower than my pride would like but it was where it should be right now. And it was done before lunch on a Saturday! I celebrated my getting a much needed haircut.

Sunday- 8.5 miles stationary bike– I still felt a little achy in my knee but other than that I felt pretty good. I decided to err on the side of caution though and leave my running mileage where it was at. Just shy of 17 miles was a significant improvement on the previous weeks 4.5.

Low-Carb– Ummm, oops. Monday through Thursday were great. From Friday on, not so much. And I feel puffy and gross after a few less than stellar eating days. I only have myself to blame, I should know better.

Overall, it was a pretty good week. I was feeling good about it until I realized that SLO is only 41 days away. 41 days?!?! How did that sneak up on me? I’m not ready!! Oddly, though my mileage is down from last year, my long runs have drastically improved so at least something is working. Finding the shiny, right? That said, it’s time to bring some speed work back into play. Oh crap, that sounds scary.

How was your week?

Anyone race over the weekend?

Ever almost fall in a public place?