Tag: Hansons

San Francisco Marathon Training Week 10

I have a hashtag for this week – #stupidshins

So yeah, another low mileage week in the books. You know if I was just running I would be pumped at 3 20+ mile weeks in a row, I mean my monthly average was in the 60’s so 3 weeks of 20+ would have been awesome. But for marathon training? I’m trying not to freak out over here. I am trying really hard to #findtheshiny here. So here we go.

Monday- Rest After Saturday’s race and Sunday’s migraine enforced rest, I considered running. I didn’t as I really wanted to switch my Monday running with Wednesday’s rest day. I think 3 days in a row will be much more manageable than the 4 I had on the schedule in May. With the day off of work and no running on the plan, I have to say it was kind of nice. My legs felt pretty good too, so I was optimistic for a good week.

Tuesday- 3.5 miles I had 3 potential goals for this run- move my Thursday run of an 8 mile tempo up as it was projected to be over 100º. If I wasn’t feeling up to that, then the planned intervals of 4 x1200, if not that then a good 7-8 miles. None of that happened.

Right from the get-go, something felt off. Then it just plain hurt. I ran 1 lap of the lake and changed my shoes. That didn’t help. I ran- walked- hobbled another 2 laps. I also sat on a rock and stared at the lake a bit. Tried telling myself that all the pain was in my head but it wasn’t. Grrr. Home for some RICE.

Wednesday- Rest So much for running on Wednesdays. My shins hurt, my ankle hurt so I rested. I also started alternating between heels and flats throughout the day at work.

Thursday- 3.5 miles Oddly, I kind of missed my tempo. Who knew? I ran/ walked a slow 3.5 miles. My shins were not happy but it didn’t feel like pain just severe achiness. It was also very hot, so that helped keep things nice and easy.

Friday- Rest Work was super busy though, so I felt a little ragged. My boss in on vacation for a few weeks so that means Friday’s are an open to close kind of thing for me.

Saturday- 13.1 miles- The weekend was predicted to be a hot one so I forced myself to get up early. It wasn’t early enough. 😓 I set out for my long run and planned to take it nice and slow and walk whenever I felt more than twinge from my shins. Surprisingly, I felt ok so I kept running. I reassessed how I felt at each point where I could make the run shorter or add a little mileage. I only felt one odd twinge but it passed quickly.

What I hadn’t planned well for was the heat. I started at 7:30! It warmed up faster than I planned. There were a few sections where I felt like I was running on the surface of the sun- those were mostly walked. I also realized by mile 6 that I was going to run out of water. I had a 24 oz handheld but it wasn’t enough. I just told myself I had to get to mile 9 and I could run into the AM-PM. Except that was actually mile 10. Oops. My head felt like it was swollen and too big for my hat and the humidity had jumped drastically. From mile 8.5 to 10, I just kept chanting AM-PM, AM-PM – I had about an ounce of water left. I ran in and bought a Gatorade and a water. I poured the Gatorade into my water bottle and carried the extra water bottle. I was a two-fisted drinker for the last few miles. I will never run long without my debit card again.

I knew I was going to be slow due to my shins so when I finished in 2:30, I was actually pretty stoked. If it hadn’t been so hot, I would have shaved a couple minutes off and that’s actually pretty spot on my long run pace.

Sunday- Rest While my legs feel ok, there is one hot spot on my shin that I don’t like. After a mental argument with myself, I chose to rest. It’s not what I want to do but isn’t the saying that under trained is better than injured?

Crap, that only adds up to 20 miles. Why did I think it was more? Grrr. But I had a good long run, so that’s shiny right?

Looking to this week, I am going to listen to my legs and go from there. Speed work is off the schedule for now but I do hope to see the miles go back up. I am only 8 weeks out now and that is kind of scary. I really need to find more hills too or San Francisco is going to eat me for breakfast. 😛

How was your week? Anyone race?

Do you run with money?

How’s your weather?

San Francisco Marathon Training Week 9

Holy crap, I’m halfway there!

I’ve yet to decide if that is reassuring or reason enough for a panic attack. It could go either way, it just depends on the day. 😝

After week 8’s less than stellar showing I was really hoping for a better week. What I got was a learning week. And an injury scare. Then I finished it all up with a tough 10K.

Monday- 5 miles. I love seeing easy miles on the plan. However, I ran these too fast. I was about a minute under pace for the run. While it felt pretty good at the time, I wonder if this added to the issues that popped up later in the week. I also ran these miles in my Pureflow’s. I was thinking of wearing them for my race so I wanted put a few miles on them since I hadn’t worn them since the SLO half. My toes still feel squished but other that I remembered why I loved those shoes.

Tuesday- 1.25 mile w/u, 6 x 800, 1.25 mile c/d. Since I missed week 8’s speed workout due to a head cold, I decided to do it this week instead of jumping to the 1K repeats. 800’s are hard. The 600’s a few weeks ago had felt pretty comfortable, these did not, these were hard. I also had technical difficulties of the hilarious kind. I’ve been using the workout feature on my Garmin; I create the workout online and push it to my watch so I don’t have to try and track the intervals on my own. So I programmed in what I thought were 6 intervals of 800 with 400 meter recoveries. I felt like my first 400 m recovery was taking forever. I kept checking my watch but it kept saying 399.9. What? Come to realize that I had programmed my recovery at 400 MILES not meters. Oops!! So from then I just tried to ballpark when to hit the lap button to end each recovery. I underestimated each time, oops. My recoveries ended up being around .15.

My goal time for each 800 was 4:30-4:42. Actual times were- 4:28, 4:23, 6:38, 4:26, 4:24, 4:23. So yeah that 3rd 800? I had tried to see if I could fix the 400 mile recovery but not only failed, I had also started the run interval but not realized it. I think it would have been in the line with other ones though.

Wednesday- Rest My legs were feeling super sore. I wore compression socks to work and changed from boots to flats. That might not have been the best idea. I also had an appointment with my gastroenterologist and I have a shiny new elimination diet to start this week. During marathon training…yay? Also pizza night was a giant fail. Boo.

Thursday- ~~8 easy miles~~— 3.75 miles With a 10K race on Saturday, the plan was to swap my easy run and my tempo. My training plan advised against this as I was supposed to step up to 8 tempo miles this week but I really like this race. I still felt sore and tired so I headed to the river path to get in an easy 8. Ha! My legs hurt from the get go. My shins hurt, my ankles hurt, my arches felt off and my knees started to ache. I gave it 2 miles to see if it was all in my head and if I was going to be able to run it out. No dice. I called it at 2 and hobble ran/walked back to the car. It hurt. I went home and stretched, rolled and put on compression socks again. And tried really hard not to freak out. Thank you to Heather and Ashley for putting up with all of my whining text messages. 😂

Friday- Rest My legs were still super sore. I was beginning to question Saturday’s 10K.

Saturday- Bands on the Run 10K Could have gone better but I made it through it. More on that next post though. Why do beach races make my calves so sore?

Sunday- 15 miles- Rest My alarm was set for an early run but when it went off, I said no. I had started to feel the beginning of a headache Saturday night and tried to fight it off by sleeping with an ice pack. No luck, Sunday morning it was a full on migraine. I shut off the alarm and slept more hoping it would ease up and I could get some miles run in the afternoon. Unfortunately, all the afternoon saw was a 2 hour long nap. My head hurt so bad, I didn’t even complete this post in time to go up on Monday. Once again, I slept with an ice pack that night.

Hmmm, well 4 days is better than week 8 right? Unfortunately my overall mileage still hovered in the low 20’s. The leg pain kind of freaked me out and I am making an adjustment to my training plan going forward. I am swapping my Monday easy run for Wednesday’s rest day. I knew my training plan was intense for a Slacker like me, even with dropping Friday’s run from the get go. So now let’s see how I feel with 3 days in a row instead of 4. Cumulative fatigue is one thing, I am freaking tired. Plus, who knows how these dietary changes are going to go over? Fingers crossed! Hopefully, my legs will get me through the week. 😀

How was your week?

How many days can you comfortably run a row?

Who else raced this weekend?

San Francisco Marathon Training Week 8

Name Change!!

Let’s be real, who was I lying to? As if calling it “Week 21 Training Recap” meant I could bury my head in the sand a little longer? So, let’s rip the band-aid off. There should be an emoji for that.

If you’ve read my whiny, ranting post from Friday, you know that last week went a little sideways. After such a great week 7, I was hoping to keep the momentum going. But, well, life happens right?

Monday- Rest I had a doctor’s appointment where I had 3 excisions done. Why I thought I was going to follow through with running after that, I am not sure. One was even under my sports bra band so it’s not like I really wanted to put one on after that. Combine that with my car battery dying in the office parking lot and the day was shot. It was surprisingly hard to find a place that sold the battery to my car. My very common Nissan. Grrr.

Tuesday- Rest/ furniture moving I had what I called severe allergies start after my run on Saturday but by Tuesday, it was full blown head cold status. I could barely see out of my eyes and spent most of my time sneezing. I ended up leaving work early and went home. I treated myself to my go-to sick meal- In n Out- on the way home and then took a 3 hour nap. On the floor. 😝 Once I woke up, the rest of the evening was spent moving furniture in preparation for new carpet the next day.

Wednesday- Rest This time planned but I felt guilty. I should have been running. I still wasn’t feeling well but I made it through the full day at work before heading home to move furniture back into place. Apparently, I am not as strong as I once was. Some of that crap was hard to move!

Thursday- 3.4 miles Aborted tempo. What’s that saying about good intentions? I headed to the lake path to get in what was supposed to my last 5 mile tempo. Next week they jump to 8 miles. Holy crap! Anyways, back to this week. Let’s just say I should put my phone on Do Not Disturb when I run from now on. Of those 3.4 miles, 2 were at tempo pace. What was not cool was how hard they felt. So much harder than the week before. Had I finished my run I am not sure I could have held that for another 3 miles. That worried me. Ok, it freaked me out. Hence Friday’s post.

Friday- Rest Oddly enough, one of the excisions was really bothering me . Of course it was the one on my butt. Maybe it was just trying to make me sit less? Oh and the morning started with finding out that my debit card had been compromised. Not my main one but the one linked to my race account. Double Grrrr.

Saturday- 12 miles- I worked in the morning so I knew this would be an afternoon run. Luckily the temp was predicted for the mid 60’s so I wasn’t too worried about that. I used the timing as a training exercise, sort of. I’ve been trying to figure out what I can eat before long runs and races that my system will tolerate. I’m testing out various protein shakes as I seem to tolerate liquids better. So I had 2 pieces of sausage for breakfast and a protein shake at 11:30. The poor choice might have been the cookie I ate as well. 😝

That said, I headed out around 2 PM for my run. Overall, I kept my head down and just kept running. I was feeling ok and didn’t need any walk breaks through mile 5, I met with my mom halfway through mile 6 so I walked with her for 1/2 a mile. Then I ran on and just kept trucking. It was so windy, my hat was almost ripped off my head 3 times. My stomach cramped in bad way at mile 10. I stopped for a moment and breathed it out. I was only 2 miles from being done so I kept my break short and ran on. My stomach cramped again around mile 11.3 but this time I walked it out. Stupid stomach. I then ran on to finish my run. Other than the cramping issues, the run was pretty good. My pace was right in the middle of my long run range and it would have been even better without the the little break in the middle. Obviously I need to work on the fueling thing some more.

Sunday- 6.2 miles – The plan called for 6 but I wanted 8. Seriously, this was one of the slowest 10K’s of my life. Smash Run tells me it was my 47th slowest- yay! I don’t know what it was but I could not get it into gear. My legs felt fine but the rest of me just wasn’t out there. My pace was all over the place and by the end I was glad the plan only called for 6. I felt fine when I was done so maybe it was all in my head?

So yeah, 21.6 miles. About 15 short of where I had hoped to be. I am trying to find the shiny here and say that 21 miles is still pretty good for a Slacker right? We live and we learn and we plan for the week to come. Right? Right. #justkeeprunning I am still on the fence about Saturday’s half- partly due to indecision and partly because that account was cleaned out. Boo. I will get the money back and I will make a decision but right now I am playing it by ear. I also want to give the protein shakes another try. Any recommendations?

How was your week/ weekend?

Ever been hit by fraud? Someone had fun at a bar with mine. And tried to buy a suit. Weird.

Marathon Musings 2

It’s week like this that freak me out about marathon training.

Last week, I was riding the high of my highest mileage week ever and I was stoked. This week? Three days off… in a row. Oh crap, is the real Slacker back?

Cue freak out. The plan I am following is pretty specific. Do the work outs when and how prescribed. Be as consistent as possible. Yes life happens but try to keep the volume consistent and lower the intensity if needs be. Did that happen? No.

Poor planning and faulty equipment brought about Monday’s missed run. I had a procedure done and the odds of running afterwards were unlikely but I was holding out hope. Then my damn car died in the parking lot of the doctors office. Seriously?! I took it as a sign that I shouldn’t be running and sweating all over the new cuts I had on my body. I figured I could make up the missed miles on Friday. Maybe.

Tuesday called for 800’s and I was excited to run them. I kind of love intervals and wanted to see how I fared. Except, the worst allergy day of my life sent me home from work where I proceeded to nap for 3 hours. On the floor. Maybe it was a gnarly head cold but all I know is that it got progressively worse from Sunday until Tuesday when my right eye was almost swollen shut. What the hell.

Wednesday wasn’t much better. My eyes were open and I made it through a full day of work but still felt crappy. Running was out the question though. New carpet went in at home on Wednesday so that evening was spent furniture moving. Can I count that as a workout? I actually cleared 10,000 steps which I only do when I run. 😛

I did so good for 7 weeks but week 8 is kicking my ass. Now I am freaking out. What kind of fitness am I losing? Or not gaining? Next week’s intervals are supposed be 1K repeats. Do I stick to the plan or run the 800’s I missed? Next week also sees my tempos increase to 8 miles. I’m not ready! I need to reread the book again.

Speaking of next week- I am supposed to be running a half marathon on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. I was torn between using it as part of my long run or using it as my tempo since the miles are supposed to increase next week anyways. It’s on the beach so I figured marathon pace would be a good goal for it. Something made me double check the time. 10AM!!! What the hell!!! This is California for crying out loud. I have never had any race start that late. Not even a 5K.

I have a few concerns with this. 1- the temp. It’s in work town and the temperature is usually fairly moderate but I would be finishing after noon so who knows? 2- food. I don’t fuel before half marathons or long runs yet. But I am also used to a 7AM start for races. I think I would have to eat something before a 10AM race start. Which wouldn’t be a horrible thing since I do need to get used to fueling more. But that leads to concern 3. 3-bathrooms. Food could make me sick; my stomach has a proclivity for going wonky at the worst times. What do beach races usually not have? Bathrooms. Ok, technically, there are bathrooms at 2 points but they are off course and would add 1/4-1/2 mile if needed. Plus that would be across soft dune sand. Grrrr. I am seriously considering running the 10K instead.

So help me out…

Half marathon or 10K?

How much ~~damage~~ will this week set me back in marathon training?

Week 20 Training Recap

Week 20 for real??!? Where has the year gone?

And the marathon training keeps rolling. I am already tired. Or still tired from an emotional April. Who knows anymore. My focus this week was to up my running from 4 days to 5. My big goal for May is to consistently run 5 days a week. My training plan actually calls for 6 days of running but one of the first changes I made was dropping Friday’s run. If I handle May well, I may consider adding in Friday miles but I am not going to worry about that now.

Monday- 4 easy miles. After an unplanned Sunday rest day, I was really hoping that these “easy” miles would feel easy. Yeah, not so much. My legs felt tired. Part of it may be mental- I was a die-hard believer in never running on Mondays. It’s only been a month-ish since I started running on Monday’s and I think I still mentally rebel sometimes. #rebelwithoutaclue Post-run, things snowballed quickly and the next 6sih hours were spent waiting in the ER.

Tuesday- 6.98 miles- 1.25 mile w/u, 8 x 600’s, 1 mile c/d. Dude. This was the first time using the workout feature on my Garmin; it worked pretty well. With Monday night being so long and not getting to bed until 2 something, I told myself 2 things going into this run. 1-walk the recoveries and 2- listen to your body. I knew I was overly tired and under fueled. I didn’t want to just bail on the workout though. I decided to try the warm up and 2 600’s with recoveries and see how I felt. If I needed to drop the intervals and do easy miles, I would. I was hoping that making the recoveries a walk would be enough to get me through it. My plan calls for 600m repeats to be done between 3:26-3:35 but never having done 600m before, I had no idea what to expect. I just tried to run by feel and be consistent. The drawback to the workout feature is that it showed my current pace, I’d knew what overall time I had to hit but had never translated that to pace. Oops. Actual repeat times– 3:17, 3:22, 3:15, 3:23, 3:20, 3:19,3:16, 3:21. Holy crap, I did it!! I felt pretty good when I was done but was tired so I skipped my last recovery and went straight to the cool down. I might not have done that had I realized the watch would just stop at 6.98 miles!!!! Grrr.

Wednesday- Rest day Pizza day- nuff said. 😜

Thursday- 7.25 miles- 1.25 mile w/u, 5 tempo miles, 1 mile c/d. Oof, that was rough. Nothing about this run ever felt good. I ran this tempo on the streets and I looked forward to every stop light. Built in breaks without having to feel guilty? Hell yeah! Outside of those, I never walked or took a break, so that is huge in itself. I was glad to hit the cool down portion and even happier when that was done. I was so happy for cool down that it was almost faster than the tempo miles. Oops. A run-in with an off leash dog turned it into a walk and lowered the pace, which was probably better anyways. 😒 Tempo goal- 10:18. Tempo miles- 10:03, 9:58, 10:04, 10:10, 10:07. Pace wise, I did what I was supposed to do but it was just ugly. It was also my first run with my Fitbit and one point it said my heart rate was 182. What?! I know that most runs will feel tired but this one just had me worried for the longer tempo runs that I know are coming all too soon.

Friday- Rest day. Aww, bliss. I indulged in some very yummy tri-tip, garlic bread and garlic green beans. It was amazing.

Saturday- 8 miles Misery. I am intentionally keeping one of my weekend runs in the mid-late afternoon. I need to work on building my heat tolerance back up. I know that’s one of the things that hurt me at SLO- it was a very warm morning. Saturday was only 76 but it kicked my ass. I took more than a few walk breaks, a couple of stops and ran out of water. Well hell, that’s not a good sign. We’re not too far from constant triple digits here! Oh well, I got in some hills. To add to the pain, I realized that my training plan only called for 6 miles. 😓😂

Failed cool pic attempt but my Benjamin Button-ish made me laugh

Sunday- 10 miles I got up early in an effort to beat the very high heat of 81. Yes, that was sarcasm. 😏 This was rough, my pace was all over the place. Some 10’s, some 11’s and some 12 minute miles. It was warmer than I would have liked but like I said I have to get used to it. I had more water than the day before but I dropped my bottle around mile 4 and broke the lid. Seriously?? I had enough left to get me through the run but I had to carry the bottle in a certain way so I didn’t spill the rest. I also knew that week’s mileage was catching up with me so I was fine with going slower. When all was said and done, I was still closer to long run place than I thought I would be.

Weekly miles- 36.2 miles

It was a long, hard week but I completed every workout I set out to do. I felt like throwing a little party when I finished my long run. This was my highest mileage week ever– hell yeah! Right now I feel ok, but I know I need to keep on foam rolling and stretching. Moving on to this week, my mileage stays relatively the same but my intervals shift to 6x 800’s. Yikes!! I have a doctor’s appointment on Monday that could mess with my easy run though. I thought about moving it to the morning but if I am still struggling with 8 AM runs, 4 AM is not going to happen. 😜 I really don’t want to miss my run so we will see. I know consistency is going to be key to getting through this training cycle. And a good dose of good luck.

I feel like there is something else I wanted to share but I can’t remember what it was. Oops!

How was your weekend?

Do you run a last recovery or go straight to cool down?

How’s your weather?