Week 32:Upcoming Races-Rock n Roll San Jose Training Week 6

August 27, 2018August 26, 2018 Fallon @ Slacker Runner10 Comments

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

This was an odd one.

I ran but not enough. I lifted but not enough. I had an odd headache on Wednesday, my side pain became a little worse and then my back started hurting towards the end of the week. Really?? I can’t blame the lifting because I barely did it this week.

I also stupidly dropped a migraine pill down the side of my recliner on Thursday evening and spent 3 days tearing the chair apart, vacuuming sides trying to find the damn thing. Meanwhile my cat was confused as to why she wasn’t allowed in my room for 3 days. Surprisingly the chair still holds together after I put it back together- although I feel a little crooked.

This training week called for a step back week and a 5K race. However that didn’t fit my not running life schedule. Plus I have a 5k scheduled for the following week. So I decided to flip weeks 6 and 7. Except somehow I still screwed it up.

The week should have played out like this- a 6 mile run, 5 mile run and a 9 mile long run. 4 Liift4 workouts sprinkled around for cross training.

And reality?

Monday-Liift4
I had planned on running after work but we got out really late. Combine that with who beats who game I play with the cleaners and that I had already seen their truck pull in and I just decided to push the run to Tuesday. Then I ended up stuck in traffic on the way home. However I stuck to the lifting plan.

Tuesday-Rest
I had plans for running and plans for Liift4 but my side pain which is mostly tolerable these days was intense. Something I did that day must have angered it but I don’t know what. But considering I am 8 months in without a diagnosis who knows???

Wednesday-1.2 miles
Epic fail! I headed to the lake path for a 4 miler but all of my gear was in the wrong places in my car. As I was getting my pepper spray from my gym bag as opposed to my pack, I put my car key down on the front seat. Can you guess what comes next? Yep. Locked my key in my car. Tried all my doors and pushing the windows down. Nope. I talked my parents into getting my spare and driving it to me on the caveat that I take them to dinner after. 😛 I then squeezed in a lap of the lake while waiting for them. In all honesty, I may have called it at a lap anyways as there were 2 total creeper cars on the backside of the lake.

Thursday-5 miles -tempo intervals
Not gonna lie, after the previous days’ fiasco and the last week of rough running, I was not feeling this run. And for some reason, I thought I had a 40 minute tempo on the plan. We were under an air quality warning the latter half of the week so I broke the tempo into intervals- it was supposed to 15-15-10 but it was more like 12-12-6. I ran a completely different route than normal and there was a hellacious headwind that damn near shoved me backwards in the last interval. I made up for it in the cool down though when I inadvertently hit an 8:30 pace for 1/2 mile thanks to The Big Gigantic. Oops, not how to cool down. Then the chair drama started.

Friday-Liift4
More chair drama. I searched for hours and tore the thing apart to no luck. Grrr.

Saturday-Rest
I had a work event at the homeless shelter in the morning. I was thankful for the chance to help out, I’ve missed helping out since it’s been a few years since we ran a dinner night each month. This event was a walk and I was calling on all years of race experience working the registration tables.
Afterwards I went home and performed more surgery on the chair and was finally successful. The pill was found! After that I was in a cleaning mode so I kept organizing a few things before running some errands and then being lazy.

Sunday- 8.23 miles
When my alarm went off in the morning, I kind of growled at it. I just wasn’t feeling it. I wasn’t feeling like doing much of anything. I made a quick trip to SLO to the Running Warehouse to exchange the Neuro’s and then came home and took what was supposed to be a 20 minute nap. An hour later I finally decided to head out for my run. I wasn’t feeling like a long run anymore so I figured I would just run a short run and break in the new shoes instead.

And yet, I kept running. Up one hill and down the other. There’s a reason I don’t do long runs in my neighborhood. I stopped twice to BodyGlide my heels as I felt a blister forming from the new shoes. I told myself to bring a band aid but forgot. Oops. A funny moment happened around halfway when I ran past a car that had been in an accident. It looked like it had been rear ended- it still had the bumper of the other car attached- and the it had hit something else. They must have it had towed there but it still smelled like a car accident- that metal on metal on burnt plastic smell? Apparently that brings back memories for me as I kind of started to hyperventilate. 😛 I’ve been in a few accidents but until today I wouldn’t have said that smell would trigger any reaction. On the return route I went a different way.
For not wanting to run my long run, I ended up running all 8. Only to check the plan later and realize it should have been 9. Oops.

14.52 miles for the week. How did I ever come close to 1000 miles in a year once?

How was your week?

Run! · Training

Week 43- Strange

October 30, 2017October 29, 2017 Fallon @ Slacker Runner7 Comments

Upcoming Races-

Rock N Roll Las Vegas 5K
Rock N Roll Las Vegas 13.1!!!!!

Ever have one of those weeks where you are just kind of cranky but no there’s no real reason behind it? That was last week for me. Still not sure why.

I ran more than I have in months- which is kind of sad considering the overall total. I cross trained, work was fine, I watched lots of Stranger Things 2. I was just fussy some reason. Maybe I should blame the heatwave?

Monday- 3 miles Due to our abnormal heat wave, for the first time it was cooler in home town than work town. I headed that way after work. It was still warmish- 80’s- but nothing like the high 90’s I left behind in work town. For some reason I could only find one Knuckle Light- I am so not ready for the time change.

Tuesday- 7.3ish miles ride Oh hey, I have a bike! Tuesdays will likely be cross training days while training for Big Sur so why not start now? Once again I accidentally bumped the buttons with my phone again and started over so I’m not exactly sure how many miles I did. Oops!

Wednesday- Rest I was feeling super cranky and just wasn’t feeling my run. I was looking for any excuse to bail. I wasn’t going to without a reason other than me being cranky. Thankfully I got a text from my parents wondering if I wanted to go to dinner. Yes!

Thursday- 2.7 miles Damn that got dark fast. And it was hot. How is possible I needed lights to see but also a visor to keep the sweat out of my eyes? My legs felt good and wanted to run more but I think this was my last solo run even on the roads of the river path. I may have to visit the dang treadmill sooner than want. Or find a running buddy.

Friday- Rest Open to almost close? Say what? I was there through closing time but I did leave before everyone else. The new boss started. I can leave the building again! Do a little jig.

Saturday- 3.66 miles Stupid. I had a plan for the weekend to help get me ready for Vegas but I maybe should have adjusted since it was 90*. But I really wanted to sleep in. 😛 I set out for a 3 mile run in the afternoon but in an effort to stay cool I wore a shorter pair of shorts. Well, they seemed shorter than the last time I wore them. So short I took the longer way home so less cars would pass me. 😂 The heat slowed me down considerably but other than that it wasn’t a bad run.

Sunday- 8 miles I woke with a headache, turned off the alarm and went back to sleep. That wasn’t part of the plan but my head was not happy. Luckily the weather was cooler when I finally headed out around 3:15. Even with that I still drove across town where it usually a good 5-10* cooler and breezy. Which paid off except for miles 3 and 4. I was on a long stretch of road that zero shade and no breeze. It felt like the surface of the sun. It didn’t help that I was wearing capri pants. Why did I do that? Other than those 2 miles I actually kept a fairly steady pace which is good but my legs were very confused by a long run after running the day before.

17.40 miles run -7.3 miles bike for the week. I may have been cranky but I actually moved this week! Who knew?

How was your week?

What did you do this weekend?

Run! · Stomach · Training

Week 27- Ha Ha Ha

July 10, 2017July 9, 2017 Fallon @ Slacker Runner7 Comments

Upcoming Races-

Rock to the Pier 10K?
Salinas Valley Half Marathon

So yeah. This week was kind of a wash. I was prepared for July to be busy. I planned this week of workouts out accordingly. It was a good plan, like I said I was prepared. Until reality showed me otherwise. Life just laughed at me.

Work was busier than I expected. I wasn’t sleeping well, 5 hours a night if I was lucky. Then I got sick or exhausted, something like that. Summer has fully arrived after a late start and temps have been above 100 in home town most of the week. That brought power outages and way too many damn fires with it.

Monday- Rest I knew work was going to be crazy busy so I didn’t even bring my running clothes. I was not wrong. By the time I made it home, my brain was fried. For it only being Monday, that should have been a sign.

Tuesday- Rest/Sick The start of the downhill slide. I was supposed to go hiking with my dad at a new trail but my stomach was a giant ass hat all day. Nothing active happened. I did enjoy some lovely 4th of July hot dogs with my family though.

Wednesday- Rest This was partially planned. I knew work was going to be insane after the 4th so the original plan was to rest. I took running gear though since I had failed to run or hike on the 4th. However my stomach was still being an asshat so running did not happen. It was also 100+ at home when I got off work.

Thursday- 3.1 miles I woke up with a sore throat and major headache. Oh hell, no, I don’t have time to be sick. It was a calmer day at work and I was hoping that a few easy miles would help run out the oncoming head cold. I ran in work town as it was like 103 in home town. I kept the miles easy- well they felt easy-ish but they were too fast. I didn’t feel worse after the run but I didn’t feel better either.

Friday- Rest With my boss on vacation- I’m open to close on Friday’s so no working out. Plus home town was 107. And the air conditioner died.

Saturday- Rest I woke up feeling like I’d been hit by a truck. Combine that with the 105 temps and the heavy smoke from the 3 huge fires burning in the county and I was not even attempting a run. Instead I lazed around. Did spend some time looking at refrigerators as a power surge on Thursday half killed the refrigerator. Yay. By evening’s end 3 more fires had started.

Sunday- ~~12 miles~~ Rest I set everything out for a long run but when my alarm went off after the first decent nights sleep I have had in weeks, I just couldn’t do it. I still didn’t feel great and I know the next 2 weeks are going to be crazy at work. Being in sick is not an option. Plus the sky was so thick with smoke, I had a hard time telling that it was actually blue.

3.1 miles for the week. Ouch but it is what it is. Moving on I need to be a little more flexible during the next 2 weeks as we move through this system conversion at work. I am now a little hesitant about my 10K next weekend. I knew July was going to be interesting so now to see what this week throws at me.😀

How was your week?

How do you handle setback weeks?

Run! · Slacker

Week 47 Un-training Recap

November 21, 2016November 20, 2016 Fallon @ Slacker Runner5 Comments

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?

Run! · Slacker

Adios August

September 3, 2015 Fallon @ Slacker Runner17 Comments

Goodbye August, don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Well, actually, on second thought…😝😃

I started August with such high hopes but unfortunately it seemed like life had other plans. Between work stress, getting sick, crazy heat and humidity, headaches, crazy drivers and car accidents, I was so happy to see August end. To add insult to injury I have some crazy, creepy bug bite. I felt something sting after my good interval workout last week. It just felt like I scratched myself so I ignored it. Come to find a huge red lump below my ear on Friday. It was so creepy that my coworkers are helping me keep an eye on it. I can’t see it really well and cannot seem to get a picture of it either, so they and my mom have been super helpful. It’s still a lump today. So long August!

But let’s get to the numbers-Not what I was hoping for but at least I am going back up in miles. Even if it’s a tiny bump (half a mile), it’s still up. I deliberately took the month off from racing as I was feeling achy and tired. I was having some leg/foot/shoe problems that I needed to figure out as well. Which led to buying new shoes. So far I am really liking the Pure Flows. My only concern right now is I am wondering how long they will last. I am afraid that what makes them so comfortable will not last long. Only time will tell. 😃

This look back made me notice some things. While my running was pretty consistent at 3x a week, my actual workouts were hit and miss. I thought I had done better than that. I never ran farther than 7.3 miles. Which if this was a non training period would be fine. However, I am training for a goal half marathon, followed a month later by another half and a week later by a 25K. This was not the month I needed. I have been doing some serious thinking about that goal half but have yet to come to a conclusion. Between the heat this month and my stupid stomach, I try to not even look at my splits. Looking for a positive spin, maybe I am base building for 2016?

So hello September. As much as I am looking forward to September, I have some serious scheduling issues. Every single weekend is booked. Between a work weekend, race weekends and Avocado Margarita Festival ~~conscription~~ volunteering, I have no idea how I will get my long runs. Well I do. Get out of my own way and get up early. But can this Slacker do that? Combine those weekends with my boss going on vacation for 2.5 weeks, which means I can’t even leave the building, and September will be busy. Can someone set up a Diet Coke delivery? 😄 My planner looks a little scary. I am trying to only look at 2 days at a time, 2 days is manageable and lets me breath. All that chaos aside, I am still looking forward to September. In denial that the year is 2/3 over but still looking forward to September.

Starting with this weekend- first booked weekend- 5k! But I have Monday and Tuesday off!!! Monday is Labor Day and I told my boss I needed a mental health day before she left so I asked for Tuesday off. 😉 I also haven’t raced a 5K since July 2014 so this could be a train wreck, we shall see.

How does your September look?

Any plans this weekend? Anyone racing?

Should #getoutofmyownway be my new motto?