Tag: heat

BibRave, Race Day, Recap, Run!

Salinas Valley Half Marathon Recap

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Disclaimer: I received an entry into the Salinas Valley Half Marathon as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

The morning dawned dark and early.  With the race starting at the Soledad Mission, I was up early and heading north.  After getting a little turned around (all my fault- it was literally straight up the freeway) I arrived early enough to pick up my bib, debate what pack to use and use the port a potties.    I had woken to a very angry stomach and had to use the facilities a few times before the race.  Lovely.     I headed to the start line to the beat of an ipod and an upbeat announcer.   The weather had been predicted to start in the 70’s and be in the high 80’s by race end so I was very excited to see a heavy cloud cover that kept the temps about 10* cooler.


Miles 1-3- 10:01, 10:07, 11:04

The course started off nice and flat.  Which I appreciated for about 1/2 a mile.  My legs were already fussy so by mile 2, I was running in the dirt on the side of the road.   If there’s dirt, I will find it. 🙂    My shoelaces on my right shoe came untied in mile 2 as well.   I was moving surprisingly faster than I thought I was going to be though.    Mile 3 saw my first walk break as well as my shoelaces coming untied again.  What gives?!  I was enjoying the scenery.  We ran past crop fields of Cauliflower and Peas.   I was taking pictures while running.


Miles 4-6- 10:44, 11:01, 10:45

Here’s my main gripe- the first water station wasn’t until mile 3.3.    For a race in CA in August, I thought that was too far in.  I carried a larger bottle of BeachBody with me but I still like water at each station.   We started into a little rolling section of the course which was giving me slight downhills which was slightly helping my pace.  This was cool because the walk breaks were becoming more regular.   My legs were starting to get super stiff though.   My brain may have seen the road as slightly rolling but legs were telling me it was flat.  I needed a hill!


Miles 7-9-  12:47, 11:59, 10:48

A hill!  My legs were thankful, the rest of me not so much.  I walked all of it.  No shame, I knew this was going to be a slower race so there was no point in making my heart rate go crazy.  🙂   That climb started in 7 into 8 and partly into 9.  Honestly it wasn’t even a big one, I just took it easy.   The sun had also come out and temp instantly jumped 10*.  Yikes!  Water!   I was still taking in the sights of the course and enjoying the music stations along the course.  Then in mile 9, I got a little downhill to enjoy.


Miles 10-12- 11:58, 11:49, 11:36

The sun was shining in full force which made the scenery awesome but did no favors for my pace.   I started rocking out.   Literally.  We came upon a hill the race calls the “Beast of Eden” and I ran up it playing an air guitar the whole way.  It was also the only hill I ran up.  😛   I then sang and played an air guitar or drums for the next 3 miles.  I gave thumbs up to race photographers (which actually turned out to be a terrible picture).   There was a strawberry station at mile 10.2 and while they looked amazing, my stomach was starting to cramp up and I passed on them in fear of a repeat of the morning.

Mile 13- 11:42

Ok, I was done.  I felt like this mile took 20 minutes.  The finish line was never getting closer.   I was hot, thirsty and tired.   We ran past the buses to take us back to the start and man they looked tempting.  I was walking so much.  We turned left but still no finish line.   Just an uphill.  Waah.   I was walking towards the last little turn to the finish and the announcer called me out!  Seriously!    Just make it obvious when I start running.    Thanks dude.

Finish 2:28:44


Considering how I thought this race was going to go, hell yeah!  If the sun had stayed away, I think I may have been about 5 minutes speedier.    It warmed up really fast once the sun came out and I wish there had been another water station or 2.    I drank water at every station and had my bottle.  Once across the finish line, I downed a chocolate milk and a bottle of water.  Normally drinking that much that fast would have me feeling very ill but I felt fine.   Like I said, it was kind of warm those last miles.

Overall, I really enjoyed the race.   It was kind of nice to go into a race mostly relaxed and barely even glance at my watch.   I enjoyed the backroads, and the crop signs and Steinbeck were an added touch,  The only thing I would change is more water stations.

Half marathon #27 done.  😀

Run!, Training

Week 31-Of Concerts and Poor Sleep

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Upcoming Races-

  • Salinas Valley Half Marathon

 

Every time  I think I have a handle on things, wham, curve ball.   That’s life right?   I don’t have a big opener this week so let’s get right to it!


Monday- 2.3 miles  I think I got about an hour of sleep Sunday night.  I was super tired after work but what else is new.   I headed to the lake path because I wanted to at least get my new trail shoes dirty.   That was the upside to the run.  The downside was the 93* temp and the crazy high heart rate.  I was practically crawling and couldn’t get it down so I made it a short one.

Tuesday- Rest Work ran late and I didn’t make it home until after 7.


Wednesday- AFI!!!  One of my favorite bands came to town and I wasn’t missing that.   The concert was awesome.  It was a late night but it was awesome.


Thursday- 2.3 miles.  I’m sensing a pattern here.  Not sure if it’s a good one.  😛  I was so tired after work I was thisclose to just skipping my run.   But I made myself change and headed for the river route.  I ended up sticking entirely to the paved portions and keeping it short but it didn’t suck.  I was glad I squeezed in a few miles.     That was until I went to brush my teeth later and my left leg buckled… and then did it again.  Something hurt right where the leg and hip connect.  Umm, not cool.

Friday-  Rest All the crappy sleep and long hours are catching up to me and I was a little slap happy at work.  One coworker thought it was hilarious and the other said she was just going to back away slowly.    My leg was still not happy but there wasn’t any more buckling.


Saturday- Salinas Valley Half Marathon That was an early morning.  Race recap to come.  🙂

Sunday- Rest  Serious rest.   I slept in until almost 10.  Well, kind of, I woke up a few times but refused to get out of bed.     I thought about running in the afternoon but I took a long nap instead.  Like passed out on the ground for almost 2 hours.  Woke up, moved to a chair and fell asleep again.   I decided to listen to what my body was shouting.

17.7 miles for the week.  A run on Sunday would have put me over 20 but like I said my body was trying to tell me something.     I know that part of my tiredness is stemming from work and part is coming from my bed.  My bed has decided to die in the last month or so.  I swear it went from fine to crap overnight.    Sleeping has been rough.  But a new bed is not exactly in the cards right now.  Grrr.

How was your week?

Ever have an odd pain come out of nowhere?

Last concert you saw?

 

Run!, Training

Week 30- Goodbye July

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Upcoming Races-

  • Salinas Valley Half Marathon

This was a calmer week at work thankfully.   I’m still feeling a little ragged around the edges but I think we’re pulling it together.   Have I mentioned my coworkers are rock stars?

The hours were a little more normal and I was able to get in a few more miles than week 29. Not a lot but a few.  😛


Monday- 2.5 miles.   I packed all my running gear planning to run in work town after work but then work kicked my ass.  I was so tired I decided to just go home.  Something on the drive home made me change my mind and I changed super fast at home and ran out the door.   I was able to get in a short 2.5 miles in my birthday shoes.  😀

Tuesday- Rest.  I made my first #bibchat in weeks! Sweet!


Wednesday- Fair!! I took all my running gear to work but realized I had left my pack and inhaler in my garage after Monday’s run.  Womp womp. So sudden change of plans- my mother and I hit up the fair after work.  Funnel cake for the win.😀

Thursday- migraine from hell.  By the end of work, I could barely see straight.   I thought about running to see if it helped but I was also concerned it would make it worse.  Combine that with the insane traffic I was fearing I would face going home and I just decided to head home.  Why insane traffic?  Garth Brooks.   He performed at our little fair- 2 concerts in a row- and getting home was a little tricky.

Friday- Rest The headache was still lingering plus with working open to close, I was just exhausted.  I haven’t been sleeping well this month.


Saturday- 10 miles Despite how tired I was, I forced myself out of bed on Saturday morning to get in my long run.  Well, I did hit snooze when the alarm went off at 7.   I knew I wasn’t going to be setting any speed records so a little bit warmer wouldn’t be horrible.    It actually ended up being my slowest 10 miler ever, there was a lot of walking the last 3.5 miles.  Ok, mostly walking.  But this run was just meant to be time on my feet and not to worry about pace.  I think I accomplished that.  😛  Then I spent the rest of the day trying to relax.  I randomly went and saw Spiderman in the evening…not bad.

Sunday- Rest.  So not the plan.  I planned on sleeping in, running some errands, doing some chores and then braving the heat for a few miles.   Everything was going according to plan right up to the laundry.   I went to grab the first load out of the dryer and noticed a funny smell.    It smelled like burnt plastic.   And everything I had just washed and dried stunk of it.   Did I mention the washer was full of freshly washed sheets?    So then I spent the afternoon trying to line dry everything without a line.  Lay it on something, point a fan at it, come back in 20 minutes and rotate.  Everything that had been washed had to be rewashed.   Yay.   That was fun.  It felt like a workout but it wasn’t running.   3 loads of laundry dried by 2 fans.

12.5 miles for the week.   Like I said, not a huge improvement over last week but a step in the right direction.

How was your weekend?

Had any appliance issues lately?

Last movie you saw?

 

Run!, Training

Week 29- What’s Running

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Upcoming Races-

  • Salinas Valley Half Marathon

This will likely not be a long recap.  😛  4.5 years ago I went through a system conversion/ merger where I worked insane hours and managed to only run on the weekends.     Advantage last time was that I knew all the systems and everything else.  This time I know next to nothing.    Why I thought this would be different, I have no idea.  Maybe I repressed all those memories?  Maybe I was naive?

Either way, this week had little to no running.   I packed my gym bag with all my running gear including my new running shoes on Sunday evening.  Then I just stared at it in my car everyday like it was taunting me.   I felt like my shoes were calling my name.   But my shortest day was getting off work around 6:30 not counting my commute.  If lunch hadn’t been brought in each day, I don’t know that I would have time to make food.  But it is what it is and I have amazing coworkers and we made it through.

Yep, it was that kind of week

So yeah, let’s get to it-

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday– Yeah no.  It was all I could do to just to get through work then come home and crash.

Saturday– I woke up early but my entire body felt sore and bruised so I decided to sleep longer and go for a run in the afternoon.  Which was the plan until it was decided that my cat needed to go to the vet.  She had been lethargic and acting like she had a UTI for a couple days but it got worse.  We found a vet who squeezed her in but it was a literal wait in the waiting room until all the other appointments were seen.   So almost 3 hours.  But she was seen and was given medicine.   Which she does not appreciate.

Then of all odd things- the other cat is now freaked out by her.  Like screaming in the middle of the night, wake the whole house up as he runs from her.  WTF?  So they had to be separated.


Sunday- 7.5 miles I should have gotten up earlier but I just couldn’t make myself.  The plan started out as 10 miles then turned into 8 but ended up being 7.5.  It was hot and I was still tired and when I was walking more than running, I decided that pushing it on my first run in 7 days wasn’t the best idea.   My legs felt fine but the rest of me was not on board.  I ended up going home and crashing hard and taking a long nap.   I was actually supposed to go to the fair with my mother in the afternoon but we both bailed on that.  I was just too tired.

7.5 miles for the week.   I cry on the inside but sleep and work were more important.

Now, fingers crossed the gym bag leaves my car this week.

How was your week?

How do you deal when you’re too busy to run?

Run!, Slacker, Training

Week 24- Heat Wave

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

It’s begun.

The work week was long and they are only going to get longer from here on out.   I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.  The last big conversion/ merger I went through was 4 years ago and I ended up falling back to running 1x during the week and both weekend days because I was putting in so much overtime.  Oddly enough, that’s also when I was the fastest but I am sure the 2 have no correlation.   😛    Difference is, last time we were the company doing the buying not so there wasn’t a huge learning curve for me- it was just a super busy time.  This time, I’m looking at a Grand Canyon of things I don’t know and not knowing what I don’t know makes me uneasy.   I am trying not to stress about it though.

Trying.  I need to read more.  For relaxation I mean.  So I ordered some new books.


Monday- 2.5 miles  First day back at work.  Couple hundred emails, schedule overload,  work ran late, and we were down 50% of our staff.  By the end of the day I had zero desire to run after work.  Zero.  But I changed, laced up and headed for home town.  I turned it into a game- could I keep my heart rate in the green zone?  Yeah, no.  But I tried.  😛

Tuesday- Rest I meant to do something productive workout wise but I didn’t.  And something about the shoes I wore to work pissed off my right foot.

Wednesday- Rest  Meeting #1 of meeting/ training polooza of the next month.   The day started abnormally early and by day’s end I was just living in migraine city.  I left my gym bag full of running gear at work and just went home.


Thursday- 4 miles  It had been too long since I ran in work town so that was my plan.  Success!  Similar MO to Monday- try to stay in the green zone.  Hell for the first 2 miles I had trouble getting into the green.    I felt like I was working but I guess the temp in the 60’s and a downhill made things easier than I thought.  Then there was the climb in mile 4 and my heart rate went right past green and into threshold.  Grrrr.     Once home I did 8 minutes with my kettle bell.  Ouch.

Friday- Rest  Seriously 8 minutes with a kettle bell should not kick my ass that much.

Saturday- 9 miles bike  I admit I slept in.  Then it was 106 and there was no way I was running in that.  I stuck to the bike.  Except I still haven’t replaced my fan so I was still ended up a sweaty mess.


Sunday- 7.3 miles  Long run fail.  I headed out around 8 to get in my planned long run of 10 miles but it was already too late.  It was 80 when I started.   It wasn’t bad in the beginning but it never got any better.  I started to feel the warmth around mile 4.  My mother was supposed to meet me around mile 5.5 and she was going to walk while I finished the rest.  She drove past me before I even hit 5.  I took a shorter route to her but I knew I wasn’t hitting 10.  I decided to try for 8 but at 7.3 when I was running- not sure what I was doing could be called running- brought me past the car again, I said F* it.  It was 90 degrees and it wasn’t even 10 yet.  I had somehow gone through 38 oz’s of water in 7 miles and both my packs were empty.   I was done.

13.8 miles run, 9 miles bike, 1 strength workout

Not exactly what I was hoping for this week but also not too shabby for a Slacker like me. Now if I can just drag myself out of bed earlier on the weekends.

How was your week?

What’s your weather like?