I forgot to tell you about the run I had last week where I was chased by a peacock! Don’t know how I forgot that. And I now know that peacocks sound like a cat in heat times 10.😂
We had pizza for lunch this week at work. It was awesome. The next day we had donuts. I’m not mad at all.
I had big race plans for October. A month packed full of races and fun times. Now, half of that has changed and I am not sure how to fill the hole yet. But I have thoughts. Lots of thoughts.
I am still fighting a losing battle with the ants. I get that it’s 107 outside and they just want the water but I don’t want them in the house!
Anyone else in denial that summer is almost over? I mean school started for crying out loud. There’s already talk of Pumpkin things. No, make it stop! Not that I will miss the 104 degree days.
I was thinking about getting bangs but then I saw someone on tv who made a bad bang choice. Is that bad of me?
I need running buddies. If I had someone to meet in the morning I might actually get of bed when the alarm goes off. Ha!
This week was up and down and topsy turvy and that was before the earthquakes.
Yeah, Cali’s been moving around this week. On one hand the former wanna be geologist in me is excited by earthquakes. On the other, my town suffered a lot in the last big quake about 15 years ago. Downtown was leveled, a sulfur spring ruptured and numerous other buildings were condemned. And for some reason it took almost 10 years to cap that damn spring. Downtown was rebuilt but we had a giant hole blocked off in the library parking lot for years. A stinky one at that.
In other news, going back to work the day after the 4th of July was hard. It was like the Monday of Fridays. Anyone else not have a long weekend?
But only took a pic of the old Library
And then I played tourist in my town on Saturday and ventured out to the Lavender Festival.
Plan vs Reality
Monday- 1.5 miles/ 1.5 miles I don’t recall much about this run other than I got it done. I didn’t even post about it to social media, ha! But I took a pic so I guess it really happened.😛
Tuesday- 2 mile up/down, 3x 1 mile repeats at 5K pace / 1.5 up/down, 3 miles of pain- yoga I’ve been beginning to realize that I may over overstepped with the training paces on my training plan. Reality hammered that home with this run. Not only did I tank the paces prescribed, I ended with a possible injury. I knew I should have quit during the second repeat attempt but I am stupid. So stupid. I limped back to my car hence the shorter cool down.
Wednesday- 1.5 miles/ Nada I limped around the office all day, that was fun. My stomach also decided to hate me so that was fun.
Thursday- July 4Th! 4 mile fartlek/ MM100 I thought about trying for at least an easy run but decided to be smart instead. Boo. I did attempt a very slow workout video.
Friday- 1.5 miles/ Nada My leg felt better until the end of the day but I was just fried and didn’t run. I really need to figure out how to run in the morning. Especially when I work open to close.
Saturday- 9 miles/ 9 miles I actually got up early for this! Except nasty humidity rolled in so I actually think it was hotter than my last 2 long runs in the afternoon heat. Oh and I got fried. So much for sunblock. I also think it was the slowest 9 miles I’ve ever run. I had a freakin’ panic attack around mile 3. I started noticing the symptoms just before crossing the bridge. Which could have been partly fueled by the previous nights tremor. I’m not a big fan of bridges, at least not being on them, so why I chose today of all days to run across it for the first time in months, I have no idea. I refused to let the panic attack win and just slowed way down anytime I felt the usual symptoms. I also explored a side path off one street in an effort to distract myself.
Sunday- Rest/ Rest I thought about trying to make up some of the 7 miles I missed throughout the week but ended up napping instead. Oh and I started Stranger Things 3.
15.3 miles out of 22.5 for the week. My leg is still not right so I am holding out optimism for the week to come. Plus I went in and adjusted the paces zones in my training plan so now they should at least be achievable.
It’s summer in California and that means one thing- me being stupid and running in the heat of the day.
Disclaimer: I received aCoolNet UV+ Headband from Buff 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!
Could you have guessed that by my track record?
Why I do this so consistently, I don’t know. Maybe I really am a glutton for punishment. However, knowing my proclivity for stupidity, I look for anything to keep me cool while showing off aforementioned stupidity.
Shade is never guaranteed where I run, neither is available water. Don’t get me started on my town’s lack of facilities. So I always run with my pack and water. I layer on sunscreen and wear a trucker hat as well. New to my arsenal is the CoolNet UV Headband from Buff. Dude, where have you been all my life???
I’ve had it for about a month and it’s rarely not on my head if I am running, even when it’s hidden under my hat. I don’t understand how adding an extra layer of material keeps my head cooler but it does. And well, science was never my best subject.😛 An added bonus is that is keeps the sweat from dripping down into my eyes. Yes! I’ve become such a sweater in the last year or so.
Ok, so how does it work?
From the website
I’m still not 100% sure what some of those words mean, I won’t lie. All I know is that it works. My head feels cooler and it stops the sweat. Bonus is that it fits my small head without sliding off! I can also verify that it resists odors as I maybe don’t wash mine as often as I should. Oops. But on the bright side, it handled the washing machine like a champ!
You can barely see it under my hat. And this post officially has too many selfies.😂
Plus, it’s super affordable compared to other headbands out there and they have various patterns and styles. But if that wasn’t enough, how about a discount? Go to this link and sign up for their newsletter to save 15%.
Sense the sarcasm. It started ok but when a little wonky towards the end. Ok, a lot wonky. Normal June temps came back with a vengeance, power outages, broken toilets- oh it was fun.
Oh and I decided to start the week off with a 3 day refresh where I wasn’t eating a whole lot of solid food and drinking mostly smoothies. In some ways it was good and others it was a mess.
Monday 1.5 miles/ 1.5 miles I thought about take a rest day post race but I was feeling ok so I headed out for my planned run. I was slow moving and sluggish but it didn’t feel to bad.
Tuesday 2.5 miles with 4 strides/ 2.5 miles with 4 strides I flipped Tuesday and Thursday’s workouts as I figured I needed a little more recovery time. I am glad I did as this run was a slow going. While I did the strides they may have been the slowest strides I’ve done since starting this training plan.
Wednesday 1.5 miles/ 1.5 miles The temps have finally swung to the hot side. This was a rough run. I still felt like I had lingering asthma issues from the race. I told myself it was the sudden temp change that made this run so hard.
Thursday 1.5 up/ down, 1.5 mile repeats x2/ Nada I was exhausted. I don’t know when I have ever felt that tired. It showed at work too as everyone told me to stay away from them thinking I was sick. I wasn’t, just dog tired. I went home and just rested instead.
Friday 1.5 miles/ Nada I had the late shift and I totally took advantage of that extra 45 minutes and slept. I meant to run after work, I was feeling a little better and I even had grand delusions of moving my long run to Friday evening. I mean it was graduation night but surely I could find clear roads, right? Then there was a power outage back home and it took out the tv’s. Apparently I’m the only one in the house who could fix them. So home I went- except after over an hour of trying I learn the issue was on Directv’s side and there was nothing I could do.
Saturday 7 miles/ 5.4 mile crap fest I worked a Saturday shift but I set a very early alarm. Except when the alarm went off it was dark and cold and I was tired. I went back to sleep for a bit. Which meant I headed out 10 hours later with temps at 92. And it kicked my ass. I was melting. I overheated so bad, mine hands started swelling. I started with multiple walk breaks which turned to all out walking with multiple stops to hide in the shade. It was miserable.
Sunday Rest/ Rest– I thought about making up some of my missed miles. But instead I took a 2 hour nap. So when it comes to rest- nailed it!
10.9 miles for the week. Ouch. Fingers crossed this week swings back the other way.
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 week was ruled by sunburns, migraines and then peeling. Oh yay!
That said, it surprisingly wasn’t a complete wash on the workout front. I was feeling a little adrift after the Liift4 challenge was done so I joined another challenge group but this one is less focused and you pick your own workout so I was a little slacker-like in that respect.
The plan called for a 4 mile run, 30 minute pace run and a 10K race. It was kind of a step back week. There weren’t any 10k’s locally so my original hope was to sub in a 10 miler.
Monday-Rest
The sunburn from hell kept me from doing anything too active. I wore one of my loosest dresses but even that made me cringe anytime I moved at work.
Tuesday-4.2 ish miles
I headed for the river path to get in a few miles. I really wasn’t feeling it but I told myself to just get started and see what happened. I felt better once I got started and even threw in some tempo bits. I guess I should say fartleks. I was glad I didn’t bail and followed through with my run like planned.
Wednesday- 21 day Fix- upper fix
What the hell? After 8 weeks of Liift4, I figured 21 Day Fix would be a walk in the park. People, I was sweating in the 2 minute warm up. 10 minutes in, I was like what the hell is this????? I finished but need to reassess my fitness level.
Thursday- 3.6 miles
The plan called for a 30 minute pace run. The migraine that rolled in had other plans. I still headed to the lake path for a few miles but I wasn’t optimistic. The pace run didn’t happen but I did get a few easy miles around the lake. Took a few walk breaks whenever I felt like I needed and just kept putting one foot in front of the other.
Friday- Nothing
I meant to do another 21 day fix but the migraine was still hanging around and by the time I got home after 7, I was done.
Saturday- 21 day Lower fix
I was supposed to do my long run. I was supposed to go to my boss’s boss retirement party. Instead I didn’t get out of bed until 10 AM and I took a 2.5 hour nap in the afternoon. Damn migraine, you can leave anytime now. I did manage to complete another workout in the evening though.
Sunday- 7.2 miles
I woke early to run but my head was still fuzzy and I admit when I saw the temp was 42*, I wimped out. Where did the cold come from?? So like an idiot, I put it off until the afternoon. Where I rode the struggle bus. I had hoped for 10 miles but yeah no. My headphones died just past mile 2. My stomach cramped horribly around mile 4. Cramped like I started walking a lot- there were no bathrooms on my route. I had the driest mouth ever- even though I was chugging all the Gatorade. I called it at 7 miles.
15 milesfor the week and 2 cross training workouts. Considering how I felt for most of it, I am calling that a quasi-win right now.
