When I last posted, I hinted that Sunday may have not gone according to plan. Without further ado, here is my simple guide to fail a long run.
Just follow these fool proof, slacker tested steps-
Enjoy a rest day prior to the planned run. Along with this indulge in some movie watching and popcorn eating
Consume your body weight in popcorn, or at least come close.
End up spending most of the night reading a book. Why? Because so much popcorn made you ill and at least the book is a productive use of time when you can’t sleep.
Oversleep due to being ill as well as finishing previously mentioned book.
Put off run until later in the afternoon. Start run when it’s 93 outside but due to your over tired self, it feels like 105.
Try anyways- walk a lot- only finish 6 miles.
Congratulations, you’ve successfully failed a long run. #longrunfail
That hill is evil
After my failed attempt on Friday, I was planning to run the 10 miles on Sunday. Other than work and foam rolling, I stayed off my feet as much as possible on Saturday. Too much popcorn was an epic fail which resulted in a long night followed by sleeping in. Truthfully I kind of did not want to run at all. I finally forced myself out the door after 2:00. And I knew that if I didn’t go then, I wasn’t going at all.
Such pretty splits, ha!
I warmed up slowly but never really got into it. I met up with my mom a little after mile 3, that combined with a hill meant I walked most of that mile. It was awesome. Then it was more running, oh and some more walking. I knew 10 was so not happening, so it was another 6 miles in the book. I took a 16 oz bottle of water which is more than I usually take and I drank the whole thing. Ugh. This was just not my week for a long run. I’ll try again next week. 🙂
What about you guys?
Ever bail on a long run? How about eat too much popcorn?
I start a new class in a little less than 2 weeks and unfortunately it falls on Wednesday nights. Boo! So last week NikeC and I moved gym nights to Thursdays. We were hoping that it might be a little less busy but instead it looked like everyone was trying to get in one last workout before the weekend. We weren’t able to warm up on the ARC Trainers so we tried the stationary bikes. We used the recumbent ones, so I was wondering how much of a workout it would be. I was sweating within 8 minutes- ok maybe a bit of a workout. 20 minute warm-up- 4 miles-done. Then it was onto the circuit room, which was busy. There was even 2 grunters in the circuit room, using the machines in very odd ways. For the most part, everyone was using the room right, woo hoo! After a good work out there, we moved onto to the ab room. I admit I have zero skill there and always do my crunches wrong, so I hung out on the ab roller. It’s kind of fun and I could totally feel my abs (sore!) the next day. I also posted my very first throwback Thursday pic- and got the hashtag wrong. #fail But anyways, I finally found a pic of my very first race-I worked this Saturday, so I was able to go in later on Friday. I was super excited about this because I wanted to get my 10 miler done in the morning, that way I could have a lazy weekend of a rest day and a 6 miler. I slept until a little after 7 before getting up. I was feeling off but told myself I was just trying to be lazy. After getting ready, I knew it was a little more than that, so I ended up crawling back in bed. Now if you knew me really well, you would know that I have a few idiosyncrasies, or neurotic tendencies as my mother likes to call them. One of those is to only get in bed after a shower, even if it’s 3 in the morning and I am dead tired, I take a shower first. Even the few times I have come home sick from work, I take a shower first. My mother tells me I am going to be single forever. 🙂 I say it’s a holdover from all those Taco Bell years and coming home smelling like a burrito. The fact that I crawled into bed full of sunblock; I probably should have skipped the run. But after a little more sleep, I dragged myself out the door. I was under fueled and under hydrated, so I brought along some Gatorade and made sure to keep it slow. For once I had zero trouble following through with a longer warm up. 🙂 It was warmer than I would have liked for 9 in the morning, but it was not a horrible run. All in all, 10K done and I was still glad I made myself get out the door.
And the Garmin had issues tracking again.
Even though my long run failed, I still treated Saturday as a rest day. My left leg has been a little more sore than usual, so rest sounded good. Plus after getting off work and running the usual errands, I decided to go see Guardians of the Galaxy. Have I mentioned I am serious nerd for the Marvel movies? seriously that Disneyland Avengers Half would awesome but I would need to sell a kidney for it. 🙂 Anyhow, the movie was really good and I indulged in too much popcorn. Yummy. And I still had Sunday for that 10 miler. Well, that was the plan…
The plan for Monday was an easy 4 after work at the lake path. My mother texted that she was going to meet me and she actually beat me there. Once I got my act together (you know shoes on) we headed out. It felt warm- 91ish- but not too bad, so I did not take my water, which for 4 miles is not abnormal. The lake path is a flat loop, so 4 miles is a little under 3.5 laps. I figured if I was feeling good, I would run 4.5 miles and then cool down. The benefit of the loops was that if I regretted my water decision I could just get it from my car on the next loop. Less than ¼ mile into the first loop, we were derailed.
Time for my Ninja Warrior skills?
Ok, time for a little off-roading. Once back on the trail, my mother wanted to know what the 5k course from the Wild Run was like. So we changed route and went off the trail up the street, turning my planned flat, loops into streets with slight rolling hills. I gave her the rest of the directions and pulled ahead around the .70 mile mark. Half a mile later and I was regretting the water decision. Oh and I forgot to put on my visor. After a couple of turns, I was on a street with a little bit more shade but had the bulk of the rolling hills. I think I walked twice. Once I was back on the lake path, I was doubting I was even going to hit 3 miles. I was so hot. I ran around the path until the broken bridge and stopped for a moment to take a pic. I could see my mother on the back side of the lake path and figured it would be easier to run back the way I came rather than trying to catch her. Plus I didn’t think I had another lap in me. But for some reason, I still didn’t grab my water. I told myself I would run to 3.5 miles or when I met with her, whichever came first. Yeah, when I finally met up with her I was at 3.8 so of course I had to finish out 4, turn around and then walk back to the car. My water had never tasted so amazing. Also after the first warm up mile, my pace was too fast for the warmth and lack of water. Stupid slacker.
Rockin’ the Race SLO hat
Tuesday, I was aiming for 5 at the river path. Once again the temp did not drop. It was 96 when I started out. My mother met me again and brought a frozen bottle of water. I also asked her to bring me a hat; see, I was thinking this time. We set off for the warm up, and I walked a little more than planned but that was ok. Even once running, I kept it nice and easy. When I passed her on the way down, she hollered at me to drink water. I know! Running down I passed 2 skateboarders carrying their helmets. Umm, that’s not how it works boys. I do have to give one props for having a camelbak, at least he was thinking smart about something. It was hot and muggy and I had woken with a migraine in the morning so my planned 5 turned into 4 but I was perfectly fine with that. I was also feeling good about the average pace of 10:15 for the 3 solid miles that I ran. In that temp? I’ll take it!
Tonight was gym night with NikeC! I felt a little more competent with the weight machines. I am also trying to incorporate some the barre moves into the circuit. I hate those stupid step up things but noticed that the handle is at the perfect height for some of the barre exercises. This time I showed my gym ineptness on the ARC Trainer. I almost face planted into the control panel at one point. That would have been an interesting bruise to explain. That machine is harder than it looks but then I have also fallen off a treadmill. There were no grunters tonight but it was busier than usual. I feel awkward doing squats in public, and this hip abduction machines. Luckily they face the wall. 🙂
Hit any unexpected roadblocks recently? Literal or figuratively?
Anyone else have issues with the machines at the gym?
Is it Friday yet? I am actually counting the hours this week. I’ve been a little cranky this week, I think stress has gotten to me, I noticed yesterday that even my jaw aches. Ugh.
Anywho, moving on! Yesterday, NikeC and I got back to the gym. I wasn’t feeling like running much, so we just walked a slow mile on the treadmills to warmup before heading to the circuit room. It’s only been 2 weeks since I was last there but I felt so weak! I felt like I was starting from scratch again. We managed to make it all the way around the room this time around. 4 people came in and used random machines and then left. One lady glared at us while I was using one of the leg machines. Hey, we were going in numerical order! My gym is pretty low-key and I have never seen anyone monitor the circuit room even though there is a sign on the wall. I also had the privilege of hearing my first gym grunter. I have seen all the stereotype memes, gifs, and commercials but didn’t think they actually existed. The free weights section of the gym has always seemed more like a coffee date than anything else, more talk than working out. This very buff guy comes into the circuit room and goes to one of the arm machines (I really have to figure out what they are called) and cranks the weight up. He then proceeds to do his reps, grunting and talking to himself. And he was grunting loudly. But who am I to talk? I can’t even use doors properly. As I was leaving the gym, the door only opened about 45 degrees. I wasn’t paying enough attention and slammed into it, loudly. Just call me grace.
A post run mother- daughter selfie
Ever since my rough race a few weeks ago, I have been running a little differently. I’ve been starting out with no real goal in mind other than just to run. I have also been taking my time with my first mile, i.e my warmup. I have mentioned before that warming up is a weakness of mine. That just takes too much time for this Slacker, cue the eye rolling and head shaking. I also hated seeing that warmup bring down my overall pace. Ego much? Most of my last few runs, I have met up with my mother more often than usual. This usually meant that my first mile is slower while we walk and chat. A month ago, seeing that first mile in the high 12 to high 13 range would have irritated me to no end. The last couple of weeks I noticed something- my pace is consistently back under 10:00 a mile after that first slower mile. This was true even today when it was 93º at the beginning of my run and 91º when done; I also took a few walk breaks in the shady section. Well, don’t I feel silly stupid. Granted it’s only been a few weeks but I think it’s safe to say that I have learned my lesson. The Slacker can learn.
We have had a brief cool off, but the temps are going back to triple digits this weekend. My long run will probably not be that speedy, despite everything previously mentioned. 🙂 But that’s ok, too.
What does your weekend look like? Anyone racing?
Anyone else shortcut their warmup? Or is it just me?
After my post on Friday, I did feel inspired enough to complete a measly ten minutes of exercise. What could it hurt? I decided 5 minutes of punches sounded like a good start. It didn’t occur to my addled brain that that meant that I also had to hold a squat for 5 minutes. I thought I was going to fall over. But I held it. Then I had to take a break before moving on, ha!
Saturday was a work day for me, so I started my day that way. I’ve mentioned before that I work in a different town than normal on Saturdays and the building is bigger than ours. I wear a Nike+ Fuelband everyday but it’s mostly out of habit, I’ve become a little disenchanted with it. I also rarely hit my goal unless I run and even then it’s rare. However on Saturday, I think it was a little confused. It registered that I had surpassed my goal by 11:30 AM, and had exceeded 10,000 steps… at 11:30. Ok, the building is bigger and I worked standing up but come on, that’s a little fast!
Took a break here, mile 4.5- top of the hilland another hill
After work I headed home to find that my home town was a lovely 96º. Yippee! I ran some errands and waited for it to cool. I waited mostly in vain and was losing some of my new enthusiasm, so I headed out for a run at 4:30. A long run. It was 88º. Because of the heat, I did not care about my pace. I just wanted the distance and the time on my feet. I had layered on sunscreen and had a huge bottle of water. I took it slow and walked when I needed too. I took a breather at the halfway point as well. It actually wasn’t bad, if only there were less damn hills. I normally do one hill 3 times and another 4 but I dropped one of each, so it shortened my route a bit. All in all 8.63 miles in 1:37. Yeah, I was slow, I walked a lot, but I felt good. And yes, I was the only idgit out there.Today hit 105º, woo hoo! I got out of the heat for a few hours by finally going to the movies. The Fault in Our Stars was awesome and I managed to avoid crying. There was definitely water in my eyes, but no tears fell. For a YA novel, the theater was filled with adults. 🙂 And I may have eaten too much popcorn. 🙂 But it was yummy. Afterwards, my mother joined me on the crazy train and we went for a walk. My weather app said 102º but it did not feel that warm. Normally I run ahead and double back to her but today we mostly just walked. It was a good walk, just shy of 4.5 miles.
I would say that this was a pretty good week for the challenge that I set myself. I actually had a lot of opportunities to use an excuse last week. Between a later day at work, a raging migraine, the heat and just being female, I was so close to chucking it. But for once I didn’t. Now if I can only keep it going. It’s gonna be a long summer. 🙂
Slacker Runner 