Tag: humidity

2018 Rock n Roll San Diego 13.1

Disclaimer: I received an entry into Rock n Roll San Diego 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!

Last year I loved this race and I jumped at the chance to go back. The course is great, the crowd support was awesome- sign me up! However, I also knew that I was would be one month out of Big Sur, so realistically I had no idea how that would affect me. So I was going in with the only goals of having fun, enjoying the race and crossing that finish line.

I joked in my previous post that with 8 aid stations this would be the race to try running without carrying water however I knew I was too paranoid to actually do that. Except I forgot my flasks. I didn’t figure it out until after the expo so it was too late to buy anything. I thought about carry a plastic bottle but that just didn’t sound appealing to me. Guess I was relying on aid stations after all.

Race morning dawned all too early after a poor night of sleep. I was ready fairly quickly which was surprising as I was having major indecision about what to wear on my bottom half, I settled on my Skirt Sports skirt, made a quick compression sock change and was out the door to meet Kate. I love my hotel because the race morning shuttles pick up 1/2 block down and the finish line is 3 blocks away. Met up with Kate, we boarded a bus and in less than 10 minutes we were at the starting area. We wandered for a bit before getting in a porta potty line. We missed the National Anthem- too noisy- and separated to our corrals after that. I appreciated the new larger corral markers- it made it easier to find mine (17 of 33) but we were still packed in like sardines. I also started to question what the hell I had put down as a finishing time. The 2:15 pace group was in the corral behind me. Say what?! But we steadily made our way up and then we were off!

Miles 1-3 10:17, 10:44, 11:43

I love that there is a man shouting encouragement though a bull horn as we run past .25 mile in. It can pretty crowded in the first few miles but my goal was to just keep my effort steady. I had told my mother that I wasn’t really concerned about my finishing time but in the back of my head, I figured 2:25 ish wouldn’t be too off the mark. However during mile 3 things started to get rough and I realized there was one thing I forgot to take into account- humidity.

Miles 4-7 11:21, 11:03, 11:36, 12:01

I was still running just a lot slower. It was so damn humid. It was mile 4 and the people running near me looking like their shirts could be wrung out. The men running shirtless looked like they just got out of the shower. I happened to pull out my phone to text my mother that is humid- actually I used much more colorful language- and she reminded me to use my inhaler as humidity is one of my asthma triggers. But when I pulled my phone I saw that it showed 80% humidity. What the what? I am used to like 15%. The sun was pounding down on us and I could tell we were all struggling. I texted Kate and told her to be careful. I did all this while running, haha. I was still enjoying the race, I love running through North Park and Normal Heights. Mile 5 also brings us the Wear Blue- Run to Remember section and I like to try and pay more attention in that area.

My strategy was to run everything but walk the entire aid station- getting water and Gatorade at each one as it was offered. Clearly this was not the race to not carry my own water.

Miles 8-10 11:57, 11:49, 12:41

Oh my gawd, I was hot. Temp wise, it wasn’t even hot but the humidity was kicking my butt. I was now taking more time at the aid stations. One cup of Gatorade and one cup water. If the station only offered water, I would get one cup of water at the very beginning, drink it while walking the station slowly, then get another to drink at the end. I took off my hat and dumped water in it before putting it back on. The stations were also struggling to keep up with demand from the runners- in fact I would be surprised if the one at mile 9 lasted the entire race.

I took my first non- aid station walk break around mile 9.5. I just had to. I was starting to feel nauseous. Kind of like I had consumed too much water. Which I coudn’t see how as I wasn’t carrying any and they don’t fill those cups up too full. But I skipped an aid station just before mile 10.

Miles 10-13 111:56, 11:30, 12:22

From then on it was a run- walk to the end. Which is a bummer because I really like the last 3 miles. We come back into Balboa Park, run under the big guitar guy, up a hill past some Taiko drummers, by a golf course, then there’s a sweet downhill that brings you back into the city. I may have been feeling rough but I was still trying to enjoy as much of my surroundings as I could. Then it was through downtown with a slight down hill to the finish-

Finish- 2:33:38

I honestly hadn’t been looking at my watch at all so I had no idea where I was at time wise until after crossing the finish line. That time is fine by me. So fine, I’ve already gone and input my results into Athlinks. 😊

I stood around for a couple moments needing a moment if that makes sense before getting my medal and heading out of the chute. One of the volunteers became my new favorite person as she was handing out bags of ice. I stuck it on my head as I walked to the meeting point to find my mom. I still felt way too hot so I jammed back to the hotel for a cold shower before flying back to the finish line to see Kate. Success.

The weather may not have been my friend but I still love this race and it was only made better with friends out there too. And Kate got a PR!!!!!

What’s your weather nemesis?

Rock n Roll San Diego 13.1 Recap

I love Rock n Roll.

This race made a liar out of me in so many ways. Ok, maybe just changed my mind about some things.

Going into this race, I wasn’t a fan of large crowded races, preferred rural views and hated humidity and flat made me cry. But I had heard great things about the Rock n Roll races, San Diego in particular, and always wanted to run one but never made it work. Until now. And now? Well I still hate humidity.

The odd thing was that going into this race I wasn’t stressed at all. I wasn’t worried about the miles or how long it would take me. I was mildly concerned about the humidity I knew I was coming but even at the Bibrave meet up I was just joking that I should probably run with my inhaler in my hand. I still wasn’t sure what shoes I was going to wear and I was mostly irritated that I had to run with a portable charger because I didn’t think my phone was going to last the race. I was also taking a race shuttle for the first time ever but I managed to sleep better than I did for my previous 2 races.

Race morning-

I woke up and knew that my food choices the day before were not going to sit well. Well yay. I dressed, decided on wearing the UltraBoostX, bibbed up and headed for the shuttle bus. They were charter buses not school buses- sweet! I checked the weather, saw 86% humidity and then tried not to think about it again.

Once at the starting line outside of Balboa Park I just followed the crowd. We came upon about 6 port-a-potties and I was confused. Ummm, 6? For 30,000 runners? As I got further in I found more scattered around in lines. There were probably between 50-100 around. I ended up parking myself near the solutions tent and just runner watching. People were everywhere! They even had a fitness warm up going on- I thought only small town races did that! I met up with Mai and after hitting the baggage trucks we ended up sprinting across the grass to the We Run Social picture meet up by corral 3. We just barely made it!

After meeting some more IG people in real life, listening to the National Anthem and ditching my top layer, I headed for my corral. I was in corral 19. Of 37. They were releasing the corrals at a steady pace so once I found an opening in the fence I stopped and just waited for the corral to get to me. I hopped in and pulled my phone out to take a pic only to realize it was almost dead. Grrrr. I plugged in my portable charger and turned off anything in the phone that was non essential. The race announcers were doing a great job of keeping everyone pumped up and things were very organized. I suddenly found myself at the very front of my corral on the start line and it was go time.

Miles 1-3 9:41, 10:22, 10:48

Haha, ok starting at the front apparently put wings on my feet. Slow your roll, Slacker. There was a guy on a megaphone shouting inspiration at us as we ran by. It was crowded but I was ok with it, I had to dodge people sometimes but I knew I wasn’t breaking any records so it wasn’t a big deal.

The first music distraction was a DJ on a bridge or was it a band? I should have written notes! The first aid station was well stocked with plenty of water and Gatorade and awesome volunteers. The gloomy clouds and some of the buildings I was running by made me feel like I was more in San Francisco than San Diego but I was enjoying the sights. And sounds- to save battery life- I hadn’t turned on my headphones. There were college kids handing out beer around mile 2 as well. There was a selfie/ picture station too but it may been in the next set of miles.

Miles 4-6 10:28, 10:31, 10:44

Oddly, I hadn’t really slowed down yet, I was walking the water stations but that was it. The streets were still crowded, water stops were every 2 miles, live music was every few miles. Around mile 4 we headed into more residential area but I notices that the cheering increased. Yeah, we were near an aid station but this was too loud. Turns out I was coming up on Harriet! I passed her and told her she was awesome. I mean, 94! Geicko had a full on bar on mile 4.5. You name it, they had it.

My legs were feeling good and surprisingly so were my lungs. I was beginning to feel optimistic. Then at mile 5.3, my stomach cramped in a rather unpleasant way. Oh come on! I took a walk break and deep breaths to try and calm it down but I was a little ticked. And I would be nauseous for the remainder of the race.

Miles 7-9 10:57, 10:35, 10:28

6 and 7 slowed me down while I tried to get myself under control. We passed the relay exchange a little past 6 and once again I thought I really need to do a relay. There was a man handing out tequila shots at one point saying that while we may think it was too early for tequila, he thought it was too early to be running so why not meet in the middle? We had entered Normal Heights and I thought it was an awesome name so I had to take a pic. At mile 8.4 the marathoner’s split off from the pack and the crowd thinned up a bit. I was still feeling nauseous but I was trying to ignore it, I wasn’t going to let my stomach win. I was listening to the on course entertainment and truthfully some interesting conversations from the runners around me. My legs were feeling ok but by my standards this course was flat and I knew I would eventually be sore if I didn’t get a hill somewhere.

Miles 10-11 10:58, 11:06

We were coming into Balboa Park and I could hear drums and see the big inflatable guitar guy and I knew I was almost to mile 10. Yay! Except, around mile 9.5 the battle my lungs had been fighting the humidity got harder. And my lungs started to lose. I had to walk again and use my inhaler. Grrr, Of course, just past mile 10 was the first real hill of the course and my lungs were being whiny. I walked it. I also had a moment where I thought I was going to lose my cookies and may have mentally swore off pizza. I turned on my music just to drown out my breathing.

Miles 12-13- 9:45, 11:14

So, yeah coming out of the park lead to a decent downhill and I flew. I was still taking walk breaks due to the humidity and my lungs. The last mile was a struggle. I thought I had kissed a sub 2:20 goodbye and I was pissed. I haven’t seen that in 2 years and that I had gotten so close, I almost cried. But I sucked it up and kept going. The crowds were cheering, runners were walking away with medals and I was still taking walk breaks. Grrr. The finish line was in sight and I decided enough was enough and just ran for it.

Finish- 2:19:56

I crossed the line and bent over wheezing. Medical was on me in seconds. Damn, you’re fast! I felt embarrassed but said I was ok, I just needed a moment. It wasn’t until I got a hold of myself and received my medal that I looked at my watch. I did it! It’s been so long since I’ve seen I’ve been below 2:20 even if it is by the skin of my teeth.

I made my way through the picture station and then the food goodies before attempting to find my mother. It was crowded! We met up and hung out for a bit before I realized I needed to return to the hotel. So much for the finish line festival. That nausea and cramping I had been fighting reared it’s head I was very glad that my hotel was 2 blocks from the finish. I could hear Micheal Franti though and he sounded great.

Overall, this was an awesome race. I would recommend it to anyone. The course and the crowd support was great. The aid stations were on point. As was medical. Now I want to run another one.

Week 13 Training Recap

Upcoming Races– Firehouse 5K
SLO Marathon 13.1

Focus– I forgot to pick one- oops

Week 12 was pretty good so of course this week started off rocky. One of these days the pendulum won’t swing back and forth so quickly. The whole week was wonky actually. It started odd, swung into worse and then swung back again.

Monday- Rest I had planned on riding the bike but as I was leaving work I started getting texts from my brother. He wanted to know where my dad was. Odd but ok, so I called my dad. No answer. Hmm. I called my mom, no answer. That’s odd. Now my mind goes to worst case scenarios and starts thinking that something happened. Turns out my brother’s truck had broken down in the Subway parking lot. As for my parents not answering- well, they have lives. 😛 But eventually, I picked up my mom and we ended up eating Subway for dinner while waiting for AAA to tow my brother’s truck.

Tuesday- 3.5 miles– With my brother’s truck out of commission, he needed a ride to work. His current job has him working in SLO. Not in the town I work or the town we live in. Well that makes the commuting a little tricky. It’s sad how much getting up 30 minutes earlier kicked my butt. I had running gear packed but wasn’t optimistic about getting in a run. It ended up working out, I only had to take my brother halfway and he found another ride home.

I headed to the lake path to get in a few laps. Ouch, Ouch, ouch. My calves and shins were soooo tight. I hoped they would loosen up after the first lap but no such luck. I stopped multiple times to stretch during lap 2 but it didn’t help. Lap 3 probably shouldn’t have happened but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t being a big baby. It still hurt, so I called it at 3.5 miles.

Wednesday- Rest-Another earlier than normal morning and time I did take my brother all the way to SLO. That led me on a roundabout way to work but bonus- I found a new road to run on!! You know you’re a runner when you drive new roads and notice how run-able the shoulders are. I mapped it and I can run from my work location to another one and it’s around 14.5 miles. Woo hoo! Just have to figure out how to get back. 😛

Thursday- 7.5 miles– As I mentioned in Friday’s post, this run sucked. Pain, tightness, clothing issues, asthma issues, body insecurities; you name it, I had it and the run blew. I was hoping to pull off 12 but called it at 7.5. My brother took the family to pizza to thank us for the week. 🍕 Then I came home and vented about the run on the blog. I also had the beginnings of a headache so I went to bed early with an ice pack on my head.

Friday- Rest– Like all Fridays. 😀My headache had turned into a migraine. I tried drinking tons of water, caffeine, food, sugar, etc to help it but nothing worked. I even took 2 Excedrin Tension Headache pills. That was probably a mistake. I tend to have odd reactions to OTC medicines. Yeah, my pupils decided they wanted to be different sizes. I ended up going home an hour early.

Saturday- Rest– I worked in the morning and it was chaos. That seems to be the new theme for the Saturdays I work. Can it stop? Part of me wanted to run in the afternoon but I was considering another long run attempt on Sunday. I don’t usually follow the 10% rule but since 2 weeks ago saw 4.5 miles and last week 17, I decided to be smart.

Sunday -10 miles run, 3 mile walk– Holy crap people!!!! After the crappiness of this week’s runs I was not optimistic for this attempt. When my alarm went off and I saw 88% humidity for the weather, I hit snooze. I thought about blowing it off entirely, but an hour later I was heading out the door. I had zero goals for this run, I turned my watch face to the clock and then ignored it. My mother, brother and I were doing lunch so she was picking me up at the end. Erring on the side of caution, I told her to give me 2 hours.

I didn’t worry about keeping my pace slow, I didn’t worry about being fast. I ran what felt comfortable and walked when I needed to. Per usual, I picked up my pace running across the bridge, it was the only time I really felt fatigued. I kept running and was soon off road on the river path. Which turned into a running hopping dance. The path was full of stink bugs! Half a mile of watching my feet and hopping over them when needed- that added some excitement to the morning. Then it was up the hill for the river route and back down. The humidity never broke and it was still around 78% at the end of my run. I felt like a sticky, nasty mess but my lungs held up pretty well. I finished down on the river trail again and stretched out.

Then I saw my watch- 10 miles at 10:27 average pace? Where the hell did that come from? I didn’t think I had seen that pace for a long run since last year’s training for SLO. Hours later and I am still not sure how I pulled that off. And I had time to stretch and walk it out before I met my mother.

When I uploaded my figures into Smash Run later, I realized just rare this run was. I thought it had been the fastest in a year, umm, it was my fastest 10 miler since January 2014. What?!?! I’m still not sure how it happened but I will take it!

My mile splits make me laugh- typical me, all over the place. But I felt good so I’m just going to call it a win.

This week was all over the place- work, life and running included. I feel like I need another day to recover. Boo. Oh well, moving on. My hope this week is to stay consistent and pull off a new to me distance this weekend. Fingers crossed!!!!

Low-carb– umm, yeah, I had Subway 4 times this week. It just kept happening! It was easy and not horrible for you. Ugh, well, Monday is a new week right?

How was your week?

Have any Easter plans?

Week 3- Slowing Down

Week 3 done! I hit all the required durations ( and then some) but my pace took a hit. It was the first week with the new hires and I seriously underestimated what training 2 brand new people at the same time would be like. I felt like I was running laps all day. I had to change my heels for flats halfway through Monday and I wore flats the rest of the week. This made navigating the maze of chairs easier but seriously pissed off my feet and legs. Grrr, I missed my boots.

Monday- Rest

I love rest on Mondays. I had tried to change to being a Monday runner but it’s hard. Plus we didn’t get out of work until 6 and I felt like I had run 5 miles already.

Tuesday- Plan 40:00 Easy

Our area was hit with some odd monsoon weather so we had high temps and high humidity. Ugh. It was so rough my mother canceled her tennis practice. She never cancels so I knew it was ugly. I was debating going to the gym but decided for work town instead. Work town is consistently around 65* but I don’t like running there for a few reasons. 1- the humidity is always high (like 70+) and my lungs hate me. 2- I feel like I have to wear pants. I know it’s all in my head but the idea of running in shorts and having a customer spot me freaks me out. I am so weird. 3- I have one route. There are very few sidewalks and the roads have non existent shoulders.

This route is an out and back that starts with an elevation of 150′ and drops to 0 then back up again. My GPS had troubles getting a signal so mile 1 was way off. I ran with traffic for most of the out portion- that side of the street has a sidewalk. Once I hit the state park I thought I was going to have to cut my run short. There was construction in front of the Inn and I couldn’t see a way to the path that gets me to the beach. The street has no shoulders. I spotted what looked like tire tracks and bolted across to the path. Then damn near ate it on the slippery Eucalyptus leaves. Walk break!

I ran to the end of the trail this time instead of just the beach and found the best natural stairs. Seriously I did a little happy dance at the top. I love running in the dirt. Too bad the trail portion is maybe a little more than .5 mile. I took another walk break after I almost did the splits on the Eucalyptus leaves on the way back and then ran on. Mile 4 had 100 ft gain and I ran most of it with my lungs on fire but pulled off a 10:06. Which I think is the fastest I’ve run that even when I was in top shape. Sweet! 4.05 ish Miles- 42:37

Wednesday- Rest

TOM came to visit, I rested. TMI? 🙂 Plus I had a doctor’s appointment with my gastro and Atkins is here to stay. He is also ordering a new CT to see why I have had the odd, intense pains. Boo.

Thursday- Plan – Speed work

This time was a doctor’s appointment with my primary so I can have my thyroid levels checked since I take a nap damn near everyday. Sometimes on the floor. 🙂 I changed before leaving work so I could head straight to the gym after my appointment even though my stomach hated me that day. Then I saw something on Facebook that ~~pissed me off~~ hurt my feelings and the last thing I wanted to do was run. I just wanted to sulk in a corner and binge eat pizza. I went home first. Somehow I pushed myself out the door 45 minutes later. It was a slow, hot miserable run. Seriously it was a slower pace than my long run this week. And I was chased by a damn dog. If it hadn’t been on a chain, I would have been bleeding. As it was I ran into traffic which wasn’t smart. 4 Miles -47:52. Then I ate pizza. 🙂

Friday- Rest

More running around like a crazy person at work. It was so flippin’ busy. I am so jealous of everyone who had the day off.

Saturday- Rest

I wanted to run my long run in the morning but I wasn’t feeling well and had a headache. I enjoyed a calm 4th with my family and finally watched McFarland, USA. And I call myself a runner? It was really good and even more interesting when I thought I heard work town called out during their first meet. I did!!! They competed against work town! Man, that must have been a drive. Turns out the first time they went to the beach was actually 4 miles up from work town too. They changed the location in the movie. Still it was cool hearing that.

Sunday- Long Run- Plan 1:10:00

Again, I woke up feeling rough and could not get going. I kept telling myself to get out of bed but it wasn’t happening. I finally headed out for my long run around 3. I still didn’t feel great so even though I wanted 10, I was aiming for anything over 6. My mother was out on a walk so the first 4.5 miles of my route was looping around streets and meeting back up with her. Yay for walk breaks! Then she went on her way and I continued running. One of these days I will find a long run that doesn’t have over 800 ft of elevation gain. I also had my first snake sighting of the summer. I refrained from screaming like a little girl but I did run into the middle of the street again. Luckily it was a back road but I really need to work on that. Mile 7, I stopped and spoke with an older gentleman out working on his van. At that point I’d run past him 3x so I think he thought I was crazy. Somewhere along the line I got my math wrong so I hit my driveway at 10.5 miles- 1:58. Considering all the walk breaks in the beginning and a few hills towards the end and I was actually at the high-end of where McMillan says I should be? Sweet! I made it in time for Sunday dinner. Family doesn’t mind if you’re sweaty right?All in all, it was a slow but solid week. Not too bad. I also officially registered for Big Sur in November on Sunday. I booked the hotel a few months ago and followed through with the race. 🙂 Woo hoo! Now I just need to actually register for my goal race in October. Oops.

This week, my goal is actually complete my speed work and have fun at my half on Sunday. And then eat cake- Because it’s my birthday. 🙂

How was your 4th?

How do you react to snakes?

Do you live in a hilly area or flat?

Call it Craos

Tomorrow is Friday!!!! Woo hoo!!!

Lately, I have been so tired and stressed, I have troubles putting words together. Or maybe it’s the blonde coming through, I don’t know. But I have made my co-workers laugh so then it’s ok right? The first moment was few weeks ago when I was trying say one of their names. Instead I stumbled over all 3 of them and somehow combined them all into “Renini”. 3 names into 1 just makes things easier right? Then since we have been borrowing people from other locations while we work on hiring, we have had people who are surprised by how quickly we can go from calm to crazy busy. I was trying to say welcome to the crazy but accidentally combined it with chaos. So craos. Hmm, that one kind of works- change approved. 🙂 But today was the real winner. I noticed that 2 of my coworkers were wearing similar skirts and looked nice. I said I felt left out since I missed the skirt memo as the 3 of them were wearing skirts and I was wearing pants. They all just stared at me for a moment or two. Not only was employee 3 wearing pants but I was wearing a dress! Wow.

I have lost my mind ... Thanks Pinterest.

After Sunday’s race, I was pumped to run this week. I packed my gym bag every night and took it to work. Monday went off track though. Not only did Monday show more crazy CA weather, I hurt myself. Home town hit 105 and work town only made it to 59. That’s a 46º difference. Now work may be 45 minutes away by car but it’s actually less than 30 miles. What the frak?! Ugh, I wasn’t sure where to run. I’ve been feeling some odd left foot pain since I tried the Inspires. It hasn’t gone away with the new Riders. It doesn’t happen all the time but I have been trying to figure it out. I wasn’t sure if the new shoes started/ contributed to it or not. I had also picked up some store-bought insoles for the boots I wear most frequently, so maybe that was part of it. Monday I had the bright idea to take the left one out…but not the right one. Maybe that aggravated what happened later or it was when I lifted a heavy bag I shouldn’t have been lifting. But by the end of the day, I felt like my neck and shoulders were tingling and there was a band of pressure on the back of my head at the top of my spine. I felt off, not quite dizzy but not normal. It was odd. Between that and the heat, I decided to rest instead. Which worked out since my mother needed a ride from tennis practice as her car died on Sunday. 😦Tuesday turned into another rest day as I woke up feeling like I had pinched or pulled something in my neck. Grrr. Wednesday it felt a little better so I was hoping for a short easy run. Cue the crazy weather again. Work town was sunny but with high humidity. Then we find out that home town is under a thunder/ lightning storm warning and there was hail. Then the emergency broadcast system broke in and said that people in my home town should take cover. What?! It cleared up by the time I was off so I headed to run town hoping that the storm hadn’t moved south. The temp was nice in the low 70’s but the humidity level matched. Ugh. The air felt stale and stagnant. Kind of like the way the little remaining lake water looks. I struggled through 3.5 miles but was just glad to be out running. Today I took next week’s half day. I had been looking forward to running early but was feeling rough. I indulged in pizza last night for the first time in 3 weeks and my system was not happy with that many carbs. I decided to head home to rest a bit first. Arrived home to 94º. Don’t get me wrong, I love the warmth, I just haven’t adjusted yet. I decided to read some blogs as inspiration to get out the door, I fell asleep instead. Once I woke up, the last thing I wanted to do was run, but it’s become too easy to bail so I forced myself out the door. I knew it was going to be a slow, warm slog and I was ok with that. A little over 4 miles later and I was done. It was slow, it was rough but I was glad I had done it. 🙂

And now it sounds like the Army base up the road is playing war games and the house is shaking, so bring on more craos!! Also, I do realize that I have been freakishly tired lately and will be making a doctor’s appointment to see about that. But tomorrow is Friday, so woo hoo! I am picking up bagels on the way to thank everyone for their hard work, hopefully I don’t eat too many…that would be bad.

What do you think? Does Craos need an “h”?

How was your week? What’s your weather like?

Have any weekend plans?