Tag: lazy

Marathon Musings 2

It’s week like this that freak me out about marathon training.

Last week, I was riding the high of my highest mileage week ever and I was stoked. This week? Three days off… in a row. Oh crap, is the real Slacker back?

Cue freak out. The plan I am following is pretty specific. Do the work outs when and how prescribed. Be as consistent as possible. Yes life happens but try to keep the volume consistent and lower the intensity if needs be. Did that happen? No.

Poor planning and faulty equipment brought about Monday’s missed run. I had a procedure done and the odds of running afterwards were unlikely but I was holding out hope. Then my damn car died in the parking lot of the doctors office. Seriously?! I took it as a sign that I shouldn’t be running and sweating all over the new cuts I had on my body. I figured I could make up the missed miles on Friday. Maybe.

Tuesday called for 800’s and I was excited to run them. I kind of love intervals and wanted to see how I fared. Except, the worst allergy day of my life sent me home from work where I proceeded to nap for 3 hours. On the floor. Maybe it was a gnarly head cold but all I know is that it got progressively worse from Sunday until Tuesday when my right eye was almost swollen shut. What the hell.

Wednesday wasn’t much better. My eyes were open and I made it through a full day of work but still felt crappy. Running was out the question though. New carpet went in at home on Wednesday so that evening was spent furniture moving. Can I count that as a workout? I actually cleared 10,000 steps which I only do when I run. 😛

I did so good for 7 weeks but week 8 is kicking my ass. Now I am freaking out. What kind of fitness am I losing? Or not gaining? Next week’s intervals are supposed be 1K repeats. Do I stick to the plan or run the 800’s I missed? Next week also sees my tempos increase to 8 miles. I’m not ready! I need to reread the book again.

Speaking of next week- I am supposed to be running a half marathon on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. I was torn between using it as part of my long run or using it as my tempo since the miles are supposed to increase next week anyways. It’s on the beach so I figured marathon pace would be a good goal for it. Something made me double check the time. 10AM!!! What the hell!!! This is California for crying out loud. I have never had any race start that late. Not even a 5K.

I have a few concerns with this. 1- the temp. It’s in work town and the temperature is usually fairly moderate but I would be finishing after noon so who knows? 2- food. I don’t fuel before half marathons or long runs yet. But I am also used to a 7AM start for races. I think I would have to eat something before a 10AM race start. Which wouldn’t be a horrible thing since I do need to get used to fueling more. But that leads to concern 3. 3-bathrooms. Food could make me sick; my stomach has a proclivity for going wonky at the worst times. What do beach races usually not have? Bathrooms. Ok, technically, there are bathrooms at 2 points but they are off course and would add 1/4-1/2 mile if needed. Plus that would be across soft dune sand. Grrrr. I am seriously considering running the 10K instead.

So help me out…

Half marathon or 10K?

How much ~~damage~~ will this week set me back in marathon training?

Never say Never?

So, about that marathon thing. And how I said never.

This has been simmering for a while. A long while. January of 2015 saw my first (and only so far) 25K. 16 miles. While that is still 10 miles short of a marathon, I was out there for 5+ hours. That started me thinking. Yes, I was still 10 miles short but whatever marathon I chose wouldn’t have 3000+ ft in elevation gain or involve actual mountains. But a trail 25K was still a long way from a road marathon. The seed was planted.

Then last fall, in the middle of my running funk, I read Ultra Marathon Man by Dan Karnazes. That book will give you all sorts of crazy ideas. Plus he eats pizza while on crazy long runs- how awesome is that?! Now, a marathon was a crazy enough idea for me. I wasn’t going to running in Antarctica or any 200 mile solo runs. But even then it was still just a seedling. It was still a maybe someday, far away.

New Year’s saw me stating emphatically that this was going to be the year of no goals. After spending 2+ years chasing a sub 2 half and failing, I was burned out. Some health issues added to that as well but I was feeling fried. This was going to be the year to just enjoy running. That is still the plan. With a twist.

Running is a lot like shopping at Target... You intend to run only $30 5Ks and before you know it, you're registering for $175 marathons!!:

Back in January, in one long text message session with Ashley and Heather, we started talking about The San Francisco Marathon. Ashley loved the race and Heather and I had always thought about running it. So we made plans to all take a road trip and run one of the half marathons. San Francisco has 2- the first half and the second half. I joked that if I was going to San Francisco, I was running the Golden Gate Bridge. So we were running the 1st half. Cool, right?

Then a week or so later, they decided they wanted to run the full. Well crap. What do I do? I had 2 choices- run my first full marathon or deal with public transportation in a very large city all by myself for the first time in my life. Both were scary propositions.

I chose the marathon.

Never+say+NEVER+with+ anything++running+related...+ "Never+could+I+run+a+5k." ....+DID+IT!+ "Never+could+I+run+a+10k" ...+DID+IT! "Never+could+I+run+a+ Half-Marathon."+ ....DID+IT!+:

Here’s my thinking- it was already in the back of my mind, so why not San Francisco? I had 2 friends running it and it was a city I’ve been wanting to visit again for a long time. The potential for hills was a little intimidating but I’ve said repeatedly that I hate flat courses, right? Plus Golden Gate Bridge! And friends!

But I still wasn’t ready to commit. Remember back in January when I asked for Excel help? I was cobbling together a training plan. I affectionately call it the McHig plan. I took my customized McMillan plan from last year and worked it into a Hal Higdon Novice plan for marathon training. I started training for SF the first week of February. Surprise!

Before I would register though, I needed an escape plan. My first 16 miler falls in the beginning of April. I told myself if I completed it and hated myself or running after I would pay the change fee and drop to the half. If I pulled it off and felt ok, training would continue. Next step would be to complete a 20-22 miler in late June, early July. Same rules applied-I could drop at the race expo before the race. And lastly, if all hell breaks loose, there is a finish line at the halfway point. I could call it there and Uber myself to the finish to meet Ashley and Heather.

I had a training plan, friends to run it with and an escape plan -all I had to do was register. Except when I tried to register in February, the website refused to cooperate. It wouldn’t let me use my discount code- Ashley’s an ambassador!- and it kept throwing up an error message. I missed a price deadline because of this. Finally after a few weeks of Twitter conversations and emails back and forth with the staff of the SF Marathon, I was able to complete my registration. Holy crap, I registered for my first marathon!!

I wasn’t going to tell anyone until post SLO half but I wasn’t very successful. After some Twitter convos and IG posts, I decided to come clean. I had my first panic attack after that blog post– ha!! Shit just got real. People know now- I have to follow through! Also, now my crazy shoe buying lately seems a little more understandable.

Did I bite off more than I can chew? My plan is deliberately long, I know I will miss a few runs along the way.

Ever run San Francisco?

Words of advice?!!? Please!

Week 7 Training Recap

Upcoming Races– SLO Marathon- Half

Focus– Recovery

This will be a quick recap. This week shaped up a little fluffier than planned. Not a lot of exercise but eating like I ran a marathon. Or 2. Oddly, I was fine during race weekend and even Disneyland. It wasn’t until Tuesday that I went off the rails. A post race week combined with hormones = #eatallthethings.

Monday- Disneyland!! According to my Up band, we walked around 7 miles that day. Not too bad. My legs held up pretty well, I didn’t really feel sore from Surf City but there were moments my mother left me in the dust. Mostly going up, walking up to Super Hero HQ was a little rough.😁

Tuesday- Rest My chest was hurting pretty badly on Tuesday. I had the day off and thought about riding the bike or going for a short run but decided to pass on it. Instead I caught up on all the laundry from the weekend and worked on some computer issues that I had been having. The computer is fixed but I want to throw my printer out the window.

Wednesday- Rest Back at work and I had a meeting a few towns south in the morning. I kind of feel like I spent the day driving all over the county, so it was a planned rest day. Plus my chest was still sore.

Thursday- 12 miles stationary I had packed my running gear and was looking to try for a short run after work. I still felt a little bruised but nothing like the past few days. However a dense marine layer rolled in around closing time so I took it as as a sign to not push my lungs. I headed home for the bike instead.

Friday- Rest Like always. 😛

Saturday- Shoes! With spring races on the horizon and big plans for the summer, I need to figure out my shoe situation. While my Pure Flow’s aren’t making me bleed anymore, they are not making my feet happy either. My left foot in particular. With that in mind, I headed down to SLO for a little bit of shopping and ended up at the Running Warehouse. Uh oh. It was busy but someone was able to help me fairly quickly. I’m horrible because I don’t remember his name! After explaining all the issues I had been having lately, he brought out 3 pairs of shoes for me to try- New Balance Vazee Pace, Saucony Kinvara 6 and the Pure Flow 5’s.

The New Balance felt great when I was sitting but horrible once I stood up and walked around. The Kinvara’s were super snug. I didn’t want to go up a size because I regret it every time I do. The newer Pure Flow’s were odd. They are firmer than they used to be. I didn’t feel any pinching in the heel and the arch support felt ok but the tongue was ridiculous! It’s harder now so it felt like a piece of plastic digging into my ankle. What is with that?! Based on what I liked and didn’t like, he then brought out a pair of Brooks Launch 3’s. They felt the best out everything but they still felt like a lot of shoe. I’ve really liked the lower heel- toe drop of the Pure Flow 4’s and the smaller foot print of the toe box. He then brought out a pair of Nike’s- the Free Run Distance. Say what?

I’ve tried on numerous pairs of Nike’s over the years and hated every single one. Which is odd since all my tennis shoes were Nike’s. I was predisposed to hate this pair, then I put it on. Holy crap, it felt like a slipper. Snug but not tight and with a 4mm drop. Now, it felt great in the store but running could be a different story. But it was the best fit and I ended up leaving with my first pair of Nike running shoes.

Oh and I had dvr’ed the marathon trials and watched them that night. How awesome was that? Shalane and Amy were amazing and the perfect example of #runningrelationshipgoals.

Sunday- 6 miles First run in a week and it was rough. I was hoping that all the extra rest would have helped my lungs but not so much. My training plan called for a 90 minute progression run but I had mentally changed that to an easy 8 since I wasn’t feeling great since the race and hadn’t run. I started out the run in my new shoes but knew I might end up looping back to the house if they didn’t work. Usually I try to break in my shoes with 3-4 mile runs. My warm up walk was a little longer than usual and felt pretty good but running was hard. I was huffing and puffing a mile in. I wasn’t wheezing, it just felt like it was harder to get in a decent amount of air. I ran slowly and took regular walk breaks. I called it at 6, I didn’t have another 2 in me today. The shoes felt pretty good. I started the run with some soreness and twinging in my left knee but that’s been there since Thursday. It actually got better by the end of the run. They held up well today but I am cautious to see how they do once I run in them more.

So this week ended up being on the lazier side of recovery with only 2 workouts. But I am ok with that as I needed a wake up call to make me go to the doctor and Surf City was that call. My appointment is Monday and I am really hoping that it is something that can fixed fairly quickly. Fingers crossed! I am trying not to plan to far ahead into next week until I hear what he has to say.

How was your week?

Ever had to change your mind about a brand of shoes?

Did you watch the trials?

Week16-Redux/ So Long September

Will the real week 16 please stand up? 😉 I am not crazy, well maybe a little, I really did miss a week. I knew I couldn’t be at 16 yet so I went back and checked. It looks like I went straight from week 6 to week 8 a while back. Oops. So let’s recap week 16 and then see how September went.

Monday – Rest

After 2 races the day before, I knew this was going to be a rest day. I was also taking my car to the body shop and getting a rental so I wanted as little as possible to carry so it kind of worked out. I was so excited that the previous weekend was my last busy one that it didn’t occur to me that I had the work week to get through before the coming empty weekend. Doh! 😋

Tuesday- 3.5 miles

I was so damn tired and just not feeling running still. I headed to the lake for a few laps aiming for 4 miles. It wasn’t a fantastic run but it wasn’t bad. I visited a little too much with lake cat on the backside of the lake so I ran out of daylight. But he wouldn’t get out of the street!

Wednesday- 3.5 miles stationary

This probably shouldn’t count. I wasn’t feeling well, my neck and my head have hurt for the last month or ever since my car accident, so I was thinking a rest day. I had to get my race recap up for the HOB Fun Run so I figured I would do that. Until I hit a button and installed Windows 10. I told it to wait!! While I was waiting for the computer to be usable again I got on the bike. It was after 9 and I didn’t want to be up all night so it’s not like I was pedaling all that hard. 😐 Oh! Look what I finally registered for!

Thursday- 1.6 miles

Yeah, it says that. I was still feeling rough and all the vitamin C and Airborne I had been taking all week wasn’t helping. I headed out for a run but had to call it before I got a mile out. My chest hurt- like the kind of pain you have with a really bad chest cold. I turned around and headed back to the car. It wasn’t totally unproductive though, I felt like something moved or popped and some of the neck pain eased.

why do my grimaces look more like smiles than my smile?

Friday- Rest

Race day is too damn close to be pushing things. I would rather go into race day having missed a few workouts than get sick so close to race day. Been there, done that. Bring on the vitamin C and Airborne. I also started a new medication for my stomach which has the side effect of drowsiness. It’s no lie. I was in bed by 11 that night. For me that is freaky early.

Saturday- Rest

Sensing a pattern? No lie, I didn’t get out of bed until 10. I was feeling better but not great so I stuck close to home. I rearranged some furniture and managed to knock myself loopy. I was lying on the ground trying to move something and smacked the left side of my head into my dresser. As I rolled away in pain, I slammed my right temple into the bed frame. Yes, I am that talented. At least I didn’t give myself a concussion this time. 😞

Sunday- 7 Miles

My training plan called for a 60 minute long run with 20 minutes at pace. Smart runners follow the plan… I on the other get lost on a mountain. Truthfully, I needed to get lost and spend some time in the dirt. But more about that next post. 😄😄

Overall it wasn’t great but it wasn’t horrible and I am ok with that. I was feeling really rundown and stressing about it wasn’t helping. My mileage may not look pretty but the rest helped. That weekend with no plans was kind of awesome too.

September Wrap up!!!

Adios September- you kicked my ass. But let’s look at the numbers-

Miles Run- 69.6

Stationary bike- 36.2

Hey, I got over 100 miles if you add those! Grr.

Races-

Central Coast Cancer Challenge 5K- 27:10
HOB Fun Run 10K-58:54
HOB Fun Run 5K-37:49

While the numbers aren’t where I want them to be, they are headed in the right direction. Yes, that .4 missing in the running mileage bugs me but it is what is. I would like to see that mileage number grow in the coming months. I looked at my calendar and noticed that October and November are equally busy months and contain 3 races so I need to stay on top of things. Hopefully laying out there will help. 😁

How was your September? Did you have a good weekend?

Is anyone else accident prone? I should be wrapped in bubble wrap.

What are you looking forward to in October?

Lack of Umph

You know that saying about the difference between try and triumph is a little “umph”? Or something like that? I’ve lost my umph. Where did it go? Can you help me find it?

I’ve been feeling adrift since SLO. I thought having no training plan would feel liberating. I mean I am a Slacker after all, I was looking forward to it, thinking it would be awesome. Yet it hasn’t been. My last few posts have talked of my lack of motivation and each one said the same thing- I need to get back on track. Obviously saying it means absolutely nothing. Want to know how many miles I’ve run in May? 26. Seriously!?? Ouch.

Work has officially hit crazy, and my hours got a little longer, like open to close. Friday is the biggest change, last Friday ran around 11 hours. However that should be no excuse to be lazy. Maybe I should just try to go to sleep earlier. Ok, that one made me laugh a little. What time did this post go up? I also need to work on my time management skills outside of work but that’s for another post. Anyways, time to ~~hopefully~~ actually follow through with what I say. So to that effect, I planned out a race schedule. With a goal race. So here we go.

May– Bands on the Run 10K
June– Talley Vineyard 10K
July– Rock’n around the Pier 13.1 and a possible 4th of July 5kAugust– Trail 25K
September– Central Coast Cancer Challenge 10k, HOB Fun Run 10K/ 5K
October– City to the Sea 13.1 (GOAL)
November– Big Sur Half Marathon

A race schedule seemed to work for me before, so let’s try it again. Since I really think my training plan for SLO worked, I am going to re purpose it for City to the Sea. That is also where I set my half marathon PR and I love the course…except they changed the course this year, so we will see what happens. Now, this plan is flexible, life does happen so I may adjust things if I have to. May, June, HOB and Big Sur are the only ones set right now.

Most of this was thought out after a truly lackluster weekend of running. I ended up napping on Saturday- again. Sunday did see my longest run since SLO- a slow 10K. I ran a 10:52 pace which is great for an easy run which was the goal. What was not so great was how hard it was. I was huffing and puffing the whole way, that pace felt more like race pace than easy run. Ugh. That was not confidence inspiring, but rough runs happen and we move on. But I was out there long enough to think of all the reasons I have been lazy and what I can do about it. I am 20 weeks out from City to the Sea and I am aiming for a 16 week plan. The next 4 weeks will be testing a couple of new weekly schedules out since this newest one isn’t working out so well. 🙂 Plus I need to figure out what works best with the work schedule. Running later in the evening makes it harder to sleep and now I have to get up earlier so that probably won’t work, but I will figure it out. I also need to figure out how to stop the stress eating that has been happening for 2 weeks.

What do you do when you lose your “umph”?

What’s your race schedule look like?

What do you do when you’re stressed?