Tag: long run

Hail!! 22/10

I live in a part of California where the weather is pretty consistent, at least appearance wise. Sunny with a few clouds. All day, most every day. I’m not talking temp, I am talking merely appearance. Temperature wise we can swing 50 degrees in just 8 hours and that’s considered normal, haha. Anyways, I am trying to explain why I was so excited for it to hail on a recent run. Hail!!!

I headed out for a run on a Saturday, thinking I would get in my long run instead of waiting until Sunday. The weather just seemed to speak long run. Mid 50’s and slightly overcast? My long run may have only been 5 miles but I still wanted to take advantage of the weather while I could. My only hesitancy was how dead tired I still felt from work the day before. That Friday had been one of the most exhausting days I can remember. So to compromise I headed to the lake path as it’s easy to shorten the run there. Plus the dirt path is always nice to run on.

I was in the middle of lap 2 when it started to sprinkle. Or so I thought. It seemed odd that I could hear the sprinkles so well. It wasn’t until I noticed something bouncing off my hat that I paid more attention. Hail!!! I may have stopped and filmed some video I was so excited. It was also kind of funny how quickly the full park and path emptied once the weather got a little wet. Not me, I was loving it so I just kept going. I finished my long run and was feeling better than I had when I started. That is something rare.

Sunday’s run was pretty decent too but the weather was back to same old blue skies. The 3.5 miles were solid though and I did manage to up my running time in my run/ walk intervals. How I used to run 2 hour half marathons is completely beyond me at this moment.

Baby steps, right?

Strategic

Last week was better.

Well at least running wise. Not gonna lie, life has me feeling a little fried.

I got in an interesting 5K, like I mentioned last week. And everyone at work was intrigued by the white turkey I saw. Even Google says they are rare. Who knew?

Friday was the end to a long, long week. I briefly thought about running but who was I kidding? Then there was Saturday. I wanted to sleep in but I couldn’t. I had a prior commitment working the registration table for a fundraiser for a local charity through work. I should have run in the afternoon but instead I took a 2 hour nap. And I am not sad. I needed it.

Sunday started with drama. The cat was sick so it meant a trip to the emergency vet. People still aren’t allowed into the vet so after they took Heli in, it meant chilling in the car for a while. Coincidently while a helicopter circled the area. I tried not to wonder why they were circling. Thankfully, Heli was ok just extremely constipated. Poor dude.

I could have used the rough morning to pass on running and have in the past but chose not to. My non-plan plan called for 6 in theory miles. Which would also be the longest run since the Santa Rosa Half. So I changed and headed out to see how things went. I tried to play it smart though. I knew I was way undertrained and also figured that my next half would involve a lot of walking. So I power walked the first 3 miles and ran/walked the next 3. Other than a shoe lace issues 2 miles in, I felt surprisingly ok. I fueled at the half way point, still working on that. But I felt good. I even rounded it out to be a 10k.

A 9 mile week sounds like nothing but considering it’s about half of what I ran in the entire month of September, I’ll take it. Now if the daily headaches would go away, that would be great.

Upswing

Of course, the week after I express my concerns about my pace and where I am at fitness wise, I have a few good runs.

Not saying they were fast by any sort of scale but they didn’t suck.

For the first time in months, I actually kind of felt like a runner again. I know I am but sometimes I feel more like a farce these days.

Still working on getting back into my post work run follow through, so my first run of the week wasn’t until Wednesday. The weather was perfect- if a little windy- and I had new shoes to test out. I turned back on my run/walk intervals that I’ve been ignoring for weeks. Things felt pretty good.

Actually, I misspoke about the wind- it was stupid windy. The wind tried to take my hat multiple times, I was running with my head down more often than not. Maybe only visually seeing my route every few moments was actually helpful? I couldn’t see how much farther I had left to go, ha! 4 miles done.

I had planned on running Thursday but had to admit that I was feeling a little under the weather. Actually had been for a while but was ignoring it. It kept things pretty low key for the next few days, there may have been a few naps. And some random closet cleaning because that’s what you do when you’re feeling poorly, right?

I ventured out for my long run on Sunday, not sure how it was going to go. I had 9 on the schedule but wasn’t sure I was feeling that. I kept it at a brisk walk the first mile and a half just to see how everything felt. I once again ditched the run/walk app and decided to do my own thing. I headed for an old long run route that I haven’t seen in a long time. There weren’t any cows this time but I kept running! The wind was cuckoo again and I definitely felt like it was a long run but it felt pretty good. The only real issue with the run was the halfway point when I really needed a bathroom. The first set I tried at the nearest park had no stall doors. Ummm, no. So much for fixing that in the remodel. The second was gross and horrible but I really had to go! The way running lowers your standards. Ha! But, 9 miles done.

2 runs, both of them decent. Time to look on the bright side, right?

Castle to Coast 2020

What is a runner with a slacker mentality who has a long run on a cold day but likes to be lazy? She signs up for a local race of course.

Castle to Coast is a super chill, laid back 8 miles along the coast. No bibs, no medals, just running. Actually I was surprised with the timing chips this year. Those could have been around last year too but I DNS’ed. Oops.

The morning dawned early and cold as I made my way over to the coast. Things started a little rocky as the park rangers hadn’t gotten the memo and the gates to the park were locked. In an odd way I feel it made check in go faster. Eventually the gates were unlocked and we were all able to get parked and hop in the portapotty lines. We started a few minutes late due to gate snafu but like I said it’s all chill.

We lined up and we were off. Now here’s the maybe not chill part- the roads aren’t closed and we run along the highway. Highway 1 to be exact- from Hearst State Beach to Cambria. Hearst as in Hearst Castle.

I planned to take it easy and was aiming for my current long run pace around 12:00. Or my all around pace right now, like I’ve said, I’m out of shape.

Miles 1-4 10:57, 12:18, 12:30, 12:28
Started a little too fast but nothing crazy and I felt like I settled into a nice, easy maintainable pace. Due to the running along the highway portion, the race is limited to 300 people and usually sells out. We started out in a big pack, sort of, all in the bike lane. With no room to pass, it takes a few miles to thin out even with so few people. That said I was still feeling pretty ok.

Mile 5- 13:23
I have no idea what happened. I hit the only water stop around 4 and it was like my body quit. I went from feeling fine to being done. And I mean done.

I may have made this one the wallpaper on my phone

Miles 6-8 12:55, 12:48, 13:18
Yep still done. I turned on my headphones – didn’t help. Had a gel- didn’t help. I was basically walking and sprinkling in running. People were passing me right and left. What the hell? The previous week’s long run had gone so much better. If this had been a regular run I would have quit but my ride was at the finish line. Apparently I wasn’t the only one having a bad day, I was passing people who had previously passed me. One runner told me I walked fast.

Finish 8.2 miles- 1:43:51

Only 20 minutes slower than the last time I ran this race. And I thought I was out of shape then, ha! Even days later I am trying to figure out why I ran out of steam. The humidity was high but my asthma was manageable. Or I thought so. My stomach did flare that afternoon and it lasted about 3-4 days but I don’t think pre-tired is a thing. Is it a thing?? Ha!

It was slow but I showed up.

Surf City 10-Recap

What’s a runner to do when she needs motivation to actually run her long runs? She signs up for a race! I saw that Surf City 10 fit in my schedule and there was a 10 miler. Even better was when I looked online and found a sweet hotel for cheap. Yes! So I registered. Then last week happened and I was doubting my ability for a 10 mile race in the dark. Could I finish it even after being sick all week? Yes but that didn’t mean it was the right choice. So I dropped to the 10K.

Oh 10K’s. We have a love/ hate relationship. Well, mostly hate.

My 10K times are either great (for me) or a total crap show. Good- 55 to 58 minutes. The rest all range around 1:10-1:15 because I blow up. There has never been an in between. I rarely run 10K’s for this reason.

I headed down to Huntington Beach on Saturday. Checked into the hotel and then headed back to find race parking. Yes, I used the distance from my car to the start judicisouly – warm up and cooldown and added 2+ miles to my total for the day.

The race was a lot bigger than I thought it would be but I did my best to line up in the proper pace area but it was damn crowded. The race started on time but it took me a few minutes to hit the starting line.

Who wants to take bets?

Mile 1 was decent- 10:22. Not too bad, not too bad.

Mile 2– Well, crap, I know what I forgot. My inhaler. Mother ….. 11:16 Know what Huntington Beach has? High humidity. What triggers my asthma? High humidity.

Mile 3- 4 Yeah no, straight running wasn’t gonna work. How about 2 run, 1 walk? Could my asthmatic lungs handle that?? 11:20, 11:49

Mile 5-6 Ok, can’t breathe, how about 1 run, 1 walk. Oh and I had decided to wear a new skirt, nope. I was less running and more waddling due the chafe I could feel, how I crossed the finish line not bleeding, I have no idea. It still hurts 4 days later.

Finish- 1:11:44

So maybe we should place bets on how long it takes me to run another 10K? Haha.

I did enjoy the race though. Running at night is kind of fun when you’re surrounded by people. A little more light might have been nice but guess who left her Knuckle Lights in the car?? Yep. Winner over here.

What race distance is your nemesis?