Tag: long run

The SF Marathon Week 16 Training

I just had to look up what week I was in, it’s all starting to blur. 😛

The head games have multiplied…the race is so close and unfortunately my last few weeks of running have not been confidence building. More like the exact opposite. I felt pretty damn good after my 20 miler a few weeks ago. I haven’t since. I’m trying to tell myself that it’s all part of training but I hurt and I am tired and I just… I don’t know.

Monday- Rest. I had a few vacation days from work and it was so nice to have no alarm to set. I really wanted to sleep in but I woke up a little before 8. Grr. However, I must have slept soundly- I woke up with a dead arm. Guess I hadn’t moved from the first position I fell asleep in.

Tuesday- 7.12 miles. Birthday miles!!! Another day off too. I was torn what to run today. I know some people like to run their birthday but let’s be real, there was no way I was running 35 miles or kilometers. 35 minutes seemed too short and 3.5 miles seemed like a cop out. So instead I ran the day. It slow and hot but it was fun. I ran to the high school where my mother was having tennis practice. I then dragged her along to a local burger place to get my free burger!!! The little things excite me.

Wednesday- Rest. Back to work. They bought me donuts!

Thursday- 3.75 miles. Talk about slow! I think all the over indulging of the past few days caught up with me, I did not feel well. Plus, I decided that until the marathon, I should probably wear flats. I forgot how sore that would make me. Ouch!

Friday- Rest. I still felt off, I think I found my sugar intake limit. Rough. A new toy came in the mail though.

Saturday- Rest. Sensing a pattern here? After feeling poorly for 2 days, I chose sleep over running. After a few errands, I just had a low key evening. Plus, I was sucked into streaming Stranger Things on Netflix. So good.

Sunday- 13.1 miles. Dress rehearsal. My last long run of training. Plan ( what plan) called for 12, I wanted 16. Yes, I know that’s stupid. I was also testing a few things out this run. When I was shopping in Santa Barbara last weekend, I picked up a new Lululemon skirt for race day. I also recently ordered a new hydration vest as well. I’ve never been a huge fan of them but I need to be able to carry more water than just my handheld. So this long run was a test of all that.

Good lord, it was rough. It took my legs 4.5 miles to warm up. My lungs wanted no part in running. I probably should have tested the hose on the hydration pack before running. I choked twice. My new skirt rode up in very uncomfortable ways and yet also migrated down. That shouldn’t be possible?! I just kept moving forward. I hit 13.1 and called it for the day. Called my mom for a pick up as I was 4 miles from home and went for Chipotle. I really need to stop eating when I’m stressed.

24 miles for the week. Bring on taper. Even though part of me is excited for no long run next week, I feel like I haven’t done enough to prepare. The voices in my head are getting louder. But, this is the best week to quiet them. It’s fair time!!!!! It’s time for my yearly indulgence in a funnel cake. Hopefully, I’ve detoxed enough from birthday cake/ donuts to enjoy it. I look forward to a funnel cake and pretzel all year long until fair time. 😛

So here’s to week 17- another week in flats, even fewer miles and a funnel cake at the end.

How was your week? Do anything fun?

Do you have a dress rehearsal run?

What’s your favorite fair food?

The SF Marathon Training Week 14

14. 14 down, only 4 more to go!

So yeah. Week 14. Ummmm, ouch? Week 13 was awesome- I mean, I ran 20 miles and kind of like it? What could go wrong? Ha Ha.

Monday- Rest. I felt pretty good actually, my legs- shins included- felt fine all day. Part of me wanted to run but I figured that would be silly or worse injury provoking, so I scheduled in 2 rest days.

Tuesday- Rest. Once again my legs felt pretty good but I had a plan man, and I was sticking to it. It made sense. At least I thought it did.

Wednesday- Rest. Hello freight train. Body wise I felt ok, but I was suddenly exhausted. I felt like I could sleep for days. That said, I was still planning on running after work. However my family texted and asked if I wanted to meet everyone for dinner. I first said no- I needed to run. They ended up convincing me. So instead of running, I enjoyed too much food at dinner.

Thursday-6 miles. Seriously I wish someone had filmed the first 3ish mile of this run. I want to know if it looked as hilarious as it felt. I had another half day at work so I was naively hopeful that I could get the weekends 10-12 miler in early. I don’t have a route that length in work town so I headed home. I walked my usual 5 minute warm up and then started running. Or tried to. My legs were not functioning as a team. Nothing hurt but I could not level out. I felt like one leg was going forward while the other was swinging to the side. I felt like a newborn giraffe trying to walk. Mile 1 was 98% walking, mile 2 wasn’t much better. The final 4 miles were all in the 12 minute range but I finally started to feel a little more normal by mile 6. I knew I wasn’t doing any more than that though. This run did put me over 100 miles for June though.

Friday- Rest. I should have tried to run. It would have been the smart thing to do. But, yeah, I didn’t.

Saturday- 5 miles. I wanted more but after working in the morning, running in the 80’s was kicking my ass. When did I turn into such a baby? Once again, I was running while limping. Again nothing hurt, but my stride was all over the place. Miles 4 and 5 felt better but were still so slow. I hobbled/ ran until I hit 5 miles and called it. My ankles and shins were pretty sore that night. I iced and rolled.

Sunday- 10 miles. I was aiming for 13 but knew I was also meeting Heather and Ashley the next day for a run. I wasn’t sure my legs were up to 3 days in a row so I dropped my mileage back to 10. I didn’t even think I was going to finish that. Miles 1-3 were more awkward gait running. It takes me 3-4 miles to warm up, so I just kept going. Once again, I hauled ass across the bridge and saw a 9:37 split- oops. My legs were not happy. I met up with my mother a little before mile 7. I ended up walking all of mile 7 with her. While I do take walk breaks, I don’t think I would have walked a whole mile by myself at that point. But I was tired of running weirdly. I think it helped. The last 3 miles felt the best out of everything- part of me wanted to keep running. 😛

I was sore, bordering on pain by the end of the day though. I foam rolled, stretched and iced. I also “recovered” while eating lots of popcorn watching Tarzan. 😛

There’s a reason I’ve been taking a day between each run and I just got stupid this week. Now my ice pack is my best friend again. Grrr. This is not how I was hoping to be feeling 4 weeks out from San Francisco. I choosing to stay positive and not freak out. Think happy thoughts right? Oh, did I mention I have a half marathon in 3 days? On the beach. #findtheshiny I can do it.

How was your week?

How long does it take you to warm up? I think I am realizing why all my short runs were rough all these years. I was warming up when I was stopping. Oops.

Seen any movies lately?

The SF Marathon Training Week 13

13 weeks in and the title got a little shorter. 😛

After my last post, this recap may be a little boring. But I was so excited about my 20 miler that I just had to share it. Thanks for all your thoughts! So let’s see how the rest of week 13 went.

Monday- 4 miles. Home town was a comfortable 106 so I sucked it up and ran in work town. I love the views there but feel so awkward. I don’t know why I am so concerned for customers to see me. I kept the pace nice and easy but it took me 3 miles to warm up. My last mile felt the best which was funny as it was all uphill.

Tuesday- Rest. I’m somewhat sticking to a day on followed by a day off running plan as it seems to keep my shins less aggravated. Plus a rest day meant that I could participate in BibChat- my first as a BibRave Pro! 😃 😃 I’m looking forward to learning more and participating with BibRave.

Wednesday- 4 miles. I’m sensing a pattern here. I got off work early since I had to work Saturday. Home town was still an oven so I headed to a new path in work town. It kind of rocked. I still felt super uncomfortable but I am going to work on pushing those limits.

Thursday-Rest. I actually wanted to try a few miles to break in my new shoes but it didn’t happen. I had an eye appointment at the end of the day and the dilation messes with my eyes. I already have issues with too much brightness, even sunglasses weren’t enough protection post appointment. I stayed in a dark room until they calmed down. It wasn’t entirely a waste though. I spent some time working on the blog. The SLO milestone was still there- oops. And now I have a discount page!

Friday- Rest day. I worked the late shift so I tried to sleep a little later in preparation for the weekend’s plans. Wishful thinking, right?

Saturday- Rest. Again, seriously? This was intentional. I knew I was planning a huge (for me) long run on Sunday so I was hoping to rest my legs. I worked in the morning but things went well so we were able to get out on time. I ran a few errands, rested the remainder of the day and hydrated like it was my job. I also probably ate all the wrong things, oops.

Sunday- 20 miles. Hell yeah!! I am still riding high on this one. I actually did it, woo hoo! You can read all about that here.

28 miles for the week. Could have been better but could have been worse too. This week’s focus was on the long run and I would say mission accomplished. Now if I could just stop talking about it. 😛 Sorry!

Food wise, things have been a little rough. I would say I am around 40/60 right now. My nighttime snacking has gotten a little out of control. Oops. I really need to get a handle on that. I say as I eat a cinnamon bear…or 3.

How’s your weather?

What candy is your weakness?

20- The White Whale

If you had told me 2 years ago that I would be training for a marathon, I would have laughed at you. If you had said that marathon training would happen during a CA summer, I would have responded with a “hell no”. Had you said that I would get up early on a Sunday morning and go run a 20 miler by myself- I would have told you that you needed to have your head examined.

And yet, that’s exactly what I did.

While I was set on following Hansons, I admit that I had planned some adjustments to the long runs. I had hoped for a 16 in April, 18 in May, 20 in June and a second 20/22 in July. 16 in April was a success- ran it with Heather and Ashley. 18 in May? Yeah, that never happened. Could I pull off 20?

I stuck to the training plan for April and May. Then I got hurt- since then I’ve been taking it easy on my weekday runs and focusing on the long runs. The long runs are about the only part of Hansons I’m still doing but really I’m just doing my own thing. And my own thing really wanted to do 20 this weekend. Ok, maybe want is not the right word. 😛

Is it sad that one of my biggest worries about this run was getting myself out of bed in the morning? It’s been averaging in the 105 range here so I knew I would have to head out early. But I want to sleep in! I set my alarm and just hoped I wouldn’t hit snooze one too many times.

When you turn your trunk into an aid station

I still haven’t quite figured out how to carry enough water comfortably so I set my car up as an aid station. I had extra water, Gatorade, Nuun and Honey Stinger chews. I had a change of shoes, a change of socks and a fresh shirt. It pays to be prepared right? I had a looped route planned- 5 miles, then 10, then the last five. I told myself it was less intimidating if I only thought about each loop at a time.

I started my run around 6:15. I had hit snooze a few times. Oops. I started the run in my new Brooks. It’s one of the reasons I planned my first loop as a short one. I walked around 3/4 of the first mile just to make sure I didn’t have a sudden bloody blister problem like the last time I tried to break in new PureFlows. Everything felt ok so I started running. I am never out that early, it felt odd. I thought there would be multiple other people put beating the heat but there wasn’t. I was feeling pretty good so my first loop ended up being just shy of 8 miles. I hit my car and filled my water bottle back up and ate 2 chews.

Time for loop 2. People were starting to appear! It was also warming up. My loops were actually comprised of 3 smaller loops around neighborhoods- I could tell it was getting hotter faster than predicted so I looped the top one twice on the second big loop as it was the part of the route with the least amount of shade. I figured I should get it out of the way before it was full on hot. I also threw down a 10 minute mile in this loop. I never felt like I was moving that fast. I had only used 1/2 of my water bottle on the first big loop, now I was only halfway through the second loop and I knew I was going to run out. I made another course adjustment and was able to hit my car just shy of 16 miles.

Manual dexterity was tricky as I was super sweaty so instead of pouring water into my Orange Mud bottle, I just switched bottles. 😛 I was also feeling some chafing around my sports bra, so I took one of those extra socks, got it wet and shoved it in my sports bra. Classy right?

Loop 3. I won’t lie I was getting a little tired but overall I felt pretty good. I hit 16 miles in 3:03 and I was pretty stoked- that was faster than my last one! I might actually finish 15 minutes before my projected time of 4 hours! Then came the last 4 miles. Oh holy heatwave. It was only in the 80’s but it felt like 100 to me. My legs were tired but felt like they had more miles in them, my stomach was decent but holy crap, I was hot. I went through almost 23 ounces of water in 4 miles. The loop turned into more of an out and back up a hill and I kind of crawled. But I got it done!!!

20 miles in 3:53:13. I was still under 4 hours! And considering mile 17 was 13:10 and 18 and 19 weren’t much faster, I’ll take it! I walked a little ways back towards my car and took advantage of a shady spot on the path. I plopped myself down and just sat there for a while. I was kind of surprised at myself. Holy crap people, I ran 20 miles- voluntarily. By myself. On a Sunday. I actually followed through and got my ass out of bed early. I don’t know who I am right now.

I ended up dumping a bottle of water of over my head to cool off and took myself through the McDonald’s drive thru for a much craved Diet Coke. It tasted amazing. 😊😊

Ever surprised yourself with a run? Or anything really?

What do you crave after a hot run?

San Francisco Marathon Training Week 12

Seriously, that’s a long title. Oof.

How is it week 12 already? My little countdown app is telling me I only have 41 days to go. Holy crap!

I admit I struggled hard with motivation this week. Everything seemed hard. I thought my boss coming back from vacation would make things easier but I just felt fried. At one point on Friday, I had so many pots in the fire I couldn’t even tell which way was up. I was just waiting for one of them to blow up in my face. Which may still happen this week, who knows. All week long, I kind of just wanted to curl up in the corner and hide under a blanket.

This spilled into running. I had serious trouble getting myself to run on Monday and then Wednesday turned into a rest day too. Convinced myself that my shins needed more time anyways. Week 12 is not the time to be getting lazy but I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later.

Monday- 3.5 miles My legs were feeling rough for this run. I haven’t run a Monday since I first hurt my shins. Taking the day off after my long run seemed to help but I knew I couldn’t run on Tuesday this week. I headed to the lake path and planned to take it nice and easy. Even slow running with walking intervals was rough. My shins protested. I called it when lap 3 put me back at my car. 3.5 miles was not a great way to start the week.

Tuesday- Rest A mandatory conference call had been scheduled for after normal work hours. This was why I had to move my run up to Monday.

Wednesday- Rest I had planned on running, even took my stuff to work. I tell myself I took the day off because my shins hurt. While that is partially accurate, I didn’t even take my gym bag out of the car in the morning. So yeah, I enjoyed pizza night instead.

Thursday- 7 miles Work was tiring and the last thing I wanted to do was run. I told myself to suck it up and change. I left work town and headed for the river path. Of course, right as I parked I suddenly felt like I needed to use the restroom. Of course- most of my routes have no bathrooms or water fountains. Whatever, I figured that would be a reason to keep the run short. I started out up the hill and just stuck to the run/ walk intervals. My legs were feeling ok so when I hit the turn around point I decided to go a little further. I made a left and headed up a street. I remember the street from my very first 10K years ago but I remembered it wrong. I thought it was flat but it was hillier than I recalled. Little rollers but they still felt like mountains. But it’s cool- I made some new friends-

On the way back, the wind had turned insane. It was pushing me backwards it was so strong, I felt like I was running in quicksand. That said, my running intervals were the fastest they’ve been since I got hurt so this run ended up being more like speed work.

Friday- Rest Work was insane. Straight up crazy. By the time I got off I was running out the door. But I didn’t have to close so yay!

Saturday- 9 miles The plan called for a 10 mile long run and 8 mile easy this weekend. I knew Sunday was going to be busy with family stuff so I was doubtful of getting a run in. With only a 10 mile long run planned, I got a little cocky- I mean what’s 10 miles? Stupid. I didn’t start my run until 8:30. Stupid. By mile 2 it was warm. NikeC was out for her run too and we started texted each other about how warm it was. I kept a comfortable pace until I hit the bridge. Even though I know it’s stupid, I still fly across the thing and then up past Walmart. Miles 4-5 saw a 9:14 and 9:44. Oops. So not long run pace for a person with wonky shins. I walked more of mile 6 than planned but still the pace was decent. Mile 7 saw a break- NikeC! Our routes crossed paths and I finally got to meet the cutest little guy ever.

We stopped and chatted for a bit before going on to finish our runs. Our chat meant I wasn’t going to be able to finish 10 but it was worth it. I was planning on ending my run at the high school and getting a ride from my mother. She’s having summer practices right now- and bonus- the school has water fountains and sometimes the bathrooms are open. Thing is her practice ended at 10:30. I picked up the pace and managed to get there right at 10:30. Those last 3 miles were most I’ve run without walk breaks in a month. Sweet!

4.5 miles walk– Knowing that Sunday was iffy, I had a second run of the day in the back of my mind. I headed out around 3 for some more miles. I wanted to run it like last week’s double but the week caught up with me so I walked it. I’m still counting it because let’s be real here- there will be walking in this marathon. I may as well get used to doing it on tired legs now instead of race day.

Sunday- rest Happy Father’s Day! I knew my mother and I had plans in SLO and then family dinner in the evening. I could have run in the morning but I was just so tired, I chose sleep instead. I still managed to get in 10,000 steps without running so that’s not too lazy. I also came home with some pretties-

So, 24 miles for the week. Could have been better, could have been worse. My shins were overly fussy in the beginning of the week but they calmed down by the end. I have big plans for this week so I am hoping they will continue to behave. Fingers crossed!! I also hope the motivation bus comes by again, I fear I will get sucked into the black hole that is binge watching Lost again and put off running. Oh and I have some awesome news share this week!

How was your week?

Bought any new gear lately?

What are you watching?