Tag: long run

Week 37 Training Recap

Training for:

City to the Sea 13.1
Harvest Marathon 13.1
Golden Gate Half

A week of shoe issues, calf issues, wardrobe malfunctions and a long run attempt that knocked me flat. Yay?

Monday- 2.0 miles. Yeah, another run testing the new Brooks. I also wore the wrong shorts. This was a hot mess from the start and I could tell it just wasn’t going to get better.

Tuesday- Rest I was sore from the baby run. 😩

Wednesday-Rest Pizza night!! 🍕🍕

Thursday- 3.8 miles I was optimistically hoping for 5-6 miles. Fail. Everything hurt. Ankles, shins, calves. Which led to whiny thoughts then deep thoughts. Which prompted my last post and my concerns that my weight gain was affecting my shoes.

Friday- Rest I’ve closed the last 4 Fridays and I admit it’s making me tired. Crossing the street on my way back to my car, I felt twinges in my left shin. I was also feeling a little off so I decided right then that my planned 14 miler was going to be broken into 2 runs over the weekend. I was trying to be smart for once. I failed.

Saturday-8 miles The first run of the weekend. I overslept and was feeling a little weird but if I didn’t run every time I felt a little off, I would never run. I headed out around 9:30 but as the high of the day was only supposed to be 91 so I figured I would be fine. If only I had known how wrong I was.

The run started off ok. I was sticking to my 5/2 run walk intervals, wearing my Nike’s and compression socks and my shins/ ankles were feeling pretty good. Since I was only running 8 miles I decided to throw in some hill repeats. What was I thinking? I was huffing and puffing but I kept running. I did 2 hill repeats before running to the turn around point then back for another 2 hill repeats. I felt fine though mile 6 then things went bad.

My 24oz water bottle was almost empty and I was slowing down significantly. My town doesn’t believe in water fountains. They are either turned off or locked up. A little over a mile from house I passed an elementary school. The gates weren’t locked!!! Hallelujah! I felt like a creeper opening the gates but I really needed water. I was loosing steam though. I barely made it up the last hill- I had to stop halfway up, I couldn’t catch my breath. I normally love running the downhill and the flat on the way back to my driveway. I couldn’t do it. I hit 8 miles about 1/4 mile from my driveway and just quit. I crawled back. Once confronted with my driveway, I almost just gave up. I was seriously thisclose to just sitting down partway up and hoping someone drove by.

That wasn’t the end. Once I made it inside, I started overheating. I was still sweating so I wasn’t freaking out about heat stroke but something was not right. I tried taking a cold shower, chugging water and I had my brother bring me food. Then I tried napping. Every time I tried to stand up, everything kind of went black and tunnel like. I kept going back to bed. I spent the rest of the morning and afternoon sleeping. I knew I had the Avocado Margarita Festival to volunteer at in the evening. I finally managed to get up without the world spinning and I headed towards work town. I treated myself to In n Out hoping it would make me feel better. Not really. Boo. I left work town around 8 and was glad to see my bed when I got home.

I don’t know if it was too hot- only in the 80’s, not hot at all- or if it was the fact that I did hill repeats for the first time in months. Or if I actually had a touch of something. I later found out a coworker had similar issues on Saturday as well and they didn’t run. They ended up doing nothing but sleeping after their festival shift.

Sunday- 10 miles bike This time I listened to the off feeling I still had. I had woken up at 7 with a pounding headache so I rolled over and went back to sleep. I woke up at 10:30! feeling a little more human. After running some errands I decided my 6 mile run was not a good idea and decided to just ride the bike.

13.9 run miles for the week. Ouch. Let’s just chalk it up to a rough week and move on. I wish I knew what set off Saturday’s issues because I never want to feel like that again.

Have you had a recent wardrobe malfunction?

Would you eat an avocado Popsicle? Yes, it does exist.

Week 36 Training Recap

Training for:

City to the Sea 13.1
Harvest Marathon 13.1
Golden Gate Half

I said these training recaps were going to be shorter starting this week but I may have misspoke. Last week ran me over like a truck…which then backed up. So most of my posting plans were ignored in favor of sanity. I did get most of my planned running in but the bike was ignored in favor of sleep and/or staring at the TV trying to decompress while binging on Netflix. I’ve now started season 8 of Bones. It’s a 😛

So long story short- I walked into work on Monday and was greeted by a flood. Ok, deep breath in and go! Only a few rooms were flooded but we were literally sinking into the carpet. Ok then. Figured out it was the water heater and a plumber came out and fixed that. We put up some normal fans while waiting for the restoration crew. One fan damn near grenaded as I was running to wall to get it unplugged. The restoration crew finally showed up and I thought that meant things were looking up. Yeah, no. 5 high power industrial drying fans had to run 24/7. All week long. By Thursday, I thought I was going to lose my mind. On Friday I partially did. I started giggling at something an employee said- that wasn’t funny- and couldn’t stop. Then I started crying. I had no idea that sound could affect me that much.

Monday- 2.7 miles Can’t blame the shortness on the flood this time. I decided to break in my new shoes and knew by 1.5 miles in that I was going to have problems. 2.7 was when I decided I wasn’t going to make it back to my car without becoming bloody. I turned off my watch and took off my right shoe and sock. I stretched and walked back to my car half barefoot. Grrrr.

Tuesday- Rest Day

Wednesday- Rest Day I wanted to run but was feeling funky and decided it wasn’t worth it just to make August’s mileage look a little better.

Thursday- 4 miles Ouch, ouch. My calves were so damn tight and my brain was on the fritz. It was day 4 of the fan drama and I really wanted to just run out all the stress but it didn’t work. My legs were sore and my calves would not loosen up. I lost count of how many times I stopped to stretch it out.

Friday- Day from hell. Work was so busy, the fans almost broke me and I didn’t get home until 8. I started crying on the way home. Why?!?!

Saturday- Rest I had made plans to run with Heather and Ashley but on Friday I knew that wasn’t going to happen. As much as I wanted to run with them, I was fried. So instead I did something I rarely do- nothing. I slept in (that part’s not rare😛) but did nothing. I sat out on the deck for most of the afternoon and just chilled. I caught on some reading- Runner’s World and I finished a book. I also listened to some music. Turns out my calming music is Lifehouse- ha! That said, it was kind of nice. And it was so needed after the week of noise.

Sunday- 11 miles. Oof. My plan for my long run this weekend was 12. The fact that I made it to 11 is victory enough. I dragged my feet getting out of bed but did make it out the door before 9. I was achy and tired and it never went away. I was done by mile 3 but I told myself it would get better. Plus I was meeting my mom at the halfway point so she could walk and I had to keep running to get to the meet up point. I was so slow, I was taking walking breaks right and left; my pace was all over the place. I just kept slowing down, I decided I was done at 11. 11 brought me back to the car right as my mother was finishing her walk. I took it as a sign that 11 was good enough. 😛 I was toast.

17.7 miles for the week. Not great but not horrible. At least I held steady from the previous week. That’s a plus right?

Looking to this week, I would like to figure what is causing all the achiness. However, I am not setting any definite plans as I know the fans are still running now. Right now, my only hope is that they will go away on Tuesday. Fingers crossed!! The earlier the better.

How was your week? Have a good Labor Day?

Ever had a pipe break?

Thanks for sticking through another long post!

Adieu August

Recovery month, baby!

I admit I was hoping for more miles but it is what is, right? Plus, considering I was afraid I would come off the marathon and never want to run again, I should count this as a win right?

I managed to pull off one 10 miler- double digits!!!- and one speed work session. I had some decent weeks and a very small, little 4 miler week. Considering the amount of smoke in the air from all the fires close by, my mileage was pretty consistent.

I ran zero races. Which made me super envious of all the cool pictures and recaps I saw online. 😛. So I compensated by taking lots of scenery pictures.

Work got a little crazy but I think I need to realize that it always will be. That said, this week kicked my ass. 2 rooms flooded and we’ve been working with industrial blower fans running all day, every day. I think the constant noise is making my brain liquefy. I really wanted to hit at least 50 miles for the month but after an abbreviated run on Monday- hello blisters- my last chance to fit in miles was Wednesday. By the end of the day, I felt fried, even the idea of changing into my running gear was exhausting. In the end I decided hitting an arbitrary number wasn’t worth it, all I wanted to do was hide in a dark and quiet corner. So I did and 44.14 was it for August.

Which brings us to September. I am partially excited and partially in denial. Excited because I haves races coming up! First one isn’t until the end of September but it’s one of my favorite races and I am looking forward to it. That being said, how the hell is it September?!?!?! That is just ridiculous. Seriously, wasn’t it just March? Why is time moving so fast? I can’t keep up! Then today, my Instagram feed was full of Pumpkin Spice Lattes- slow your roll people!

How was your August?

Any plans for September?

What are you looking forward to ?

Week 35 Recap

Training for: City to the Sea 13.1
Harvest Marathon 13.1
Golden Gate Half

Yikes, that’s the first time I’ve typed that all out. And it doesn’t include the HOB Fun Run and I may throw a couple more 5K’s in there. Yes, I may be a little crazy. It’ll be fun right?

Going forward, I think I am going to change up the way I post these training recaps. I will still have a weekly one but I am thinking they will be shorter. I miss posting more often and trying to cram everything into one post makes for a lot of words. Who wants to read that??😛 That said, this one might be lengthy.

Monday- 4 miles In an effort to mitigate the smoky air intake, I decided to run at work. Marine layer- why not? I always forgot how much I love the middle portion of this route. Ocean! Eucalyptus trees, dirt! I just wish this section was longer. Smoke and marine layer aside, this was actually a remarkably steady paced run for me- 11:32, 11:31, 11:50, 10:46. The run 5, walk 2 is kind of working out post marathon. Miles 1 and 2 are all downhill while 3 and 4 are uphill. 4 is the steepest but mile 3 is usually the slowest as I hit a section of super slippery dirt in the eucalyptus grove. I really should run this route more often.

Tuesday- Rest day, pizza day!

Wednesday- 3.8 miles Baby speed work session- woo hoo! My legs felt pretty good after that. I also started my new-ish (reverted) posting as I posted all about that run here.

Thursday- Rest I really wanted to run but I figured that would probably be stupid. I want to work back up to a 4 day a week running schedule but the last few weeks were very lacking. I figured a 3 day week first would be a better step. I took a late half day for working Saturday 2 weeks ago. I figured I would get on the bike once I got home but instead it was one of those days where time just seemed to fly and hardly anything I planned was completed.

Friday- Rest Day I work the late shift a few weeks in a row and nothing really happens outside of work. An employee also left so we are back in that pattern of waiting to hire and running short while the interviews take place. Busy days! I also found out that I am no longer exempt- I had to clock in and out for the first time in years. I am still not sure how I feel about that.

Saturday- 10 miles Double digits, woo hoo!! The temp wasn’t supposed to be too warm and I was feeling tired after a crazy work week so I planned on running a little later but I hadn’t planned on waking up to an almost dead phone. For some reason it hadn’t charged overnight. Grrr. I headed out the door around 9:30. Oops. I wanted to run 10 but had a a variety of ways to shorten it if I just wasn’t feeling it. School is back in session and my mother was having a tennis practice so my plan was to run there and then we would go to lunch.

I was feeling a little sluggish starting out but not horrible so I just kept going. I did welcome each stop light break though. Per usual, I booked it across the bridge and that was my fastest mile- 9:18. Oops. From then on it was into mountain lion sighting territory. Yikes!! I kept my pepper spray in my hand while I was running through the river bed section. Which is silly as the cat was spotted up by the neighborhoods. There were a surprising number of people out for a run or walk at that time. I wondered if the mountain lion issue had everyone out running later then normal. I even ran into NikeC! It was nice chatting with her for a bit. My pace was surprisingly consistent. If you’ve been around this blog for a while- you know pace consistency is not my thing. I finished my run with an average pace of 11:00. Who am I? I am usually way slower than that on long runs. Hell, Monday’s run was slower than that. I never really felt like I was pushing and I took walk breaks anytime I needed a moment. I was kind of stoked when I saw my splits later. 😃

Sunday- 7 miles bike I had some errands that took me to SLO for the day. New glasses!!! I hit my daily step total which is rare and then finished up with some cross training.

So 4 days of exercise, 17.8 miles run, much better than the previous 3. One of these days I will do more than just think about strength training. 😛

In other news, I ate less pizza and watched a ton of Bones last week. Seriously people, I just started season 6! I may need an intervention! In sad news, my car hit 100,000 miles- boo.

How was your week?

What are you watching now?

The SF Marathon Week 17 Training Recap

17 down, 1 to go. I’m trying not to dwell on that.

This was the first week that I fully embraced the taper. Some might say I took it too far. 😛 I guess there really is a way to run less when training. I didn’t mean to have such an ummm- “relaxed” week it just kind of happened.

The week started off rough. I got little to no sleep on Sunday night and almost called in. good thing I didn’t as my boss wasn’t feeling well either and didn’t make it in. Then when I finally did make it into work, I was greeted by the news that my fish had died. Can you be done with the week by 8:20 on a Monday? Work was crazy from that point forward all week.

Monday- Rest. After 13 miles on Sunday and crap sleep, I was fried. Throw in the work day from hell and I was done.

Tuesday- Rest. I thought about running, I really did but I was still feeling kind of foggy. Besides, I had plenty of time during the rest of the week right?

Wednesday- ~~Run~~– Fall Out Boy!!!!! Running was the plan but when you are given the opportunity to see one of your favorite bands for the cost of only 2 drinks- you take it! So I made my trip to the fair a little sooner than planned. Both the funnel cake and the concert were amazing. 😃😃 They played all the songs I wanted them too and a few more.

Thursday- Rest. I took my gym bag to work. Even though I was still super tired I was planning on running. I really was but once again I allowed my family to text-coerce me into going to dinner with them. Yum.

Friday- 4 miles. Holy crap, I ran on a Friday! I didn’t get home until 7 but I was out the door fairly quick. After 4 days off, I was kind of worried my legs wouldn’t remember what to do. They did! It was slow and still very warm but it was nice to get moving.

Saturday- Rest. Damn, I’m really good at this rest thing aren’t I? I wasn’t completely sloth like though. I headed down to SLO and did a bit of shopping. That counts as moving the legs, right?

Sunday- 9 miles. I headed out around 8 but I should have headed out sooner. It was way hotter than I would have liked. I packed my Camelbak with more supplies than I needed and filled it with water. I knew I didn’t need all of it but I wanted to practice carrying the weight. The run was hot and slow and my neck was a little sore after it. I was a nasty, sweaty mess. Whose idea was it to train in the summer?

Shouldn’t I be feeling at least a little more fit these days? Every run just seems so damn hard. The smallest thing seems to trigger my asthma and I am freaking out. But let’s save all the drama for another post, ok?

How was your week?

Seen any good concerts lately?

Tell me something shiny!