Tag: mental time out

Run!

Week 43 Training Recap

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Training for-

  • Paso Harvest Marathon 13.1
  • Golden Gate Half

It’s the final countdown!  Come on, sing it with me!    Sorry, I think the lack of sleep is making me slap happy.  😛     I’m still not sleeping but I’m also tired of whining about it.   It is what it is so I am trying to just find the shiny and keep moving on.

I actually ran all the miles planned this week and almost pulled off some of the paces.  Who am I?!?     I started off the week by taking some rest days.  It’s how being told to rest by someone else takes some of guilt away.  I think my brain needed that after the last few weeks.

Monday- Yoga  What?!?  I used an app on my phone and did a beginners workout just to try to loosen up and relax a little.   I only got 3 hours of sleep the night before so I was dragging.

Tuesday- Rest  This day was a Monday Redux.  Seriously, it was rough at work.  I was so glad I didn’t have to run.


Wednesday- 4 miles After a few days off, I was feeling nervous like I forgot how to run.  As you can read here– the run was freakin’ awesome!


Thursday-3.5 miles  Interval ouch.  The workout called for 6×400 with warm up and cool down.  Normally I love 400’s but I was so damn tired and I knew I would be chasing the sunset.    I had an option of rest or a light jog between the 400’s and I chose the rest.  Even with that, the intervals kicked my ass.  My paces were 7:58, 7:53, 8:41, 8:25, 7:56, 8:33.  Not sure what happened with that third one.     I was whipped at the end.  I could not have run another one if I tried.   I was proud that I finished the work out but damn that was hard.

Friday- Rest  Oh crap, I think I broke myself.  I was limping all day and my left knee and shin were pissed.  I was kind of freaking out.  I had 12 miles on the plan the next day, what do I do?!?!    Does it really hurt or am I just being a baby?  I have a mental block with 12 mile runs.  Give me 11 or 13 or 15 and I look forward to them after marathon training, but 12?  I hate them for some reason.   Was I just whining?  I texted Coach Jenny for her opinion and she agreed I should push my run back to Sunday and rest.

Saturday- Rest I attempted to catch up on sleep.  Did I mention Thursday night was another 4 hours if I was lucky?  Then I ran a few errands and read a book-Run!.  I love reading Dean Karnazes’ books.  Even if they make me think crazy thoughts.   I signed up for my first marathon 2 months after reading Ultramarathon Man.  What now?

Sunday- 12 miles  Of course, when my alarm went off I was in the most comfortable moment of sleep that I had had all week.   I hit snooze for 40 minutes before dragging myself out of bed for my run.  My plan called for 6 miles @ 12:00, 5@ 9:30 and the last @ 9:00.   My leg felt a little better but I was planning on taking it easy and keeping an eye on how it felt.  I even had my mom on alert in case I needed a pick up.


I kept it nice and easy in the beginning and just focused on my leg.   Mile 1 was super slow and I managed to keep the bridge mile at 10:00 which is fairly calm considering I usually bolt across it.   At the halfway point I was actually right on pace and I felt ok so I tried to pick up the pace a bit.   I couldn’t get to 9:30 though.  Miles 7, 8, and 9 clocked in at 10:00.  I was still pretty stoked about that though so I was hoping I could keep it up.  Then I slammed right into a wall.  Miles 10 and 11 were 11:18 and 10:57.  Oops.  I didn’t necessarily feel tired but I could not move any faster.  I took so many walk breaks.  I had already run more miles than I thought I was going to pull off so I decided not to stress about the pace.    That said, I was so glad to see my watch hit 12.   Success!

19.5 miles- an improvement over the last few weeks!  Woo hoo!   And now it’s on to race week #1!  Eeek!

How was your week?

I whined a little didn’t I? Oops.

What are you reading?

 

 

 

Run!, Training

Week 36 Training Recap

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

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!

 

Run!, Slacker

Radio silence 

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Long time no share.   I think that was the longest posting break I have taken since I started this blog almost 3 years ago.   I try to stick to a schedule of posting 3x a week so my one post last week was very lonely.  😞

I wanted to post but just didn’t feel like I was in the right head space there for a while.   I ended up taking Wednesday through Saturday off of running as well.    So attempt 1 of changing my weekly schedule didn’t work out.  A migraine rolled in on Wednesday evening and didn’t leave until Saturday.    Sometimes I run through them but this time I just decided to embrace the Slacker and rest.    The migraine was probably partially hormonal and partially due to stress so rest sounded great.  😃  I watched some tv, read some fanfic online (yes I am that nerdy) and maybe ate some things that I shouldn’t have.    I have zero regrets about that donut- I needed it for my mental health.    🙂

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving. Albert Einstein
Just keep moving…. Thanks Pinterest

Work is in the process of getting a little crazier so I decided that I just needed some quiet time.   I work in a location with a smaller staff, only about 6, and 3 have given notice.    All are for different life reasons but the timing still makes me doubt myself as a manager.    There are some things that I have no control over and I know this but still that little voice in my head starts whispering.     Ugh.   Plus with 3 leaving, things are about to get really interesting.   I see some very long days in the future… Very soon.    I am trying going to stay optimistic and it is what is and we will get through it.  Where did the cynical Slacker go?

I am hopeful that I can stick to my usual running of 4x a week throughout  the coming weeks but if I have to drop a day I will.   We’ll see.   Also I need to get back on that schedule, I haven’t hit 4 days a week since the week before SLO.  oops!!   IMG_0336

I did get in some miles on Sunday.   On Saturday, my mother and I had headed into SLO for a little shopping.      One of those stops was the Running Warehouse.    It broke my little Mizuno-loving heart but I exchanged my Inspire’s.    I don’t know what it was but I just could not break them in.    I hate exchanging shoes,  I feel bad that they have to be sent back, but I do not have the room in the budget to just keep buying shoes.   I swapped them out for a pair of the Wave Rider 18’s.   Maybe they are what I should have gone with in the first place.  Hmmm, we’ll see.IMG_0355Sunday was Mother’s Day (Happy belated Mother’s Day to all you mothers!) and the day started with a nice run/ walk with my mom.  We did the usual walk for a bit then I would run ahead and double back.    I was feeling a little tired and sluggish but after 4 days off, I wasn’t complaining.   Plus it was my first run in my new shoes.   🙂    In a completely unimportant note, these shoes sure are pretty, I hope I like them.

So I am hoping to get back to the regularly scheduled programming this week.   Hopefully in all areas, fingers crossed!

How was your weekend?  Mother’s Day?

Ever needed a time out? What did you do?