Tag: miles

Week 31-Of Concerts and Poor Sleep

Upcoming Races-

Salinas Valley Half Marathon

Every time I think I have a handle on things, wham, curve ball. That’s life right? I don’t have a big opener this week so let’s get right to it!

Monday- 2.3 miles I think I got about an hour of sleep Sunday night. I was super tired after work but what else is new. I headed to the lake path because I wanted to at least get my new trail shoes dirty. That was the upside to the run. The downside was the 93* temp and the crazy high heart rate. I was practically crawling and couldn’t get it down so I made it a short one.

Tuesday- Rest Work ran late and I didn’t make it home until after 7.

Wednesday- AFI!!! One of my favorite bands came to town and I wasn’t missing that. The concert was awesome. It was a late night but it was awesome.

Thursday- 2.3 miles. I’m sensing a pattern here. Not sure if it’s a good one. 😛 I was so tired after work I was thisclose to just skipping my run. But I made myself change and headed for the river route. I ended up sticking entirely to the paved portions and keeping it short but it didn’t suck. I was glad I squeezed in a few miles. That was until I went to brush my teeth later and my left leg buckled… and then did it again. Something hurt right where the leg and hip connect. Umm, not cool.

Friday- Rest All the crappy sleep and long hours are catching up to me and I was a little slap happy at work. One coworker thought it was hilarious and the other said she was just going to back away slowly. My leg was still not happy but there wasn’t any more buckling.

Saturday- Salinas Valley Half Marathon That was an early morning. Race recap to come. 🙂

Sunday- Rest Serious rest. I slept in until almost 10. Well, kind of, I woke up a few times but refused to get out of bed. I thought about running in the afternoon but I took a long nap instead. Like passed out on the ground for almost 2 hours. Woke up, moved to a chair and fell asleep again. I decided to listen to what my body was shouting.

17.7 miles for the week. A run on Sunday would have put me over 20 but like I said my body was trying to tell me something. I know that part of my tiredness is stemming from work and part is coming from my bed. My bed has decided to die in the last month or so. I swear it went from fine to crap overnight. Sleeping has been rough. But a new bed is not exactly in the cards right now. Grrr.

How was your week?

Ever have an odd pain come out of nowhere?

Last concert you saw?

Week 30- Goodbye July

Upcoming Races-

Salinas Valley Half Marathon

This was a calmer week at work thankfully. I’m still feeling a little ragged around the edges but I think we’re pulling it together. Have I mentioned my coworkers are rock stars?

The hours were a little more normal and I was able to get in a few more miles than week 29. Not a lot but a few. 😛

Monday- 2.5 miles. I packed all my running gear planning to run in work town after work but then work kicked my ass. I was so tired I decided to just go home. Something on the drive home made me change my mind and I changed super fast at home and ran out the door. I was able to get in a short 2.5 miles in my birthday shoes. 😀

Tuesday- Rest. I made my first #bibchat in weeks! Sweet!

Wednesday- Fair!! I took all my running gear to work but realized I had left my pack and inhaler in my garage after Monday’s run. Womp womp. So sudden change of plans- my mother and I hit up the fair after work. Funnel cake for the win.😀

Thursday- migraine from hell. By the end of work, I could barely see straight. I thought about running to see if it helped but I was also concerned it would make it worse. Combine that with the insane traffic I was fearing I would face going home and I just decided to head home. Why insane traffic? Garth Brooks. He performed at our little fair- 2 concerts in a row- and getting home was a little tricky.

Friday- Rest The headache was still lingering plus with working open to close, I was just exhausted. I haven’t been sleeping well this month.

Saturday- 10 miles Despite how tired I was, I forced myself out of bed on Saturday morning to get in my long run. Well, I did hit snooze when the alarm went off at 7. I knew I wasn’t going to be setting any speed records so a little bit warmer wouldn’t be horrible. It actually ended up being my slowest 10 miler ever, there was a lot of walking the last 3.5 miles. Ok, mostly walking. But this run was just meant to be time on my feet and not to worry about pace. I think I accomplished that. 😛 Then I spent the rest of the day trying to relax. I randomly went and saw Spiderman in the evening…not bad.

Sunday- Rest. So not the plan. I planned on sleeping in, running some errands, doing some chores and then braving the heat for a few miles. Everything was going according to plan right up to the laundry. I went to grab the first load out of the dryer and noticed a funny smell. It smelled like burnt plastic. And everything I had just washed and dried stunk of it. Did I mention the washer was full of freshly washed sheets? So then I spent the afternoon trying to line dry everything without a line. Lay it on something, point a fan at it, come back in 20 minutes and rotate. Everything that had been washed had to be rewashed. Yay. That was fun. It felt like a workout but it wasn’t running. 3 loads of laundry dried by 2 fans.

12.5 miles for the week. Like I said, not a huge improvement over last week but a step in the right direction.

How was your weekend?

Had any appliance issues lately?

Last movie you saw?

Week 24- Heat Wave

It’s begun.

The work week was long and they are only going to get longer from here on out. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. The last big conversion/ merger I went through was 4 years ago and I ended up falling back to running 1x during the week and both weekend days because I was putting in so much overtime. Oddly enough, that’s also when I was the fastest but I am sure the 2 have no correlation. 😛 Difference is, last time we were the company doing the buying not so there wasn’t a huge learning curve for me- it was just a super busy time. This time, I’m looking at a Grand Canyon of things I don’t know and not knowing what I don’t know makes me uneasy. I am trying not to stress about it though.

Trying. I need to read more. For relaxation I mean. So I ordered some new books.

Monday- 2.5 miles First day back at work. Couple hundred emails, schedule overload, work ran late, and we were down 50% of our staff. By the end of the day I had zero desire to run after work. Zero. But I changed, laced up and headed for home town. I turned it into a game- could I keep my heart rate in the green zone? Yeah, no. But I tried. 😛

Tuesday- Rest I meant to do something productive workout wise but I didn’t. And something about the shoes I wore to work pissed off my right foot.

Wednesday- Rest Meeting #1 of meeting/ training polooza of the next month. The day started abnormally early and by day’s end I was just living in migraine city. I left my gym bag full of running gear at work and just went home.

Thursday- 4 miles It had been too long since I ran in work town so that was my plan. Success! Similar MO to Monday- try to stay in the green zone. Hell for the first 2 miles I had trouble getting into the green. I felt like I was working but I guess the temp in the 60’s and a downhill made things easier than I thought. Then there was the climb in mile 4 and my heart rate went right past green and into threshold. Grrrr. Once home I did 8 minutes with my kettle bell. Ouch.

Friday- Rest Seriously 8 minutes with a kettle bell should not kick my ass that much.

Saturday- 9 miles bike I admit I slept in. Then it was 106 and there was no way I was running in that. I stuck to the bike. Except I still haven’t replaced my fan so I was still ended up a sweaty mess.

Sunday- 7.3 miles Long run fail. I headed out around 8 to get in my planned long run of 10 miles but it was already too late. It was 80 when I started. It wasn’t bad in the beginning but it never got any better. I started to feel the warmth around mile 4. My mother was supposed to meet me around mile 5.5 and she was going to walk while I finished the rest. She drove past me before I even hit 5. I took a shorter route to her but I knew I wasn’t hitting 10. I decided to try for 8 but at 7.3 when I was running- not sure what I was doing could be called running- brought me past the car again, I said F* it. It was 90 degrees and it wasn’t even 10 yet. I had somehow gone through 38 oz’s of water in 7 miles and both my packs were empty. I was done.

13.8 miles run, 9 miles bike, 1 strength workout

Not exactly what I was hoping for this week but also not too shabby for a Slacker like me. Now if I can just drag myself out of bed earlier on the weekends.

How was your week?

What’s your weather like?

Week 23- Vacation!

Awww, the awesomeness of a stay-cation. I planned this week to do nothing really. I knew there were things I should do- like clean my car, overhaul my closet, switch out the winter running stuff for the summer, go to the dry cleaners, make an eye appointment- yadda yadda but I overall I wanted a really chill week.

After 3 half’s in 5 weeks and knowing that July will be a little crazy I figured a down week would be a good thing. My boss is taking the majority of July off and we will be going through a system conversion. My next scheduled race isn’t until Las Vegas- I know I will add more before then but right now I figured a chill week would be good.

I slept in. I finished Eli Stone. I caught up on some blog stuff. I finally watched Beauty and the Beast– meh. I went and saw Wonder Woman– great. I did move some of the winter and summer stuff. I had a doctor’s appointment. I wasn’t completely useless. 😛

Monday- Rest My legs hurt in the fun way that flat course make them ache. I actually wanted to get in a short recovery run but I spent the majority of the day messing with my new phone- I had some technological issues. My phone dying in the starting corral before the race was the final incentive to go upgrade my phone. I’ve only been meaning to for the last 8 months. 😛 I moved up to the iPhone+ and I am loving it.

Tuesday- 3.1 miles Wow, this was slow. Yeah it was 90 degrees but still. Let’s just call it a recovery run. My legs weren’t sore, I just couldn’t get them into gear. Oh well. And I discovered that my new phone does not fit in my running belt. Oops.

Wednesday- 3.3 miles You have to run on Global Running Day, right?! I headed out mid afternoon again but it was a good 15* cooler. This was a better run than the day before but I may have worn the wrong shoes. Lately whenever I wear the Brooks, I tend to feel a little broken after my runs. My legs were pretty achy the rest of the day.

Thursday- 7.6 miles bike My legs were still feeling pretty achy from the day before so I just decided to spend some time on the bike. I felt like I was working up a decent sweat but according to my watch I could never get my heart rate out of the easy stage. I can’t figure out if my heart rate monitor is working- on runs my heart rate is really high but I could not get it higher on the bike. It was probably higher when my mother and I were sprinting to the movie theater that evening since we parked so far away.

Friday- 4 miles Nice, easy-ish run over on the river path. My legs were were feeling mostly better but still not quite right. Hmm. I am also over the crazy wind lately. I know I’ll regret saying that when it’s 110 outside though.

Saturday- Rest Everything I planned to do went out the window because well, ummm, I made a little purchase-

And it took up most of my day. 😛. Seriously- emptying my trunk was ridiculous- am I packing for a Ultra I forgot?

Sunday- Rest I planned to run but when it came right down to it, I just didn’t. It was my last day before going back to work and I just felt like being lazy. So I let it happen.

10.4 miles running
7.6 mile bike

It was a half lazy week and half quasi productive week. Not bad for a vacation/ recovery week. Really, who can complain about a week where you get a new phone and a new car? And now it’s back to real life. Working and running and NO more spending money!😛

How was your week?

Give Me a Boost

Disclaimer: I received a pair of Adida’s Ultra Boost X to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

I think I’m in love.

If you’ve been following along for awhile now, you know I’ve bee struggling with shoes since last year when they changed my beloved PureFlows to an unrecognizable shoe. I’ve been through numerous shoes since- various brands and types. Some I’ve suffered through and then “donated” to my mother’s emergency stash for her tennis team and others I full on returned to the store. Sorry Running Warehouse. I hate returning shoes, I feel bad. So when an opportunity came up to try the Ultra Boost X from Adidas you’d think I would jump on it. But I deliberated- I’ve become leery of new shoes and these looked different. Curiosity won me over. Then I was overly impatient to get my hands on them or more like my feet in them. 😛

These are so different than any of my other shoes. In some ways they feel like more shoe than I am used to and in other ways they feel like less shoe. The more shoe comes from the sole- I went from a 4mm drop to a 10mm drop. Whereas my previous upper was more of standard upper and the Ultra Boost X foots your foot like a sock. In the beginning I wondered if I even needed the shoelaces or if they were just for looks. And a floating arch? I could stick my finger through it- how would that work?

Ok- first some data straight from Adidas-

Adidas snip

Ok, first impressions- what the heck is on my feet? They felt so tight. I kept loosening the shoelaces. Turns out I just wasn’t used to the arch support. I kept trying thinner socks before I realized the shoes are actually slightly too big. Oops. Thicker socks and 3 runs in was all it took and I was all adjusted to the extra support and cushion. 🙂

Then I started to notice something. My shin pain was going away. My knee pain was a thing of the past. My feet and ankles were happy. Was this for real? It had been so long my legs hadn’t hurt in some way I felt like it was a trap. I was to the point that I was wearing them for every run but the longest run I had completed was 8 miles. I didn’t know what to do about San Diego. Should I try the Ultra Boost X for 13 miles? Spoiler: I did and they were awesome, my feet felt great for all 13 miles.

In short I am loving these shoes. I do have some concerns though. 1- go to a store and try them on. Mine are big, which I correct with either thick socks or 2 pairs, but I think I probably could have and should have sized down. Never thought I would say that. 2- the cost, these shoes are not cheap but then again injuries and pains aren’t either so it’s 6 in one, half dozen in another. One of the Pro’s who met with an Adidas rep said that they were made to last longer than most shoes so we shall see. You know I will report back on that. 😛 That said, I have already added a price alert to ShoeKicker to let me know if they ever go on sale. 😀😀. Too bad Adidas doesn’t want to give me a pair in every color. Until then I’ll just keep running in these.

Ever worn Adidas?

What do you run in?