Tag: miles

Week 14- Somewhat Normal

Upcoming Races:

Destination Races Santa Barbara 13.1- May 13
Rock N Roll San Diego 13.1-June 4

This week was a little over the place. First week post merger, crazy busy and I had to spend time fighting with the IRS to prove that I was me. That was real fun. Identify theft is a never ending story. I was actually a little worried going into the appointment- the picture on my drivers license is over 15 years old, I swear it’s me! I also hit a possum and felt traumatized. 😢

All stress aside, this was a slightly more normal week running wise. Woo hoo! And I ending up buying myself the entire Fast and Furious collection so I had a couple of relaxing weekend evenings.😛

Monday- Rest I took all my gear to work but didn’t really account for the chaos of the first day post merger. Which was silly because this was not my first rodeo. Anyhow, the day was insanely busy and my boots did not cooperate with my feet at all. By the end of the day, I was done. I limped to my car and just went home.

Tuesday- 4 miles I ran from work, I just felt like it was a day for the eucalyptus grove. While I keep my pace easy for my work route I push the threshold in other ways. I often run without water and try to not use my inhaler. In a town that often has a heavy marine layer. It sounds crazy but I do it every couple of weeks as a workout of sorts for my lungs. I always have my inhaler with me if I need it but I like to try run the whole run without using it.

Wednesday- Rest– Once again, Wednesday is a black hole. I am sure I did something but I have no idea what.

Thursday- 2 runs, 2.6 miles each Grrr, I had to leave work early for my IRS appointment and had hoped I would have enough time to get in a 5 mile run before I had a tire rotation appointment. Yeah no. I squeezed in 2.6 which started sluggish and ended speedy- 8:50 pace for the .6. Then it was off the get my tires done. Once home, I managed to head out for another 2.6 in the evening. This were more evenly pace miles and I learned that the elementary school is a madhouse after 6. I was dodging cars right and left and lost track of how many times I stopped to avoid getting hit. Aaagh!!! Just get me home! 5.2 miles for the day.

Friday- Rest Oh I ate so much food! It was my 10 year anniversary at work (even with the new company) and my boss and coworkers brought me donuts and pizza!

Saturday- 10 miles I woke up with a headache and I knew there was a cycling event on my running route so I decided to go back to sleep. The rain that came through on Friday kept the temps down so I headed out for my long run around 4. Oh man, the wind was nuts at some points. I felt like I was being blown backwards. My legs felt fine for this run and I didn’t really feel tired but I couldn’t ever really get my head in the game. My stomach started to cramp around mile 7 but considering what I had eaten over the past few days, I really couldn’t blame it. It wasn’t a bad run by any means, it was just meh. It did reinforce my opinion that I hate running west across the bridge. East- no problem, west? Yuck.

Sunday- Rest Well, crap, my calves were sore. The PureFlow’s seem to be working out but I forgot how long it took me to transition to a 4mm drop. Oops.

19.2 miles for the week. That missing .8 kind of bothers me but hey it’s 7 more miles than last week. I was super tired this week but finally figured when I am not going to be? Might as well just run. 😛

How was your week?

Anyone race this weekend?

Watch any movies lately?

Week 13- Free Pass

Upcoming Races:

Destination Races Santa Barbara 13.1- May 13
Rock N Roll San Diego 13.1-June 4

With so much going on this week with the merger going through, having run Livermore and still not feeling 100% I decided to give myself a free pass this week. If I wanted to run, yay, if all I wanted to was sleep then I would sleep. The only thing I had to do was get through each work day- long as they were. And damn they were long. Plus my cough was in full force so customers occasionally looked at me like I had the plague. 😛 I needed running to be a stress reliever not to add to the stress that the week might bring.

Monday- Rest– I sort of had a vacation day. I say sort of because this was the week of all the conference calls and meetings so while I had the morning off, I had a meeting in the afternoon. I luckily could go to a closer location than normal but it was rough going from comfy clothes to slacks, heels and a blazer.

Tuesday- Rest- Work started an hour and a half early. Combine that with my commute and ouch that was an early morning. I had to use my Knuckle Lights just to open my gate! I also had a doctor’s appointment and something in the waiting room really aggravated my cough. I would cough uncontrollably, excuse myself to go outside, feel fine, go back in and it would all start over again. Finally after the fourth time, a nurse came and opened the door and something about that made the air in the room level out and I stopped coughing. I was so tired after that though so I just went home.

Wednesday- 4 miles This day was equally as long. Work also started an hour and a half early again. I was tired after work but I wanted to try and run. Good lord that first mile was hard. I was so sluggish and just tired. I sat on a bench and regrouped and changed my run/ walk intervals from 3/1’s to 2/:30’s. It helped. I actually ended up pulling off 3 progressively faster paced miles after that.

Thursday- 3.5 miles Thankfully, this day had a much more normal start time. I was still tired and the first mile was still ugly. The next 2 weren’t speedy but ended up being very consistent- like they were the exact same pace. Don’t think I could do that again. maybe I should try sometime?

Friday- Merger day! Over an 11 hour day and I was toast. And with that it’s official, after 9 years, 11 months and 20 days, I work for another company.

Saturday- Rest- I thought about my long run but that’s as far as it got. I was so damn tired. So instead I ran some errands and ended the evening by going to see Power Rangers. I actually did a journalism project on Power Rangers way back in the day (8th grade!) so it was pretty much a given that I was seeing this in the theater. 😛

Sunday- 5 miles I had planned on a 10 mile long run where I met my mom in the middle but when my alarm went off I just couldn’t. I kept telling myself to get up but I was still so tired. It finally got to the point that there was no way I could get up, get ready and run to the meeting point in time so I texted my mom and bailed. Instead I headed out in the afternoon knowing it was likely going to be a rough ride. It was over 80 so I wasn’t even going to attempt 10 but I was thinking about 8. That thought last 1.5 miles. I was hot, I was wearing shorts for the first time in 5 months and they kept trying to turn into underwear. My stomach started to cramp and my knee was hurting. I sat outside the elementary school just to take a breather. I decided 5 was a good number.

12.5 miles for the week. Not great but for merger week and still being sick at the beginning, I’ll take it! I made it through the week so woo hoo!

Now, things should calm down a bit. Work may be crazy but the hours should normalize… I hope. I am hoping to bring the miles back up this week though. The only thing I think I have planned is a dentist appointment and I need my tires rotated. Those are easy, right?

How was your week?

Share something fun!

Week 12- Under the Weather

Upcoming Races:

Livermore 13.1 -March 26!!
Destination Races Santa Barbara 13.1- May 13
Rock N Roll San Diego 13.1 June 4

This will likely not be very long. 😛 Not a lot happened last week unless you count coughing and sniffling. Unfortunately I have yet to see any ab gains from all the coughing. 😛 A girl can dream right?

Monday- Sick- I called in sick. Who am I??? I got up and attempted to get ready for work but when it took me 20+ minutes to attempt to brush my teeth I conceded defeat. I spent most of the day in bed. The only movement was to move to the comfy chair when the bed got old.

Tuesday/ Wednesday- Rest/sick- I made it to work both days but I was barely hanging on. I was still coughing all the damn time and I had the worst sinus pressure building. Grrrr. I slept poorly all week as I spent most nights coughing.

Thursday- 2 miles- With Livermore 3 days away, I figured I needed to do a test run. I still felt miserable but I also needed to be realistic. I bundled up like it was 30* outside ( it was 60) and headed out for short run. Yeah, I walked the first mile and ran/ walked the second. It wasn’t miserable but it wasn’t exactly pleasant either.

Friday- Rest- My ears went funny on the way to work. I was starting to seriously consider dropping from the half marathon to the 5K. Work tired me out, how was I supposed run 13 miles? Oh and the forecast still called for rain on race day.

Saturday- Road trip! I packed and headed on up to Livermore. Mom was along for the ride like usual and she let me know exactly what she thought of me running while sick. 😛 I was still debating about a 5k drop down. After an uneventful drive up and a stop to eat for lunch at Pieology we arrived at the expo to pick up my bib. After checking into the hotel we tried to do a little shopping at a nearby outlet mall but but we literally drove around the parking lot for 20 minutes with 100 other cars looking for a parking spot. No thanks. After dinner it was back to the hotel and an attempt to get an a decent night’s sleep. Fail.

Sunday- Livermore Half? – more to come on that.

Weekly miles- 15.1. Guess that tells you what I ran. 😛

It was a long week of not doing a lot but I feel exhausted. I am really hoping to be on the upward swing of this thing. I miss sleep, I miss running, I miss what little breathing capacity I had before. Ha!

This week coming is going to be interesting. It’s merger week, so there is lots of overtime happening and some things are up in the air. It’s going to be a very play it by ear week but I am hoping to get my mileage back up. There was a trail race I was thinking about on Saturday but I can’t commit due to the up in air work schedule so I’m taking as a sign that I should probably not run up a mountain a week after a race.

How was your week?

Any plans this week?

Weekly Recap 10- Hello Sun

Upcoming Races:

Livermore 13.1 -March 26
Destination Races Santa Barbara 13.1- May 13

This week was a little over the place. When I think back on it, it feels more like a month than just 7 days.

Monday- Rest I woke up feeling broken. I hurt everywhere and felt exhausted. I felt like calling in sick but someone already had the night before so I knew I was going to work. I dragged myself in but just felt worse as the day went on. I made it through the day and treated myself to In N Out on the way home. One of the few times I allow myself it is when I am not feeling well.

Tuesday- Rest I was feeling a little better but still not right. I figured why chance it.

Wednesday- 2.5 miles I headed to lake path after work to get in a few miles. We have been having some crazy wind and for some reason I didn’t have my Buff. My ears were so damn cold. I admit I turn into a big baby when my ears get cold. I made it 2.5 miles before I called it. Plus I was still afraid of getting sick. With a half so close, I didn’t want to chance it. Being sick for pretty much all of December is still giving me flashbacks. Which is a bummer because my stride actually felt on point for that second mile.

Thursday- 4 miles I set out from work and told myself I was going to do an easy 3 mile run. Somehow that turned into the fastest 4 miler I’ve done in 6 months. Oops! Maybe it was the pre-workout from Beachbody I am testing? Maybe I was just feeling good? I don’t know. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still way slower than I was but it’s nice to see the numbers going in the right direction. Plus the State Park was open for the first time since Lucifer so I had to run through the Eucalyptus grove.

Friday- Rest Same ol’ Friday except I started the day in a great mood which is rare. It lasted until around 3 when work kicked me in the face. Thanks.

Saturday-10 miles The plan was to run early so I could finish at the high school and meet my mom for lunch after my run and her tennis practice so I dragged myself out of bed in the morning. A mile into my run, I was rethinking things. I was stripping off my long sleeve because I was already hot. I was keeping to 3/1’s but seemed to be keeping a decent long run pace. I think- I’ve taken the pace off my watch face. I ran into an old friend and stopped to chat for a moment. I did 2 laps of a hill, I ran across the the bridge at what felt like a restrained pace considering how I usually sprint across it. Pace wise and legs wise I was feeling good- however I was just past mile 5 and I knew I was going to have a problem. I was hot, too hot. 10 in the morning and it was pushing 75. Which, don’t get me wrong is amazing but it came out of nowhere and I was not prepared. I was overheating and running out of water. I slowed to a crawl going up a hill as I tried to cool down and figure something out. I texted my mother to see if anyone was using the high school track. My original route took the long way to the high school but had no stores or working water fountains along the way. The high school is the only place in town I know the water fountains work. I finally just decided to take the shortcut to the high school, empty track or not. I couldn’t maintain the 3/1’s anymore, I was just in survival mode. I made it to the school, refilled my water bottle and was able to finish my run on the thankfully empty track. I love the sun and the warmth but I was so not ready for it on this run.

Sunday- Rest Shopping around SLO counts as active recovery right? Plus some foam rolling. And I picked up some pretty new shoes, fingers crossed they work!

16.5 miles for the week. Slowly going up. I won’t lie, I’ve been in a running funk, I’m hoping DST gives me a good kick in the pants. Plus I have a new or old mentality so we’ll see if that helps too.

How was your week?

How was your weekend weather?

Week 8 Recap- Sleepy Time

Training for:

Livermore 13.1 -March 26
Destination Races Santa Barbara 13.1- May 13

This was a blink and you missed it week but it wasn’t without its own headaches. That said it wasn’t a bad week it was just odd. Well unless you count me finding out that someone has already filed a tax return using my social. 😒

Monday- Nada– I had big plans to run but it was cold and windy and I just couldn’t make myself get out the door. I usually love having Mondays off so I can get in a good run but the cold front rolling in just made me a big baby. My toes have been so damn cold!

Tuesday- Rest- The work day was straight chaos. With the power issues last Friday and this being the first day back after a 3 day weekend, things were nuts. I wore a pair of old faithful boots but by the end of the day my feet hurt so bad that I wanted to cry. My shoes turned on me!

Wednesday- 2.7 miles- I headed out for my usual post work route run. Except I hadn’t taken into account the cold and the wind. I wasn’t dressed right with just capris and a long sleeve. The winds were in excess of 20 mph and they almost took my Buff off my head twice. My wool Buff that I recently accidentally dried. I hit the spot where I take the sunset pics and decided it was too cold and turned around to head for the car.

Funny moment on the way back- if I am coming up on an intersection the same time as a vehicle or two and don’t want to play the “no you go, no you go” game, I stop before and stretch or fake tie my shoe. This time one of those cars was a cop car and I guess they thought I looked shady. I got the stink eye for a moment when I straightened back up. 😛 Nothing to see here, move along. Even though when I damn near had an asthma attack 2 blocks later on a street corner I was wishing they could come back.

Thursday- 5 miles. Blood work test fail #1. Doctor said that I did not need to fast for a glucose test. He even wrote it on the work order. I took time off work in the afternoon and headed back to home town for the testing. He was wrong, the lab refused to do the testing. Grrr. Now what? I went running! I dressed a little smarter this time but could have used another layer. I’ve determined that as long as we have rain in the forecast, speed is not likely because my lungs just can’t handle the moisture in the air. No sooner do I accept that than Strava informs me that I broke my previous record for 400m and wasn’t even trying…

Friday- Rest Glucose test fail #2. And then success. I tried to get the process started in work town before work but was unable to, the line was insane. Luckily my boss is awesome so once everyone got to work I went back to the lab and got the process started. And then went back and forth for the next 3+ hours. I didn’t finish the glucose testing until 1:30. By then I was hangry and already bruising. My lunch was around 2 and I went through a drive thru intending to treat myself to some french fries but I ended up being lured by a picture of giant burger so I ordered that and some fries. Instead of feeling stuffed after eating it, I still felt oddly empty. It was very odd. I was so hungry all day.

Saturday- Rest. I crashed hard the night before around 9:30 which is odd for me. Normally I am up late reading and catching up on tv on Friday nights. I slept for 12 hours! It wasn’t un-interrupted but that’s a little ridiculous! Even when I did get up and get going I had zero energy. After doing a few errands I ended up taking a long nap. I had planned on running both Saturday and Sunday but decided that my body was trying to tell me something.

Sunday- Rest Yeah, this was just a total lack of motivation on my part. I kept telling myself to change and get out the door for 10 miles but I couldn’t actually do it. It was cold and my toes were frozen in my slippers in my house and no matter how much I berated myself I couldn’t make myself run. I just kept pushing it back later and later. #longrunfail

7.7 miles for the week. I’m not going to say ouch because missing my long run was entirely up to me. Was a case of the blah’s worthy of missing a long run? Maybe, maybe not. Only time will tell. I do know I am over the cold weather. Timehop keeps showing me pics from last year and I was running in shorts and a tank. I miss those days. This weird cold front and crazy wind, rain just needs to take a break. I’m not saying it’s entirely responsible for my lagging motivation but it’s part of it.

How was your week?

Do you have warm weather? Wanna share?