Tag: miles

Bad Math

I did pretty damn decent with my training plan the first 4-5 weeks. Well, by my standards.

Weeks 6-9? Well, those were another story.

Disclaimer: I received an entry into CDA Half Marathon 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 was fine with how out of shape I am. I know it. I do. But even though I know this and I work with numbers everyday, all day, I was working bad math. It finally dawned on me during my failed long run last Sunday.

I set out for 8 miles on Sunday. Did I go early in the morning to avoid the very warm, i.e 90 degrees, May weather? No, of course not. I headed out around 2PM. Will I never learn??

It was so warm that my “run” soon turned into a walk. At first I thought that was fine. I mean, let’s be real, CDA is in 2-3 weeks, there was already going to be a lot of walking. And I would still be faster than I was at Napa in 2020. Except my brain suddenly learned how to do math again and I realized I wouldn’t be faster than Napa.

Sh**.

I finished Napa in 2:58:21. A pace of 13:28. A pace that included 3 or 4 bathroom stops as well as a lot of walking. But that pace also means there was a lot more running in there than I remember. I can’t maintain that pace by walking alone. I don’t even know if I can maintain that pace with running- I maybe haven’t been real with myself on how much I have been walking. Also the race has a measly 500 feet of elevation gain so I can’t even count on a boost from hills.

So do I try to work on my walking pace over the next few weeks or should I add in more running? Or just accept that my first live race in over a year will also be my personal worst? There are worse things I know but it’s still getting under my skin.

So, that’s where my running is these days.

Dilemma

A week and a half ago, I did 18 ish miles in Yosemite. This past Sunday I did 5 at a new to me trail- Riconada- in my area. Both days my feet let me know that my new trail shoes were not winning any points. Boo. Which puts me in a predicament. I need shoes! And it’s not for lacking of trying.

My first few years running trails, I had perfect shoes. First Mizuno Wave Hayate followed by a move into Under Armor Horizon HTT. Loved both of them with no issues but neither shoe is made anymore. Not only that, neither shoe company makes any trail shoes anymore. WTH? Which has started a 2ish years of trying all the trail shoes. Let’s recap-

First up- Brooks Cascadia. Anytime I say their name, I hiss a little and call them devil shoes. Pretty sure I broke my foot in the them during Spooner’s Cove back in Dec 2019. 2020 and my lack of running gave my foot time to heal and nope- I never went to the doctor. Did get rid of the shoes. Full disclosure- the rep at the store talked me into buying mens and they ended up being too big. I might like the woman’s version but can’t bring myself to order them.

Both my first trail shoes were pretty minimal and the Cascadia was a beast of a shoe so maybe that was my problem???

Next- Altra Lone Peak. Felt good up until 5 miles… and only on flat. My feet slid around like crazy when running downhill and I needed more cushion. I tend to run downhill like a 5 year old without brakes so I need my feel to feel secure. As for the cushion, I mean I am carrying 50ish more pounds than I used to so that may make sense.

3- Merrell SkyFire. Ok, ok, not bad. Nice blend of running shoe meets hiker. Ok, we may have something here. Until I ate trail going down the Grand Canyon. Son of a!

4- Topo Ultraventure. Kind of like a cross between the Skyfire and the Lone Peak. Traction was amazing, cushion felt good. Until my first 8-9 mile trail in them and I think I broke my big toe. Ok, dropping a bottle on it that night was probably what did it fully in but it was already severely bruised from that day. Returned.

5- Nike Terra Kiger– Nope. Never made it out of the house. Went back in the back and back to the Running Warehouse. For a person who wants snug shoes- this was a form fitting brick.

6- Altra Timp– Tried a size 9, felt way too small. There went that idea. Exchanged for a 9.5 (my usual size). Holy fire of arch pain Batman. Returned.

7. Brooks Caldera- good lord, that’s a cushiony shoe! It also made me about 2 inches taller and that it just too much shoe for me. Back to the store without running in them.

At what point does the Running Warehouse fire me as a customer? And before you @ me about buying from a local running store, the Warehouse is my local running store. Shout out to local businesses going big. But the storefront still hasn’t really reopened since COVID.

8- Merrell MQM Flex 2 I liked the SkyFire but wanted more traction so I searched the Merrell site for a possible other option. They started out good. I’ve put more miles on them then any of the other shoes. But I didn’t really test them until Yosemite. The path was basic so I didn’t really need to worry about traction but my feet were so damn sore, I almost tore them off. My bad toe even reared its head again. Then in Riconada, I slipped 4 or 5 times on the rockier parts of the trail. Which is most of our local trails. WTH again!

So now I don’t know what to do. What else is there to try? I know there is Hoka, but that seems like it will be way too much shoe for me. I’ve looked at Saucony but nothing jumps out at me as the answer. I have dreams of running a 50K but I can’t even begin to contemplate that if I can’t last more than a few miles or a couple of hours in a pair of shoes.

So seriously, if anyone has any tips- throw them my way!

Wheezy

Last week, I learned that I could laugh myself into an asthma attack. That was new.

Friday rolled around and we were all little stressed, tired and slaphappy at work. I had been going back and forth with someone at another office, trying to get a document right and each version came back worse. I finally lost it laughing hysterically. Then the wheezing; followed by the struggle. My boss actually figured it out first and went for my purse. Which, surprisingly had my inhaler in it. I admit I rarely carry it in my purse. I have one in every running pack but I rarely need it at work. Oops. But like I said, I luckily had it that day.

Last week wasn’t horrible in the training department. Well, not sure if I can call it training yet.

I rode the spin bike one day and decide to keep my Peleton membership now that the 2 month trial has ended. I don’t have a Peleton bike nor does my bike even have an onboard computer but I do like not thinking. The instructor on the app tells me what to do and I do it. Not thinking is great.

I also made it out for a run after work! Which is kind of shocking as it is only the second time I have run after work since transferring to this office. 9 Months ago. Ouch. But I did it! I made it out for 3 miles on Wednesday. I also said goodbye to a favorite pair of crops that night as the mirror in the work bathroom let me know they no longer pass the see through test. Oops. I ran with a quarter zip tied around my waist. Ha!

On Saturday I was going to head to the high school to help my mother swap out a tennis net or 2 as they are finally starting high school sports. Then I was going to run my Napa Valley virtual mile on the track. Except the track was full of people. So I headed out for a short run from the school. Except I got trapped in the school and ended up having to jump a fence to get out. Didn’t break my face but my mile turned into a 15 minute joke. Whatever, I’m going with it. 🙂

Sunday was another adventure at the state park. We didn’t get lost but my new shoes failed the test. After getting lost a few weeks ago, I knew the Topo’s weren’t for me so I did some research and ordered a pair of Altra Timps. They were fine going uphill. Once we turned around, I damn near took them off and ran barefoot. It likely would have hurt less. Between the surprising February heat and the dumb shoes, we didn’t meet our original goal. The plan was to do Oats Peak which is 10.8 miles round trip trail. We turned at the last trail break at 3 and headed back. I changed my shoes in the lot and we did another mile-ish on the Bluff Trail. Also found a cool little hidden cove I had never seen before. It ended up being just under 8 miles for the day.

So not a complete waste of the week.

8 Days

2020 was not what any of us had expected. Instead of training and running my third marathon, I was a lazy layabout for most of the year when not at work. Oops.

So when my Santa Rosa medal and swag arrived in the mail in early December I was a little stumped. Oh yeah, I was supposed to run that. Huh. What do I do now? There was no way I could run or walk 26.2 miles in one day. Was I supposed to bury it a drawer? Save it for next year? Hmmmm.

Yes, hmmm. I couldn’t do 26 miles in a day but could I do it in a week? 7 days?

I know running that in a week is nothing like running a marathon in reality but also truth moment- I logged 33 miles in November. All of November. And November was a good month for me in 2020. 26.2 miles in a week was asking quite a lot of my body actually. But I was on PTO for a week so why not try it?

I even made a teeny tiny Google sheet to track my miles and times.

I notched just under 4 miles on Monday with that numb foot mess of my Hot Chocolate 5K. Great start to the plan right?

Tuesday, I dragged the old spin bike out of the back shed and down to the garage. Dropped it on my foot and managed a 20 minute ride after cleaning the hell out of the bike. Spiders, eek! But also, a ride doesn’t count.

Wednesday saw me turning in 4 miles that were actually ok. I read a something on Twitter that actually reframed my thought process a bit and it really helped. Shocking, I know.

Thursday, I hit up the lake path for the first time in months and ran 4 laps. That added another 4.62 miles to my total. Yes, I was being that precise. Everything helped. I was also ensuring to keep plenty of walking in my miles. I mean, let’s be real- both of my real marathons contained a lot of walking and I am not a complete idiot. I know how out of shape I am.

Which was made apparent Friday, when I was feeling pretty crappy and never made it out for my run. Crap.

Saturday saw a spendy trip to REI with my brother as well as hike up Three Bridges. Good god, I cannot keep up with him. Another 3.62 miles added on. And steep ones at that.

Sunday, I headed out for 4 and then 5. But then thought, well, I do need to run a 10K for the Holiday Running Festival so why not? It’s been a long time since I went for a run and then decided to add on miles. It was a good feeling. 10K done and around 6.5 miles added.

But, that was day 7 and I hadn’t hit 26.2 miles. Crap. Whatever, it’s 2020, who needs rules?

Monday was my last day of PTO and out I went for my last push. 3.45 miles that I pretty much crawled as yes, I was feeling it in my legs and I was tired. 26.45 miles in 8 consecutive days.

I know most people wouldn’t count it, hell a lot runners run 26 miles on their weekend runs- but this was a lot for me, right now. Both physically and mentally. I feel like I did something to earn that medal though.

I also may have found something I was missing out there during those miles. Haven’t felt that in a long, long while, so yes, I will hold this medal proudly.

Giant Race SAn Francisco- Recap

Disclaimer: I received an entry into Giant Race- San Francisco 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!

Labor Day weekend was the San Francisco Giant Race. I was signed up for the Lou Seal Challenge- the 10K and the 5K. Had the race happened IRL, I would have been running both of those on the same day. Had the race happened IRL, I think my motivation to train might not have taken such a huge hit this year. But it did and I knew I did not have the fitness to “race” both on the same day.

One of the benefits of virtual racing is the flexibility. Can’t run them both on the same day? Then I will run them on back to back days. Well, at least that was the plan. Also, I appreciate the virtual races right now as they actually motivate me to get my butt out the door and move.

Race weekend was Labor Day Weekend and it was predicted to be a scorcher. Actually my town did break local records and hit 117 and 115 on Saturday and Sunday. So, I ran for the ocean. See what I did there?? Hehe. 🤣

I made it to the beach early for me and thankfully it wasn’t crowded. The downside was that it was high tide so that did put me closer to people that I had wanted. It also meant that the sand wasn’t as hard packed as I usually like. Oops, but still doable.

Ok, total honesty- I am really out of shape like I recently restarted Couch to 5K out of shape- so I knew there was no way this was going to be “raced”. So I told myself I had to run the 10k from start to finish without any stops- no breaks to catch my breath, no breaks to make my time look better- so in other words like a real race.

I started from the Dog beach and ran towards the pier. I was using Couch to 5K for the first 30 minutes and then just an interval timer for the rest. A 10K in week one? Why not?

I was slow which was fine, I somehow kept my heart rate the lowest it’s ever been for a 10K. So, yay?! This was also the longest I’ve run in months. I was slowing a lot by mile 5. I was also feeling like a blister was forming which has never happened on a beach run before. I walked the majority of mile 6, never paused, never stopped, just kept putting one foot in front of the other.

And then, finally, I was done. 1:29:32.

Whew, that felt like a workout. I then cooled off with nature’s ice bath.

However I was left with giant blisters. Those were one deterrent to me finishing my 5K, the biggest one arrived in the form of smoke from the fires. We haven’t seen the sun in a week. Until it the AQI drops under 100, I will not be attempting the 5K. Boo. However races can wait, the important thing is that we get these fires under control and out, this is kind of insane.

I will be running that 5K, I will. Makes me glad I have a little time before the medals arrive.