We interrupt regularly scheduled programming for a little announcement. 😛 My workout recap will be up on Wednesday.
Disclaimer: I received an entry into the Big Sur International Marathon 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 thought it was fitting that I drop the news about marathon #2 on the anniversary of marathon #1.
One year ago today, I crossed the finish line of my very first marathon. Unlike some, I hadn’t planned on running a marathon, in fact when asked, I usually said “oh hell no”. It was never a goal of mine, it just kind of happened. All of sudden I was registering for it, training for it, hurting over it, and then running it. And I didn’t hate it. 😛
I kind of always knew I was going to run another one but nothing ever seemed right. Every time I looked at websites or checked dates, it all seemed too forced. Nothing clicked for me. Then a chance to run the Big Sur International Marathon came up. Once again, it just seemed to happen.
Views along Highway 1
Big Sur is an amazing race that runs point to point along Highway 1 in CA with some of the most amazing views. It offers a marathon, 21 miler, 11 miler, 12K, 5K and 3K. You name it and there is a distance that will work for you. It is also is extremely popular and registration for the marathon runs by lottery system, the remaining distances are first come, first served. A few years ago, I ran the Monterey Bay Half Marathon (then named the Big Sur Half) and the loved it. We drove Highway one home and the scenery is just amazing.
That said, I had my hesitations before throwing my name into the hat. I know I say I prefer races with hills but this has HILLS. It took me 5+ hours to run San Francisco, could I do this? But it was calling my name, so I took a chance. When I found I was in, I was torn between jumping up and down in excitement and wondering what I gotten myself into.😛
But self doubts aside- I am so looking forward to this race. My hotel is already booked and I have a starting day for marathon training- Christmas Day. 😂 Now I just need a training plan. I got this.
Is these last few days, there are a few more songs that are either A- getting me through the giant knots in my stomach or B-keeping me distracted. So, I thought I would share them. Like I said before, my music taste can be a little all over the place.
I first saw Skillet on the free stages at the Mid State Fair years ago. I had never heard of them before and was a little taken aback by the enthusiasm of their fans. I mean, who takes a frying pan to a concert? Now, I would love to see them in concert again. They’ve become on of my favorite bands. And it’s great timing that they have a new album coming out next week.
Feel Invincible-
Back From the Dead is pretty awesome too, but this one pumps me up.
I’ve never been one to believe in the “taper crazies”. Hell, I love taper. An excuse to run less and eat more? Sign me up! 😝 Yes, I know that’s not how it works but let a Slacker lie to herself ok?
I wasn’t really planning on tapering for SLO. I did one speed workout this training cycle. One. Once I realized how few long runs I had actually done over the years, my focus turned to getting in the distance and time on my feet. While I have done much better since that little epiphany, it still could have been better.
My plan for SLO was to treat it more like an epic long run. Enjoy the race, enjoy my pace, take in the view, smile at the awesome crowds and maybe, just maybe take a decent race picture for once. And now?
I had my weird hip/ IT thing on Friday’s long run. That led to limping on Saturday and resting all weekend. This week’s runs have been so-so. Tuesday’s was actually pretty good. But outside of that- my shins ache at random moments. My calves feel tight. Today it hurt my big toe to drive, seriously?! There’s a tickle in my throat that feels like it wants to turn into something more. Bring on the Airborne!! I haven’t slept well in about a month.
Grrr. I love this race, I do not want to stress about it. As of right now, I honestly have no idea what my finishing time might be. I feel unprepared for the hills. My fault, I should have sought out more hills. The hill I use for hill repeats has been a construction zone for the last few months. No excuses. I should have found another one. After last year I feel like I have unfinished business with this race.
Maybe that is influencing how I am feeling this week? I have no idea. So now, I need to calm down. I need to make sure I am sleeping better (or trying to), I need to ensure I m still keeping my carb count low to moderate and I need to not stress. I have been looking forward to this weekend for months. There are so many people that I am looking forward to seeing again. I enjoy looking around the expo, and really this is my favorite finish line.
More cowbell!!
Actually, I think venting about it for a few hundred words helped. Bring it on SLO, let’s do this. Now if only I could figure out what I am wearing. 😝
I thought about posting my food post but nah, I’m not in the mood to be cranky. So let’s clear the tracks (brain fog) instead.
Remember when I said I liked to browse websites and put things in my shopping cart but never buy? Yeah, marathon training has made it even worse. I want all the shiny new things! It’s like I’m starting over! I feel like a stalker considering how often I’ve been on the same websites. How long can you stare at a water bottle?
Wind sucks. Go away El Nino, you’re drunk. Getting used to running in humidity is one thing. Cold wind turns me into a baby though. Monday and Tuesday were crazy windy and cold. Branches and trees came down, boats were evacuated off the water. Yeah, I didn’t run. #sorrynotsorry
I ate 2 big cookies today. Low carb fail. It was in the name of research though. Ok, one was. We’ve been testing different bakeries for cookie Friday’s and how else do you know if they are good? I’m going with dang good since I ate a second one.
Where is time going? It’s almost April for crying out loud. How is the year a quarter over?
I have a long run of epic proportions that I am trying not to freak out about this weekend. And I am trying shorts on a short again tomorrow. Aaaack! Not sure which is more stressful.
I have a 5K in a week. I kind of feel like I forgot how to race. It’s been so long. Especially for a 5K. Yikes!
I ran intervals tonight. Again, it’s been so long!!!!
I had so much more to say but I seem to have forgotten most of it. Oops. That’s where my brain has been living lately.
Upcoming Races- Wine Country 13.1?
SLO Marathon 13.1
Focus– Just like last week- Just keep running, just keep running.
This week felt insane but I am not sure why. Work was a little crazy, trying to get all the month end stuff done, giving reviews, etc but I’ve had worse. It just seemed to take a lot out of me this week. I swear I had trouble finishing sentences. I feel like I need a vacation but I’ve booked most of my vacation time this year around races. So yay but boo at the same time?
Monday- Rest For some reason, I can’t remember much about Monday. I even just checked my food log to see if there was something exciting. Nope.
Tuesday- 3.5 miles The original plan was to work a half day as I work on Saturday. However, one of the employees was feeling poorly so they went home and I stayed. Luckily my gym bag is double prepared so I had clothes to run in work town after getting off. While the marine layer stayed back, a definite haze had rolled in. My lungs did not appreciate it at all. I tried to keep the pace super easy but I was still wheezing by the end. But I was able to enjoy that sunset so score! I also had an irrational moment of tsunami panic but I got over it. We’d had an earthquake earlier in the day, the tide was farther out than I had ever seen it and not a single bird or sea lion was making a peep of noise. Like I said, irrational moment.
Wednesday- Rest day. Pizza day- woot woot!
Thursday- 5.5 mile “run”/ 7 mile stationary bike Miserable, straight up miserable. I took my rescheduled half day and I was hoping to get in my long run so I could just focus on a short run over the weekend. I like to move things around when I work on Saturday. I changed at work and drove back to home town. I had an 11 mile route mapped out and was looking forward to running. But it sucked from the get go. I couldn’t seem to get started and when I did, all I did was wheeze. I couldn’t keep any sort of pace. 2 miles in I switched to run/walk intervals. Except I couldn’t even maintain a run for 4:30. So another mile in, I changed it a 3:00 run. Nope, still couldn’t do it.
I couldn’t decide if I should call it or just keep pushing and stop being a baby. Where is the line between pushing and giving up? I told myself to just get to the next big corner and I could take a seat on the bench there and figure things out. Except there was no bench when I got there. It was too much, I plopped my ass in grass on the corner and damn near cried. I was done. I sat there for 15 minutes before finally mustering up the will power to shuffle- run the mile+ back to my car. I couldn’t even maintain a run going downhill. My feet hurt, my knees hurt, I couldn’t breathe, my legs were rubbing together uncomfortably and my shorts were riding up. I was 1/2 mile-ish shy of my car when I hit 5.5 and that was it. I turned off my Garmin and stood there for a bit. Then I took off my shoes and jogged the remainder in my socks because why not? I was hot (it was 80), tired and cranky. This was one of those runs that made wonder what I was even doing. I went home, and jumped on the bike for some miles to try and ride out the cranky-ness.
Friday- Rest Glorious. I was still frustrated after the previous day.
Saturday- Rest I think this was second most chaotic Saturday that I have worked. I was literally turning people away because I could not help them, we were so busy. I considered attempting my long run again in the afternoon but passed instead. I ran my errands, ate dinner with the family and then took my mom to the movies. We were leaning towards seeing Race but I was also trying not to think about running. We saw Deadpool. And it shows my demented sense of humor that I thought it awesome and hilarious. I can’t remember the last time I laughed like that at a movie.
haha😃 source- iFunny Sunday- 10 miles Long run attempt 2. The plan was to head out in the morning and meet up with my mother around mile 6. That way if it sucked again I had a large walk break to look forward to. I had also stashed my Brooks in her car so I could change into them if the Nike’s were giving me grief. I slept a little longer than planned so I was rushing to get out the door. I considered putting it off until the afternoon but the more I thought about the long run, the more it stressed me out. I also realized I probably wasn’t going to pull off 6 before I met up with my mother.
I took a slightly longer walk warm up and then just tried to run easy. I turned off the run/walk intervals and changed the Garmin screen to just the clock. I took walk breaks when I felt like I needed them and just kept going. I cut the first part of the run to 5.5 miles so I could make sure I was at the meeting point in time. I also lost 5 minutes at 3 stoplights. The only split I really saw was right after I ran the bridge- 9:15. Typical, I hate running the bridge and tend speed up when I run it.
I wasn’t feeling horrible but it wasn’t all sunshine and daisies so the 1/2 mile walk break with my mom was kind of awesome. Then I picked up the pace to finish my run before meeting my mother back at her car for lunch. I just kept trying to run easy and walked when I needed to. And I tried to not think about the fact that I was now running the same route where I have had 2 blow ups on long runs in the past month. I finished down on the river path and was glad to be done. I was glad I had followed through and made myself get out of bed for my run. And it didn’t suck!! It did not feel easy but I stayed calm and watched my breathing and just kept running. 7 out of the 10 miles were all in the 10 min range which for me is very consistent. Yes, I consider all 60 seconds in that range to be consistent. Long run success!
Low carb– I would say I was around 65/35%. Not too bad. I did feel better for most of the week, so I need to keep on cutting back on the carbs. Cookies got the best of me last week. Oops.
This week was a little all over the place. Work was crazy and I think I went a little crazy as well. Hopefully I can keep my head on straight this week. Fingers crossed!!!
How was your week?
At what point do you decide a run is not worth it?
Slacker Runner 