Tag: new shoes

Heating Up

My plan of running all the miles, road or trail was thwarted by the weather this past weekend. Who ordered the above 110 degrees for 3 days in a row??? Not me. And yes, it’s actually kind of typical here for those temps in the summer. The part that made the weekend hard was that it was still hot at night too. At least by our standards, we usually drop into the low 60’s at night when it’s that hot.

I finally made it out for some miles on Sunday by running away to the coast. I headed for MDO like usual but found a completely new trail to me. Yay! It was kind of like entering a whole new world.

The trees and mountains were just so different from the other trails. It’s not the longest but still awesome. I’ve already thought of ways to add on to it as well for future adventures.

As Monday was my actual birthday, I had taken the day off of work in case I was moody, haha. It was freakin’ hot so no running occurred, boo. But I did indulge in my annual birthday tradition of eating too much at Sylvestor’s. Yum. Then I may have taken a long nap er, food coma.

Tuesday was back to work and I was looking forward to running after- I had new shoes to try out! The never ending shoe saga continues. And still continues… less than 3 miles in the Hoka’s and I swear everything hurt. My heel, then my arch, quads, then my shins. Then the back of my knee, then my butt. What the hell???? I know I should have tried them again but was too spooked, back in the box they went and shipped back. Yikes!

How many runs do you give a pair of shoes before you throw in the towel?

How’s your weather?

Week 31- Listen

Last week was… yeah.

I don’t know if it was cumulative fatigue with it being week 15 of my training plan or if I was fighting something. I was so damn tired all week- it was a struggle to get up in the morning, every morning. I was coughing more and every thing felt hard. To the point where when I found out I had been in close contact with someone with pneumonia, I thought “oh, that would make so much sense”.

I also took more than a few liberties with my training plan. Ok, a lot. But it wasn’t all bad- I took a great nap on Saturday. I went and saw Hobbs and Shaw– loved it. I did some shopping- possibly too much. I added 2 new beauties to the family too-

Oh and I started a new workout program- Morning Meltdown 100. Cuz’ that makes total sense 2 weeks before a half marathon, right? Oh and mine is more like evening meltdown.

Plan vs Reality

Monday- 1.5 miles/ 1 mile- MM100 1- 1/2 mile dog walk
I was moving really slow for some reason and I learned that my new running shorts did not agree with me, ha! I bailed after a mile. Instead of being lazy though, I started the new Morning Meltdown 100. Yeah- not in the morning. Then I grabbed the pup and headed out for a short walk.

Tuesday- 6 miles @ HMGP/ 5 miles trying not freak out
And once again, I have a panic attack during the run. What the what?? This is getting annoying. So instead of trying to nail the pace and make it worse or bailing on the run- I slowed down and made it a game instead. I changed my watch face to heart rate only and just tried to keep it under 165. I didn’t care about any other metrics, just tried to go slow and easy- walking if need be. I did one big loop back to my car. So not a total loss.

Wednesday- 1.5 miles/ ?????? MM 100 2
I ended up getting off early since I worked last Saturday. Normally I would have said no but this was one of my most tired days so I went with it. I made an appointment to finally get my tires rotated and my car washed. While I was waiting for my car, I headed over to TJ Max for some browsing time. Apparently I bumped my watch at some point and it turned on. I realized when it buzzed at the mile mark. Can I count that as a workout?

Thursday- 1.5 up/down, 5x 800 repeats/ 3 miles MM 100 3
Yeah, I didn’t even try the repeats. I just played the heart rate game again. It kept my mind distracted and wow, I have to run slow to stay under 165.

Friday- 1.5 easy/ nope
I worked in 2 locations so I didn’t even bother packing a bag of running gear.

Saturday- 7 miles/ 2 hour nap
Another one of those so stinkin’ tired days. In fact I was so tired, I decided my long run wasn’t happening. At all. Over both weekend days. At this point, the missed run isn’t going to hurt me at Oakland next week but pushing things might.

Sunday- Rest/ shopping and .5 mile puppy walk, MM 100 6
Shopping counts as cardio right?

10ish miles for the week. Not great but could have been much worse. I don’t regret missing my long run. For once my common sense out weighed the guilt of missing the run completely.

How was your week?

Week 20- Hello, allergies

Maybe I am taking the Sunday rest thing a little far- I can’t seem to write my posts on time anymore.

Last week was odd. A little bit of allergies from the week before turned into a full blown allergy attack. Which I have now figured out was aggravated by whatever the plant lady sprays on the plants on work. They have all been moved very far away from me now.

I was a little better with both food and breaks last week. Well, let’s not talk about Friday.

Planned vs Reality

Monday 1.5 miles /1.5 miles
Holy allergy hell. I became super bad at work but still attempted my run. Yeah no, it’s hard to run straight let alone walk when your right eye is almost swollen shut. I walked this one in.

Why do I keep choosing hills for speed work?

Tuesday 3.5 mile Fartlek/ 3.5 mile fartlek
Generally, I love fartleks but this seemed more ladder like. I started with the longest segment first- 5 minutes- but my over eagerness and a downhill maybe contributed to me gassing out. I was glad the recovery segments could be walked as I was still an allergy mess.

Storm’s a brewin’ and no this is not filtered

Wednesday- 1.5 miles/ 1.5 miles
Not much to say just went out and did it.

Thursday- 3.5 miles with strides/ 3.5 miles with strides
I was super tired and so did not want to run but my legs were disagreeing with my body. They were running too damn fast. I couldn’t figure out why I was so gassed until I looked at my watch – Oh, hey sub 9 and this is not a strides segment. Crap. Slow your roll, legs! Yeah no they kept doing their own things. I was walking when my allergy tainted breathing raised it’s head.

Friday- 1.5 miles/ nada
Yeah, oops. I planned on running but knew it was likely I was working the late shift. Then computer drama happened and I never went out and got my running gear. Boo. Driving home, I told myself to get over it and just change and run when I got home. Then I was almost in 2 accidents within a mile of my house and went nah.

Saturday- 6 miles/ 6 miles
I played a game with the rain and hoped I picked the driest time to run. I think I did! It only sprinkled a little on me while I ran but poured later. I felt surprisingly good on this run. I made my pace window (mostly) and managed to negative split. Who knew? I say mostly on the pace as my first mile included a .5 mile warmup walk but I wasn’t pushing the distance with storm clouds over head. However, I finished feeling good- physically and mentally.

Sunday- Rest/ Rest!
I went for some shopping in SLO… in the pouring rain. Part of why I went was to return the Torin’s I picked up in March. I loved my first pair but this pair was not holding up. The soles were trashed after less than 100 miles. I could have gone through Altra to complain but I didn’t want another pair of Torin’s- this version felt like there was zero cushion. So after trying on multiple pairs of shoes, I came home with a pair of Launch 6. Fingers crossed!

16.1 miles for the week. 5/6 workouts. Would I still be me if I hit every single workout?

How was your week?

Week 28-Of Birthdays and Bears

Anyone notice that I went from week 26 straight to 28 last week? No? Good.

Oops. 😛

Even with the posts to refer back to, it’s inevitable I goof every year.

Ok, last week. What happened? Oh right, I was in a funk most of the week and it was my birthday. Great timing there. No real reason why, just feeling funky, my goal was dig my way out and not inflict it on anyone else.

Monday- Rest Maybe? I don’t know, I don’t remember anything special. Blame the funk.

Tuesday- Rest I had good intentions of running but I had a late afternoon neurologist appointment and I didn’t leave the Dr’s office until almost 6. I was still 3 towns south of home and traffic was not my friend. Combine that with the 100+ temp when I finally made it home and things just didn’t pan out.

Wednesday- 4.26 miles It was 86 degrees when I started running that evening but it felt ok. I was super tired and kept bartering with myself. Just run 1 mile. Ok, how about 2? Then it was you can turn around at the 5K mark. In the end I ran the majority of my original river path route. I make some adjustments these days due to increased homeless activity in the river bed. I do realize I am running by myself.

Thursday- 3.5 miles Birthday miles! I was meeting my family for a late dinner at a local burger joint so I was planning on squeezing in some miles at the lake path. I almost bailed on the first lap. The heat has created an algae bloom on the lake and certain sections are ummm, a little ripe. In the end I just tried not to breath in those sections. 😛

Then it was off to calorie heaven.

Friday- Nada Like most Fridays.

Saturday- Birthday shopping. I spent some time bumming around SLO with my mom doing some shopping. Did I mention that I have awesome coworkers and they gave me a gift certificate to the Running Warehouse for my birthday???? New shoes! I also ate way too much food.

Sunday- 5 miles Had a rough start to the morning due to the over indulgence the day before. It also felt way warmer than it should have for only being 80. I had hoped for 6 but my stomach and internal temp just wasn’t having it. I stuck with a slow 5 and was cool with that.

I was not cool with finding out after my run that there had been a bear sighting in the area less than 12 hours before. A BEAR! Apparently it strolled right up to a doorbell camera.

I ended the week by going to see Skyscraper.

So, 12.8 miles for week. Not great but less crap-tastic than last week.

And now it’s time to get serious in so many ways.

How was your week? Last movie you saw?

Big Sur Marathon Training-Week 3

If I had one word to describe this week, it would be ouch.

If I used more words, ouch would likely be followed by a couple of colorful expletives and then some more ouch.

Work was stressful and busy. I ran but it didn’t go well. I bought new running shoes, oh and I cut most of my hair off. Surprise!

The plan-

Week 3

Life-

Monday- PT/3 miles It was a day off from work and part of me really wanted to run the 6 miles of speed work that was on the plan for the week. Part of me was also really feeling the 15 miles I had put on them in the previous 2 days and wanted a rest day. I compromised and stuck with the plan and headed out for 3. I should have gone with the rest. My legs were not having it. Not even turning to my long run run/walk intervals helped. I probably shouldn’t have run the same day I had a PT appointment with traction. I ended up just walking it in.

Tuesday- Rest Insanely busy work day plus I was listening to my legs.

Wednesday- 2 miles Another busy day and mentally, I did not think I could handle the treadmill. I changed into my running clothes at work but was talking myself out of it the entire drive home. I was thisclose to bailing entirely but instead I parked my car and a headed out for a dark few miles. Things were a little stiff but I chalked it up to all the uneven sidewalks I have to run on at night and figure I run a little differently in the dark.

Thursday- 4 miles -400’s On the lake path, my typical 400 pace ranges from 7:55-8:15. On this night, due to some very poor treadmill math, I was running these 400’s around 9:45. And they were kicking my ass. I normally love 400’s. Not tonight. My legs and back were not agreeing with the treadmill at all. I called it at 4 miles because an ache in my upper left leg started to turn into pain. I hate treadmills. Particularly bouncy ones.

Friday- Rest/ PT exercisesI wore compression socks all days and my for the most part, I felt ok.

Saturday- 9 miles/ PT exercises I wanted 11, should have quit at 5. The plan was to run from home, do my 11 and finish at the high school where my mother was having tennis practice then she would give me a ride. I was super achy and stiff the first 2 miles but sometimes it can take until mile 4 for me to loosen up so I kept running. By mile 5, the aches had turned into straight up pain and I knew I was in trouble. So I took a shortcut and hobble-ran my way to the high school stopping occasionally to stretch as best as I could. Once home, I iced, and stretched and foam rolled as much as I could.

Sunday- Rest I did wander around SLO and do some shopping. My left leg is still not to happy but I was able to walk without pain. But certain muscles and bones are making their presence known if that makes sense. I stopped in at the Running Warehouse and made the leap into a new pair of shoes. I’m moving around too much in the Adidas right now no matter how many pairs of socks I wear. Fingers crossed these help.

18.19 miles for the week. 5 short of where I should be. But it’s early days and I am not going to freak out yet. No, I am not. If I repeat it enough, it’s true right?

How was your week?