Tag: new shoes

Run!, Slacker, Training

Week 20- Hello, allergies

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

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

Hiding the swollen eye

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.

I beat the rain!

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.

Pretty new shoes

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?

Run!, Training

Week 28-Of Birthdays and Bears

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

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?

BibRave, Run!, Training

Big Sur Marathon Training-Week 3

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

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?

Run!, Training

Week 28- Too Many Tabs

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Upcoming Races-

  • Rock to the Pier 10K?
  • Salinas Valley Half Marathon

This week was so much better than last week but there were numerous points when I felt like an internet browser with too many tabs open.  Not just any internet browser- Internet Explorer.😛

The week leading up to system conversion was just as crazy as I anticipated and I didn’t make it to half of the training meetings that I had on the schedule.  I managed to have everyone else stick to the plan but me not so much.  Adding to the chaos, I was greeted Monday by a dead computer.  Yay.   With the computer change coming, I didn’t the point in bugging IT when they were already stressed to the max so I just stole pieces from other computers until I was working, haha.   This actually prompted someone to tell me that I was surprisingly positive.  😛

Oddly enough, this week, I was.   Don’t get me wrong, there were times I felt completely underwater but somehow stayed positive.  At least I think I did.  Maybe I should with my  coworkers.   I was exhausted but kept trucking.  Ran more miles than last week but still fell short in a big way.  Oh and that 10k?   Ha!

Monday-  Rest   I had an early morning conference call and afternoon meeting at the south end of the county.  The meeting ended early but instead of heading home, I headed back to the office which turned out to be a good thing as even with me, we still got out an hour late.    No running for me.

Tuesday- 4 miles First run in 4 days.  And a source of amusement.  I was a little accident prone this week.   How I did not cause actual harm to myself on this run, I have no idea.   It was a slow run but it was a nice stress release besides all the drama.  😛

Wednesday- Rest The day was chaos.  It was also my birthday.    Neither meeting really panned out.   My coworkers brought me donuts, Taco Works and Starburst’s.   Aww, they know me.   This system conversion is going to make my pants tighter. 🙂

Thursday- 3.6 miles  The tiredness was setting in. I was beginning to realize that Saturday’s 10K was not a good idea.  I really did not want to run.   I changed and headed for home town trying to talk myself out of running the whole way.   However I parked, changed into my shoes and told myself I could do a 5K.   I ended up running a little more that but it wasn’t pretty.   I was sluggish and stopped more than necessary for a short run but it was done.

Friday- Work We’re just going to call it that.   I think I left work after a long day a little after 7.  Maybe later.  It’s hard to remember.

Saturday- 4.2 miles trail  Ok- no 10K race because- 1) the thought of an early morning alarm made me want to cry, 2) the idea of driving to work town 12 days in a row, mmm, nope.   So instead my mother took me shopping for my birthday- new shoes!- and then we did a little trail run in the afternoon.  The trail is awesome and very friendly to tired Slackers like me.    I considered running 6ish miles when I got home to finish a long run but it was 100+ still and there was another fire so we had a smoke advisory.   Boo.

Sunday- Work  Here’s where the 12 days in a row would have come in.   I actually went in to work in running clothes with my shoes and pack in the car but we ended up being there so much longer than planned.  I also found that while I had managed to get a computer working for me during the week I didn’t come out so pretty on the other side of conversion.  A lot of my settings and links were unrecoverable. 😢 It’s cool, I didn’t need those anyway right?  Fingers crossed.  I returned home to temps of 104.  I still planned on trying for a few miles but I ended up passing out for a long nap instead.  Oops.

11.8 miles for the week.  Again so much better than last week but kind of missing that 10 mile long run.   I am hopeful for the coming week but I know that it’s going to be another intense week at work and that needs to be my top priority.     I think I can, I think I can.   I also don’t want to disappear into a hole.  I feel like I barely read or commented on your blogs last week- well I think I read them but I’m not sure what happened after that.  Like I said- I was kind of hazardous.  😛

How was your week?

Do you ever have accident prone weeks?  Moments?

BibRave, Product Review, Run!

Give Me a Boost

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

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?