Tag: race week

Run!, Training

Week 31-Of Concerts and Poor Sleep

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Upcoming Races-

  • Salinas Valley Half Marathon

 

Every time  I think I have a handle on things, wham, curve ball.   That’s life right?   I don’t have a big opener this week so let’s get right to it!


Monday- 2.3 miles  I think I got about an hour of sleep Sunday night.  I was super tired after work but what else is new.   I headed to the lake path because I wanted to at least get my new trail shoes dirty.   That was the upside to the run.  The downside was the 93* temp and the crazy high heart rate.  I was practically crawling and couldn’t get it down so I made it a short one.

Tuesday- Rest Work ran late and I didn’t make it home until after 7.


Wednesday- AFI!!!  One of my favorite bands came to town and I wasn’t missing that.   The concert was awesome.  It was a late night but it was awesome.


Thursday- 2.3 miles.  I’m sensing a pattern here.  Not sure if it’s a good one.  😛  I was so tired after work I was thisclose to just skipping my run.   But I made myself change and headed for the river route.  I ended up sticking entirely to the paved portions and keeping it short but it didn’t suck.  I was glad I squeezed in a few miles.     That was until I went to brush my teeth later and my left leg buckled… and then did it again.  Something hurt right where the leg and hip connect.  Umm, not cool.

Friday-  Rest All the crappy sleep and long hours are catching up to me and I was a little slap happy at work.  One coworker thought it was hilarious and the other said she was just going to back away slowly.    My leg was still not happy but there wasn’t any more buckling.


Saturday- Salinas Valley Half Marathon That was an early morning.  Race recap to come.  🙂

Sunday- Rest  Serious rest.   I slept in until almost 10.  Well, kind of, I woke up a few times but refused to get out of bed.     I thought about running in the afternoon but I took a long nap instead.  Like passed out on the ground for almost 2 hours.  Woke up, moved to a chair and fell asleep again.   I decided to listen to what my body was shouting.

17.7 miles for the week.  A run on Sunday would have put me over 20 but like I said my body was trying to tell me something.     I know that part of my tiredness is stemming from work and part is coming from my bed.  My bed has decided to die in the last month or so.  I swear it went from fine to crap overnight.    Sleeping has been rough.  But a new bed is not exactly in the cards right now.  Grrr.

How was your week?

Ever have an odd pain come out of nowhere?

Last concert you saw?

 

Run!, Training

Week 44 Training Recap

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Training for-

  • Paso Harvest Marathon 13.1
  • Golden Gate Half

So I started titling my weekly recaps like this back in January but took a little break during marathon training.  The weekly numbers are starting to drag on me.  I need figure out another way to do this.  Good thing it’s almost 2017!   Ouch, did I just say that?

This week saw me back on the dreadmill and it almost broke me.   I don’t know if I can do that 2 nights a week until spring.   I may have to get over my mountain lion fear.  Well, and the fear of what’s hiding in the dark when you run at night.    To that end, I bought a new pair of reflective leggings this week and I am hunting down all my blinking lights.   I think I have them stashed in odd places.  My flashlight also needs new batteries.  Who said running was a cheap sport? 😛


Monday-2.3 miles  The plan called for an easy 30 minute recovery run.  Oh man, my calves were stiff.   I walked more than I would have liked which meant I barely hit 3 miles in 30 minutes.  Ouch.   At least I was able to enjoy the view.


Tuesday- Rest I spent some time with my foam roller but probably not enough.   I can’t remember if I did anything else. 😛


Wednesday- 4 miles  Son of a treadmill.  The plan was for a 7 mile run- some warm up and cool down with mile repeats at half marathon pace.  Ha!   I hate treadmills but I was trying to be optimistic.   I couldn’t even pull off one mile at pace.  My calves were tight and would not loosen up. I paused the treadmill so many times to try and stretch them out.   At one point, I stretched so long the damn treadmill reset itself.  I finally decided that I was doing more harm than good and called it.  I was still pissed though so I cranked the incline to 7 and power walked it out.  Things finally loosened up.   So what, all my treadmill dates this winter will power walking at an incline?

Thursday- Rest  I was still feeling sore from the day before so not much happened.  I planned on jumping on the bike for a few miles but I didn’t.  Oops.

Friday- Rest


Saturday- Rest  Oops.   I was supposed to do a 20-30 minute shakeout run.  This also would have worked great with the Alzheimer’s Walk that I was supposed to participate in and yet neither happened.  I took my car in for some tire work and planned on doing the shakeout run then except they moved at lightning pace and I did not have time.    After a few errands, I headed to pick up my packet for the Harvest Half.   I was nervous.  This is the first time in 4 years that I haven’t volunteered to work it and it was the first time in 6 years that I was running it again.   I ran the 5k years ago.   This was also my first race with BibRave so I a little anxious.

They moved the expo into town this year and livened it up with a few vendor booths, some live music and a dinner in the park.   I have to give them points for effort.  There were only 2 vendors- Costco and a local gym.   The tri tip smelled amazing though.  I headed home to eat dinner and try to get a decent night’s sleep.

Sunday- Harvest Half  To be continued…but ouch.

How was your week?

Any tips on making the treadmill less miserable?

 

Run!, Slacker

Week 4- A Little Early

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

I am kind of liking these weekly recaps.  I feel like they are helping keep me on track.   Particularly this week, I ran the gamut of craving a run to feeling like doing nothing but stuffing food in my face.   Yes, I am a stress eater.  There were donuts involved this week.  And those Sweet Potato Food Should Taste Good chips.  Both so yummy but so not on the approved list of foods.    😦

I alternated between heels and flats all week but my legs are still pissed.   I rarely get to sit while training and I am feeling it.  I don’t think my legs ached this bad after my first half marathon.  Then I just couldn’t sit down…or get up without help.   🙂    I normally stand the good majority of the day but would usually sit for about 2 hours through out the day.  Now I just fall into the comfy chair exhausted on my lunch.   Trainee #3 starts on Monday so I need to figure something out.  Unfortunately running shoes are not an option.

Monday– Actual- 3.5 miles -12:13, 10:39, 10:13 and change

I had to do some rearranging this week, which meant a Monday run.  Oof, that was hard.  Monday running just seems harder.   Plus I don’t think my legs appreciated running the day after my long run.  I usually rest the following day.   I tried to treat it like a recovery run and keep the pace easy but I was all over the place.  I even wore compression socks since I knew I was sore.  Truthfully, I wore them all day.    I might have to do that more often until things calm down.  IMG_1034

Tuesday- Rest

I had blood work planned for the morning.  This was part of why I switched up my running days.  I didn’t think they were going take a lot but I figured I better err on the side of caution.   Ugh, I hate needles.   I got to the lab at 7:04, they opened at 7.  I was the 15th person in line.  Seriously?!   I was actually late to work.  IMG_1051

Wednesday- Speed work- sort of

The plan called for a 25 min warm up followed by 3 minutes at HMP, 1 minute easy jog x5, then 16 min cool down.   Sounds easy enough but I just wasn’t feeling it.   As I drove north, I was trying to decide what to run and where to run it.   My mom called and she wondered if I would head out with her.  No speedwork-yay!   So we headed out for a short 3 mile jaunt.   That turned into 4+ for me with some random intervals.   I was planning on taking it easy but then I decided to just run whatever I felt like.    So I ended up up with really random speed intervals while I looped around and occasionally met back up with my mom but it was fun.  🙂

Thursday- Rest

Hmmm, I am sure I did something interesting this day but I can’t remember anything so I guess not?  I know I posted this.

Friday- Rest

I was at work by 7:30.  I am on vacation Monday and Tuesday so I wanted to make sure I did everything I needed to do before leaving.   I was out a little after 5:30 and I though about running a few miles but I did all my weekend errands instead.  One less stress this weekend right?

Saturday- Rest – more than likely. 

I am torn between running or walking a couple miles as a shakeout for tomorrow or resting.  My legs are still super sore and I can’t decide which one would be the smarter choice.   I also need to decide exactly what shirt I am running in tomorrow.  And I am procrastinating packing my change of clothes while I type this.  For some reason, I am can’t decide what I am going to want to put on after tomorrow’s race.  #decisionsdecisions  Whatever it is, it needs to be comfy enough to get me through a day of walking and shopping.  Ok, maybe hobbling and shopping.  🙂   I had helping making a new playlist though-IMG_1071

Sunday- Shoreline Half..and my birthday  🙂

To be continued…

Happy Saturday!!!

What do you like to do after a race?

How was your week?

Do you stand or sit at work?

Ambassador, Run!, Slacker

Dress Rehearsal

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

It was the weekend before SLO, so of course I made sure to get in all my workouts right?  Ummm, no.     I had good intentions but was feeling tired on Saturday.  Even after sleeping in.  I ended up helping my mom move a bunch of rocks.  After multiple buckets of lifting rocks and carrying them, my hamstrings were cranky again.  I decided that counted as cross training and was good or the day.    🙂

When too tired for miles, Mizuno make great yard work shoes.
When too tired for miles, Mizuno make great yard work shoes.

Sunday though was going to happen. Last longish run before SLO.   My training plan called for a 75 minute 2/3 progression run, each third progressively faster.    On race days, 75 minutes could mean 8 miles, however on long run days, that would be more like 7.  Having not run on Saturday, I was internally hoping for 9 at an easy pace.   Since I know the likelihood of breaking 2:00 this weekend is small, I was fine with longer, slower miles.IMG_0136

I was a little sore from the rocks, oops, so I headed to the lake path for a flat surface.   I headed out before lunch!!  Who am I?  My mom came with me, she was going to walk laps of the lake while I was running.     I walked my usual warm up and just got to running.   I didn’t feel up to the 2/3 plan but I thought maybe I could run the first have around 10:45 and the last half around 10:00.  That sounded like a solid plan to me.    That’s what I thought I could do, I was wrong.  But in a good way for once!IMG_0150 I didn’t feel like I was moving faster but according to my splits I was.  I’m not sure how I hit those when I was feeling super tired but no complaints from me!    Mile 6 was a little slower as I had run into my mother again and walked a bit with her.  At that point, she was planning on only one more lap and I was torn between 2 or 3 more miles.  It was a warmer day than planned so I decided to be smart and call it at 8 miles.  It was in the 70’s by the time we were done.    Last longish run done!  Bring on the taper- oh wait, my plan doesn’t have one!IMG_0134It’s crunch time for the race now, so I set out on Sunday in a potential race day outfit.    I had purchased a new skirt at Lululemon the week before so I wanted to test it out.  SLO has a Lululemon now, well kind of, it’s only open 3 days a week, and my first time there cost me some money. I love their shorts so I bought a new pair and a skirt.    Oops!  I think I am a skirt fan now.  If I could have an unlimited budget at Skirt Sports and Lulu, that would be awesome.   Well, there and Mizuno too.  🙂  Endless shoes and skirts!!

I also hope it is partly the shade. :)
I also hope it is partly the shade. 🙂

Over all the outfit worked well.   I am still not sold on the shirt and I will be wearing full compression socks but the skirt is a go.  It turned out to be super comfy for 8 miles and that was without any Body Glide.     I figured that was the only way to figure where the hot spots might be.  🙂   Since my mom was with me, I asked her to take a pic.  I think another goal of 2015 is to finally get a decent race pic.   Seriously, the pics from Surf City and Wine Country were so bad.   So bad.    Actually breaking 2:00 might be easier than a good race pic.  Ha!   My sock tan makes me laugh.  I don’t wear full compression socks that often, just long runs and races but check that out!

Does moving rocks count as cross training?

What do you like to race in?

Do you take good pictures?