Tag: Rain

Training Week 11 Recap

Upcoming Races– SLO Marathon 13.1

Focus– Breathing😛

Yeah so this was a lackluster week. Lot’s of sleeping and eating and watching whatever was on my DVR. Why does that always sound awesome until it’s actually happening? Boo. But here we go.

Monday- Rest Called in sick

Tuesday- Rest Made it to work, man that was exhausting. I did participate in another Twitter chat though.

Wednesday- Rest The day the room spun. Work was tiring again. But yay for cheat pizza night!!

Thursday- Rest Sensing a pattern here? This cold thing was really starting to piss me off. Did it not know I had new shoes to test out?!

Friday- Rest At least Friday’s are typical rest days. And it poured all day! I hydroplaned 3x on the way to work. Now I know where random flooding spots are on the highway.

Saturday-Rest You could have guessed, right? I slept some more and then went to dinner with the family. I tried cauliflower for the first time, it’s kind of tasteless? The tri-tip was amazing though.

Sunday- 4.5 miles I ran!!!!! Skipping my race meant that I could sleep a little more and not have to stress about waking up on time with the time change. I won’t lie, that was nice. I headed out late morning during a break in the rain to get in a few miles. Even though it was wet and I knew I was going to be finishing on dirt path, I wore my new shoes. What’s a little dirt? I started out slow and then just tried to keep it steady. I didn’t care about my pace, I just wanted to run. It was pretty good! I had to walk a few times but I expected that. I was bundled up pretty well so I was overheating for a few miles but when the wind picked up and it started raining I was glad I had picked a thicker jacket. 4.5 miles put me back at my car and only 1/4 mile had been in the rain. It was so good to just get out there.

So yeah, a 4 mile week. Woo hoo!!! But if I had to get sick, I guess I am thankful it was now. Not right before SLO or summer long runs. Granted there’s no guarantee I won’t get sick again just hoping based on previous years. With Daylight Savings going into effect, I am looking forward to getting in longer runs after work now. I love Daylight Savings. I am hopeful to get in some solid miles this week.

Low carb– Yeah, why can’t I be one of those people who doesn’t want to eat when they get sick? I only seem to want the horrible things. Seriously, on Monday I dragged my scary self to McDonald’s because all I could think about was fries and a Diet Coke. My lunches were all on point but I indulged with a few too many cookies this week. And jellybeans. Grrr. This is a new week right?

Oh and this officially happened this week-

I may have lost my damn mind. More on that insanity next post.

How was your weekend?

Anyone race?

Do you like Daylight Savings?

Smart Sucks Sometimes

And the streak comes to an end. Waah. 😭😭

I called in sick on Monday. I don’t really remember doing it. When I woke at 1- 1 PM!- I panicked. I was late! Oh, wait, my phone shows that I both texted and called my boss. Oh ok, then. But really?! I called in sick?! To emphasize how rare that is- my boss told me she was proud of me for calling in sick. Proud. And I’m sad I’m no longer in the 200’s for accrued sick time.

Wednesday, I woke to find the room spinning. Boo. I still sound like an angry Minnie Mouse. I’ve made it to work since Tuesday but it’s been rough. Talking tires me out. And when I momentarily forget and try to sing along with my iPod while driving, it comes out more of a wheezy screech.

Combine all of that with a projected storm on race morning and even I can see the writing on the wall. I will not be running Wine Country this weekend. My streak stops at 5 years. My wine glass collection stalls at 4. This year’s medal will probably be awesome. I briefly considered trying to run the 5K instead but I’m not up for that kind of pain right now.😁

I have run this race post flu before. In the rain. It was my second half marathon. It was miserable, it made me want to quit running. I burst into tears around mile 10 and scared the crap out of a volunteer. But watching them pick up the mile markers while you are still on the course is pretty demoralizing. It still stands as my slowest half ever. It was also my first experience with an out and back. So not a fan. Thankfully, they changed the course the following year. Granted the new course included a beast of a hill at mile 12 but that’s ok. I mean beast- it climbs around 130 feet in less than 2/10 of a mile. The race itself has around 1000ft gain in elevation throughout. Ok, I’m making myself sad now.

So, here I am being smart. Smart sucks. This cold sucks. Boo.

Do you run the same race every year? Longest streak?

Should I be stupid?

How has your week gone?

Week 10 Training Recap

Upcoming Races- Wine Country 13.1??
SLO Marathon 13.1

Focus– Keep it slow and steady but solid.

The lament of runners all over- Easy is hard! Grr. I’ve been thinking a lot about pace. It’s part of that insecurities post I’ve been sitting on for a while. But in short, I’ve been thinking about how I ran better when I didn’t care about my pace as much. 98% of my runs were also “easy” runs. So, I’ve been revisiting 80/20. I bought it about a year ago but really just skimmed it. With my lungs being what they are lately, I figured this would be a good time to read it again. Plus, running slower is fun when it’s the plan. 😀 But still hard.

Monday- Rest I really love Monday rest days. I really do.

Tuesday- Rest I usually run on Tuesdays and that was the plan. Work was insane that afternoon and ran late. By the time I would have changed and gotten out the door I would have only had time for about a mile before the sunset. I took it as a sign that I should just head home and get to the pharmacy for my new medications before it closed. Since I’m still only running 3x a week right now, I figured I had plenty of time to make up my run. Plus I was able to take part in my first Twitter chat. Damn that moves fast!

Wednesday- Rest Spanish tutoring. Or I tried. My mother volunteered me to help one of her tennis players. Except that the days of me being fluent have long since lapsed. Conjugating my verbs is not something I do anymore. But I tried…and since we met at the pizza place, I still had my Wednesday pizza night.

Thursday- 3.91 miles I headed out after work for a few miles. El Nino has been threatening to drop some heavy storms in the area so I knew the humidity level was up. A heavy marine layer was rolling in and I knew this run was going to be a struggle breathing-wise. It was but I just slowed down and tried to keep my breathing under control. It was rough but there was an amazing sunset so it all evens out right? I hit 3.9 miles at my car. I was going to run around the block to hit 4 miles but there was a crowd of cops outside the police station so I just called it. Running around the block a few times looks crazy to most people- what would the police think?

Friday – Rest day Something about this week kicked my ass. I was so tired by Friday and the scale pissed me off in the morning. I was waiting for closing time a little more eagerly than usual.

Saturday- Rest This was not the plan. My mom had been wanting to go shopping in SLO so we were going to head down in the AM and I was hoping to get in a few miles later in the day. It was also supposed to pour all day. SLO did happen but running did not. I felt super tired when I woke up but other than that ok. I didn’t realize anything was wrong until my first few words to my mom. I had no voice! I sounded like a squeaky frog! What the?! It continued to get worse throughout the day and I felt off. Like I couldn’t keep my body temp regulated. So I skipped my run. Boo. But I did indulge with some pretty kicks.

Sunday- 8 miles My training plan called for 10-12 miles but I wasn’t even going to try for that. I still had no voice but I felt ok, just tired. I decided to head to the lake path and attempt my long run. Lapping the lake meant I was never even a mile from my car so if I had to bail, I could. I also had my mom and S along for the ride; they were going to walk while I ran. This way I had backup if things went south. The weather was sunny and high 50’s but I wore pants and long sleeves just in case. I tried to keep things easy. I went back to my old method of running at the lake- ran all of the lap except the park. I walked through the park. That way every lap had a built in walk break and it was easier to avoid all the children playing. I felt tired and sore but not bad. I just kept moving. I told myself I would be happy with 6 miles. That put me on the backside of the lake so I figured why not finish out the lap? Then back at the parking lot I could see my mom and S on the backside but they seemed closer so I figured I would keep running until I caught op to them. Yeah, my eyesight must have been off. I didn’t catch up to them until 7.6 miles. Then I figured I may as well just run until I hit 8 miles. So I did. But there was nothing else left in me. Surprisingly though, the run was one of the steadiest paced runs in a long time. Go figure!

I don’t feel any worse right now but I don’t feel better either. Wine Country is 7 days away and I am on the fence about it. It’s one of my favorite races and this would be my 6th year running it. I will just have to see how I feel this week. Hopefully my voice comes back soon, I am tired of sounding like an angry Mickey Mouse. At least according to my mom and S.

Low-carb-– I did damn good last week, I really did. I was so proud of the myself. Then the scale pissed me off on Friday and I let it derail me this weekend. Time to start over on Monday- again.

So it wasn’t the best week but it could have been worse. Right?

How was your weekend?

Ever lose your voice?

Do I have a shoe problem?

Week 5/ January Recap

Upcoming races- Surf City 13.1

Focus– I forgot to choose one this week. Oops.

How is it February? Seriously, how did that happen? Wasn’t is just Christmas? Or I don’t know summer? Anyways moving on. One plus about El Nino is that things have been warmer than usual but that changed this week. Brrrr.

Monday- Rest Mondays really work as rest days for me. Why do I keep trying to change that? I will say that I felt guilty for not getting in some miles on the bike though.

Tuesday- 4 miles Some very, very slow miles. I had an episode of Z Nation to get me through it. Though I do wonder if anyone can see my phone, between Z Nation and Blacklist, I feel kind of weird watching my phone at the gym.

Wednesday- 6 miles Stationary I woke feeling more sore from 4 treadmill miles than I had from my long run on Saturday. Grrr. Daylight savings, are you here yet? I ended up testing out the new Little Caesar’s on the way home so it almost ended up another rest day. But instead it was just a very late start and fewer miles.

Thursday- 10 miles I had to work this weekend so I was able to take a half day and I actually made it out of work by 1. With a storm predicted for the weekend I had planned on trying to get my long run in early. After last week’s successful though slow 12 milers, I was looking forward to it. I almost quit in the first 2 miles. Everything felt off, I was still sore, I felt uncomfortable in shorts, my throat had an alligator instead of a frog in it. Every time I started to run I felt like I was going to hyperventilate. What the hell?! Was I embarrassed to be seen in shorts or something?

I got to the top of the hill and just stopped. I stretched, had a conversation with myself and scrolled Instagram. Anything to get my mind off of my panic issue. I didn’t feel like anything was actually really wrong and I didn’t want to miss the chance to complete my long run so I reassessed. Pace meant nothing so I turned on the run/ walk interval on my watch and set off again. Slowly. At mile 5 I assessed again, felt ok so I continued on. Between walking and running my pace was holding around 11:30. Since I was moving slower than planned I ended up having to run through the traffic when the high school let out. Cuz I wasn’t feeling fluffy enough?!

When the run was finally done, I joked on Instagram that it was my slowest 10 miler ever. Except it turns out it wasn’t a joke- it really was my slowest 10 miles ever. It took me 2 hours to run 10 miles plus another 20 minutes of stopping for head games and a chafing concern. But you know what? I ran 10 miles. Trying to think on the shiny side here. ☺

Friday- Rest Woo hoo!!!

Saturday- 11 miles Stationary It was cold and the storm was looming when I got home after work. I had planned on getting in a run after I finished my errands but just couldn’t bring myself to go back out. Cross training and the comfy chair won.

Sunday- 4 miles The storm was predicted to clear by the afternoon so I was going to run then. While the rain did clear, it was freakin’ cold! I still feel oddly achy and sore, so I kept it slow and easy for 4 miles.

And that wraps up my last full week before Surf City. Since I am treating it like a very large, friendly long run I normally wouldn’t taper. But the treadmill and I need to break up and this soreness needs to go away so this may be a heavy cross training week. We’ll see. And that brings us to the end of January-

Double what December was and that was with 6 days off due to the flu. I am calling this a good base building month. I will probably continue to build into February. I’m currently trying to mash 2 training plans together. Excel is giving me a headache trying to merge the 2 books. Ugh. I get the feeling I may just have to start over.

How was your January?

Anyone have any Excel tips?

Castle to the Coast Recap

First race of the year is in the books!

Castle to Coast is an 8.2 mile road race that starts at WR Hearst State Beach and runs along the highway to Moonstone Beach. It’s a no frills race with scenic views. It starts across from Hearst Castle. Granted the Castle is way up on the hill but on a clear day you can see it. I have wanted to run it for the past few years but they cap it around 300 runners each time and it always sold out before I registered. This year, well last November, I literally registered at 2 minutes past midnight the day registration opened. I was looking forward to finally running it but then slacker December happened followed by sick January. Oh and let’s not forget the sudden blister issue.

As I laid out my clothes on Friday night I was feeling very “meh” about it all. Between my blister issues and the fact that I have put on a few pounds, I knew my usual race outfit of knee high Pro Compression socks and a skirt was off the table. With temps predicted in the high 50’s I figured a tank and capris would be fine. Just in case, I added my arm warmers. Race morning dawned way too early but with one last weather check, I was out the door. I had already mentally moved this from a “race” to a very public long run. 8 miles with ocean views- piece of cake right?

Pre-race-

Rain!!! That was not in the forecast. I kept hoping it would clear up as we drove but no luck. It was so foggy and overcast I started to wonder if I had driven past the starting point. Then I saw a pack of Aggies warming up along the highway- we must be close. Once parked I headed to the epically long bathroom line and my mom headed to check me in. Benefits of small races right? She was back with my shirt and wristband and I still hadn’t moved forward in the bathroom line. 😂 I struck up a conversation with the women behind me. She is my new favorite person- she said I looked 24! I also saw Ashley before the race start. 😃 I grabbed my rain jacket from my gym bag at the last minute, it wasn’t raining hard but it was enough to get you wet and cold. The start line was about 1/4 up the road so we all headed that way. This is very low key event- no bibs, no timing chips, just a starter pistol at the start. I started towards the back of pack which might not be the best idea for a gun timed race but I was just aiming for a steady run.

Miles 1-4 9:54, 10:06, 10:03, 10:08

And we were off! We ran past the cutest little general store right at the start. It was so overcast that the castle was completely covered up. We went up a side street and then we were on the highway. I should mention that the roads were not closed so we were running along the highway. In the rain. With cars. My hood fell back by mile .5 and I decided to just leave it down. I was about a mile in when I noticed something odd with my right foot. The Vaseline was doing its job but my toes felt weird. My shoe was full of water! I could literally scrunch my toes and it felt like I was wringing out a towel and not my sock. My watch was covered by my jacket sleeve so I just tried to keep what felt like a steady pace. I started to get hot so I unzipped my jacket. Miles 2 and 3 felt rougher than I would have liked and are kind of a blur. I just kept my eyes forward and kept putting one foot in front of the other. I knew there was a water station at mile 4 so seeing that meant I was halfway there. Woo hoo!

Miles 4-8- 10:15, 10:09, 10:06, 9:56

By now I was super warm and there was a small hill in sight. I knew I was going to slow down running up it so I used that mile to take off my jacket and tie it around my waist. Which meant I could now see my watch and my pace. I did my best to ignore it and just kept running. Left foot then right, then curl my toes to try and move the water around. A little past mile 6 we turned off the highway onto a side street and headed for the finish. This street was longer than I thought and I started to worry that my mom might not have found the finish line. I hadn’t really given her directions and while running I realized I had given her the wrong street name. Oops! I was tiring and just wanted to be done. I was so happy to see the finish line. First race done!

Finish- 8.28 miles- 1:23:11

So yeah, that was about 7 minutes slower than my last 8 mile race. But 8.2 mile races are an automatic PR right? Official results aren’t posted yet but I think my Garmin is pretty accurate. I started way back in the pack and it was gun timed. This was not the race I would have liked to run but in reality it went exactly like I expected. I know I am out of shape right now but haven’t done a whole lot to fix it. I think the reality of this race will give me the kick in the ass I needed. As far as long runs go, it was a great pace. As for race pace? Umm, not so much. However I am pretty impressed with the consistency of my splits. I don’t think I’ve ever run a steadier race. I love how you can tell the hill was in mile 5. 😝 Something else that I am happy about? I did not take a single walk break, I ran the entire damn thing. I can’t even tell you the last time that happened.

The finish line area was a little disorganized. There were giveaways but I’m not sure how it was working. I met up with my mom and then later Ashley and we chatted a bit before heading out. Not only had my mother found the park but she beat everyone else there. She literally parked my car next to the finish line. 😝

The ocean view was pretty in a stormy, cloudy kind of way but I wish I could have run this race in the sun. And not just because I was soaking wet. I may consider running it again next year but not sure. The cost is great-$30- but I am still on the fence. We’ll see.

Ever run on an open highway?

Race in the rain?