Tag: Rain

Mid Week Musings-3

Woo hoo, it’s Wednesday! WordPress tells me this is the third time I’ve posted with my mid-week musings, so here we go.

D.E.R- Smart Choices-

As in Don’t Even Register. I’ve never DNS’d a race because I register super late. I figure I’d rather pay $20 more than lose the whole registration fee. My post back in May laid out my summer race schedule. It listed a 25K trail race on August 1. Which I really, really want to run. But let’s be real here, I haven’t been on a trail since April. I am not in any kind of shape for a 3200’+ elevation gain. And it’s by the beach. Hello humidity. While I was struggling through the last humid miles at Shoreline, I came to the conclusion that a humid 25K just might kill me. That struggle bus was fueling some dramatic thoughts apparently. So, I decided that a 12K with 1400′ climb would be fine, a little fun with a little difficulty too. Then there was my leg and let’s be real there too, it’s been bothering me for a while now. It’s not a new thing. It’s not like I’ve never done dumb things before (i.e. Ventura half on heavy-duty antibiotics, a 5K after an asthma filled 10k -September makes me stupid) but I am trying to be smart here. So from 25K to 12K to 0. Which makes me cranky since our area has 2 trail races a year and this was the last long distance option until Fall 2016. Waah! Or so I thought. 🙂 The one I ran in January is coming back in November. 7 days after the Big Sur Half. Yup, I’m still crazy. Just not running next weekend. 🙂

That leg though-

After hiding from the lightning and thunder on Sunday, and the oppressive humidity left behind on Monday, I was ready to try running. Seriously, I’ve never seen 95% humidity in home town and work was a lovely 100% when I arrived that morning, thanks Delores. On Tuesday, I changed and headed back to home to run. I met my mom at the river path which was cool because I was actually really nervous to run so I ended up walking the first mile with her. From then on I tried to run and just keep things easy. I focused on how my leg felt and worked on my turn-over. I know my left hip drops and I need to work on my form. And now with no races in August, I can work on my form, like back to re-form school for slacker runners. Oof, that was bad. 🙂 Anyways, the run was pretty good. My leg felt achy but not in pain. I paused for a stretch break after each mile and I made sure to stretch really well after my run and later. I also iced my leg for a bit. Now, let’s see what happens.

Yeah, so not a clothing model

A Fab Choice?

Back on July 4th I finally caved to one of those Facebook ads and signed up for a Fabletic’s outfit. They were offering an outfit for as low $15 so I figured why not. After their little questionnaire, the site suggested a few outfits. I didn’t buy any of those but finally chose one on another page. Shorts, tank and visor for less than $20 after taxes. I wore the shorts and tank on Tuesday’s run. Somehow, I’ve already misplaced the visor. 😦 I sized up for both pieces which worked well with the shirt as I think my normal size would have been too small. The waistband on the shorts feels super loose so a smaller size may have worked but damn they are short in the back. The material felt slightly heavy when on and I was less than enthused with the shorts on that first mile. They kept riding up. Grrr. Somehow running made all the irritation go away. 3 miles of running and both pieces were perfectly behaved. I even forgot the shirt was new, it fit so well. The second I started walking my cool down, the shorts went back to riding up. WTH?! So, overall I am not hugely impressed but not overly disappointed either. More of a meh. Why can’t Lulu be more affordable?

Tips for correcting form issues?

Ever tried Fabletics? Thoughts?

Call it Craos

Tomorrow is Friday!!!! Woo hoo!!!

Lately, I have been so tired and stressed, I have troubles putting words together. Or maybe it’s the blonde coming through, I don’t know. But I have made my co-workers laugh so then it’s ok right? The first moment was few weeks ago when I was trying say one of their names. Instead I stumbled over all 3 of them and somehow combined them all into “Renini”. 3 names into 1 just makes things easier right? Then since we have been borrowing people from other locations while we work on hiring, we have had people who are surprised by how quickly we can go from calm to crazy busy. I was trying to say welcome to the crazy but accidentally combined it with chaos. So craos. Hmm, that one kind of works- change approved. 🙂 But today was the real winner. I noticed that 2 of my coworkers were wearing similar skirts and looked nice. I said I felt left out since I missed the skirt memo as the 3 of them were wearing skirts and I was wearing pants. They all just stared at me for a moment or two. Not only was employee 3 wearing pants but I was wearing a dress! Wow.

I have lost my mind ... Thanks Pinterest.

After Sunday’s race, I was pumped to run this week. I packed my gym bag every night and took it to work. Monday went off track though. Not only did Monday show more crazy CA weather, I hurt myself. Home town hit 105 and work town only made it to 59. That’s a 46º difference. Now work may be 45 minutes away by car but it’s actually less than 30 miles. What the frak?! Ugh, I wasn’t sure where to run. I’ve been feeling some odd left foot pain since I tried the Inspires. It hasn’t gone away with the new Riders. It doesn’t happen all the time but I have been trying to figure it out. I wasn’t sure if the new shoes started/ contributed to it or not. I had also picked up some store-bought insoles for the boots I wear most frequently, so maybe that was part of it. Monday I had the bright idea to take the left one out…but not the right one. Maybe that aggravated what happened later or it was when I lifted a heavy bag I shouldn’t have been lifting. But by the end of the day, I felt like my neck and shoulders were tingling and there was a band of pressure on the back of my head at the top of my spine. I felt off, not quite dizzy but not normal. It was odd. Between that and the heat, I decided to rest instead. Which worked out since my mother needed a ride from tennis practice as her car died on Sunday. 😦Tuesday turned into another rest day as I woke up feeling like I had pinched or pulled something in my neck. Grrr. Wednesday it felt a little better so I was hoping for a short easy run. Cue the crazy weather again. Work town was sunny but with high humidity. Then we find out that home town is under a thunder/ lightning storm warning and there was hail. Then the emergency broadcast system broke in and said that people in my home town should take cover. What?! It cleared up by the time I was off so I headed to run town hoping that the storm hadn’t moved south. The temp was nice in the low 70’s but the humidity level matched. Ugh. The air felt stale and stagnant. Kind of like the way the little remaining lake water looks. I struggled through 3.5 miles but was just glad to be out running. Today I took next week’s half day. I had been looking forward to running early but was feeling rough. I indulged in pizza last night for the first time in 3 weeks and my system was not happy with that many carbs. I decided to head home to rest a bit first. Arrived home to 94º. Don’t get me wrong, I love the warmth, I just haven’t adjusted yet. I decided to read some blogs as inspiration to get out the door, I fell asleep instead. Once I woke up, the last thing I wanted to do was run, but it’s become too easy to bail so I forced myself out the door. I knew it was going to be a slow, warm slog and I was ok with that. A little over 4 miles later and I was done. It was slow, it was rough but I was glad I had done it. 🙂

And now it sounds like the Army base up the road is playing war games and the house is shaking, so bring on more craos!! Also, I do realize that I have been freakishly tired lately and will be making a doctor’s appointment to see about that. But tomorrow is Friday, so woo hoo! I am picking up bagels on the way to thank everyone for their hard work, hopefully I don’t eat too many…that would be bad.

What do you think? Does Craos need an “h”?

How was your week? What’s your weather like?

Have any weekend plans?

And How Now?

For some reason I did not want to do any of my workouts last week. For some reason I was just feeling super lazy and super whiny. It was actually something that my boss said each day that got me to change and get in both workouts during the week. Which was a great thing because both runs were pretty damn good.

Saturday dawned and I was feeling the same lack of motivation. I so wanted to bail on everything. We had a prediction of rain for Sunday so I knew I should move my long run up a day. I’m all for a short run in the rain but nothing past 6 miles. My second half marathon was run in the rain and between that and a myriad of other issues it was a miserable race and I burst into tears at mile 11. So yeah, no long rainy runs for me. Bad memories.I finally headed out late afternoon but I had no expectations. I was going to run whatever I felt like doing whether that was 3 miles or the 12 on the schedule. I wanted to keep the pace super easy and just go with the flow. After a couple of miles I figured I would just do my easy 4.5 mile route and chance the rain the next day. But then I turned up the hill again instead of down. And then again and then up another hill. Followed by down and around and back up that first hill, then a few loops. Then up the hill again, then some loops of the school. Dizzy yet? I was tired and achy but felt pretty good otherwise so I just kept running. I actually felt like my form was pretty damn good. Usually by that point, I feel like I am starting slouch and need to remind myself to straighten up and pick up my feet. On Saturday, I felt like there was none of that. There were a few times I looked at my watch and saw my lap pace was in the mid 9 range. Woah Nelly, slow down! Each time I saw that I would take a walking break. Part of me was super stoked each time I saw that but I knew I should back it off. I felt pretty good but still had achy spots in my legs, particularly my left. After numerous loops, I finally called it when I hit 10 miles at the bottom of my driveway. Once again, I hadn’t felt like running but pulled off a pretty good run. Guess that was the theme of the week.

Other than the few times I saw that I was running too fast, I hadn’t paid much attention to my pace. I just kept what I felt was a comfortable pace and walked anytime I felt I needed to. So I was surprised to see that the 10 miles were completed in 1:47:53. Only 8 seconds slower than the previous week? And how now? Especially when the elevation is taken into consideration. The previous week’s run had an overall elevation gain of 85 ft over 10 miles. This week was 780 ft. Say what? It was in the high 50’s as opposed to 80’s so that could have been a factor. But otherwise I went out with the full intention of crawling a slow, shorter run. But I guess part of me just felt like running. Long run done! 🙂

That just left a 45-55 minute easy run for Sunday. But yeah, more about that next time.

How about it? Legs and head ever disagreed?

Do you like to run long in the rain?

Do you like pina coladas? Sorry couldn’t help it, that last question sounded like a personal ad.

Hope you’re having a great week!

A Slow Start to February

I feel like all I have been doing this week is playing catch up. I’ve posted recaps of Surf City and January but barely anything else. So I guess let’s keep with that theme and cover the week-

Monday– If I hadn’t made the appointment before Surf City, I would have done it myself after that race. If I had had a pair of scissors I would have chopped off my ponytail at mile 8. Seriously. And it wouldn’t have been the first time I cut my own hair. Luckily I restrained and had the professionals do it the next day-Can’t take non running selfies apparently- it looks longer here. It hits my chin. I have zero post cut guilt- woo hoo!

Tuesday– the schedule called for either a rest day or an easy run after Sunday’s race. Neither option sounded appealing, so I grabbed the puppy and took her for a puppy jog instead.Wednesday– This was the last day of my mini vacay so I decided to move Thursday’s speed work up. I had no desire to run it on the treadmill and on Wednesday I could run it outside. However I had a very tiny window of time. Probably should have gotten out of bed sooner- nah. Also not good was the fact that I had eaten lunch an hour before starting my run. Lunch that was a tri-tip sandwich. Oops. But I did it. At least in a tiny way- first intentional speed work in way too long. Oh, and speed work without a heavy, swinging pony tail was awesome! Then I headed off to the tennis courts to help my mom out at practice. It was time to scare a new group. #goodtimes 🙂

Thursday and Friday were back to work. I actually got caught up on a lot of things. Reviews are done and submitted and now they just have to be presented. The bad thing was my serious overindulgence in donuts on Friday. So not good. But so good. 🙂

Saturday– my alarm went off early- too early. I had plans to attend a nutrition and training seminar put on by the SLO Marathon. The plan was to start the morning with a run. It was raining. Now, rain is so rare here, that I usually love running it. What I did not take into account was just how wet I was going to be and how that would feel over the 2 hours of sitting. I was so damn cold, I was shivering. I also looked like a drowned rat. Once the seminar let out, I found a pair of flip-flops in my car and a light sweatshirt I luckily had been too lazy to take out after tennis on Wednesday. The flip-flops were so much better than wet socks and shoes and the sweatshirt helped after stripping off my outer layers. My tank was still damp so I cranked the heat. It felt so awesome but I think I turned my car into a sauna. I picked my mom up for lunch after getting home and changing and she had troubles getting into my car it was so warm. Ha!The seminar was good. I think the rain kept quite a few people away which was a bummer. I was nervous about the run because I’ve never run in a group outside of a race. We set out for an easy 40 minutes, I ended up in the middle of the pack. There was one person near me on the way out but on the way back I was by myself. It was still nice knowing that other people were out there though.

The seminar briefly covered nutrition and training, Team in Training and the Challenged Athletes Foundation. The nutrition information was basic but helpful as well. It also emphasized how much I have been slacking on that lately. Team in Training is always inspiring and I keep telling myself I should participate at least once but I admit that fundraising goal intimidates me. I don’t think I had heard of Challenged Athletes Foundation before. Talk about inspirational. The woman giving the presentation would have been inspirational before her accident, what she’s accomplished after is just awesome. All in all it was a good morning.

Sunday– As I sit trying to finish this post, I am arguing with myself. My original plan when I knew I had back to back race weekends was to take this week off prior to resuming training for SLO. Then I received my fancy training plan and it said different. It calls for a 90 minute Thirds progression run today. Up until now I hit all the planned workouts for the week. But I am tired and achy and I have little desire to go out in the pouring rain and run. The treadmill sounds even less exciting. I really just want to take a rest day but I feel lazy thinking that. I am just tired, have I said that already? So, the argument continues.

How was your week/ weekend?

How do you solve your internal arguments?

Ever gone to a running seminar thing? Or run for Team in Training?

About that…

On the heels of last weeks good but short speed work, I thought I would be running on Wednesday and Thursday since I couldn’t run Saturday. We were supposed to have our our work holiday party on Saturday evening and with working in the morning, I would have had little time to run. I would also be unable to attend Vine St with my family like we traditionally do. When the work party was canceled for a few reasons I was actually ok with that. I figured I could get in a6ish mile run after work and go to Vine st. Which was a doubly good plan because my stomach hated me on Wednesday so I changed it back to a rest day.

Thursday, unfortunately, dawned with more of the same. I refused to change my plan again, so I headed to the gym after work. I slogged through 3.5 slow, miserable miles before calling it quits. Which bites because NikeC was there working with the trainer and I have been wanting to tag along with them but there was just no way. But it was better than none!Thursday night- Friday was the “epic storm” in these parts- ha!! But I shouldn’t snark- between all the rain then and yesterday, streets have been flooded, power has been out and a giant boulder rolled on to the freeway last night hitting a semi- everyone is said to be ok. Saturday and Sunday were ruled by my stomach- not only was there no running involved, I almost bailed on Vine St. I tried to get my family to go ahead and then meet them. But I made it through- all the pretty lights- and did manage to complete some Christmas shopping on Sunday. This week is the stomach testweek- can we call it that?- so running will be hit and miss. After last weeks short 6 miles, that makes 2 short weeks. 😦 With Tuesday being prep day and Wednesday being the test, I had to breakmy own rule and hit the gym on a Monday if I wanted to get a run in. It actually wasn’t that busy. But then most people probably didn’t want to drive in the down pour. We Californians are babies in the rain, then again, I did hydroplane at one point so maybe they had the right idea. Another 3.5 miles in the books. 🙂

I can’t eat today and for some reason all I have wanted is pretzels. And pictures of pizza keep popping up on my Facebook and Twitter feed. Waah.

How has your week started?

What food are you craving right now?

How’s your weather?