Tag: recovery

Week 44 Training Recap

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?

Adieu August

Recovery month, baby!

I admit I was hoping for more miles but it is what is, right? Plus, considering I was afraid I would come off the marathon and never want to run again, I should count this as a win right?

I managed to pull off one 10 miler- double digits!!!- and one speed work session. I had some decent weeks and a very small, little 4 miler week. Considering the amount of smoke in the air from all the fires close by, my mileage was pretty consistent.

I ran zero races. Which made me super envious of all the cool pictures and recaps I saw online. 😛. So I compensated by taking lots of scenery pictures.

Work got a little crazy but I think I need to realize that it always will be. That said, this week kicked my ass. 2 rooms flooded and we’ve been working with industrial blower fans running all day, every day. I think the constant noise is making my brain liquefy. I really wanted to hit at least 50 miles for the month but after an abbreviated run on Monday- hello blisters- my last chance to fit in miles was Wednesday. By the end of the day, I felt fried, even the idea of changing into my running gear was exhausting. In the end I decided hitting an arbitrary number wasn’t worth it, all I wanted to do was hide in a dark and quiet corner. So I did and 44.14 was it for August.

Which brings us to September. I am partially excited and partially in denial. Excited because I haves races coming up! First one isn’t until the end of September but it’s one of my favorite races and I am looking forward to it. That being said, how the hell is it September?!?!?! That is just ridiculous. Seriously, wasn’t it just March? Why is time moving so fast? I can’t keep up! Then today, my Instagram feed was full of Pumpkin Spice Lattes- slow your roll people!

How was your August?

Any plans for September?

What are you looking forward to ?

Hello Comfort

Disclaimer: I received a pair of Oofos 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!

Ok, so I have weird feet. I love the idea of flip flops but can never find a pair that I really like and I’ve tried options that range from 97¢ to $80. I actually still have that cheap pair and my mother has the expensive pair. 😛 When I had the opportunity to try Oofos, I thought sure why not? Plus at that point, I was deep into the pre marathon crazies and was only wearing flats, socks with running shoes or socks with Vans. My toes just wanted to be free!!!

They arrived the Friday before I left for the marathon. What a tease!! I put them on for like 5 seconds before packing them in my travel bag. I put them on right after my post marathon shower. Bliss. I felt bad for Ashley- I left the hotel wearing hot pink cut off compression socks, a maxi skirt and my shiny new Oofos. #stylefordays

I’ve barely taken them off since. Seriously, I live in them. I wear them post run, I wear them on my commute to work, I wear them running errands, I’ve worn them to the beach. I’ve worn them with running clothes and normal clothes and I think they go nicely with all of my dresses. Pinstripes and Oofos? Why not? No I don’t have a picture. 😛 My mother has mentioned that she wants to steal them from me but she can’t because every time she sees me they are on my feet. 😃

Ok, so here’s the technical info-

Oofos1

- OOfoam: Absorbs 37% more shock than other materials
- Reduces stress on sore feet, knees and lower back
- Cradles your arches
- Biomechanically designed footbed allows natural motion
- Soft, conforming toe post eliminates toe chafing
- Shower/beach-ready; moisture resistant; doesn’t retain smell
- Durable OOfoam holds its cushion
- Machine washable
- So light they float

So pros and cons-

Pros-

Amazingly comfy
The Marsala color kind of matches my high school colors
Easy to clean- seriously- I grenaded a cup of ranch the other day and they were shiny in 10 seconds
Toe freedom!!!!
Did I mention they are awesome post run?

Cons-

Similar to most flip flops- I wish they came in half sizes. My left foot is bigger than my right foot. The right shoe fits perfectly, the left is slightly too small.
I find it to be a snug fit across the top of the foot. In the beginning I had to hold the shoe to put it on, now I can slip them on a little easier.

Yes, they are very sporty looking- depending on the person, that could be a pro or con so I will leave that up to you.

What’s your go to comfort shoe? Sandals or shoes?

Recovery Week/ Goodbye July

Is that what you call it?

This week was odd. It was the first week since February that I didn’t have the marathon looming in the back of my mind. It was partially relaxing and partially nerve inducing. You know that feeling when you feel like you are forgetting something? That’s kind of how I felt all week.

There are so many theories online about marathon recovery, it’s easy to get lost. Plus, I had no idea how I was going to be feeling post race- would I even want to run after that?

Monday- Rest I had a few vacation days, so I turned off all alarms and just slept in. It was kind of awesome. Even better was that I had actually unpacked, put everything away and done laundry Sunday evening after getting home from San Francisco. I must be crazy. While relaxing, I finished up Lost. Still not sure about it. My legs felt pretty good. The only time I felt sore was when I moved from a sitting to a standing position.

Tuesday- Rest Another vacation day. I actually thought about running. I didn’t do it but I thought about running. Pretty much all my soreness was gone. That’s not normal right? I kept waiting for other shoe to drop so to speak.

Wednesday- Rest Back to work, boo. I took my running gear to work with me but that’s as far as it got. I once again was easy prey to my family and numerous emoji’s of pizza being texted. 😛

Thursday- 3.1 miles I ran!!!! It was slow, like epic-ally slow, but I ran!!! I also walked a lot of that but whatever- I was moving forward! My calves were a little tight and my right hip was yelling at me. Not yelling at me in a painful way, more of “girl, you’ve lost your mind but I’ll try to get on board” way. I felt like I had a crazy grin on my face the whole run. I could have done with less smoke in the air but it was great to be out there. I made sure to foam roll well that night and slept in compression socks.

Friday- Rest Well, hell. I woke up with a charlie horse around 3am. Grrr. I rolled with the stick before going to work. But the day turned around with an email- race pictures!!!!

Saturday- Rest I had to work so I headed that way in the morning. Talk about smokey! I work in a town much closer to Big Sur on Saturday’s and the smoke in the air from the fire was intense. I then headed home with the intention of doing a bunch of chores and errands but really only accomplished getting my tires rotated and doing laundry.

Sunday- 4 miles I had my company bbq at the beach in the morning. I am so awkward at these things. I stayed the minimum amount of required time before heading home. To where it was nearly 100. Fun. I headed out for a slow run in the evening but let’s be real, it was a walk. Still moving forward right?

So, 7 miles is totally recovery right? I am hoping to add another day and more miles in this week. I have another post in the works about some new post marathon plans. Stay tuned.

Oh and I never did a Goodbye July post- my third hundred mile month!

How was your week?

How do you recover post race?

Do you go to your company picnics?

Recovery Week Recap

I hadn’t planned on a recovery week after City to the Sea but that’s how it worked out. But that’s ok. Contradicts my last post though right?

In brief-
Monday- I thought about a shake out run but it was 94*. Seriously?!
Tuesday- I was looking forward to a good run but only made it one lap of the lake.   I felt…off, kind of tired and not right, a little woozy, so I called it after 1.15 miles.
Wednesday- The room was shaking and I turned a little green so I ended up leaving work early and going home sick. I spent the afternoon sleeping.    On a side note, I found out I have 180 hours of sick time saved up. 😃
Thursday- I still wasn’t feeling great and couldn’t figure out how to change after a work meeting in a different town.   Walking around in shorts when the CEO is in the building? Um no.   I didn’t count on my stomach making its whale song throughout the CEO’s presentation though.   Nice.
Friday- My brother’s birthday- I indulged in pasta and birthday cake. Homemade beef stroganoff and marble fudge frosting? Yes, please.
Saturday– 3.85 miles.   I worked in the morning and was still feeling tired but I really wanted to run. The run actually felt pretty good until my stomach turned on me around 2.7 miles in. From there it was as fast as I could slowly get home.    And taking a shortcut.
Sunday- Does a 3 hour nap count as training? And more birthday cake.

Did I mention there are goats in the lake?

So yeah, more recovery that running. I finally just decided to go with it. Work has been chaos and stressful for months now, I’ve felt like I have been fighting something for a while. At least it held off until after City to the Sea, or I was in denial until this week. It takes a lot for me to leave work early because I feel sick. Maybe I feel like I have to overcompensate for all my stomach issues? But at one point I was sitting on the ground under my desk; I felt so nauseous, I wasn’t doing any good there so I went home. I slept a lot last week and I am feeling better today. Oh and what does a sick runner do when they are resting? Register for a race of course. 😉

So, last week’s training thoughts. I think I have a plan for a new regimen, not a race training plan per se, but a plan for improving my running over all. What I can’t decide is when to start it. Part of me is eager to start this week but another part thinks it might be better to hold off. I have a half marathon in less than 3 weeks followed by a 25K trail race 7 days later (potentially). Since both of those races are more for the experience than PR’s, I am thinking it might be smarter to wait until after those 2 races. Especially since I am not 100% on the new regimen. There were some great book suggestions after my last post so I want to check a few of those out. Right now I feel torn. Grrr.