Tag: rest

Week 47 Un-training Recap

Training for-

…..Nope, still nothing!

Another week of taking it easy. I don’t think I realized how run down I was feeling until I stopped moving. Granted, part of that could also be due to me deciding to cut back on caffeine, sugar and calories. All at the same time. Oh and throw in some new migraine medication we’re trying and it just seemed like a good idea to take things easy. But I wasn’t totally lazy.

Monday- 2 miles A short but sweet night run. Baby steps while I work my way into this night running thing. Baby steps. 😛😛

Tuesday- 15 minutes yoga I’m so awkward and inflexible! Then the video I was using crashed partway through so I had to start another one. Grr.

Wednesday- 4.47 miles It’s been so long since I ran a short run from my house I forgot what distance my routes were! I had an odd doctor’s appointment with a radiologist and a speech therapist of all things so I was able to get the whole run in before dark. Which was sweet but damn it was cold! We went from 80 to 50 with 20 mph wind overnight. I was wearing so many layers. And I wanted more.

Thursday- Rest Migraine from hell. This was the worst headache in weeks so I figured I would try the second new medication. Holy crap people, I couldn’t add 2 +2. The pill took about an 1.5 hours to ease the pain but for about 4 hours I was mired in a serious fog, I could barely function. It was ridiculous.

Friday- Rest That migraine usually lingers 2 days but I wasn’t taking another pill. So instead I got a big Diet Coke and a big coffee on my way into work, lesser of 2 evils right?

Saturday- Rest I worked in the morning and planned on running in the afternoon. Work ran super late and I was just exhausted. I watched a couple of cheesy Christmas movies instead.

Sunday- Rest It rained all day. I still have unhealed marks on my chest from the chafe of the Harvest Marathon. After 2 races in the rain, I think I am little leery of running in the rain right now. It may be a while before it happens again. I realize that makes me a big baby but that’s ok. I did a bit of shopping though and picked up a reflective vest for more running in the dark.

6 miles is way better than last week so I’m calling it a win. I’m realizing that I need a little more time off than I thought. That being said, I will not be turkey trotting this week. Boo. But the only trot available to me is a 10K and I don’t think I have a 10K in me right now. Plus, this will also be the first time in 4 years that I am working the week of Thanksgiving so that’s going to be odd.

How was your week?

Are you running a turkey trot?

What are your plans this week?

Week 46 Un-Training Recap

Training for:

Nothing! I have no scheduled races for the remainder of 2016 right now. That is so weird! After the last month of feeling stressed and sick, slightly injured and seriously bitchy, I knew what I was going to do post Golden Gate Half.

I was taking the week off. I didn’t even do that post marathon. Mostly because I had crazy high hopes that marathon training would bring me speedy fall half marathons…which didn’t happen. Actually I don’t think I’ve taken a solid week off all year long. Which is odd for this Slacker.

I had plans, I really did. I was going to get on the bike to keep the legs loose and blood moving. I was going to try more of my yoga app. I was thinking about busting out the kettle bell, maybe attempting a plank or 2. What happened?

Nothing. Not a damn thing.

Well, I gained 5 pounds but let’s not go there.

I slept… a lot. Turns out I really wasn’t feeling well. The week kind of passed in a foggy haze. I took Monday off as a vacation day to recover from the race and had Friday off due to the holiday. You’d think all that extra rest would have helped me feel better but no such luck.

Granted part of that fog may be due to drastically cutting back on my caffeine and sugar intake last week. I also finally had an appointment with a neurologist last week so maybe my daily headaches will be coming to an end? Fingers crossed?!?!? The appointment made me laugh though- at one point I had to do the “one foot in front of the other walk” down the hallway and I fell into into the wall. Ha!

A week off is enough though. I’m feeling equal parts twitchy and nervous. That first run back is always so hard. Combine that with the fact that I know it will be on a treadmill and boo. I also have that same old shoe conundrum again. My Hoka’s are ok but not great. They aggravate a weird soft spot in the bottom of my left foot. Also, by the end of the Harvest Half, I felt like my toes were bruised and bloody. They weren’t but they sure felt like it. I admit that I no longer look forward to shoe shopping. Now it just stresses me out. Grrr.

Ever take a week off? Or more?

What did you do?

How was your week?

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?

Week 43 Training Recap

Training for-

Paso Harvest Marathon 13.1
Golden Gate Half

It’s the final countdown! Come on, sing it with me! Sorry, I think the lack of sleep is making me slap happy. 😛 I’m still not sleeping but I’m also tired of whining about it. It is what it is so I am trying to just find the shiny and keep moving on.

I actually ran all the miles planned this week and almost pulled off some of the paces. Who am I?!? I started off the week by taking some rest days. It’s how being told to rest by someone else takes some of guilt away. I think my brain needed that after the last few weeks.

Monday- Yoga What?!? I used an app on my phone and did a beginners workout just to try to loosen up and relax a little. I only got 3 hours of sleep the night before so I was dragging.

Tuesday- Rest This day was a Monday Redux. Seriously, it was rough at work. I was so glad I didn’t have to run.

Wednesday- 4 miles After a few days off, I was feeling nervous like I forgot how to run. As you can read here– the run was freakin’ awesome!

Thursday-3.5 miles Interval ouch. The workout called for 6×400 with warm up and cool down. Normally I love 400’s but I was so damn tired and I knew I would be chasing the sunset. I had an option of rest or a light jog between the 400’s and I chose the rest. Even with that, the intervals kicked my ass. My paces were 7:58, 7:53, 8:41, 8:25, 7:56, 8:33. Not sure what happened with that third one. I was whipped at the end. I could not have run another one if I tried. I was proud that I finished the work out but damn that was hard.

Friday- Rest Oh crap, I think I broke myself. I was limping all day and my left knee and shin were pissed. I was kind of freaking out. I had 12 miles on the plan the next day, what do I do?!?! Does it really hurt or am I just being a baby? I have a mental block with 12 mile runs. Give me 11 or 13 or 15 and I look forward to them after marathon training, but 12? I hate them for some reason. Was I just whining? I texted Coach Jenny for her opinion and she agreed I should push my run back to Sunday and rest.

Saturday- Rest I attempted to catch up on sleep. Did I mention Thursday night was another 4 hours if I was lucky? Then I ran a few errands and read a book-Run!. I love reading Dean Karnazes’ books. Even if they make me think crazy thoughts. I signed up for my first marathon 2 months after reading Ultramarathon Man. What now?

Sunday- 12 miles Of course, when my alarm went off I was in the most comfortable moment of sleep that I had had all week. I hit snooze for 40 minutes before dragging myself out of bed for my run. My plan called for 6 miles @ 12:00, 5@ 9:30 and the last @ 9:00. My leg felt a little better but I was planning on taking it easy and keeping an eye on how it felt. I even had my mom on alert in case I needed a pick up.

I kept it nice and easy in the beginning and just focused on my leg. Mile 1 was super slow and I managed to keep the bridge mile at 10:00 which is fairly calm considering I usually bolt across it. At the halfway point I was actually right on pace and I felt ok so I tried to pick up the pace a bit. I couldn’t get to 9:30 though. Miles 7, 8, and 9 clocked in at 10:00. I was still pretty stoked about that though so I was hoping I could keep it up. Then I slammed right into a wall. Miles 10 and 11 were 11:18 and 10:57. Oops. I didn’t necessarily feel tired but I could not move any faster. I took so many walk breaks. I had already run more miles than I thought I was going to pull off so I decided not to stress about the pace. That said, I was so glad to see my watch hit 12. Success!

19.5 miles- an improvement over the last few weeks! Woo hoo! And now it’s on to race week #1! Eeek!

How was your week?

I whined a little didn’t I? Oops.

What are you reading?

1/4 Mile At a Time

Image result for 1/4 mile at a time memes

Or in my case I die 1/4 mile at a time. 😛

In my phone call with Coach Jenny with Ekiden last week we discussed the partial training schedule she had for me. She had intervals scheduled for this Wednesday. Sweet! I love intervals even though I know I do them wrong. Run like hell than slow jog (walk) for a bit? I’m all over that. Except I noticed the plan doesn’t say recovery. It said float.

Wait a second- what the hell is FLOAT?!

So I asked. Float is less of a recovery and more of a push. Instead of a recovery pace, you run closer to tempo pace. The logic behind it is two fold. One is that you get used to running the intervals on tired legs without a full recovery. Second is that your tempo pace should feel a little more comfortable post speedy interval. Ok, makes sense. Sounds intense but makes sense.

But could I do it?

Well, kind of. I headed to the lake path on Wednesday since I knew I would need flat and easy for this. My legs have been achy so I even had compression socks on for a shorter run. I had programmed 5 intervals into my phone but had a feeling I would only be completing 4. Yep. 😛

After a 1.25 mile warmup, I hit the first 400. 8:03 pace, yes! First float? 9:08 pace. Sweet! But I felt like was going to lose my cookies. Could I keep doing this?

Pace
Set 2- 7:50     9:16
Set 3- 7:48     10:49
Set 4- 7:50     10:37

So my speed intervals sped up but my float intervals slowed down. That crap was hard! There were a few times I came to a complete stop just panting. Granted those times were also to avoid being hit by a car or a kid on a motorized mini motorcycle thing but I milked them for all they were worth!

I cooled down with another mile but man I was toast. I felt pretty good but out of shape at the same time. It’s frustrating but it is what it is right now. It gives me something to work on, right? Or whine about. 😛

Do you like speed work?

Ever heard of a float interval?

Happy Friday!!!! What are you doing this weekend?