Tag: run

San Francisco Marathon Training Week 12

Seriously, that’s a long title. Oof.

How is it week 12 already? My little countdown app is telling me I only have 41 days to go. Holy crap!

I admit I struggled hard with motivation this week. Everything seemed hard. I thought my boss coming back from vacation would make things easier but I just felt fried. At one point on Friday, I had so many pots in the fire I couldn’t even tell which way was up. I was just waiting for one of them to blow up in my face. Which may still happen this week, who knows. All week long, I kind of just wanted to curl up in the corner and hide under a blanket.

This spilled into running. I had serious trouble getting myself to run on Monday and then Wednesday turned into a rest day too. Convinced myself that my shins needed more time anyways. Week 12 is not the time to be getting lazy but I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later.

Monday- 3.5 miles My legs were feeling rough for this run. I haven’t run a Monday since I first hurt my shins. Taking the day off after my long run seemed to help but I knew I couldn’t run on Tuesday this week. I headed to the lake path and planned to take it nice and easy. Even slow running with walking intervals was rough. My shins protested. I called it when lap 3 put me back at my car. 3.5 miles was not a great way to start the week.

Tuesday- Rest A mandatory conference call had been scheduled for after normal work hours. This was why I had to move my run up to Monday.

Wednesday- Rest I had planned on running, even took my stuff to work. I tell myself I took the day off because my shins hurt. While that is partially accurate, I didn’t even take my gym bag out of the car in the morning. So yeah, I enjoyed pizza night instead.

Thursday- 7 miles Work was tiring and the last thing I wanted to do was run. I told myself to suck it up and change. I left work town and headed for the river path. Of course, right as I parked I suddenly felt like I needed to use the restroom. Of course- most of my routes have no bathrooms or water fountains. Whatever, I figured that would be a reason to keep the run short. I started out up the hill and just stuck to the run/ walk intervals. My legs were feeling ok so when I hit the turn around point I decided to go a little further. I made a left and headed up a street. I remember the street from my very first 10K years ago but I remembered it wrong. I thought it was flat but it was hillier than I recalled. Little rollers but they still felt like mountains. But it’s cool- I made some new friends-

On the way back, the wind had turned insane. It was pushing me backwards it was so strong, I felt like I was running in quicksand. That said, my running intervals were the fastest they’ve been since I got hurt so this run ended up being more like speed work.

Friday- Rest Work was insane. Straight up crazy. By the time I got off I was running out the door. But I didn’t have to close so yay!

Saturday- 9 miles The plan called for a 10 mile long run and 8 mile easy this weekend. I knew Sunday was going to be busy with family stuff so I was doubtful of getting a run in. With only a 10 mile long run planned, I got a little cocky- I mean what’s 10 miles? Stupid. I didn’t start my run until 8:30. Stupid. By mile 2 it was warm. NikeC was out for her run too and we started texted each other about how warm it was. I kept a comfortable pace until I hit the bridge. Even though I know it’s stupid, I still fly across the thing and then up past Walmart. Miles 4-5 saw a 9:14 and 9:44. Oops. So not long run pace for a person with wonky shins. I walked more of mile 6 than planned but still the pace was decent. Mile 7 saw a break- NikeC! Our routes crossed paths and I finally got to meet the cutest little guy ever.

We stopped and chatted for a bit before going on to finish our runs. Our chat meant I wasn’t going to be able to finish 10 but it was worth it. I was planning on ending my run at the high school and getting a ride from my mother. She’s having summer practices right now- and bonus- the school has water fountains and sometimes the bathrooms are open. Thing is her practice ended at 10:30. I picked up the pace and managed to get there right at 10:30. Those last 3 miles were most I’ve run without walk breaks in a month. Sweet!

4.5 miles walk– Knowing that Sunday was iffy, I had a second run of the day in the back of my mind. I headed out around 3 for some more miles. I wanted to run it like last week’s double but the week caught up with me so I walked it. I’m still counting it because let’s be real here- there will be walking in this marathon. I may as well get used to doing it on tired legs now instead of race day.

Sunday- rest Happy Father’s Day! I knew my mother and I had plans in SLO and then family dinner in the evening. I could have run in the morning but I was just so tired, I chose sleep instead. I still managed to get in 10,000 steps without running so that’s not too lazy. I also came home with some pretties-

So, 24 miles for the week. Could have been better, could have been worse. My shins were overly fussy in the beginning of the week but they calmed down by the end. I have big plans for this week so I am hoping they will continue to behave. Fingers crossed!! I also hope the motivation bus comes by again, I fear I will get sucked into the black hole that is binge watching Lost again and put off running. Oh and I have some awesome news share this week!

How was your week?

Bought any new gear lately?

What are you watching?

And Still…

I have a new-found dislike for pajamas. And really that’s just sad. I mean pajamas are so warm and cozy and comfy, what could you possibly dislike about them? Even with all that, I am so over them. I miss wearing real clothes, I miss wearing running clothes. Ugh.

In case the above whining wasn’t enough, I am still sick. I only lasted 3 hours at work on Monday before heading home. I didn’t make it in at all on Tuesday or Wednesday. That’s not to say I didn’t try. I made an attempt to get up and ready for work at the usual time. It usually resulted in a text conversation with my boss before going back to sleep for a few hours. Then an actual phone call to work before more sleep. Ugh. But tomorrow I will be back at work, no more listening to the Harry Potter movies with my eyes closed. Hopefully I will look less like a creature. Otherwise I will be missing the sit down desk where I used to be able to hide myself. 🙂

So this is just a short whiny update- I miss running. I miss being too much of Slacker to want to run. Now I just want to run. Oh and I have spent way too much time on the internet these days. There are some odd things out there.

Thanks for listening to me whine, hopefully the next update will have some running in it!

Let me live vicariously through you- how awesome or good was your week?

Who ran? Anyone racing this weekend?

Mark Your Calendars

Happy Friday!! I hope everyone had a good day and if not, well tomorrow is Saturday! Go for a run! I survived my day trip yesterday but man it was tiring. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that I was in notary class. It was for my renewal so realistically it should have been easy but sitting in a room for 8 hours sandwiched between 2 2+hour car trips and I was done. The class was only 6 hours and the rest of the time was spent on registering, picture taking, finger printing and listening to the exam proctors drone on. I actually made it through the day on one 20 oz Diet Coke, which was probably not good as I dozed off 4 times. Oops! Now just to wait for the results. Odd note- my seminar was at the Santa Barbara Mission- who knew they had conference halls?

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It’s time to start thinking of what races to run in the beginning of 2015. What are you doing in April? Come run with me!! Well and a couple thousand other people. Last year I was lucky enough to an open call for Ambassador for the SLO Marathon pop up on Facebook. I jumped at it and was lucky enough to be chosen.

Sweet! I met a great group of people and had an amazing weekend. The scenery for the half marathon was awesome and I heard the full was even better. Plus I love SLO which is why I spend many weekends there. 🙂

For 2015, I get to be an Ambassador again, woo hoo! I am so excited. I am also determined. There’s a hill or 2 that I have some unfinished business with. 🙂 I know it’s early but if you’re looking for a great race, come visit!! Plenty of planning time!! 🙂

And now it’s off to bed for me, I heading down to SLO in the morning. 🙂

How was your week?

Ever doze off more than once in the same seminar/ class?

Anyone racing this weekend?

And the winner is…

Happy Thursday! Everyone ready for the 4th and the weekend?

Thank you all for your thoughts on my “Choose my next Race” post. They were great! And the winner is-

I was definitely leaning one way but Monday was rougher than I let on in my last post. I knew that if I chose Pozo I would probably push harder than I should right now. Between the flat course and fast crowd plus my own desire to beat my last official PR (27:54) I may have had troubles reigning it in like I should. I’m not saying that I’m still not going to try to push it but now I have some hills to temper my inner (wannabe) speed demon. Ha! Plus I have a half marathon next Saturday that I want to try and be as ready for as possible. Did I mention it’s on my birthday? 33 and 13 miles.

Yesterday, NikeC and I met up at the gym again to workout. After 3 miles on the treadmill, it was time for the circuit room again. I feel like I was more consistent this time around. Well except for the step things, I still can’t remember step aerobics. 🙂 Turns out the 90 I thought NikeC was lifting (pushing?) on the first machine last week was 110. I’m so weak! I had to drop it back to 50. We weren’t able to complete the whole circuit because once again people had troubles following 1-20. Come on people!

Then we moved on to the hip abduction things. I learned that those machines can turn pretty creepy when there is an older, leering man dressed in street clothes using one. Ewww. Luckily he left fairly quickly. But I will say that I am glad there are no mirrors in that little area. Those motions are a little awkward in public. 🙂 After that I goofed around on ab coaster. They are harder than they look! Plus kind of fun in a silly way. NikeC tried one too. And holy crap, my abs feel sore today!

Can you tell what distance I am running?

I picked up my race packet tonight on my way home. It was simple and easy at the gym. It has the weirdest bunch of food samples in it. Even a pancake mix. Also, there was a map of the course and I realized that it’s a bit hillier than I would have liked, dang. Oh well, it should be fun. I am looking forward to racing tomorrow. I am aiming to maintain my recent times around 28:00. Yes a PR would be awesome, but we’ll see. 🙂

What are your 4th of July plans?

Anyone else racing?

Real Running Conversations

Wow, I love all the comments on the last post. I am so glad to know that I am not the only one who can get a little crazy while running. 🙂

Tuesdays seem to be turning into a typical rest day for me. I had briefly thought about trying to squeeze in a run before my doctor’s appointment but I didn’t get off early enough. That was probably a good thing as it was pretty warm when I got home and I was still in a little funk from Monday’s rambling 🙂 So instead, I went to the doctor (yuck) and then just had an easy night. And maybe some pizza. 🙂

Yesterday, I had the beginning’s of a migraine but I was ready to run. I knew I was meeting M after work to run a few miles. I haven’t run with M since last fall, so I was excited. Then I found out C was joining us-sweet! As I drove up to M’s house, I had to laugh out loud. They were both waiting on the sidewalk and somehow without planning it first, we all wore pink. Like bright pink, so 3 blondes in pink tanks. And blogger fail, I forgot to take a picture. 😦 We didn’t really have a route planned but it didn’t matter. We ran when we wanted to, walked when needed and talked a lot. It was great. M’s just getting back into running so when we passed her house at 2.6 miles, she peeled off and C and I rounded it out to 4 miles. Now if we can just make it a weekly thing.

While it was a great run, it still felt hard. Granted, I don’t usually talk (out loud) and run at the same time. Then a light bulb clicked- my doctor had ordered a bunch of lab work and I had the blood work done that morning. That lady was a vampire! Seriously, how many vials did she need?! And she left me with a gnarly bruise. That could have made me a little tired. Oops.

That headache that was niggling yesterday was a full-blown migraine when I woke up this morning. It got so bad, that I actually took something for it at work. Our first aid kit makes me smile, I took a “Pain Terminator” today. I love the names they make up for their generics 🙂 I also accepted that the planned 6 miler was not happening. Instead I headed to the lake for a short 2 miles. Sometimes, running can help my head. Usually I would head to the gym for the treadmill but I figured the lake was just as good. If my head was pounding after the first lap, I could call it done. It wasn’t easy but it wasn’t horrible either, actually pretty speedy. I finished 2 laps plus a tiny bit to hit 2.5 miles and headed home for the comfy chair. Interestingly Nike says I ran through the lake tonight-

I did get an inhaler from my doctor on Tuesday but I haven’t noticed any difference in either run. Then again I was never very good at using one. 🙂 But in yummy news, we have awesome customers and I got to enjoy this today- Anyone racing this weekend?

Any big plans?