Tag: Running

Goodnight Lake

Tonight’s run was brief and a little melancholic. The day that evening runners like me dread is near. Sunday- the end of daylight savings time. Waah! I am not one to run in the dark, I don’t like it. I like seeing where I am going and you never know what may be lurking in the shadows. 😃 My rule of thumb is that if it is too dark to see with my sunglasses on, then it’s dark for me to run outside. So with that in mind, I headed to the lake path tonight for a little “see you later” run. My last run outside after work this year. It was slow and short and reminiscent of a favorite children’s book.

Goodnight dry lake bed.
Goodnight nice stretching equipment.

Goodnight bridge.

Goodnight interesting shaped tree branch.

Goodnight random goats- happy eating.

Goodnight lake cat- (please be here in a few months)

Lights are on, it’s time to go.

Goodnight lake, see you next year.

Do you dread the end of daylight savings as much as I do?

Have any running routes you have to miss according to the seasons?

Favorite bedtime story?

Week Ummm Recap

You know, I am not sure how to title these anymore. Training for City to the Sea may be over but Big Sur is now less than 2 weeks away. The goal was to keep my fitness steady before Big Sur and before I carry out a new training style after that. Well, hmmm.

Monday- Last Harvest Marathon meeting. Race day was less than 7 days away and there was a lot to be done. Again, not that I was doing much- I just upped my media posting for the race.

Tuesday– Had an evening meet up with the some other people from work. There was a point in time when everyone in my position knew each other no matter which city we were in but the company has doubled in size in the last year or so and we can no longer say that. Someone suggested that we try to meet up outside of work. I figured why not?

Wednesday- 3.5 miles It felt good to get out running. I had only taken 3 days off from running but I was feeling twitchy. I went to the lake and just kept it nice and easy. It was a good run. As I ran back towards the parking lot for my second lap, I noticed a group of people all clustered together just staring at the sky. Umm, what did I miss? Turns out there was a giant hawk hanging out in the trees.

Thursday- Kettle bell workout. I had planned on running again but my stomach had other plans. I tried reintroducing some foods I have been missing during my paleo attempts and it didn’t go so well. I figured the dvd would still be a good work out and I could quit easily if I needed to since I was at home. I completed the workout, and felt wrecked. Man I need to strength train more. 😂

Friday– Oh mama, it hurt to walk. I think the weighted squats broke me. Let’s not even talk about sitting and standing.

Saturday– 3.1 miles. I woke up with a niggling headache but ignored it. I originally had a shower to attend but things had changed so I headed out for a short run before I needed to head to volunteer at the registration/ pick up tent for the Harvest Marathon. Seriously my legs felt broken, I ran so slowly. They finally loosened up a bit when I hit my driveway. Figures. 😌 I then went to registration. The temp being in the mid-80’s with high humidity was not helping my headache any. I worked the pick up tent for a few hours before heading to the school to find out where I was stationed the next day. I was assigned to be the course monitor for my mother’s water station so score. My head was pounding so I headed home after that. Slept with an ice pack in an effort to try to head off a migraine.

Sunday– Harvest Marathon!! So early. It was dark but not cold when I got up. My head was so rough, I headed to McDonald’s for a coffee and a soda before the volunteer meet up. Yes, soda, even though it wasn’t even 6:15 yet. I was hoping the caffeine would help my head. Picked up some of the kids and headed out to our little corner. Thing about the Harvest Marathon? It is a benefit for Paso Robles School Athletics- all the aid stations are staffed and run by the high school sports teams. This station was the tennis team- hi mom! We set up and we were ready! We were at mile 8.5, so the first runners would be coming through around the hour mark. The kids had water and Fluid and were cheering on the runners. They all looked strong but you could also tell the hills were harder than they had hoped. Another thing about Paso? There is no such thing as flat. One guy was hilarious. He had a thick Texas drawl and he comes running up saying- “Well, I had been running a 9 minute pace, but that last hill put me at 11!”. He got water and rounded the corner- up another hill. We could hear him saying “and now I’m at 13!”.

My head was really throbbing and I was feeling super nauseous so at one point I went and sat in my car for 20 minutes. I could no longer deny the migraine. Grrr. The last of the runners went by and after waiting longer we all headed out. My mom had planned breakfast with her team after and I went along. My head hurt so bad, I just sat there. Once home, I took a super long nap. I really wanted to get in a 10 miler but I had troubles getting to the bathroom so that did not happen. Grrrr. I usually average one migraine a month so hopefully it will be cooler when the next one hits. This weekend was pretty warm and humid. Cooler than the 90’s but still pretty warm.

So it was a week filled with running related events just not as much running as I had hoped. I’m rolling with that though and it just leaves room for improvement this week. Truthfully getting through this weekend was a big check on my to-do list. I feel so much less stressed now, so yay!

How was your weekend?

Ever work a water station for a race?

Migraine tips? Mine usually need ice, dark rooms and lots of food.

Mid Week Musings 4

Happy hump day!! And –

It’s Harvest Marathon week!!!! Dude, race planning is stressful and I’m not even really doing anything. 😁 I feel bad for the others.

With the time change coming and my race in 17 days (yikes!) I decided to do my usual Slacker thing until mid-November. I don’t want to change things too much and likely hurt myself. I also want to enjoy the last few runs I can get in outside after work. I am not a fan of the time change, I am not looking forward to treadmilling it 2-3 times a week. It kills my motivation. I’ve thought about the options for running in the evening or mornings outside but there are a few problems there. Yes, the biggest one is how lazy I am in the mornings. But beyond that, the roads I run in my neighborhood are trashed. I almost tripped 4 times on Saturday in broad daylight, low visibility may break me. There are 2 streets with sidewalks but the sidewalks are hinky- uneven and varying heights. Equally dangerous for a klutz like me. 😛

I realized I’ve become a middle of the pack runner. Which is cool because I used to be towards the back but all the people!!! I was always used to crowds thinning out at races. My average pace at races this year meant people were always around. Sometimes it’s cool and sometimes it’s overwhelming. Surf City never thinned out and City the Sea felt similar but there was about an 18,000 person difference between those two! For some reason I thought Big Sur was around City to the Sea size- it’s not. It averages 8500 runners. In my world that’s a lot. And 6:55 AM start time- waah!

I’ve been running without headphones lately. No real reason other than I keep forgetting them. It’s actually not horrible, I kind of like it. Not sure I could do it for a longer run or race though.

And now it’s Thursday. The Slacker strikes again. 😛 Actually it wasn’t my fault. I tried to work on the laptop but instead I had a lap cat. I blame Kimi.

There were 3 days in between Saturday’s run and last nights. I felt like I hadn’t run in forever. It’s interesting how your perspective changes the longer you’ve been running. When I first attempted running, I often still felt sore 3 days later. Granted, I had hell-acious shin splints which in turn led to a 2nd degree ice burn but that’s another story. 😝 I used to take a month off after a half marathon now I feel like I haven’t run enough in the last two weeks. I’ve been eating like I ran an ultra though and that’s not good. Well the food was yummy. 😉

And in good news, check out this weather forecast-

No 90+ temps in sight! 30-40 degree changes but that’s normal out here. 😃

If you made it this far after this rambling, drawn out thought process, thanks!

What are your plans this weekend?

Anyone racing? Long run?

How many days off before you feel twitchy?

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.

How was your weekend?

Would you start a new plan 3 weeks before a race?

What’s your favorite kind of cake?

Training Thoughts

Alright, time to be honest. It’s been a long time coming, I’ve hinted at it but let’s be real here. The training I did for 17 weeks for City to the Sea was a mess. I phoned it in. I knew I was phoning it in but I kept on running in denial. But actually, let’s look at all the half’s (halves?) I’ve run this year.

Surf City- 2:19:00
Wine Country- 2:06:05
SLO-2:15:06
Shoreline- 2:14:29
City to the Sea- 2:12:40

Surf City was the very beginning of my training cycle so it really was just a very well supported, expensive long run. Also the 25K trail race seven days prior made for some sore legs. The race was a bucket list race, you could say just running it was checking it off the list. That said, the 2:19 isn’t bad.

Wine Country was in the middle of SLO training. I was using a McMillan training plan for SLO and Wine Country was built-in as a tune up race. I went into it with zero expectations but had my best race of the year. Which I hadn’t expected as I was having some issues with my legs, achy knees and super tight calves.

I was best trained for SLO but even that was mediocre. I would say I followed 75% of my training plan, my very nice, designed just for me McMillan plan. What a waste. I still believe I could have PR’d that race had I not eaten asphalt at mile 5. Throw in the gnarliest stomach issues I’ve ever had running for the last 5 miles and I am still damn proud of that race.

Shoreline was a last minute decision to add a race in the middle of July. It fell on my birthday so why not? Under trained and 75% humidity- why not? Shockingly, I met the goal I set for the race- sub 2:15:00.

City to the Sea was supposed to be my goal race, my time to shine; I was finally going to run a sub 2:00:00 half marathon. Except yeah. A few weeks ago I wrote a post about how I wasn’t in PR shape and a sub 2 just wasn’t in the cards right now. But why not? A hill in mile 9 kicked my ass and I didn’t recover, but why? It was 200 ft, not a mountain, why?

Let’s talk about that training plan. 17 weeks, right? Running 3x a week with one easy, one speed and one long run. In theory it was just what I needed. 3 days was what I could handle having to deal with some serious stress at work and my stupid stomach. On a side note, it has occurred to me that all the stress at work is exacerbating my stomach issues but that’s not the point. So what was wrong with my training?

Choosing quality over quantity means those runs actually have to be quality runs. They weren’t. They were time fillers. Speed work was rare. You can’t race faster if you don’t run faster. Want to know how many double-digit runs I completed in those 17 weeks? One. One lonely 10 miler on a random Friday afternoon. 9 milers? Maybe 2. So how was I expecting to meet my goal when I wasn’t putting in the work for it? Yeah, I have no answer for that. I was more than a slacker, #slackerindenial.

So it’s time to buckle down. Once I figure out what that means. And what it will look like for a Slacker. I know I will never be one to throw down 50 mile weeks and it’s not about the miles, it’s what I put into them. I’m pulling out my dusty running books and looking at that McMillan plan again. I don’t have any races planned for the beginning of 2016 but I’d like to have a solid start to an actual decent base with good running workouts by the end of the year. Can I do it?

I have one half marathon left this year. 23 days away to be exact. I thought about trying to make it another goal race attempt but I think that might make me pissed off at running. Right now I am mad at myself and it should stay that way. Plus, this a travel race and I really just want to enjoy the scenery. It’s Monterey and Big Sur!! And I may be ~~stalking~~ fangirling Kara Goucher the day before. Or trying to. I may be distracted. 😃

The sad thing is that as I write this, I have only attempted 1 mile since Sunday’s race. Unfortunately, I got sick this week. I actually left work early yesterday I felt so crappy. I’ve gone to work with a concussion, so going home sick is kind of big for me. My goal is get in a couple of solid runs this weekend.

So tell me, can a slacker get real? #slackergetsreal

Training thoughts you want to share?

Any books you can suggest?