Tag: Running

No Need To Panic

I consider myself a fairly calm person in emergency situations. This has also been tested a few times and been proven mostly true. Earthquakes, car accidents, electrical panels catching on fire, customers trying to beat up employees, etc, I stay calm. Even my first car accident when I was young and dumb, I stayed mostly calm. I calmly came to, assessed the damage ( I hit a wall) and tried to turn the car off and take the keys out of the ignition to cut the power. Too bad I wasn’t thinking about the fact that the car had to be in park to accomplish all that. 🙂 I was also calm when I saw my passenger lying on the ground. I knew he had to have gotten there on his own and he had. He got out and went and laid down. No, none of us had been drinking. I stayed fairly calm through all this but lost it when I called my mom- so mostly calm. That big earthquake that damaged town years ago? I was working when it rolled through, I told everyone to take cover and I went to turn off the large open gas range. We then evacuated, still calm. My point to all this is that I am not one who panics easily. So imagine my shock when I ran myself into a panic attack a couple years ago.

I did a good majority of my runs on the high school track that summer. I would run in the evenings after work. The football team was usually practicing but they never said I couldn’t be there so I would just run in the outside lane minding my own business. The track used to be my happy place and favorite place to run. I headed there one evening for an easy 5 mile run. The team was there as usual and my mother was as well, she was going walk laps while I ran. It was hot but no hotter than any other day. I remember feeling pretty good and keeping a good pace. 2 miles in I started to freak out. For no reason. First, I had trouble breathing. I knew it wasn’t an asthma attack but I could not catch my breath or calm myself down. Then I started crying, I mean full on sobs, again for no known reason. I had plenty of water and didn’t feel dehydrated. In fact my body felt fine other than the emotional freak out. I had no idea what was going on and it was scary but I could not calm down. But I’m wasn’t very smart, so I finished my run, thinking it would help calm me down. I hadn’t discovered the online running community yet so I did the only thing I could think of when I got home. Google. I read stories of people having similar experiences but no clues as to why it happened. I was nervous to run for a while but it never happened again so I put it out of my mind. Until Wednesday’s run.

Summer has definitely arrived and temps in home town have been in the high 90’s to 100 range. While I am loving it, I have been taking things a little slower. Wednesday was day 3 of my training plan and my second run. The plan called for a 30 minute easy run but I was aiming for 40. My weather app said that the temp at the lake was 81 so I headed there to run. It lied. It was more like 91. Still, I was fine with that, I had had 90 oz of water at work and had a full bottle for my run. I used plenty of sunblock and wore my hat, I felt good and ready to go. I walked my usual little warm up and started to run. Then stopped 20 yards later. Walked some more, then tried running again. Only to stop again. Repeat numerous times over the next mile and a half. My head was totally in the game but I could not get my body to do what I wanted it to do. It was like it was refusing to run. The more I tried to push, the more it pushed back. At mile 1.5, I felt it again. My breathing was becoming erratic and it wasn’t from exertion. Maybe it was because it happened before but this time I recognized that I was about to have a panic attack. For no reason, again. I knew I had plenty of water, wasn’t dehydrated and was still sweating so I don’t think the heat had anything to do with it. It hadn’t been a stressful day and my stomach has been feeling better lately. Then, trying to force myself to calm down was just making things worse. Being smarter now (just a little) I just walked back to the car and stayed in the shade while I got everything under control. What the hell?!

Once again, I have no idea what caused it. I didn’t feel like it was too hot, but maybe my run the day before was too hot? I always clear a minimum of 120 oz of water a day, so it’s not like I was dehydrated. Yes, work has been stressful but no more than usual. Sleep is the same as always so it couldn’t have been that. Grrrrr. Granted, it’s only happened twice but it’s still freaky. It doesn’t make sense. And now I am nervous for my next run. Grrrr.

Ever have a panic attack? Running or not?

Favorite place to run?

How much water do you drink on average?

Finally

Is Sunday already over? Boo. Weekends need to be 3 days long, they really do. EDIT- read this as if I posted Sunday evening- I was having internet issues- and then WordPress erased half of it- grrrr.

I finished the week out with a short 4 mile run on Sunday afternoon. I think I am finally ready for this lackadaisical approach to training to go away. Getting ready for City to the Sea starts tomorrow. I will probably stick to the 3x a week plan until mid July. By then we should be fully staffed and my hours can get a little shorter. Fingers crossed. But going forward I plan to have my runs be something of substance rather than just phoning it in. Speaking of substance, I had hoped that Sunday’s run would be between 6-8 miles but I held off too long. I headed out late afternoon when it was close to 90. Oops. I also didn’t have enough time as I had Sunday dinner to get to. Another reason I have been trying to rearrange my long run days. The run was warm but not too bad. I walked the first 10 minutes though, it took awhile to get my head and legs into it. 😬. After that I averaged a 10:30 pace which for the temp and it only being my second run in that warmth, I say is pretty good. Heat and slow pace aside, this run felt good. I was dripping in sweat by the end but smiling. It was the first run in a month where I was just happy to be running. Yay! And these might have helped too- I decided to buy another pair of 17’s. I know they are being phased out but I figured it made more sense than running in shoes that made my feet cranky. Yes, I still felt the odd little niggles but overall they felt like slippers on my feet. 😃 Truthfully, I didn’t even try them on the store, I just told them my size and paid. The Warehouse did let me know that they have about 100 in my size so I might be able to get another pair in a few months. If only I had unlimited funds and a place to store them, I would seriously stock up right now!! Orange wasn’t my first choice but it grew on me. I think I was obnoxiously bright when I ran today- In non running news- Friday was a sad day at work. My fish died!! I always greet him in the morning and my greeting turned into a shriek! I was sad and didn’t know what to do. 😢 Customers asked where he was throughout the day and we had to tell them the sad news. He had been a little under the weather for awhile but I was hoping he would pull through.

Saturday saw a family tradition when we went to see Jurassic World. I really liked it, my brother was meh about it. My mother liked it even though she made fun of parts of it too. This also meant I decimated a movie popcorn but I was ok with that. I also realized that I can no longer tolerate candy. I was on such a sugar high, I felt ill. Score one for Atkins. I also had a similar revelation to pizza last week, boo.

I am finally eager to get back to training. I really would like to break 2:00 in a half this year. In order to do that, I have to put the work in first. This also means that I am reconsidering my July race. I keep going back and forth about what to do. But that’s for another post. I may need your help. 🙂 I also misplaced my training so I am trying an app this time.

How was your weekend?

What are you training for? Do you train during the summer or just run?

Ever had a fish? How do you take care of them?!

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?

Week of Woe

I have a race tomorrow. A 10K. How did that happen?

It’s not that I forgot about it, just that it somehow snuck up on me. I thought I had another few weeks. But I don’t. I feel woefully unprepared for this race. Not just because I still haven’t upped my mileage but my head is just not in the game. At all. I considered downgrading to the 5K at packet pick up today. This coming from the person who completed a 5K after a 10K with serious asthma complications. But let’s back up.

Monday– I knew I wasn’t going to be running after work but it was odd not taking my gym bag. I had a meeting after work about a fall race so the evening was still spent talking about running. 🙂 Of course, as I was driving home I was jealous of all the people out running. Tuesday– Headed out after work for an easy run. My legs felt like lead. I tried out a new interval setting for my runs. I always take a walk break at some point each mile so I decided to try 4:30 run/ :30 walk intervals. I was curious to see how I felt. My easy runs never seem to feel that easy, so I was curious if this would help. I didn’t really notice a difference. I ran 3.5 miles with an average pace of 10:14. Which would have been fine if the splits hadn’t looked like this- 11:40, 9:51, 9:30. Wednesday– National Running Day! I was planning on running anyways but by days end I really needed to run. For the past month, I feel like I have been waiting for the other shoe to drop. I don’t have to wait anymore, it drop kicked me. But it happened, so now I can build from here and move on. I made it through the day and headed to the lake for an easy 5K. 11:44, 10:17, 9:27. All over the place but pace wasn’t the goal, quiet thoughts were. I also stopped along the way to visit with lake cat. 🙂Thursday– I really had planned on running. The weather was odd all day and just kept getting grey-er and grey-er. The wind had increased as well. I changed into my running clothes and headed north, hoping to drive out of the grey. An upside to commuting is that I have multiple locations along the way to run. The sun came out a bit along the way but the wind increased. By the time I hit home town, the wind was 20+ mph and my head was not mentally wiling to do that. Rest day instead.

Friday– National Donut Day! My boss was nice enough to pick up donuts on her way in and you better believe I partook. I had 2. 🙂 Both were equally amazing. I had planned for the 2 all week, and my carb choices were on point all week, so I had zero guilt with either donut. Plus, don’t donuts have magical healing powers? And as an added bonus, I got to leave work shortly after 5, so it was only a 10 hour day. Woo hoo!Today- Instead of running, I headed down to SLO to pick up my packet for the race tomorrow. I had received an email that said this was their largest year yet with well over 500 runners and I knew that race morning could be more than chaotic. Parking!!! Packets could be picked up early at Left Lane Sports in SLO, so I decided it was worth the drive down. Plus, I’ll never turn down Firestone for lunch. 🙂 I returned home in time to make my hair appointment. I loved the cut I got in February but it had grown a little too long, so it needed to be chopped. I tried to take a before and after picture but I am crap at selfies. 🙂

Which brings me to tomorrow’s race. Honestly my head has been elsewhere all week. 6 miles seems so very far. My only goals are to finish and have fun. I ran this race 2 years ago, so I know it is lots of loops and turns throughout the vineyard. I am probably going to wear my trail shoes. It also has a start time of 8:00 and is quite a drive from home, so it will be an early morning. I am hoping it won’t be too cold. This has been the oddest May/ June weather.

Who raced today? Racing Sunday?

Advice for when your pride gets punched?

Did you indulge in donut day? How was your week?

Smile!

Happy Wednesday! Happy National Running Day!!

At least that is what I am telling myself. My oddly found optimism about things outside of running took some punches this week. The inner cynic is trying to fight it’s way back. Grrrr. Throw in a migraine going on 36 hours into the mix and double grrrr. Luckily, I have a reason to post that won’t bring you all down with me!!

Among other things, like eating. :) — Among other things, like eating. 🙂

Last week, Mostly Healthy Living nominated me for the One Lovely Blog Award. Thank you!! Head on over and check her out! So, it breaks down like this-

Thank and link back to the person who nominated them. done
Share 7 things about themselves. Kind of boring
Nominate 15 other bloggers and comment on their blogs to let them know. Well, names are listed but the commenting doesn’t always follow- so if you see it first- have at it!

7 things, hmmmm. That’s a tough one, particularly 7 things that I haven’t said before… hmmm.

1. I have never eaten any form of cookie dough- not even the ice cream. I can imagine the shocked face you are making now. 🙂

2. I seriously just blanked for an hour. And read other things.

3. I multi task way too much. All the time, I never really feel like I take the time to focus on one thing and when I try, I get twitchy. I don’t know why I am so easily distract-able these ~~days~~ years. This post which is probably onne of the shortest I have posted has taken me 2 hours. I multi-task well at work but not at home.

4. I have not ridden a bike in 20 years. Which makes last year’s tri dreams a total pipe dream. Crazy slacker. I love the idea of riding a bike but the reality kind of freaks me out. Particularly if you take it really seriously. I mean how much does all that stuff cost?! And clipping in?! No thank you!

5. People think I am stand offish but I am really just socially awkward. That comes out in 2 ways- too much talking, often fast – or seeming totally bitchy. 😦 Standing in the corner is more my thing. I need to work on this. People say cell phones made us anti-social. Before phones, I would have been hiding some where with a book.

6. I’ve owned 9 cars since I got my license, and I have no idea how to drive a stick. My mother tried to teach me when I was younger, let’s just say it was rough. 🙂

7. I tend to use odd or old fashioned words and expressions. One example “cotton” . So have you cottoned on to how odd I am?

Actually this list makes me seem very boring. I can’t decide if that’s sad or funny. 🙂

And now for the 15-

Movin’ It with Michelle

Veggie Running Momma

Helly On the Run

The Half Mad Half Marathoner

Run Salt Run

Sweating Through Life

I Don’t Eat That

The Dancing Runner

Pirate Bobcat