Tag: Running

Nonexistent Bridges

Ever have one of those days where it’s all just off? Nothing wrong, nothing bad happens but it’s still off? I think I have had one of those days brewing for a while. And it was set off by a dress this morning. Disclaimer- this is longish and disjointed.

If you’ve read “My Story” page you know my mother and I set about getting healthy and losing weight back in 2012. If not, skip it as I really need to update it- which is why I’m not linking it. That was the first time I ever really dedicated myself to getting fit; granted it was the competitor in me that kept me going in the beginning. Growing up I was a stick, like seriously, turn sideways and you lost me. However it was the wrong decade for that to be in fashion, so I remember a lot of digs about my lack of curves. One year, our team tennis skirts were handmade by some lady. She measured us in public on the tennis court saying the dimensions out loud. Yeah, that was fun. One girl laughed and another responded by saying that everyone else would be a normal size while I was measured. Whatever. I ate like a bottomless pit so that apparently redeemed me when we went to Carl’s Jr after every away match. Oh and lunch everyday was fries and Dr. Pepper. Occasionally a malt. Does anyone remember those? I only ever saw them in the school. I’m not a fan of chocolate ice cream but man those were good.

Senior Year, please ignore the tennis ball on the side

Then came the combination of growing up, a slowing metabolism, less physical activity, oh and let’s not forget Taco Bell. Managers ate for free. 9 years of free food, however I wanted to make it, 5 days a week, more than one meal. Yeah, you can guess how that went. My stomach was a jerk even back then, so I wore the guys uniform pants which made it easier to live in denial as well. Oddly though, I don’t remember ever really thinking about the 60+ pounds that I had put on. Like I said- uniform denial.

Then I started working with my current employers. I had to wear real clothes! Which meant shopping and realizing that maybe I could lose a few. I naively hoped that no longer having access to tons of free food would take care of that. Ha! I didn’t take into account that while my new job wasn’t exactly sedentary it was a drastic cut back from 10 hours of standing, walking, cleaning, lifting 40 lb boxes every day. I was also suddenly introduced to baked goods. Who knew brownies tasted so good? I had a new coworker who was an amazing baker. To this day, she still makes my favorite chocolate chip cookies. A couple years of half-assed, yo yo dieting followed, that included another 20 lbs gained then lost. I started running. Nothing seemed to click until late summer 2012.

Second Wine Country 1/2 - 30lbs over goal? — Second Wine Country 1/2 – 30lbs over goal?

I don’t know if it was the slight competition with my mother or if I was finally just over it. By making healthier choices and upping the exercise, we both succeeded this time, I hit goal weight in January 2013. Sweet! Truthfully, I think I felt the best that year, health wise, stomach wise, running wise and just comfortable in my skin. Let me be clear that my goal weight was not some ridiculous insane number -I lost 40 lbs.

The pops again! — FYI- Pops is wearing the same jacket as the above picture

I kept it off for all of 2013 but put on 5 around Christmas. Not a huge surprise, no big deal, I’ll just lose it again. Right? I upped my running in the beginning of 2014 but the weight would just not leave. I admit that part of the problem was a new “what the hell” attitude. For example- ” I just ran 10 miles, I can totally have that pizza”. Seriously faulty logic. An odd note- I never liked pizza until I lost the weight. I only ever ate it as a last resort, now I love it. Weird right?

Then June came along, and my stomach threw its temper tantrum. And it’s been a looooooong tantrum. More reinforcement for the faulty logic- if everything makes me sick, guess I should eat whatever right? Now on good days, I am up 10 lbs, on bad days up 15. Yes, I can fluctuate more than 5lbs on ~~an hourly~~ a daily basis. Stupid stomach.

I think it's weird how somedays I feel skinny and somedays I feel like a busted can of biscuits. — source

It pisses me off but I can’t seem to get out of my own way. I’ve cut back on sugar, soda, and pizza. I’ve upped the fruits and vegetables. I have a stand up desk. I quit cookie Friday. Like cold turkey- none on Fridays. Barring the flu incident in January, my running has been more consistent 3-4x a week. And still the scale doesn’t move. Oddly enough, my gastro told me I looked skinny at my last appointment. We bickered about it for a bit. Muscle does not weigh more than fat- a pound is a pound. And trust me, this is not muscle.

A dress made me cry this morning. I had an important meeting at work- all the managers and executives- and I had planned my outfit for a week. Then I put it on this morning. I wore it not too long ago. The weight is different this time. It’s all in my bottom half and things don’t fit right. I wonder if it’s part of what is slowing me down running wise. Then I wonder if that is just an excuse I am telling myself. Maybe I just won’t get faster. And round and round we go. Then there are days like last Friday where something sets me off and I eat too many donuts. More bridges to nowhere. It’s not even the number on the scale really. It’s how I feel.

In fact, I am not sure where this post is going. Maybe I just needed to vent, maybe I am looking for advice, maybe commiseration. I’ve been thinking about writing this for a while but never followed through. Maybe this is my way of burning bridges that lead nowhere- a trip down memory lane and some venting.

So…thoughts? Did I even make sense?

And a light-hearted one- Ever disliked a food for most of your life then suddenly love it?

Tempo Fail?

I think Jillian Michaels broke me. Ok, it was me but, ouch.

I did not run my long run on Sunday. Oddly enough, once I committed to that choice and stopped vacillating back and forth, I felt like it was the smart choice. That said I didn’t want to be a total Slacker and since I had been meaning to get back to cross training, I figured I would do a kettlebell workout. I think I must black out the memories of these workouts. I seem to do one about every six months and the kettlebell collects dust the rest of the time. I like the fact that it’s a short workout but you feel like you did something. Oh son of monkey, I feel it. Like I need to use the handicap bars in the restrooms just so I don’t fall on my face. Seriously, how can I be this sore?! I found out yesterday that I was likely going to get off early today (I work Saturday) so I was stoked. I figured I would hit the lake path for the first time in months and get an afternoon run in. I admit to momentary delusions of grandeur where I considered moving this weekend’s long run (10-12) miles to today and pushing today’s workout to the weekend. I have a busy weekend ahead, so I thought this could be doable. The effort it took to get out of bed this morning put a kabosh on that. My glutes and my hamstrings were screaming at me. Wow, I am out of shape.I ended up staying at work longer than planned but still headed to the lake. I like that my training plan sometimes gives me options on Tuesdays- speed vs power (hills). I didn’t feel up to hills plus the lake is pancake flat. I will probably do most of my speed work there once the time changes. It’s as close to a track as I can get during the week. You just have to dodge the dogs and bikes, kids and cars. 🙂 But I still love it. The first mile was rough. Like my legs were so heavy- I was shuffling my feet trying to warm up. So what do I do? Take it easy? Nah- I aim for a tempo. I never said I was smart. 1 mile warm up, 4 mile tempo, 1 mile cool down. So yeah, that didn’t go according to plan. But then it depends on how you look at it. My tempo miles were too fast if I base my paces off of my Surf City finish time but too slow if I base them off of my goal half marathon time. So, yay for middle of the road? Miles 4-6 weren’t that bad actually. Cool down was awesome! 🙂Once I completed the 6 miles, I used one of the workout stations around the lake to stretch out. For some reason I still wanted to move but knew I was too sore to run more. Instead of taking the short way back to my car I headed off to finish another lap around the lake. So with an added walking mile I pulled off 7 for the day. Not too bad for being sore, hopefully I can move tomorrow. 🙂I loved being back at the lake, come on daylight savings!!! There was actually water in it too! Hardly anything at all but more than the last time I was there in the fall. We need more rain like we had this weekend.

Happy (almost) Hump day!

Please tell me I’m not the only one who gets their butt kicked by a dvd? Pretty please?

Any YouTube workout recommendations?

A Slow Start to February

I feel like all I have been doing this week is playing catch up. I’ve posted recaps of Surf City and January but barely anything else. So I guess let’s keep with that theme and cover the week-

Monday– If I hadn’t made the appointment before Surf City, I would have done it myself after that race. If I had had a pair of scissors I would have chopped off my ponytail at mile 8. Seriously. And it wouldn’t have been the first time I cut my own hair. Luckily I restrained and had the professionals do it the next day-Can’t take non running selfies apparently- it looks longer here. It hits my chin. I have zero post cut guilt- woo hoo!

Tuesday– the schedule called for either a rest day or an easy run after Sunday’s race. Neither option sounded appealing, so I grabbed the puppy and took her for a puppy jog instead.Wednesday– This was the last day of my mini vacay so I decided to move Thursday’s speed work up. I had no desire to run it on the treadmill and on Wednesday I could run it outside. However I had a very tiny window of time. Probably should have gotten out of bed sooner- nah. Also not good was the fact that I had eaten lunch an hour before starting my run. Lunch that was a tri-tip sandwich. Oops. But I did it. At least in a tiny way- first intentional speed work in way too long. Oh, and speed work without a heavy, swinging pony tail was awesome! Then I headed off to the tennis courts to help my mom out at practice. It was time to scare a new group. #goodtimes 🙂

Thursday and Friday were back to work. I actually got caught up on a lot of things. Reviews are done and submitted and now they just have to be presented. The bad thing was my serious overindulgence in donuts on Friday. So not good. But so good. 🙂

Saturday– my alarm went off early- too early. I had plans to attend a nutrition and training seminar put on by the SLO Marathon. The plan was to start the morning with a run. It was raining. Now, rain is so rare here, that I usually love running it. What I did not take into account was just how wet I was going to be and how that would feel over the 2 hours of sitting. I was so damn cold, I was shivering. I also looked like a drowned rat. Once the seminar let out, I found a pair of flip-flops in my car and a light sweatshirt I luckily had been too lazy to take out after tennis on Wednesday. The flip-flops were so much better than wet socks and shoes and the sweatshirt helped after stripping off my outer layers. My tank was still damp so I cranked the heat. It felt so awesome but I think I turned my car into a sauna. I picked my mom up for lunch after getting home and changing and she had troubles getting into my car it was so warm. Ha!The seminar was good. I think the rain kept quite a few people away which was a bummer. I was nervous about the run because I’ve never run in a group outside of a race. We set out for an easy 40 minutes, I ended up in the middle of the pack. There was one person near me on the way out but on the way back I was by myself. It was still nice knowing that other people were out there though.

The seminar briefly covered nutrition and training, Team in Training and the Challenged Athletes Foundation. The nutrition information was basic but helpful as well. It also emphasized how much I have been slacking on that lately. Team in Training is always inspiring and I keep telling myself I should participate at least once but I admit that fundraising goal intimidates me. I don’t think I had heard of Challenged Athletes Foundation before. Talk about inspirational. The woman giving the presentation would have been inspirational before her accident, what she’s accomplished after is just awesome. All in all it was a good morning.

Sunday– As I sit trying to finish this post, I am arguing with myself. My original plan when I knew I had back to back race weekends was to take this week off prior to resuming training for SLO. Then I received my fancy training plan and it said different. It calls for a 90 minute Thirds progression run today. Up until now I hit all the planned workouts for the week. But I am tired and achy and I have little desire to go out in the pouring rain and run. The treadmill sounds even less exciting. I really just want to take a rest day but I feel lazy thinking that. I am just tired, have I said that already? So, the argument continues.

How was your week/ weekend?

How do you solve your internal arguments?

Ever gone to a running seminar thing? Or run for Team in Training?

January Recap

How is it 4 days into February already?! I am not ready for that!

Backtracking to January- well it started great and then derailed. I rang in the New Year and new month with a great 10 mile run. I was ready to get to my training and get started on that 1000 mile goal for 2015. I was doing great up until January 8. Then the sickness hit. I took 11 days off. 11?! That hurt both my training and my miles. According to Smash Run, I ran 10 days in January- 10. That’s 21 days off. Ouch. So with that in mind, I suppose the below number is actually a good thing- 🙂

So 68 miles? Not too bad. January included one race- Spooner’s Cove 25K. My farthest race/ run to date and the most time I’ve spent on my feet outside of working at Taco Bell. Just kidding. However, with the way that my runs were so spaced out, I am not sure how well they added to base building.

As for some of my other goals? Well, socializing didn’t happen because well, who wants to hang when you are contagious? And I finished one book. One of the 4 I started. I did read your blogs and some fanfic online but that last bit doesn’t count. January did have some shiny though- sorry- still excited.So now on to February. The original plan was to run easy/ rest this first week of February and then get to work on speed. My spring goal race is SLO and it is 11 weeks out now. I admit I am nervous about breaking 2. Part of me doesn’t think I can and the other part thinks I need to get out of my own way. Luckily my training plan has me easing back into things the next two weeks so that’s a little comforting. Oh and for added incentive- I received this shiny news in my email this morning-

Runners take their finisher medals seriously because it is a tangible badge-of-honor and proof of their accomplishment. The 2015 finisher medal with the barn and windmill highlights our local rural heritage, and like competing a marathon or half-marathon, it represents hard work and tradition,” said Heather Hellman, Event Director. “Our medals are unique and we change it every year, so they become very collectible. On race day, we look forward to placing our 2015 medals around the necks of all our proud finishers so they can take a little piece of San Luis Obispo home with them.” Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2015-san-luis-obispo-marathon-half-marathon-5k-april-24-26-registration-10056923529

That was just the kick in the pants I needed! Plus I’ve kind of always loved old barns, so I think it’s kind of awesome! The email helped get me out the door today for the baby speed work that was on my training plan. Woo hoo! Let’s see if I can keep this motivation going!

And on the socializing front, ~~my friend talked me into~~ I signed up for a craft swap online. What the hell was I thinking? Oh yeah, I heard Harry Potter and signed up. However I have the crafting skill of Longbottom (nerd moment!!) so I feel sorry for my partner. Fingers crossed!

How has your February started?

Are you crafty? Help!!

What’s your shiny/ dull for the week so far?

Surf City Half Marathon Recap

The type A personality in me was torn between posting this first or my January Recap- this won.

I first thought of running Surf City back in 2011 when I drove NikeC down so she could run it. I have thought about running it ever since but the timing was never right. It still wasn’t the best timing this year but I decided screw it, I’m gonna run it anyways. Even spectating it that once, from the finish line and mile 4ish, did not prepare me for the size of this thing. I knew going in that it was touted as 20,000 runners but I didn’t completely comprehend that until Sunday morning. My mother and I made a road tip of it and headed to Huntington Beach on Saturday. Other than parking packet pickup was fairly simple. Parking made it kind of nightmare-ish. I was less than impressed with the expo. For such a big race I was honestly expecting something better. But at least I got out of there cheap since all I bought was a new Fitletic belt.

That day we planned that my mom was going to drop me as close to the start as she could then go back to the overflow parking and kill some time before heading to the finish line. That worked out great as she got me within a half mile and we wouldn’t get stuck in the parking lot trying to leave after the race. It just meant I had a 2+ mile walk after the race. We got to the start so much quicker than planned so I had about a little over an hour to go. After some unfortunate experiences with Apple maps and the freeways the day before, we didn’t take any chance. After walking to the start line, most of my time was spent waiting in the bathroom lines. The race start was 7:45 but I knew my wave wasn’t scheduled to start until 7:55. Even so I headed over around 7:30 because this was my first experience with a wave start. This may have been my first time but even I know corrals only work if the guidelines were followed and I saw so many of the wrong bibs in my wave. At one point I was shoved out of the way by some spectators making their way through the corral- really? Thanks for stepping on my feet too. I crossed the start line at 8:01.

Miles 1-3 9:48, 9:55, 9:46

The goal for this race was to treat it like a long run not a race. I had been concerned that I would try to push it too hard at the start like I do most races. Luckily there were so many people, I don’t think I could have run any faster. What was concerning to me was that I hurt. My shins, calves and knees hurt right from the start and that is not normal. I’m not sure if it was because of waiting in the bathroom lines so long or the short beach walk the day before or hey the 25K the weekend before but I was hurting. The two hours of sleep I got the night before probably didn’t help. My goal was to keep the 2:10 pacer in sight.

Miles 3-6 10:11, 9:59, 10:12

Holy crap, the water stations were a cluster f***. There was just so many people and most just came to a completer stop mid run. And who flings their arms out at water stations? I am surprised I don’t have bruises from how many times I was pegged. But there were plenty of aid stations and volunteers on the course, so that was huge. My legs were still hurting but I was determined to keep the pacers in my sights.Miles 7-9 10:23, 10:38, 11:13

I lost the pacers around 6.5 when my lungs protested the humidity. Honestly I knew it was coming at some point I was just hoping it held off longer. When I had checked the weather that morning, I saw a scary number next to humidity- 95%. By the end of the race it had dropped to 70% and the temp was mid 60’s but by then my asthma was cranky. So from then on it was intervals of run til I wheeze, walk it out. I also felt like a disgusting mess thanks to the humidity. My arm warmers, which were unneeded, worked great at wiping down my face. I also started dumping water down my back at aid stations.

Miles 10-13 11:22, 11:49, 11:04, 11:09

I slowed down more but managed to pick it up a bit by the end. I was still surprised at how crowded it was even then. I am used to it thinning out but it never did. I underestimated how much the bobbing and weaving was going to take out of me and I was ready to be done.

Finish- 2:19:00 Pace 10:37Once crossing the line and receiving the medal, there were a few photographers taking pics there so we bottle necked. Then there we went through little stations about 20 feet apart- water bottles, space blankets, bag of snacks, bananas. Then there was a row of finishing pictures before walking through the medical tents. I felt so nasty from sweating that I didn’t even put on my medal, I didn’t want it be all nasty. I just held it up for the finisher pictures.

Then we were finally turned loose into the crowd of spectators. I had no idea where my mom was and texts weren’t going through but I finally got a call through. The lifeguard stations worked as great landmarks. 🙂 I so wanted to just go sit in the ocean but wasn’t going to walk the 2 miles back to car barefoot nor was I going to put wet feet into my running shoes so I passed.

I'd dried off a bit by then :) — I’d dried off a bit by then 🙂

My overall pace was actually right where it was supposed to be for a long run according to the McMillan calculator. My pride would have preferred to be under 2:15 but considering the humidity and how unused to that many people I was, I am actually fine with my time. First half of the year complete and I finally got my surfboard!! Yay!