Tag: Running

Sleepy and Slow

After waking from my third power nap of the week on Saturday afternoon, I realized that my planned 10 miler on Sunday might not be the best idea. Sleep was not my friend then and it still is not now. Saturday wasn’t even a stressful day. It was a day of relaxing shopping and yummy food. I had a generic gift card to blow so I treated myself to a ridiculous pair of flip flops. They’re black and basic but super supportive, I have high arches and for the first time, I feel like these actually support them. But the price did make me a little squeamish, they better last forever! And of course, I had to spend money at Dick’s. 🙂

I was still tired after my little nap, but I followed through with my no excuses plan and completed my yoga dvd. I almost let myself believe that walking around while shopping could count as my days’ exercise but unless you are running from store to store or aggressively trying on clothes, it’s more of a leisurely stroll. I felt a little better by the end of the DVD though. Since going to sleep at the usual time hadn’t helped and neither had earlier times, Saturday I flipped it, I stayed up reading until 2 hoping I would be so tired I would sleep. Yeah, not so much.

I headed out Sunday afternoon for a run. Since I had decided that running the full 10 wasn’t the brightest, I thought that a least a 10K was 10 of something. I also met up with my mom and the puppy at various points, so those were opportune walk moments or miles. 🙂 Since I was so tired, I made sure to take as many walk breaks as I needed and not care about my pace. The weird thing was that I felt like my form was spot on for the first time. I felt like I was running tall and strong. Of course no one was watching so it could have all been in my sleep deprived head. According to my watch I spent 2 different ½ mile sections at around an 8:00 minute pace. What? I can’t do that when I am fully rested. I was still tired but I felt good after my run.

That feeling did not translate in better sleep last night and I was dragging butt this morning. Work was straight up chaos, more so than the usual Monday but we got through it. I admit to 2 sodas getting me through the day. After work, I hit the park for a very short 2.5 miles. I just wanted to get moving. Plus I had a new visor to break in. I bought the visor to be a spare on Saturday only to discover Sunday that my month old purple one was broken. Ugh. Talk about good timing. The run was ok, nothing great but nothing bad either. No complaints here! If I don’t sleep well tonight, tomorrow will be a complete rest day. I would like to do a kettle bell workout but we will see how it goes. I used to be a night owl/ insomniac (2 AM was the norm) so you’d think I’d be used to this.

How was your weekend?

Ever have rough periods of sleep? Help!

A Little Indecison

Happy Friday!!!

I am so ready for this weekend. I haven’t slept well all week and the tossing and turning is getting to me. So bad, I took a 15 minute break yesterday, set a timer for 12 minutes and took a power nap. It only slightly helped. That being said, I was still looking forward to running after work.

Once we were done for the day, I was suddenly struck with indecision. I had planned on running in work town, aiming for an easy 4 miler, but I didn’t want to wear pants. For some reason I feel uncomfortable running in shorts in work town. I am not sure why but I never said I was always logical. 🙂 I had both shorts and capris packed in my bag, so I chose the shorts and headed to the lake path. Halfway there, I decided I didn’t want to run the path. I don’t know if it was because I have run it so often lately or if it was lingering, uneasy memories of the lurker from Tuesday. So I kept driving. I thought about driving home and running from there but that didn’t sound enticing either. I tried to think of another option.

I finally settled on a path I knew over by a friend’s house. It was an out and back that I had run portions of at various times, but I had never run the whole length before. Walked/ran parts during my first horrible 10K but never run the whole thing. There’s a new portion now that connects to the original, so I was hoping that it would be around 2.5 miles to the turn around which would give me 5 for the day. It would be uphill to the turn around, but I figured that would just ensure that it was an easy run.

I started off with a warm up walk, that was probably too short, before picking up the pace. I felt pretty good going uphill actually. Even though this was supposed to be an easy run I was looking forward to some faster running on the return downhill. I haven’t run this path in well over a year but for the first time I ran the whole way up. I was stoked but also tiring as I neared the turnaround. I was also disappointed. The turnaround came at 1.75 miles, boo. 😦 I turned right and ran until the sidewalk ended but it didn’t add a lot before heading back down.

Then it was all downhill, literally and figuratively. I suddenly felt like someone had hit me with a tired stick. I felt like I was running through water, and as a result crawling. I actually took a walk break just before mile 3 because I just felt rough. A break going downhill? After that I told myself that the faster I ran, the sooner I would be done, so I just pushed on. Hitting the new path section was the hardest, the sun was setting right in my eyes, the trees are still saplings so no shade, it felt like I was running in a desert. I hit the street finally and was only at 3.75 miles. Ugh. The path picks back up on the other side of the street so I ran a little more until I hit 4. And I was done. Later I checked my Garmin and noticed that the elevation gain was only 127 ft, man, that’s barely a hill. I think that first 10K 2 years ago really traumatized me, I remember it feeling so much bigger. Ha! 🙂 I also noticed that my last mile was 8:40, sweet!

Even though I had some lovely sudden onset tiredness, I liked the path, I may run it again. I just wish it was longer. The path actually runs all the way to the other side of town, but that involves running under a bridge. Ummm, no thanks. I did it once with my mom and ML and I felt like we needed protection.

After another poor night of sleep last night and a busy day at work, I was looking for something low-key today. I was also wishing I hadn’t wasted my 1 lazy day on Wednesday, stupid stomach. So it was time for a 5K puppy walk! I headed out with my mom and the puppy. We were dodging graduation traffic, so we kept it pretty leisurely. We had a scare though when some crazy large poodle rushed a fence, barking and growling at us. The fence was useless because the poodle almost cleared it in one jump. Meanwhile the owner is sitting there watching. Really?! Zoey never barked back, just looked at us like “what’s his trauma”? I have to say the dog was actually pretty scary.

Now I am looking forward to a hopefully relaxing weekend. A little shopping, a little reading and a not so little run.

What are your plans this weekend? Anyone racing?

Any crazy dog encounters on your runs? I’ve been attacked before, that’s actually why I started carrying pepper spray.

A Reason for Speed

Happy Wednesday!

After this weekend’s hot miles, I felt like I had a blister forming on my right foot, which is not cool. I have to admit that I have only had one blister since I started running. I think the heat plus the miles made for some uncomfortable feet. So I switched the usual run on Monday for Tuesday’s yoga. Sometimes I feel like that DVD is easy but I always end up ridiculously sweaty. I also still can’t hold the poses very long either and I have to drop my knee while doing side planks. But I am going to keep trying! Like I said before though, I am glad no one can see me. 🙂

Tuesday was a pretty good day work-wise. I was able to get away for lunch and hit up the Dollar store for some pens and things for my coworkers. Not the healthiest choices but guaranteed to bring a smile to someone’s face. 🙂 I was looking forward to an easy 4.5 miles after work. Then I apparently decided to prove that my hair color is natural. Without going into too many details, we were wrapping up at work per usual, and I went and did something I thought I couldn’t fix. It was a pretty big something. I felt like my stomach had dropped to the floor and I went slack jawed. I was trying to figure out who to call first and trying not to panic. What an example I was setting. 🙂 One of my coworkers said that something similar had happened before and she thought she knew what to do. My face now probably showed complete disbelief, because seriously how does a person do what I did?! We were able to get it straightened out but it took another 20 minutes. Whew. But then I was running behind to get running.

After changing in a hurry and finally getting to the park, I saw plenty of people on the path. I still had to change my shoes and get all my gear together so I was a few minutes longer than usual in my car. When I started to get out I noticed a potential lurker sitting on the fence two places down. Really?! I waited to see if I was just paranoid. He finally meandered down by the horse shoe pit. I got out of my car but kept an eye on the pit and ran the path in the opposite direction than I usually do. There were about 20 people on the path and more in the park and on the playground but I still made sure to keep my pepper spray handy. I am sure that he was probably harmless but my theory is that when you are running alone, everyone has the potential to be creepy so it’s best to be cautious. I didn’t see him on first loop back so I did another. The general uneasiness had me only running 3.5 miles. I also went from an easy 4.5 to a closer to pace 3.5. Potential lurker = run faster.

bettersky — The iPhone didn’t do it justice, so there may be a filter on this

The sky looked amazing as I was leaving, so I tried to snap a few, very quick pics before jumping in my car.

That brought my little challenge to 10 for 10 so far. Today, I had planned on completing the yoga DVD again but my lovely stomach chose to rebel again so today ended up being the 1 out of 7 that I allow myself to be really lazy. I hit my goal every day (7 out of 7, what!) last week so I was hoping this week would be the same, but 11 was not my lucky number. But that’s ok, too.

I am looking forward to getting back on track tomorrow. And I have a 9-10 miler to look forward to this weekend. I also may need to look for new socks as well. For shorter runs, I have been using the Target C9 socks, but I really do not want blisters. Any suggestions?

How had your week been?

Anyone else had any lurkers while running?

Triple Digits

After my post on Friday, I did feel inspired enough to complete a measly ten minutes of exercise. What could it hurt? I decided 5 minutes of punches sounded like a good start. It didn’t occur to my addled brain that that meant that I also had to hold a squat for 5 minutes. I thought I was going to fall over. But I held it. Then I had to take a break before moving on, ha!

Saturday was a work day for me, so I started my day that way. I’ve mentioned before that I work in a different town than normal on Saturdays and the building is bigger than ours. I wear a Nike+ Fuelband everyday but it’s mostly out of habit, I’ve become a little disenchanted with it. I also rarely hit my goal unless I run and even then it’s rare. However on Saturday, I think it was a little confused. It registered that I had surpassed my goal by 11:30 AM, and had exceeded 10,000 steps… at 11:30. Ok, the building is bigger and I worked standing up but come on, that’s a little fast!

Took a break here, mile 4.5- top of the hill

After work I headed home to find that my home town was a lovely 96º. Yippee! I ran some errands and waited for it to cool. I waited mostly in vain and was losing some of my new enthusiasm, so I headed out for a run at 4:30. A long run. It was 88º. Because of the heat, I did not care about my pace. I just wanted the distance and the time on my feet. I had layered on sunscreen and had a huge bottle of water. I took it slow and walked when I needed too. I took a breather at the halfway point as well. It actually wasn’t bad, if only there were less damn hills. I normally do one hill 3 times and another 4 but I dropped one of each, so it shortened my route a bit. All in all 8.63 miles in 1:37. Yeah, I was slow, I walked a lot, but I felt good. And yes, I was the only idgit out there.Today hit 105º, woo hoo! I got out of the heat for a few hours by finally going to the movies. The Fault in Our Stars was awesome and I managed to avoid crying. There was definitely water in my eyes, but no tears fell. For a YA novel, the theater was filled with adults. 🙂 And I may have eaten too much popcorn. 🙂 But it was yummy. Afterwards, my mother joined me on the crazy train and we went for a walk. My weather app said 102º but it did not feel that warm. Normally I run ahead and double back to her but today we mostly just walked. It was a good walk, just shy of 4.5 miles.

I would say that this was a pretty good week for the challenge that I set myself. I actually had a lot of opportunities to use an excuse last week. Between a later day at work, a raging migraine, the heat and just being female, I was so close to chucking it. But for once I didn’t. Now if I can only keep it going. It’s gonna be a long summer. 🙂

How was your weekend?

How was your weather?

So far, So good

6 days into my No Excuses summer and so far, so good.

Wednesday as most know was National Running Day. My original plan was to hit the gym that night but I also forgot that Wednesday was going to be a later day at work due to a monthly meeting. Oops. So when my gym buddy bailed on me, I raced to the lake park after work to get in a few miles. I had to run on running day right?

I have never worked out after the meetings before, I would always use them as an excuse to not run that day. But in keeping with my theme, I couldn’t bail on the 4^th day! I planned just a quick 2.5 miles. The first mile was just average but then I was feeling spunky so I threw some sprints into the second lap. I was pretty speedy on the sprinting but apparently slow on the recovery jogs so it was still a 9 minute mile. Ha! But it was a fun change. It was also still in the mid 80’s so I was dripping after 2.5 miles. Blech.

Come Thursday, after three days of running, I felt like my legs needed a rest. I had some things to do after work, and then had a completely unhealthy dinner. However I did not use either of those as an excuse, so it was yoga time at 9:00PM. I am feeling a little less awkward with it but then I am also doing this in the privacy of my own home. So when I fell on my face 4 times, no one was around to laugh at me. And I am not even doing real, proper yoga, it’s the Jillian Michaels version. However, I completed the 30 minute circuit and felt better for having done it.

Today I was supposed to have some blood work done but sleeping felt like a better choice. 🙂 Plus I am kind of afraid I will wind up with a huge bruise like last time. Work was pretty good today too. Friday’s always run a little longer so between that and the planned but canceled blood work, I had figured that today would be the 1 of 7 that I said I would do nothing. But as I type this, I feel really lazy so maybe I will do another dvd after posting this. Hmmm, too bad we can’t place bets on it. I do have to restart the ab challenge though. My little stomach flare lasted through Thursday and crunches and situps were not an option.

I hope to get in a 8-9 miler tomorrow but I have a busy day ahead. Not a lot of things to do but time-consuming things. I work in the morning and I am dragging my mother to the movies in the afternoon. I can’t convince anyone else to join me in the amazing sob fest that is The Fault in Our Stars, so I am making her go with me. 🙂 Bring on the tissues and the popcorn! My gym is only open during those same hours on the weekends, so going early or later is not an option. Hopefully my next post will say that I managed to get in my run anyways. 🙂

Will anyone else be crying with me at the movies this weekend?

How was your week?

Anyone racing this weekend?