Tag: Running

May Recap = No Excuses Summer

May was a long, kind of rough month that also felt like it passed in the blink of an eye. But enough whining, lets move on to the numbers-

Races-

Run or Dye– ?????
Bands on the Run 10K- 59:28

May turned out to be my lowest mileage for the year so far. This was due to a variety of reasons but at this point I calling bullshit and saying that they were all excuses and poor planning on my part. Which leads into my summer plans-

#noexcusessummer

As of June 1st, I am done whining. This is going to be really hard so I may need your help. 🙂 What this means is that going forward I will do at least 10 minutes of exercise six days a week. Doesn’t really sound like anything at all, but considering all I do right now is run and sit on my butt, it’s a step in the right direction.

So I will run a minimum of 3 days a week, 4 if I’m feeling feisty. But I will focus more on quality than hitting a mileage goal.
The yoga DVD has made it’s way into the dvd player and will be done once a week, the kettle bell dvd should be done once a week as well.
Also on the plan is to start using the gym I pay for but haven’t been to in 3 months. And by use I mean something other than the treadmill 🙂

As for the no excuses, I have made a lot of them lately. Work was crazy, it was hot, my stomach hurt, I had the paper to work on, etc. Enough is enough. Work is going to be crazy until at least the end of the year, so I may as well get over it. The heat? As someone pointed out, I live in central California, it’s just a fact of life. I should be thankful that we don’t have humidity. I don’t know how anyone runs in that. My stomach? Well, realistically, it’s never going to work right, I’ve been told that, so why wait in vain for it to be perfect? As for the paper, it’s done and the class is done. Not my best work. 😦

There are 24 hours in a day and really I have next to no obligations. There is nothing stopping me from exercising before or after work other than my Slacker-ness. While it may be hot in my home town, my work town usually runs about 25º cooler. Granted, to run more than 4 miles I will have to find roads with actual shoulders but I’m sure it can be done. And if not, well then there is the nice air conditioned gym. 🙂

In keeping with this new attitude, Sunday I completed the yoga dvd and day 1 of the AB challenge that is floating around right now. After the race on Saturday followed by a 3 mile hike with my mom and the puppy that night, I gave my legs a break from running. We did the same hike as the Firehouse 5K race, it’s still hard just walking. But yoga equals exercise so day 1, done!

Monday was a vacation day for me, which was awesome. I had planned to run 6 miles in the AM and followed by a busy day of errands and helping my mother with her tennis banquet that night. I woke to find that day 2 was going to be a challenge. My stomach was horrible and there was no way I was running then. I did some thinking and knew I had a small window around 1:00 to squeeze in some miles, so I slept a little longer. By 1:00, my stomach was barely better but I couldn’t quit after a 1 day streak so I went out for a slow run. I kept it easy and walked every time it got a little worse. I came to a complete halt at 3.5 miles for a few moments but I pushed though. 4.5 miles completed! Normally, I would have blown off all exercise for the day.

I was supposed to help my mother hand out the awards during the banquet but the puppy was not doing well with the unusual crowd at the house. Finally to calm her down, I took her for a walk. It was supposed to be short, but she had energy to burn and maintained a steady pace for 2.5 miles. She never does that! So in a hap hazard way, I hit my mileage goal for the day anyways. 🙂 I only completed half of the ab challenge though, my stomach was in no mood to do sit ups or crunches.

Today was another vacation day, yay! I met a friend for lunch to celebrate her birthday tomorrow ( Happy birthday ML!). It was yummy. My stomach is still not happy so I was planning on taking it easy and doing the yoga dvd in the evening. Then I ended up helping my mother with tennis practice. It’s spring practice for fall right now, and she has like 30 girls out there. She likes when I come help because I am more of a drill sergeant out there. I lost count of how many times I yelled bend your knees. Even though that could have counted as my exercise of the day and Tuesdays are a usual running rest day, I couldn’t pass up a vacation day and not run. So I set out for 4 miles.

I don’t know if it was my stomach or just because I mentally think of Tuesday as a rest day but it was hard. I ran so slow. Then I got stuck behind a truck doing an awkward 5 point turn in mile 2 and a phone call in mile 3. Ok, I get it, not a fast run day, but still got it in. 🙂 So 3 for 3 so far! Let’s see how far I can go!

It’s back to work for me tomorrow. 😦 Plus I have to get a few miles for National Running Day! I might check out the gym equipment too. But seriously? How do you use that stuff?

What are your goals for June?

No really, any gym tips?

Bands on the Run- Recap

This morning was the 2nd annual Bands on the Run. I passed on it last year, for some reason that I cannot remember, so I was looking forward to it this year. The premise is a 5K/10K/half marathon run mostly on the beach with music along the way. I had originally planned on running the half but made the smart decision to run the 10K. I was tired when I made the decision a few weeks ago and May truly kicked my butt. As I mentioned in my last post, I felt completely unprepared for today’s race. To compound matters, I broke one of my own rules last night and ate pizza for dinner and I mean I ate pizza. Bad move! Never before a race!

I picked up my packet yesterday and other than not being sure where to go, it was a breeze. They had everything ready to go and packaged, even the safety pins. As I got ready this morning, I felt predictably a little ill- my own fault- but I was trying to pump myself up. So out came the bright green and pink compression socks. The shorts I had wanted to wear were dirty-oops- so I randomly chose another pair. I was flying solo this race, so I had an available passenger seat. They make a great staging area. Please tell me someone else has done this?

After I arrived and parked, I was using the extra time to apply a little body glide. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and a runner was getting something out of his passenger seat right next to me. A little awkward but we’re all runners right? He then sat on the curb to work on his feet and asked which race I was doing. Me, being my usual smart ass self said that I was lazy and running the 10k. Then he told me he was running the 10K, too. Open mouth, insert foot. 😦 I then slunk off to the starting line in shame. Fail!

no talent for an action shot during the race but how about one while I walk?

I knew that the chances of this being a PR race were slim to nil but I went in with 2 goals. Of course the first, the impossible goal was to PR. That would have meant 55:00 and below. The second more realistic goal was to finish under an hour. There were the usual pre-race announcements and a little music played and then it was go time. The 10K and the half started at 8:30. Somehow, I found myself near the front of the pack. Oops.

The race course started in the football stadium of a nearby high school before heading out to the beach. We crossed the starting line and ran about a 1/3 of the track before heading towards the parking lot. From there it was onto a side path that turned into a trail through a tunnel of cypress trees. 3/4 of a mile in, we hit the first band- the high school drum line. I admit I love drum lines so it was cool running through them. Then was the first patch of soft sand. Ugh. It was only about 150 yards so I ran slowly through it. However to get to the beach, you had to go through the dunes. I tried to run, I really did but I just kept sinking, so finally I starting walking and tried to flat foot it across. I had so much sand in shoes. After finally making it to the hard pack, we had 2 miles out and 2 miles back. This is also where the 5K runners went right and the 10K and half runners went left. As we split up we were serenaded by hula dancers. That’s not the right word, but what would it be?

I love running on the hard pack, but I just could not seem to pick up the pace. I was getting frustrated with myself. Mile 2 ran us past 2 guys with guitars. Coming up on mile 3, I still hadn’t seen the leaders pass me on the way back so I was trying to tell myself I could pick up the pace. Then they passed. I think there was a band of some sort at the turn around but I can’t remember. 😦 Turning around I was still kind of cranky but soon had to snap out of it. This was the friendliest race I have run. Everyone was smiling and waving to each other and shouting out props as the runners ran back to the start. How can you be cranky with that? Plus there was this-

I was tiring on the way back and I knew I still had the dunes to go across again. Dune sand sucks. Literally and figuratively. It pulls your feet down and leaves you with sand in shoes as a parting gift. Once again, I walked most of it. I felt goal B slipping away around mile 5 and I became irritated with myself again. I pushed on back through the cypress tunnel and the side path and I was finally back at the school. I took a short walk break before rounding the corner to the football field and running the last 2/3 of the track to the finish line. I honestly hadn’t been paying attention to my watch other than mile splits, so when I rounded the track to the finish line I saw that the clock said 59:00. Seriously?! Run!!! I hauled butt down to the line. Official time- 59:28.

I walked a bit of the track cooling down before heading to the grass to stretch out. I also wanted to lose the 5 pounds of sand in my shoes. While I was dumping the shoe sand into the trash, a guy came up and asked what time I had finished in. Apparently he had used me to pace himself through the race. Really? That’s a first. I think my socks made me easy to spot. 🙂 I was thinking about my time while stretching and I think this is my second slowest 10K. 🙂 I headed over to check the race stats just to see before heading home. Ummm, what? I placed 2nd in my age group. Sweet! I hung around a little longer before heading home. The wind was picking up and I was a little chilled.

A few things I loved about this race- the volunteers all wore shirts that said “I’m with the Band”. Any spot in the trail sections that might trip you up, a branch, a root, a rock, etc. was spray painted fluorescent orange. Thanks for looking out! The drum line- seriously, I got to run through it twice. The start was well organized and the volunteers very helpful. The giant timing clock rocked-

I’ve had time to think about it and I could have run faster. I know I said I felt like I couldn’t but I felt fine after the race, a little too fine. There was more left in the tank, I just need to utilize it better. The difference between me and the woman who placed first in our age group was less than 2 minutes. It is ok to get a little winded in a race, I think I forgot about that.

Overall, goal 2 was accomplished and it was a good race. The weather was great and the course amazing. It will definitely be on my list of races to run again.

Thoughts on running through dune sand?

What about drum lines?

Different Kind of Marathon

After Tuesday’s run debacle, actually it was more of a phone debacle than a run debacle, I was anxious to get over it. After work on Thursday, I had planned on running there but the wind had picked up and I did not want cold ears. Seriously, why do my ears get cold so easily? I went to the park instead. Once there, I found that it was super busy. Well, there were cars everywhere but when I got on the path, there weren’t a lot of people.

I set out for three laps of the lake. With the construction still going on, I decided to walk that section every lap. I figured with my luck, I would trip over an orange cone. I tried to keep my pace as steady as possible while still focusing on my form. Why is that so hard? It was a pretty good run. I kind of looked forward to the little walk break each time it came around. I finished out my laps and checked my Garmin. My pace was faster than planned and I didn’t feel like I was pushing too hard. Sweet! If only it be like that all the time. 🙂 There was some big shindig going at the park, so as I was walking out all sweaty, I had to walk through groups of people all dressed up. Oops!

Hey, that's pretty good :) — Hey, that’s pretty good 🙂

At work on Friday we had a sandwich potluck. We were celebrating the arrival of a new coworker and anothers birthday. It was fun and a healthier option for a potluck. Well, not counting the onion dip, that was just tasty. Plus it wouldn’t be a Friday without my usual Friday breakfast- healthy food fail.

I had 8 miles on the schedule for today. I knew my mother and I were heading into SLO to go shopping early, so I figured I would be running them in the evening. That was until we were shopping and running errands until 7:00 pm. Does a marathon of shopping count? Yeah, I didn’t think so. We hit a few stores before lunch. Lunch was Firestone as usual. I enjoyed my usual kid’s burger with bacon wrapped in lettuce. I’m such a grown up. 🙂 But guess what this grown up did? She didn’t order any fries!!! I think that’s a first, they have awesome fries.

That is when things got a little busy. A Homegoods recently opened in SLO and we had been waiting to check it out. So had the rest of the county apparently. The place was packed. Plus the store isn’t really set up for carts but you need a cart to carry your haul! There is so much to look at, we were there for a while. 🙂 The line to check out was freaky long but actually moved pretty quickly. I behaved myself and spent under 40 bucks. From there, it was time for the Running Warehouse.

I did something that I have never done before. I returned a pair of shoes. I tried, I really did, to like the Adrenalines but I just couldn’t. They felt like bricks on my feet. Plus, they had so much cushioning that the first few times I wore them, I had troubles feeling the gas pedal. At the SLO Marathon, I think I counted more than 10 people wearing them. I wanted to grab them and ask why???? What was I missing? I haven’t even worn them in a month. I have been wearing my old pink Inspire’s even though they kind of hurt and my Waver Rider’s. I felt kind of weird returning them. The service was awesome as usual. The only questions asked were what didn’t I like about them. Then we discussed the replacement. Thankfully, he said what I had been thinking. My pronation is similar in minimum support shoes and moderate to max support shoes so I may as well go with what is comfortable. So here is my shiny new pair of… Wave Rider 17’s.

Yep, second pair. Now I just have to decide if I want to use these just for races (after breaking them in) or save them for when my current ones are worn out. I was leaning towards the race idea but then I remembered that my next 2 races are on the beach. They will get wet and dirty. But no, they’re too pretty!

So all that combined with the usual Saturday errands turned into a Saturday of no miles. 😦 But there’s tomorrow right?

How was your Saturday?

Anyone have a race?

Should I save the shoes or just break them in?

Should Have Said No

Happy Wednesday!

I finally completed my larger paper and turned it in on Monday. I usually run on Mondays and rest on Tuesdays but I swapped that this week due to the paper deadline. On Tuesday morning I left for work with my gear, totally planning on running after work. By the end of the day though, I had absolutely no desire to run. I don’t know if it was because it was my usual rest day, if I was finally unwinding from the paper drama or what. I told myself to get over it and just go. I changed at work and headed to the lake for the 4 miles that were on my schedule.

You know that saying about how you never regret a workout? That’s a lie. A big, fat lie. I should have just gone home. I kept telling myself that I have a 10K race in a week and a half in 6 weeks. I had already had a hit and miss week (more miss than hit) last week due to my Slacker-ness, so I needed to get out there. And it was only 4 miles, I could do that, right?

My lack of eagerness had not improved by the time that I reached the lake park. I parked, put in my headphones and put on my belt then started my Garmin and headed out. I made it 30 feet before I noticed that nothing was coming from the headphones. I tried to fix them while walking, also trying to dodge the construction that was suddenly cutting across the path. Couple hundred yards later after crossing one of the little bridges, I came to a complete halt. I could not get the headphones out of the headphone jack. And all my attempts to correct the problem just turned my headphone cords into a giant knot. I finally ripped the headphones out of the extender but still could not get the extender out of the phone, it was completely jammed. I managed to snap the back cover off but still no luck. By now I had been standing there for almost 10 minutes. 2 guys had run past but either chivalry really is dead or I looked scary mad. 😦 I shoved the tangled headphones into my belt and started walking, I figured I might as well move while fighting with my phone. ¼ of a mile later, I gave up. I shoved my phone and the case pieces in the belt and started running. By now I was super cranky and irritated and just wanted to quit. I told myself 1 lap was sad (only 1.2 miles) and I should at least do 2. I was already frustrated about potentially breaking my phone so why not?

So I dodged the construction again and kept running. Half way through the second lap around I had to backtrack because my pepper spray decided to leap from my belt. It was like it hopped and skidded away from me in slow motion. I was done, so very very done. Normally, I try to stop on .5 or full miles but I hit 2.25 and shut everything off and walked to my car. I then did a girl move and went crying to my daddy about my phone. This run did nothing but tick me off. I don’t know what it is was, but it was not my night. It put me so off, that I decided not to do my speed work tonight. I brought my stuff to work again but this time I am going with the nope.

It wasn’t my running, nothing hurt, I just wasn’t feeling it. I wanted to post this last night but I held off since I was so stinkin’ cranky. I figured I needed to sit on it a bit. I didn’t want that irritation to spill over to my next run, so I headed home after work tonight. My gear can stay in my car for another day.

I submitted my final paper tonight, so life and running and blogging should return to it’s regular schedule. 🙂 Today wasn’t an exercise free day though. After submitting my paper, I randomly decided to do some late night yoga. Well, Jillian Michaels style yoga anyways. I only fell on my face a couple of times. 🙂

Has anyone else ever had one of those moments that led into a rough run?

How has your week been?

Who has a Memorial Day weekend Race?

Keep Left

My week of self imposed torture is almost done! I’ve missed running and reading all your posts. I did manage to read some posts, I tried to hit “like” on what I did read, but my comments were kind of sparse. Sorry 😦 Since this week has been so off and all over the place, this post is going to be a little different-

Things I’ve Learned this week-

*Procrastinating is not as cool as you think and working under pressure does not make things more exciting. And, yes I knew that before but have been forcibly reminded.

*I found something slower than a treadmill mile- and a typo

I found something g longer than a #treadmillmile – an #LAfreewaymile – help!

— SlackerRunner (@SlackerRunner) May 16, 2014

*Compression socks are awesome for your circulation on a long drive. However, if you are wearing said socks under skinny jeans and are stuck in traffic in a poorly ventilated car- watch out! I was so flippin’ hot and I couldn’t loosen my pant leg enough to get the socks off. But Pro Compression did retweet me!

Love my @PROCompression socks for #running and #recovery how about a 9 hours in a car? #roadtrip pic.twitter.com/aPqOg6805F

— SlackerRunner (@SlackerRunner) May 16, 2014

*When your GPS app is telling you to keep left, you should keep left! Instead of making it have to recalculate and circle around. If the app could talk, I think it would have had some choice things to say.

*No matter how clean the rooms are or how friendly the staff is, care facilities are depressing. Just straight up sad and I don’t do well with that. 😦

*Why yes, I do eat my feelings. And it’s usually pizza.

*Running into a headwind doesn’t always suck. For example, when its 90º+ outside. I still walked a lot but thank you wind. Was it too hot to run? Possibly but after 3 days off, I really wanted to run. Saturday’s original goal was 6 but that wasn’t happening. 3.5 instead.

*Visor’s really do make a difference. Took a run break from the research today and realized I forgot my visor 1/2 mile in. I thought I would be ok as it was 10º cooler than yesterday. So not true. I was hot and sweaty and sweat was dripping in my eyes. I don’t think that has ever happened before. I did an uncomfortable 4 and called it.

*Finding said visor and dunking it water before taking the puppy out for a puppy jog-awesome! I was so much cooler. The puppy also had a really good walk/jog. She loves to roll in grass. I think this needs to be our weekend tradition.

I have 2 deadlines, one Monday and one Wednesday, and then freedom! Haha. I am sure something else will come up 🙂

How was your weekend?

Anyone race?

Am I the only procrastinator?