Tag: Running

Week 36 Training Recap

Training for:

City to the Sea 13.1
Harvest Marathon 13.1
Golden Gate Half

I said these training recaps were going to be shorter starting this week but I may have misspoke. Last week ran me over like a truck…which then backed up. So most of my posting plans were ignored in favor of sanity. I did get most of my planned running in but the bike was ignored in favor of sleep and/or staring at the TV trying to decompress while binging on Netflix. I’ve now started season 8 of Bones. It’s a 😛

So long story short- I walked into work on Monday and was greeted by a flood. Ok, deep breath in and go! Only a few rooms were flooded but we were literally sinking into the carpet. Ok then. Figured out it was the water heater and a plumber came out and fixed that. We put up some normal fans while waiting for the restoration crew. One fan damn near grenaded as I was running to wall to get it unplugged. The restoration crew finally showed up and I thought that meant things were looking up. Yeah, no. 5 high power industrial drying fans had to run 24/7. All week long. By Thursday, I thought I was going to lose my mind. On Friday I partially did. I started giggling at something an employee said- that wasn’t funny- and couldn’t stop. Then I started crying. I had no idea that sound could affect me that much.

Monday- 2.7 miles Can’t blame the shortness on the flood this time. I decided to break in my new shoes and knew by 1.5 miles in that I was going to have problems. 2.7 was when I decided I wasn’t going to make it back to my car without becoming bloody. I turned off my watch and took off my right shoe and sock. I stretched and walked back to my car half barefoot. Grrrr.

Tuesday- Rest Day

Wednesday- Rest Day I wanted to run but was feeling funky and decided it wasn’t worth it just to make August’s mileage look a little better.

Thursday- 4 miles Ouch, ouch. My calves were so damn tight and my brain was on the fritz. It was day 4 of the fan drama and I really wanted to just run out all the stress but it didn’t work. My legs were sore and my calves would not loosen up. I lost count of how many times I stopped to stretch it out.

Friday- Day from hell. Work was so busy, the fans almost broke me and I didn’t get home until 8. I started crying on the way home. Why?!?!

Saturday- Rest I had made plans to run with Heather and Ashley but on Friday I knew that wasn’t going to happen. As much as I wanted to run with them, I was fried. So instead I did something I rarely do- nothing. I slept in (that part’s not rare😛) but did nothing. I sat out on the deck for most of the afternoon and just chilled. I caught on some reading- Runner’s World and I finished a book. I also listened to some music. Turns out my calming music is Lifehouse- ha! That said, it was kind of nice. And it was so needed after the week of noise.

Sunday- 11 miles. Oof. My plan for my long run this weekend was 12. The fact that I made it to 11 is victory enough. I dragged my feet getting out of bed but did make it out the door before 9. I was achy and tired and it never went away. I was done by mile 3 but I told myself it would get better. Plus I was meeting my mom at the halfway point so she could walk and I had to keep running to get to the meet up point. I was so slow, I was taking walking breaks right and left; my pace was all over the place. I just kept slowing down, I decided I was done at 11. 11 brought me back to the car right as my mother was finishing her walk. I took it as a sign that 11 was good enough. 😛 I was toast.

17.7 miles for the week. Not great but not horrible. At least I held steady from the previous week. That’s a plus right?

Looking to this week, I would like to figure what is causing all the achiness. However, I am not setting any definite plans as I know the fans are still running now. Right now, my only hope is that they will go away on Tuesday. Fingers crossed!! The earlier the better.

How was your week? Have a good Labor Day?

Ever had a pipe break?

Thanks for sticking through another long post!

Adieu August

Recovery month, baby!

I admit I was hoping for more miles but it is what is, right? Plus, considering I was afraid I would come off the marathon and never want to run again, I should count this as a win right?

I managed to pull off one 10 miler- double digits!!!- and one speed work session. I had some decent weeks and a very small, little 4 miler week. Considering the amount of smoke in the air from all the fires close by, my mileage was pretty consistent.

I ran zero races. Which made me super envious of all the cool pictures and recaps I saw online. 😛. So I compensated by taking lots of scenery pictures.

Work got a little crazy but I think I need to realize that it always will be. That said, this week kicked my ass. 2 rooms flooded and we’ve been working with industrial blower fans running all day, every day. I think the constant noise is making my brain liquefy. I really wanted to hit at least 50 miles for the month but after an abbreviated run on Monday- hello blisters- my last chance to fit in miles was Wednesday. By the end of the day, I felt fried, even the idea of changing into my running gear was exhausting. In the end I decided hitting an arbitrary number wasn’t worth it, all I wanted to do was hide in a dark and quiet corner. So I did and 44.14 was it for August.

Which brings us to September. I am partially excited and partially in denial. Excited because I haves races coming up! First one isn’t until the end of September but it’s one of my favorite races and I am looking forward to it. That being said, how the hell is it September?!?!?! That is just ridiculous. Seriously, wasn’t it just March? Why is time moving so fast? I can’t keep up! Then today, my Instagram feed was full of Pumpkin Spice Lattes- slow your roll people!

How was your August?

Any plans for September?

What are you looking forward to ?

#AwareWithPink

Disclaimer: I received a pair of Aftershokz Trekz Titanium Pink to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

I went from being a runner who could never run without headphones and music to one who really didn’t care either way. 21ish miles of the San Francisco Marathon was music free. Quite a few runs are music free. Part of that is because I realized I actually can run without background noise and partly because all my headphones drive me nuts. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been tangled up in cords or ripped them out of my ears. Ouch! My Bluetooth ones were still bulky and corded and I still managed to get into a tangled nightmare between the cord and my Camelbak one run. I was afraid to try the non corded type of wireless headphones because I only wear them in one ear and you can’t exactly do that with a band wrapped around your head. 😛

Enter Aftershokz. Wireless headphones that don’t fit in your ears. Say what now? The “ear pieces” sit on your cheekbones and you listen to the music via bone conduction. All right, I’ve now entered the world of Star Trek. But would it work?

It did! The headphones arrived and they were easy to charge and pair to my phone. They looked like they would be too small but once again I was overestimating my small head. I wore them first on my stationary bike while watching Netflix. They sounded great but there really wasn’t a lot of outside noise to distract me. Time to run in them. The website suggests putting the headphones on before your sunglasses and that is very good advice. I tried it both ways and nothing seemed to fit right putting the headphones on after my hat and glasses.

I could hear the cars around me, people talking and even the leaves blowing on the asphalt. Actually that last one scared the crap out of me. 😛 It seemed so loud! That said, I am having troubles with Siri recognizing my voice commands. It might just be me but I still have to stop to text. Also I believe I have maxed the volume out. When I across the bridge, I can’t hear the music past the traffic noise. But the bridge is a tiny portion of my long runs so that’s not really a big deal. I also have yet to kill the battery- woo hoo! And the oddball in me finds it amusing to listen how the sound changes when I yawn or pop my jaw. I’m weird, I know. 😛😛

Why pink-

The sad truth is that you will know someone with breast cancer in your lifetime. Actually, it’s more likely that you’ll know more than a few. While typing this I can name at least 2 people fighting right now and I do not have a large social circle.

Aftershokz is teaming up with Bright Pink to both raise awareness and funds to fight breast cancer and ovarian cancer. They are offering the Bright Pink limited edition version of their open ear Trekz Titanium Pink headphones- 25% of each headphones purchased from September 1 to October 31, 2016 will go to Bright Pink. Going further, Aftershokz will donate an additional 25 cents to Bright Pink every time #AwareWithPink is used on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram from September 1 to October 31, 2016. We hashtag everything these days, let’s make it useful. You can read more about the campaign here.

I am going to keep wearing my Trekz and I will using the hashtag come September 1. It may not be much but it’s something and every little bit counts.

No questions today- share your thoughts and go hug someone you care about.

Week 35 Recap

Training for: City to the Sea 13.1
Harvest Marathon 13.1
Golden Gate Half

Yikes, that’s the first time I’ve typed that all out. And it doesn’t include the HOB Fun Run and I may throw a couple more 5K’s in there. Yes, I may be a little crazy. It’ll be fun right?

Going forward, I think I am going to change up the way I post these training recaps. I will still have a weekly one but I am thinking they will be shorter. I miss posting more often and trying to cram everything into one post makes for a lot of words. Who wants to read that??😛 That said, this one might be lengthy.

Monday- 4 miles In an effort to mitigate the smoky air intake, I decided to run at work. Marine layer- why not? I always forgot how much I love the middle portion of this route. Ocean! Eucalyptus trees, dirt! I just wish this section was longer. Smoke and marine layer aside, this was actually a remarkably steady paced run for me- 11:32, 11:31, 11:50, 10:46. The run 5, walk 2 is kind of working out post marathon. Miles 1 and 2 are all downhill while 3 and 4 are uphill. 4 is the steepest but mile 3 is usually the slowest as I hit a section of super slippery dirt in the eucalyptus grove. I really should run this route more often.

Tuesday- Rest day, pizza day!

Wednesday- 3.8 miles Baby speed work session- woo hoo! My legs felt pretty good after that. I also started my new-ish (reverted) posting as I posted all about that run here.

Thursday- Rest I really wanted to run but I figured that would probably be stupid. I want to work back up to a 4 day a week running schedule but the last few weeks were very lacking. I figured a 3 day week first would be a better step. I took a late half day for working Saturday 2 weeks ago. I figured I would get on the bike once I got home but instead it was one of those days where time just seemed to fly and hardly anything I planned was completed.

Friday- Rest Day I work the late shift a few weeks in a row and nothing really happens outside of work. An employee also left so we are back in that pattern of waiting to hire and running short while the interviews take place. Busy days! I also found out that I am no longer exempt- I had to clock in and out for the first time in years. I am still not sure how I feel about that.

Saturday- 10 miles Double digits, woo hoo!! The temp wasn’t supposed to be too warm and I was feeling tired after a crazy work week so I planned on running a little later but I hadn’t planned on waking up to an almost dead phone. For some reason it hadn’t charged overnight. Grrr. I headed out the door around 9:30. Oops. I wanted to run 10 but had a a variety of ways to shorten it if I just wasn’t feeling it. School is back in session and my mother was having a tennis practice so my plan was to run there and then we would go to lunch.

I was feeling a little sluggish starting out but not horrible so I just kept going. I did welcome each stop light break though. Per usual, I booked it across the bridge and that was my fastest mile- 9:18. Oops. From then on it was into mountain lion sighting territory. Yikes!! I kept my pepper spray in my hand while I was running through the river bed section. Which is silly as the cat was spotted up by the neighborhoods. There were a surprising number of people out for a run or walk at that time. I wondered if the mountain lion issue had everyone out running later then normal. I even ran into NikeC! It was nice chatting with her for a bit. My pace was surprisingly consistent. If you’ve been around this blog for a while- you know pace consistency is not my thing. I finished my run with an average pace of 11:00. Who am I? I am usually way slower than that on long runs. Hell, Monday’s run was slower than that. I never really felt like I was pushing and I took walk breaks anytime I needed a moment. I was kind of stoked when I saw my splits later. 😃

Sunday- 7 miles bike I had some errands that took me to SLO for the day. New glasses!!! I hit my daily step total which is rare and then finished up with some cross training.

So 4 days of exercise, 17.8 miles run, much better than the previous 3. One of these days I will do more than just think about strength training. 😛

In other news, I ate less pizza and watched a ton of Bones last week. Seriously people, I just started season 6! I may need an intervention! In sad news, my car hit 100,000 miles- boo.

How was your week?

What are you watching now?

Hello Comfort

Disclaimer: I received a pair of Oofos to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

Ok, so I have weird feet. I love the idea of flip flops but can never find a pair that I really like and I’ve tried options that range from 97¢ to $80. I actually still have that cheap pair and my mother has the expensive pair. 😛 When I had the opportunity to try Oofos, I thought sure why not? Plus at that point, I was deep into the pre marathon crazies and was only wearing flats, socks with running shoes or socks with Vans. My toes just wanted to be free!!!

They arrived the Friday before I left for the marathon. What a tease!! I put them on for like 5 seconds before packing them in my travel bag. I put them on right after my post marathon shower. Bliss. I felt bad for Ashley- I left the hotel wearing hot pink cut off compression socks, a maxi skirt and my shiny new Oofos. #stylefordays

I’ve barely taken them off since. Seriously, I live in them. I wear them post run, I wear them on my commute to work, I wear them running errands, I’ve worn them to the beach. I’ve worn them with running clothes and normal clothes and I think they go nicely with all of my dresses. Pinstripes and Oofos? Why not? No I don’t have a picture. 😛 My mother has mentioned that she wants to steal them from me but she can’t because every time she sees me they are on my feet. 😃

Ok, so here’s the technical info-

Oofos1

- OOfoam: Absorbs 37% more shock than other materials
- Reduces stress on sore feet, knees and lower back
- Cradles your arches
- Biomechanically designed footbed allows natural motion
- Soft, conforming toe post eliminates toe chafing
- Shower/beach-ready; moisture resistant; doesn’t retain smell
- Durable OOfoam holds its cushion
- Machine washable
- So light they float

So pros and cons-

Pros-

Amazingly comfy
The Marsala color kind of matches my high school colors
Easy to clean- seriously- I grenaded a cup of ranch the other day and they were shiny in 10 seconds
Toe freedom!!!!
Did I mention they are awesome post run?

Cons-

Similar to most flip flops- I wish they came in half sizes. My left foot is bigger than my right foot. The right shoe fits perfectly, the left is slightly too small.
I find it to be a snug fit across the top of the foot. In the beginning I had to hold the shoe to put it on, now I can slip them on a little easier.

Yes, they are very sporty looking- depending on the person, that could be a pro or con so I will leave that up to you.

What’s your go to comfort shoe? Sandals or shoes?