shoes – Slacker Runner

Week 1- Bumpy Start

January 7, 2019January 6, 2019 Fallon @ Slacker Runner

2019 Race Schedule (so far):
3/24 Oakland Running Festival (more to come)
4/28 SLO Half Marathon
~~5-4 Wildflower (Thanks BibRave)~~ Canceled
8-11 Oaktown Half (Thanks BibRave)

And just like that we say goodbye to 2018 and hello to 2019. I celebrated the New Year like I usually do, quietly, haha. Big partier over here. You all partied for me right?

Last week was chaos at work. For a short week, it was the longest week ever and I swear we had 3 Mondays. I still wasn’t great and a migraine came to visit on Wednesday. It’s still here. Then I compounded the issue by wearing a new pair of shoes on Friday. They are super cute and I have worn thembefore but they are tight and I ran around ragged on Friday and now my left foot hurts even 3 days later. Crap.

I am planning on changing up these recaps up but I haven’t quite fully worked out how yet. So let’s recap the active things I did do. It wasn’t much thanks to rain and my foot but it was still more running than I did the last 3 weeks of December- ha!

Tuesday- 4 New Years Miles
I ran outside! Yay! I forgot how much I missed it. Ever since I was sick, everything seems cold to me so I was bundled up like it was 20 degrees cooler than it was but it worked for me. I ran surprisingly well though and powered up a few hills and then promptly had a wheezing attack. Haha! I also lost my Buff partway and had to take my car back along the running route to find it.

Saturday- Treadmill 5K
Rain came to town and I ran and hid. High winds and flood advisories, oh my. I did a few miles on the treadmill at a nice, easy pace. I felt a twinge in my left foot, I immediately slowed down but the twinge didn’t really go away. Not cool.

Sunday saw more rain and wind and a not happy foot. Instead of my 6 miler, I sat and watched the rain. Boo.

7.1 miles for the first week of 2019. Less than I planned but 3 times more than last week so I’m calling it a win.

How did you greet 2019?
How was your week?

Run!, Slacker, Training

Week 17- Surprise Race

May 1, 2017May 1, 2017 Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Upcoming Races:

Destination Races Santa Barbara 13.1- May 13
Rock N Roll San Diego 13.1-June 4

I had a plan coming into this week but was thrown an unexpected curve ball towards the middle that slowed me down. And left me craving burgers- seriously, I ate 3 this week. 😛 Maybe I should avoid the scale for a bit? Or should I just call it carb loading? Except that’s a bit excessive.

We got new alarms at work this week. Which would be awesome if we didn’t keep setting them off. Grrr. Speaking of work- a few weeks back I mentioned that I hit 10 years but I thought with the company change it would go unnoticed. On Friday, I learned differently-

Monday- 2.5 miles Since Sunday’s run had been such a hot mess, I kept this short. I also ran in the Sayonara’s again for the first time since the knee pain. I wanted to see what happened. It’s official, the shoes are toast. Even 2.5 miles was too far in them. Boo.

Tuesday- Rest Yeah, my knee was not happy. Sayonara Sayonara’s.

Wednesday- Rest Surprise! I recently randomly quit birth control for some heath reasons and it’s been an interesting ride. I’ve been taking it since I was 16 so I’ve been feeling a little all over the place. Wednesday was the start of my first real time of the month in years. And it jacked up my week. 😛 Plus sent me into a burger craving spiral.

Thursday- 3.55 miles This run felt so hard. I kept an easy pace throughout but it felt so damn hard and I was so tired. I blame hormones. I also changed the way I lace the Brooks to see if that helped with my arches. Why it took me so long to remember to do that, I have no idea. I did it with all my PureFlow 4’s, these would probably be similar. Silly Slacker. It was also insanely windy for this run.

Friday- Rest– This week just felt long and it was time to prepare for my weekend plans. I had some odd leg pain though. I have it every time I up my mileage though so I wasn’t overly concerned just more annoyed.

Saturday- RaceSLO packet pickup I needed to run 12 miles this weekend but we all know I haven’t been doing so well with following through with that. So I figured why not add a mile and run a local half on Sunday instead? Sounds like a great idea right? I did enjoy some amazing carb-loading though. 😛

Sunday- SLO Half Marathon- 13.1 miles Recap to come but let’s just say that my morning started like this-

19.2 miles for the week. Much better than last week if still a little rough in places. I have a work heavy week this week so getting in the miles is going to be tricky so let’s see how I do!

How was your week?

What did you eat this week?

Run!, Training

Week 15- Ouch

April 17, 2017April 16, 2017 Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Upcoming Races:

Destination Races Santa Barbara 13.1- May 13
Rock N Roll San Diego 13.1-June 4

Ouch, ouch, ouch. It hurts. Cue panic. I have a half in 2 weeks and Wine Country in 26 days. Why?!?!

This week was tiring. There wasn’t any real reason I can pinpoint it was just tiring. I actually bought a few beers to help me relax a bit the last time I was at the store but to show how rarely I drink- when I went to have one I realized I didn’t have a bottle opener. Well crap. Who knew those multi purpose race medals would actually come in handy? 😛

After a good week of running last week I was looking forward to more of the same this week. Ha!

Monday- Rest I had planned on running after work but things ran a little later than I thought. This is when the tiredness started. I was also supposed to help my parents with their taxes so I decided there just wasn’t enough time. I hate taxes.

Tuesday- Rest Hmmm, apparently this is the black hole day of the week.

Wednesday- 3.5 miles Where it all went to hell. Ok, maybe that was a tad dramatic. I headed to home town for what I thought was going to be a nice, easy 4-5 miler. 20 feet in I had a feeling it was going south. My left knee hurt- like a sharp stabbing pain right under the knee cap. Do I stop or is it going to work itself out if I run on? I ran on, slowly. By mile 2ish, my knee was under control but now my left shin was throbbing. My shin is always a hot point but never usually this bad. What the hell! I had turned around before that point and was gimping my way back to my car. Walking made my knee hurt but running aggravated my shin. Both sucked. Later that night I had shooting pains in my right leg… compensation maybe?

Thursday- Rest My knee hurt at odd points throughout the day, I did the smart thing for once and just went home. This was beginning to get irksome.

Friday- Rest My knee felt 85% better but my shin was still twinge-y. For only having hobbled my way through 3.5 miles during the week, I was stupid tired. I took a nap on my lunch.

Saturday- 4 miles I helped my mother move a bunch of rocks in the morning which may or may not have been the best idea. I joked that I was just working on my squats and hip openers. I headed out for a test run in the afternoon to see how things went. One thing I changed was my shoes- Wednesday’s run was in the Sayonara’s and this was in the PureFlow’s. I tried to keep things easy and walked anytime I felt any sort of twinge from my left leg. All in all, it wasn’t a bad run at all. If anything, my legs really wanted to run but I wouldn’t let them.

Sunday- 10 miles 2 less then my original planned long run but maybe more than I should have done. A cool front and an incoming storm meant I could run in the afternoon again. I helped my mother with more buckets of rocks and then got the run in before Easter dinner. Can I count all the rock lifting as cross training this week? I wasn’t sure how many miles I was going to get in but I figured I would give it a shot. I ran the same route as last week and coming up on mile 4 I knew I had a choice- turn left and turn it into and 8 mile run with more hills or go straight across the bridge for a slighter flatter 10 miles. I was feeling ok so I headed across the bridge. Per usual, I picked up the pace running across the bridge and slowed it down after that. The river path is super over grown right now so lately I slow down, pause my music and keep an eye out for rattlesnakes. 😕 Coming back across the bridge my leg was starting to talk, not pain but not happy. Ok, 8 miles would have been a better idea. I slowed down and just kept moving forward. I think I can, I think I can. 10 miles done. Where’s my foam roller?

17.5 miles for the week. Less then I wanted but more than I thought I would get considering how I felt on Wednesday. I will be spending lots of time with my foam roller and stretching throughout the week to come. Maybe this will be the kick in the pants to use the roller more consistently? As for the pains, I think the knee may be a problem with my shoes. If so, this is the quickest I’ve ever killed a pair of shoes- the Sayonara’s only have 174 miles on them. I think I might know what triggered the shin so I am testing a theory this week.

Oh did I mention I tried to knock myself out on a tree branch? 😂😂

Last week had some shiny moments- I made it to the movies to see Fate of the Furious. Yeah it had it’s over the top moments but it was still awesome.

How was your week?

Happy Marathon Monday!!!!

Run!

Rambling On 5

March 10, 2017March 9, 2017 Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Happy Friday!

It’s time change weekend!! Woo hoo!!! Now I will complain when my complain when my alarm goes off on Monday… and Tuesday, etc but I am so looking forward to more daylight for my after work runs. I am sorry for everyone running a race this Sunday though.

Is anyone else watching Riverdale? Does anyone else feel old watching Luke Perry and Skeet Ulrich? Or is just me? 😛 And tell me, is that Zack or Cody?

For the first time in months, there is no rain in the forecast for at least 7 days. Yay!!! Now we just have wind. Boo. But the sun is marvelous. I really wish we had some sort of outside sitting area at work.

Speaking of work, the merger is going full steam. On a personal, whiny note, I learned that I have to start taking more normal lunches. Boo. My lunch is usually around 2:15 which is way past the 5 hour mark (CA law) but I signed a permanent waiver because my theory is that everyone else’s lunch was more important than mine. Well and I used to be exempt. I’ve adjusted to it over the years and now I like it. But things will change in April. But hey, maybe this will help my weird blood sugar issues?

I always start these posts with so much to tell you then forget half of it while I am typing. 😁

I may go shoe shopping this weekend. The Sayonara’s have worked but they aren’t awesome. My toes hurt after runs and my shins are not very happy. I am hopeful that Brooks fixed all of the problems with the Pure Flow 5’s and that the 6’s are much better. I’ve heard good things, so fingers crossed!

What do you have planned this weekend?

Anyone racing?

Share something!

gear, Run!

The Weight on my Shoes

September 11, 2016 Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Thursday’s run hurt.

My calves were tight and my arches were sore and achy. I think my PureFlow 4’s are dead. Which is not cool as they only have 146 miles on them. I think… I lost most of my shoe data when Nike updated their running app. Boo. But they felt dead on my run and since is my third pair of them, I am pretty familiar with the signs of a dead shoe.

So now what? I am not hugely fond of the 5’s I have been testing. Granted, I’ve only put 5 miles total on them. The toebox feels small- which I usually like- but the ankle area feels very floppy. I tried re-lacing them on my last run in them but they still felt off. No bloody heels though, so that was a plus.

So while I was running, ok well, taking lots of walk breaks, I was thinking. I’ve dropped thoughts about my weight recently- this still isn’t that post- but what if my weight is affecting my shoes?

Am I too large for my shoes?

I am honestly wondering this not trying to stir anything up. When I was heavier I ran in support shoes. Over the years as I both ran more and lost weight, my shoes kept getting lighter and with a smaller heel toe drop. And things were mostly fine. But now, I am heavier than I want to be by a decent amount. Let’s be real, I am closer to the weight I was when I first started running than I am to when I was at peak fitness 2 years ago. Could that be affecting my shoes?

I know the weight affects my form at times. Especially if I wear the wrong pair of shorts on a run. It could have all the markings of a great run but the wrong shorts right now will turn it to a crap storm real fast. Which then throws off my stride. So why couldn’t that be happening with my shoes?

Problem is that I don’t know how to test this little theory of mine. I mean I could by another pair of shoes but all this shoe buying is getting a little expensive. I am hesitant to return the PureFlow 5’s as I’ve only put 5 miles on them. It took me 20+ to break in the teal pair of 4’s that I had but then I put another 200ish miles on them. The last pair of normal running shoes-i.e more support- I owned was well over a year ago. I actually gave them to my mother to be gardening shoes. So that’s out as an option too.

Then on Saturday, I ran 8 miles in my Nike’s and my legs felt better than they have in weeks. They have even less to them than my Brooks. But, I was also in compression socks. Is it all in my head?!?!

I would love to say I as going to lose the weight and all would return to normal. But again, let’s be real, I’ve trying that for a year and failing in numerous ways. So now what?

Help me, blog land, you’re my only hope!!!

Seriously, what are your thoughts?