Tag: slacker

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?

 

Wobbly Wednesday

That was hard.

With having so many halves close together, I have big hopes for one of them.  The marathon gave me a little (giant) kick in the ass.   With that being said, I need to get said ass in gear and that means training.  Training means speed work.  So I busted out my Nike’s and waded into the shallow end tonight.

I headed to the lake path after work, I can’t even remember the last time I ran there.  I know I am still feeling a little sluggish and with mountains of smoke in the air, I knew it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park.   I still have all my Hanson’s workouts saved in my watch so I figured I would just use the one for 400 repeats.  I knew there was no way I was doing 12 of them like programmed but that’s what the lap button’s for right?    I was hoping for between 4-8 repeats.


It was my first time wearing my Nike’s since May, I stopped doing speed work once my shins went to hell.   I kept my warm up of 1.25 miles nice and easy, plenty of walking.  😛   Now, I haven’t raced a 5K since September 2015 so I have no idea what an accurate pace should be so I was optimistically aiming for an 8:45 average for the repeats.


#1- woah, this awkward, my legs are confused.   How do you run this fast?  How the hell long is 400m anyways?  Oh good, the watch buzzed.  Recovery time.

Full disclosure- I walked all the recoveries.   My lungs were a little pissed I was making them work this hard with all the smoke in the air.    My watch buzzed for my next run and wait what?  It said cool down mile and repeated 12 times.  WTH?  So I stopped my watch and started a new run.  From there on I ran by watching my watch and trying not to fall on my face at the same time.

#2- all right, feeling pretty good, maybe I can do 8

#3- Ok, this is getting harder, that last thought was a pipe dream.  Can I quit now?

#4- Yeah, smoke sucks.  Damn my legs are tired, how long is 400m again?  This is my last one.  Let’s not go crazy right?

All in all, 3.76 miles.    And the intervals?

Distance Elapsed Time Average Pace
.25 2:04 8:23
.25 2:10 8:48
.25 2:01 8:01
.25 2:03 8:07

I think I am more surprised that I kept the last 3 intervals at .25.  How did I do that?  And the intervals are too fast which might explain why I was huffing and puffing so much.   Also, I don’t get the variance in pace between interval 1 and 4.  They are only 1 second different.  Is my watch crazy?

It wasn’t a lot but it felt pretty good.   Now hopefully I can move on Thursday.  😛


And the county is on fire, the air is full of smoke, the lake is almost dry and yet I rounded a curve to see more green than I have in months.  What gives?

Is my watch crazy?

How is your weather?

 

 

Lions and Smoke- Weekly Recap

Part of me thinks the universe was trying to tell me to take a break and part of thinks I am just trying to rationalize how slacker-like I was this week.   Ohhh, it was bad.  So bad.    But life happens right?  You gotta roll with the punches right?  Ok, that was a little cliche.   So let’s just get to it.

Monday- Sick.  I actually called in sick to work.    I had felt poorly all weekend and Monday morning just wasn’t happening.   Lots of rest, water and sleep.

Tuesday-Rest I told myself I was well enough to run so I packed my bag- I wasn’t.    My subconscious must have known better as I forgot my shoes.   Then came the air quality warnings due to the Chimney Fire.  I found out from my mother that even the schools canceled all outdoor sports practices due to air quality.   Ok, I get it.

Wednesday-Rest I had to stay late at work for phone issues so I knew I wasn’t running.  Boo.


Thursday- 4 miles  I ran!!!  Mile one was too slow and mile 4 was way too fast but I got out there.  I still wasn’t feeling the greatest and I was moving a little sluggish.   The smoke in the air made things rough.  My legs were also freaky sore.  I stopped to stretch a few times on the run.    I was glad I got the run in though, it felt good to be moving.   I remember thinking that there were fewer people out and chalked it up to the smoke.

Friday- Rest  And backslide.  I woke with a very sore throat and some tightness in my chest.  Boo, smoke.  I used my inhaler on the way to work.  Things got a little better while at work as work town is a little farther from the fire.   That didn’t stop the sky from glowing when I left though.


Saturday- Rest.  I had laid out all my clothes to run the night before and I was really hoping for 10 miles.    Surprisingly, marathon training made me like long runs.   But I felt worse Saturday morning than I had on Friday.  Boo.  So I lazed about all day and the ended the day at the movies.

every parking lot is full of fire trucks

Sunday- 8 mile stationary bike, 10 pushups and a plank attempt.  My clothes were still laid out to run but yeah.     I was exhausted and learned something about my running route.   Mountain lion sightings?!!!!  Oh hell no.  Apparently there have been a few sightings and the game warden has been out.  Seriously?!

Ok, enough is enough.   Smoke, lions and sickness?  I’m done.

So yeah, this was an interesting week.  I am over it and moving on.    And now debating if that running route is public enough to chance running.    I mean there are houses on one side, right?  Hmmm.

How was your week?

What creatures do you run into?

Seriously, how awesome was the men’s marathon?

 

Fri- Yay! Thoughts

The weekend is almost here, woot woot!   I am so ready.  How about you?

How I will feel at closing time on Friday

My brain has been all a-jumble this week so I figured I would just ramble on a bit.  Join me for a stroll?

So you know how some people celebrate races by treating themselves to all kinds of food?  I thought I would be one of those people.  I mean I already have a messed up relationship with food- reward/comfort but that’s another story- but that’s not what panned out.  Instead I seem to have gone through a 3 week period of impulse purchases. Oops!!!    New shoes, new shorts, the transition towel, a 26.2 sticker for my car, a new planner and a little something else that I can’t wait to share.  To bad the projected time frame for delivery is 8-12 weeks.  Boo.


I’m still in that weird spot of wanting to grow my hair but hating where it’s at right now.  I’ve been thinking it might be time to dye it again.   So I took a pair of scissors to it over the weekend.   I now have bangs.  And they went a little 80’s on Wednesday.  Oops.

We’re doing a Biggest Loser type contest at work.  I figured a little motivation wouldn’t hurt right?  Oh man, I am losing so badly.   And I broke my scale.  Not sure how I am weighing in tomorrow.  Yikes!


And I thought the Soberanes fire was bad- the Chimney Fire while smaller is a lot closer and burning like crazy.   The air is full of smoke.   Town is full of firefighters.   The smoke is a little insane at times, my lungs are very cranky.  Serious thank you to all the firefighters.

I am on Olympic overload.  There I said it.    Can I have normal tv back?  I miss the news.  The news at 11 was my sign to go to bed, now I am all confused.I’ve been dvr’ing it and fast forwarding through a lot.  Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for the dumb way NBC is airing things.    And some of the announcers are driving me bonkers.   #watchonmute

Instead of the Olympics, I’ve watched a lot of Bones.    It’s surprising how much I remember.

Stickers on cars- yay or nay?

Your thoughts on the Olympics?

Any plans this weekend?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recovery Week 2

I hadn’t really planned on another recovery week but well life right?

I was feeling very out of it all week.  I had troubles speaking and couldn’t seem to remember anything.   With working last Saturday and then the company picnic on Sunday, it just felt like the longest week ever.  I was just so tired and so ready for the weekend.   That said, this will not be a very long recap.  😛

Monday- Rest   I got a phone call Sunday evening from an employee calling sick.  With another one on vacation I knew the day was going to be straight chaos so I left all my running gear at home assuming work would run late.  And I was right.  I wasn’t completely lazy though, I managed to clean my car after getting home that evening.  I am embarrassed at the state that it was in.

Tuesday- Rest  Same situation as Monday.  However I also had a meeting in another town in the AM and I had the brilliant idea to wear heels for the first time in a month.  Oh my word, blisters suck.  Ouch!    I did make it home in time for #bibchat though.  I took advantage of a discount being offered and finally ordered myself the fancy transition towel I had been eyeing on the Orange Mud site for a year.    Monday’s car cleaning also aided in me finally clicking buy.


Wednesday-Rest I can’t remember why though.  I know I took my gear to work but didn’t run.  Hmmm.  I ate pizza though.  🍕🍕🍕


Thursday- 4.5 miles   Fully staffed for the win!  I taped up my blister and ran in home town.  It was a little warmer than I would have liked and I started out super cautious thanks to the blister but it turned out to be a pretty good run.    I have my watch set on 5 min run/  2 min walk intervals, I am trying that these first few weeks post marathon.   The first mile was super slow due to more walking and mile 4 somehow came in at 9:40.  Ummm, oops?  I think my new playlist may have been a little too inspiring.   I felt pretty good at the end of this run though.

Friday- Rest  So damn tired, is it the weekend yet?  We also started a Biggest Loser type bet at work and the scale really pissed me off this morning.

Saturday- Rest.  I planned on running, I was aiming for an 8 mile mid to long run and had been looking forward to it all week.  I could not get out of bed.  I stayed in bed past 3 alarms and could not get moving.  When I finally did get moving, I was moving like a snail.   Ok, running probably wasn’t the best idea.  So instead I headed down to SLO for some errands.  That included a stop at the Running Warehouse for some new kicks-


Sunday-8 miles.  I was still tired when my alarm went off but not like Saturday.  That said, I didn’t get started on this run until 9.  That was stupid.  I only took my handheld with 23 ounces of water- rookie move #2.  Miles 1-4 weren’t bad.  I was feeling tired but overall ok.  Miles 5-8 were a hot mess.  I was overheating, slowing down and having troubles with my asthma.  I couldn’t smell smoke in the air but a huge wild fire broke out nearby Saturday night and I figured that could be affecting me.    My mother met me at the halfway point, well that was the plan, I was so slow I didn’t catch up to her until mile 7.  Oops.   I just kept telling myself get to my car, get to my car.   It felt like forever but finally I was done.


I was glad to have completed the run but things went south in the afternoon.   I started to feeling very not right.   I couldn’t regulate my body temp and I was burning up.  I took the coldest shower possible and was chugging water.  I was coughing a little more than normal and couldn’t focus on anything- which is why this post is also a day late.  I texted my boss to let her know that I wasn’t doing so great.  For me to text my boss, things are bad.  At last check, I had 220+ hours of sick time available.  Which is now 8 less because I did not make it to work on Monday.

I am feeling a tiny bit better and hoping that it was just too much sun/heat on top of being overly tired that kicked my ass.  It was in the 90’s when I finished on Sunday which shouldn’t feel like a lot considering I live in Central CA but it’s better than the alternative.  That coworker that had been out at the beginning of the week?  Pneumonia.   So yeah, I am hoping for too much heat.

12.5 miles for the week.  More than the week before, that’s a plus right?

How was your week?

Do you keep your car clean?