Tag: stomach issues

The Oddest Taper

It’s almost Friday!! And I’m on vacation! 😛

But let’s back up. Even before the reality of a trail 25K kicked my ass, I knew I may have to adjust some things this week. I figured if I was feeling extra achy and sore after Sunday, I would push Tuesday’s run to Wednesday and Thursday’s to Friday since I took a few days off for Surf City. Ummm, what was I thinking running a 25K and a half 7 days apart?

13.1 It Takes a Special Kind of Idiot... I think I should start training for a half marathon :) — 7 days later, ouch source

I was a little achy but headed to the gym on Tuesday per usual. I ran super slow but I was just fine with that. 3.5 miles later, I stretched and called it a day. Even though my pace was slow, I unintentionally pulled off the perceived effort progression that was on tap per my training plan. Calling that a win! Oh and my gym now has those scary stair things, it was interesting watching people on them. But much better than the freaky cut-the-alien-out-of-the-stomach sci fi movie on in front me. Blech, I love sci fi but not creature flicks.

Going Tuesday worked out well as I was so tired on Wednesday I overslept that morning. Then I fell asleep in the comfy chair trying to watch Supernatural that night. How I didn’t knock the laptop off my lap, I have no idea. I had planned on running today per usual but my stomach was rebelling pretty badly so I went back to the Friday plan. Well hopefully. 🙂 I kind of need to pack at some point too.

I got this... right? — I got this… right?

I took a few days off around Surf City because I figured these 8-9 days were going make me pretty tired. However when I planned that I didn’t realize that was also my window to complete reviews at work. So I spent most of this week trying to kick those out. Or at least to a point where I only have to make some minor edits when I return. Writing reviews stress me out, maybe that’s contributing to my tiredness. I am so turning off the alarm tomorrow morning.

Wednesday was also my re-check with my gastro. He’s at a loss, so we’re changing my medication. This kind of freaks me out, I’ve been taking it for 12 years, what’s going to happen? He actually warned me that I could have a rough couple of days when I make the change, so we agreed that I could do that Monday after the race. Plus I have those days off so yay? Way less exciting than the original plan to go to Disneyland on Monday. But you know, measles.

Ever use those scary stair machines? I am not even sure I could even get on one without falling.

Would you chance the measles?

Anyone racing this weekend or having a Super Bowl party?

Who cried at the Budweiser commercial?

2014 Review- The Shiny and The Dull

I have been dragging my heels on this post because the pessimist in me really wants to call 2014 the year of stall. Then I wrote a great version of this in my head one night trying to fall asleep. Unfortunately I remembered nothing in the morning.

The Shiny-

So once I momentarily got over my cynical nature I was able to reminisce on all the good things I accomplished this year. But how did I do on those goals I set for this year?

Run 14 races in 2014- CHECK!
Run 750 miles- CHECK!

I completed race number 14 in November and also cleared 750 miles at some point in November. 🙂 One of my races was a virtual race and I am on the fence about how much those count. I received a shirt for it though, so I am counting it! I had the chance to be an ambassador for the SLO Marathon and it was awesome. I loved that race, I didn’t do as well as I would have liked but it was a great experience.

This year I ran 7 5k’s, 3 10k’s and 4 half marathons. I ran road races, a trail race or 2 and 2 races on the beach. I age grouped placed in 3 of those 14 races. And a benefit of running small, local races- I was first female finisher at my 5k in July. I set a PR, finished strong even with my stomach and did it all while hearing Miley Cyrus sing Wrecking Ball for 27 minutes. Stupid iPhone.

5K PR- 27:48 –Wild Run 5k
10K PR- 55:40– Heart & Soles

Best Bling- It’s a toss-up, I love the SLO medal because I had been wanting to run the race for the previous 2 years. Plus running it as an ambassador was pretty sweet! As for the abalone medal- that thing is huge! The race was rough, ocean = humidity, but it was on my birthday and I got to run it with a friend. Strongest race-

Wine Country 13.1– Before I got sick, only slight asthma issues, finished at 2:07:08 for a 7 minute course record for me.

The Dull-

Goals-
Break 27 in 5K- FAIL
Break 2 hours- 13.1- FAIL

No lies, 95% of my races this year were rough in some form or another. After years of nothing my asthma reared its ugly head and it took more than a few races for me to figure out that cold and humidity were big triggers for me. My 10K PR was set under duress of an odd but severe bout of pain in my right Achilles. I went into 2 half marathons on heavy-duty antibiotics. My stomach, which had been fairly level for the last year or so, went psycho in June and has yet to level out. While I was able to maintain my mileage somewhat, I came to the conclusion that a faster pace was not in the cards. It ~~made me cranky,~~ it pissed me off and I wondered what the point was most of the time.

I went into Ventura, cranky, ill and medicated, knowing I should have deferred. When it turned from running to walking 6 miles in, I had 7 miles to think and get my head on straight. The rest of the year was spent backing off a bit and slowing down. Getting back to basics and loving running again. I’m not loving the time change but I am loving running. 🙂

Roughest Race (s)-

HOB Fun Run– the 10K & 5K where people thought I was going to pass out. Yeah, possibly not my best moments.

So why Shiny vs Dull? Shiny is fairly obvious, and a Firefly shout out, but dull? Dull things can be cleaned, buffed, fixed- given a little TLC, a something dull can be made shiny. And that is part of my focus for 2015 but more on that later.

Thanks for joining me in my drama- issues- silliness- laziness- of 2014, I hope you stick around and see what happens in 2015. 🙂

What was your shiny/ dull for 2014?

Standing is Not the Same

I survived!

Haha, but in all seriousness, this was a long week. It also has had very little running so far. Tuesday was taken up by prep and Wednesday the lovely test. Tuesday was one of those times where I thought maybe I should be a morning runner- but nah- I like my sleep. No solid food for almost 2 days and the horrible taste of the prep aside- the test was easy. I went to sleep talking about my hair color and woke up in the recovery room. My mother says I was a little hyped up from the meds they knocked me out with. Apparently I reminded her of one of those funny internet videos.

Hmmm, I don't remember taking this — Hmmm, I don’t remember taking this

I took my running gear with me on Thursday hoping I would feel up to running but that may have been a little optimistic. I felt super achy all day. I don’t know if it was a side effect of the test or the biopsies but I just hurt. I figured the smarter thing to do was rest. Which ended up working out because my mom called needing me to run to the pharmacy for my dad. He went for a hike and came back with a ton of ticks!!! Yuck! Also, my mom is skeeved out about the 25K now. He had hiked part of the course and I know he never sat down. But late January should be fine tick wise… I hope. Yuck again.

Last Sunday, when I was shopping I treated myself to a little gift. I have been feeling a little uninspired and truthfully a little fluffy, so I picked up a new activity tracker, a Fitbit Flex. Not a Fuelband this time, come on I went through 3 of those in less than 18 months. Have you noticed you hardly ever hear about the Nike trackers anymore? I really considered the Garmin Vivosmart and Vivofit but I was really only interested in step tracking and sleep tracking. Plus it was kind of a steal as it was part of a Christmas sale. So far I am liking the app interface as well.

Oh, that's not good — Oh, that’s not good

I really wish I could say the Fitbit was defective but I know I was just lying to myself. I have worn it everyday since Monday and Monday was the only day I cleared 10,000 steps. But even that doesn’t really count- it includes my 3.5 mile run. Even if I cut myself some slack for Tuesday and Wednesday due to the test- that still leaves Thursday and Friday. Did I mention I have a stand up desk? Standing is not the same as walking!!! I didn’t even clear 5000 steps on either day. I don’t see how that is possible on a Friday, I felt busier than that. Thursday, we were down two people and the number was still low. Apparently I need to step it up. Pun intended. I ~~kind of~~ already knew this but seeing it spelled out on the phone means no more denial. I’m all for being a Slacker but that’s just sad. Oh, and as for sleep? I’m averaging 6 hours a night. Ouch. The only thing I am successfully completing/ exceeding is the suggested water intake.

What stands out about your week?

Are you ready for Christmas? I am so not.

Have you ever used a tracker? Thoughts?

A Partial/ Awesome Fail

Had I written this yesterday I may have called it a major fail but I’ve had time to think on it. 🙂

I knew this past weekend was setting up to be a busy one. With that in mind, I moved my Saturday run to Friday and got in 7 miles. Which turned out to have been a very smart choice. Saturday saw a few errands in the morning and then getting ready to go celebrate NikeC’s birthday. Ever have one of those days when you just don’t feel comfortable in anything to the point where you skin feels like it doesn’t fit? Yeah that was Saturday… well, truthfully, that’s been the last few months but that’s another post. I finally just went with it and headed out. We went to a new-to-me restaurant. In fact my only association with it previously was that my mom had parked for there both times I ran City to the Sea. The food was so good, warm, fresh tortillas with apple cinnamon butter as a starter? Yes please. Plus you can’t complain about the view- It was a great evening with old friends and new ones that may have been capped by a milkshake at midnight. I party hard, right? Ha!

But that kind of leads into how running became a fail on Sunday. While I have kept my calorie count in a decent place while on vacation, I indulged too often in foods I know shouldn’t eat- like milkshakes, etc. And my stomach expressed its anger on Sunday, so running was out. However I did get in 3 solid running days last week for 23 miles. So, that’s not to shabby for me. 🙂Plus, Sunday ended on a cool note. There’s a local organization that rescues wild animals and uses them to educate the public. At my previous work location we would sometimes get random visits if they stopped in and had something cool in the truck. For example- a bobcat kitten, a reindeer, a spider monkey, a raven, and a brown thing that I think was a lemur? Sunday they had an event called Wild Lights. They strung up lights, had a bbq, Santa visits and the animals got presents. This was the first year and they seriously underestimated the draw- the place was jam-packed and they ran out of food quickly. The animals were awesome.

He was a fiesty one

Some engaged with the crowds and others looked supremely bored. Or like they wanted to eat you for dinner. 🙂 The monkeys were spoofing the kids and damn lemurs can make some noise. They all loved the presents, the lemurs tore the boxes open and enjoyed their popcorn and goldfish. The tiger, like most cats, looked exceedingly bored. That is until one of the workers walked by carrying a couple of gifts, he knew exactly what those were and wanted them, he stalked her through the fence.

It was sad seeing the ones that had been hurt but at least they had a home. There was a giant eagle who wasn’t even tied down and had no cage overhead. You could tell the one wing didn’t work anymore but he had branches and perches and ledges he could hop to and from. He also looked as bored as the tiger. Another bored one was my favorite and he was so big!!!

So the weekend may have brought fewer miles than planned but great experiences! And here’s a link to a video my brother made-

How was you weekend?

Ever visit a rescue type operation?

What’s your favorite animal? I love owls.

Did the tortillas make you hungry? I kind of want more. 🙂

Every Other Day

With Monday being a day off for me and my team not making the volleyball playoffs, it was the perfect day for a run. However after running on Saturday and hiking on Sunday, that would be the third day on my feet. I haven’t run back to back days in months. Since cutting back a little I have been trying to run every other day. So I wasn’t too sure how it was going to go.

Get away from the zombies!! You run!! lol — Awe, Pinterest, you rock

It was kind of warm when I headed out but better than last Thursday. Once again I as running from Zombies. Actually I noticed that I have the chase feature disabled in the app so mostly I just listen to the story. Oops! Oh well, I will save that feature for when I feel up to speed work again. Sounds like it would be good for fartleks. My legs were tired and I was a little warm so I kept it to a short 3 miles. I clocked a low 11 mile for mile 2, woo hoo!

I admit that this week’s workout were planned around washing my hair. Is that pathetic? I have an all day work trip tomorrow, and getting up around 4:30 means I want to be ready as soon as possible which means no flat iron. I have to say that running every other day has helped my hair feel a little healthier. 🙂 But that’s not the point. A ~~lazy~~ quicker Thursday morning means no workout on Wednesday. Which in turn meant running on Tuesday. 4 days in a row? That was either going to be the worst run ever or not.

Sometimes the craziness of Tuesdays after a 3 day weekend makes me wish we had worked on Monday. I was late getting out of work and there was chatter of a storm coming in. By the time I got back to town the light was fading rapidly due to clouds and the wind had picked up. The river path runs adjacent to the street, so I figured I would try to squeeze in 3 miles. With my slower pace I wasn’t sure I would have the time and I also thought I might get cold since I hadn’t packed for a temperature drop. But bonus for packing a neon colored shirt! After walking a bit, I started running but still took walk breaks when needed. I thought I was going to have a problem breathing since the humidity was 63% but all was good. Maybe I finally figured out my inhaler? When I turned around and headed back it was pretty dark. I had the aid of a slight downhill section so I booked it. My lungs and stomach held and I ended up clocking a 9:47 in mile 3. Best mile I’ve run since August, woo hoo! I’m not sure if it was the weather or feeling rushed or if it’s because my stomach has been slightly better but I’ll take it. 🙂

Now it’s off to bed for me, I have a long drive in the morning and I do not like long drives. Let alone ones followed by a day long seminar. Any tips for staying awake? I slept through almost every college class, something about enclosed places and no air. I’ve already plotted the locations of McDonald’s along the way. 🙂 Not for the food but for the cheap Diet Soda. Caffeine is a must tomorrow.

How has your week been?

Run any awesome miles lately?

Tell me I’m not the only one who washes their hair every other day?

Seriously, tips for staying awake at a seminar? Oh that’s followed by an exam?