Tag: Tennis

Week 36- Chaperone

To all those with kids or those who teach teenagers, I don’t know how you do it.

How do people do it?

2 days of teenagers and I feel broken.

Like the middle seat in the Expedition they somehow broke.😒

But I did help 1 try her first chicken McNuggets. 😂
— SlackerRunner (@SlackerRunner) September 7, 2019

I felt broken after 2 days, ha!

However prior to that, I had a decent week. Well, except for the sudden bout of insomnia. How did I used to survive on so little sleep???

Monday- 3ish miles
I had not slept at all the night before. I had hoped to get my long run of the week out of the way but had zero energy. I ended up heading out for a few miles in the heat of the afternoon and it was rough. Partly due to the heat and partly due to the 2 days of no sleep.

Tuesday- MM100
Another night of no sleep. Yay. I headed home and just did a low key home workout.

Wednesday- 5 miles
Still no sleep. I thought about not running but I decided to just head out and see what happened. I wasn’t expecting much, especially when I realized I had no idea where my headphones or new sunglasses were. I just wanted to turn my brain off and tire myself out. Mission slightly accomplished.

Thursday- 4.5 miles
After a slightly better night of sleep, I briefly considered trying for my long run of 7-8 miles after work since the weekend was going to be busy. My body quickly let me know that was not happening. So instead I settled for 4.5 miles with a little push in the middle.

Don’t all high schools have massive diving platforms😮

Friday/ Saturday- California Classic Tennis Tournament
And the chaos started. Once again, I was chaperoning and driving for my mother’s tennis team. We left town around 5:30 on Friday morning and didn’t return until late Saturday. 3 matches on Friday and 2 on Saturday. I was fried and exhausted. I wasn’t even playing! At least the Expedition I was driving was better than last years Tahoe.

Sunday- Rest
I had planned for an afternoon run but everything caught up to me and I napped for 2 hours. Ha! I did feel mostly human after that though.

12.5 miles for the week. Considering I was running on fumes all week, I have no complaints.

How was your week?

Week 9 Recap-Chaperone

Upcoming Races:

Livermore 13.1 -March 26
Destination Races Santa Barbara 13.1- May 13

This week was exhausting. I feel bruised all over. Man, I’m getting old. I actually crashed around 9:00 3 nights this week which is unheard of for me. This post is a day late because I just couldn’t finish it on Sunday, I was so tired. So let’s get to the recap!

Monday- 2.5 miles– I headed for the lake path after work. I had been watching the light as I drove home on previous nights and I thought I had enough time to get in 3 laps before it went full dark. I knew I had my Knuckle Lights but I wasn’t sure what the vagrant situation might be so I didn’t want to push things. Holy crap, I had never seen the lake that full! I only ended up getting in 2.5 miles. Partly because I jammed my ankle jumping a curb and couldn’t loosen it up by running it out but mostly because I was completely distracted by the sunset-I took about 30 pictures😛. The sky was amazing. My Instagram has more pics too.

Tuesday- Rest Gave my sore ankle a break.

Wednesday-Rest– Same as above. But it felt better so I figured I would be ok to run the next day.

Thursday- 3.5 miles. Mother of migraine. I felt horrible all day. I was torn between running and going home and sleeping. I damn near called in sick to work. I decided to try a few miles to see if it would help the pain and nausea at all. I headed to the lake again figuring it would be easy to bail if it turned out to be a horrible choice. I wasn’t breaking any speed records but for 40 minutes, my head actually felt ok. Then I stopped running and the pain came back, boo.

Friday/ Saturday- California Tennis Classic Long days. My mom’s tennis team was in a tournament up in Clovis and I agreed to be her chaperone/driver. Did I mention I still had a migraine on Friday? Ouch. 2 days with teenage boys and rap music? I did pack running gear with the hope getting in a 10 miler if the court location was in a good area on Saturday but this Slacker forgot her shoes. How! Which was a bummer because the area around the school was awesome, I could have totally gone for a run. What was less awesome was the serious lack of sportsmanship I observed by some of the teams. I seriously thought 2 of the teams were going to come to blows. It started with the players and then moved up to the coaches. Yikes! Then again, if I hadn’t been there as a chaperone I might have responded in kind when one got in my face because I didn’t respond fast enough. Ugh, that condescending tone of voice gets under my skin. The boys did well though, they ending winning their bracket. 🙂

Sunday- 8 miles. I did not want to run. At all. I was exhausted. But I couldn’t miss a longer run 2 weekends in a row. I forced myself out the door and decided to just do what I could. My shoelace came untied and I was rushed by a giant German Shepard in the first mile, I damn near said screw it and went home. Especially when the man told me “excellent choice” when I came to a dead halt. Once again, I restrained my first impulse to snap back extremely colorful words. Put your damn dog on a leash!! I kept running. At the turn around for my 4.5 I pushed on to 5, at that turn around I pushed on to 6 then the 8 mile turn around. I still had an option to shorten it if I started feeling tired. A little past mile 5 I added in a modest hill repeat so I could avoid the killer hill at the end, I just wasn’t feeling up to it. Or so I thought. Come up on 6.8 miles and I realize I really messed up my mileage. The easiest way to hit 8 miles would have to include the nasty hill. I almost started crying. I just couldn’t. I turned around and looped a neighborhood and approached my house another way. I still had a hill but instead of soul crushing I was able to run this one and not hate myself and running at the end.

14 miles for the week. Better than last week and considering how crappy I felt the last half, I’m just going to take it and move on. On the upside, it finally looks like the weather is on the on the upswing and one of my favorite days of the year is on Sunday-time change! More daylight after work hours- woo hoo!

How was your week?

Would you have your tongue about the dog?

Do you like the time change?

A Slow Start to February

I feel like all I have been doing this week is playing catch up. I’ve posted recaps of Surf City and January but barely anything else. So I guess let’s keep with that theme and cover the week-

Monday– If I hadn’t made the appointment before Surf City, I would have done it myself after that race. If I had had a pair of scissors I would have chopped off my ponytail at mile 8. Seriously. And it wouldn’t have been the first time I cut my own hair. Luckily I restrained and had the professionals do it the next day-Can’t take non running selfies apparently- it looks longer here. It hits my chin. I have zero post cut guilt- woo hoo!

Tuesday– the schedule called for either a rest day or an easy run after Sunday’s race. Neither option sounded appealing, so I grabbed the puppy and took her for a puppy jog instead.Wednesday– This was the last day of my mini vacay so I decided to move Thursday’s speed work up. I had no desire to run it on the treadmill and on Wednesday I could run it outside. However I had a very tiny window of time. Probably should have gotten out of bed sooner- nah. Also not good was the fact that I had eaten lunch an hour before starting my run. Lunch that was a tri-tip sandwich. Oops. But I did it. At least in a tiny way- first intentional speed work in way too long. Oh, and speed work without a heavy, swinging pony tail was awesome! Then I headed off to the tennis courts to help my mom out at practice. It was time to scare a new group. #goodtimes 🙂

Thursday and Friday were back to work. I actually got caught up on a lot of things. Reviews are done and submitted and now they just have to be presented. The bad thing was my serious overindulgence in donuts on Friday. So not good. But so good. 🙂

Saturday– my alarm went off early- too early. I had plans to attend a nutrition and training seminar put on by the SLO Marathon. The plan was to start the morning with a run. It was raining. Now, rain is so rare here, that I usually love running it. What I did not take into account was just how wet I was going to be and how that would feel over the 2 hours of sitting. I was so damn cold, I was shivering. I also looked like a drowned rat. Once the seminar let out, I found a pair of flip-flops in my car and a light sweatshirt I luckily had been too lazy to take out after tennis on Wednesday. The flip-flops were so much better than wet socks and shoes and the sweatshirt helped after stripping off my outer layers. My tank was still damp so I cranked the heat. It felt so awesome but I think I turned my car into a sauna. I picked my mom up for lunch after getting home and changing and she had troubles getting into my car it was so warm. Ha!The seminar was good. I think the rain kept quite a few people away which was a bummer. I was nervous about the run because I’ve never run in a group outside of a race. We set out for an easy 40 minutes, I ended up in the middle of the pack. There was one person near me on the way out but on the way back I was by myself. It was still nice knowing that other people were out there though.

The seminar briefly covered nutrition and training, Team in Training and the Challenged Athletes Foundation. The nutrition information was basic but helpful as well. It also emphasized how much I have been slacking on that lately. Team in Training is always inspiring and I keep telling myself I should participate at least once but I admit that fundraising goal intimidates me. I don’t think I had heard of Challenged Athletes Foundation before. Talk about inspirational. The woman giving the presentation would have been inspirational before her accident, what she’s accomplished after is just awesome. All in all it was a good morning.

Sunday– As I sit trying to finish this post, I am arguing with myself. My original plan when I knew I had back to back race weekends was to take this week off prior to resuming training for SLO. Then I received my fancy training plan and it said different. It calls for a 90 minute Thirds progression run today. Up until now I hit all the planned workouts for the week. But I am tired and achy and I have little desire to go out in the pouring rain and run. The treadmill sounds even less exciting. I really just want to take a rest day but I feel lazy thinking that. I am just tired, have I said that already? So, the argument continues.

How was your week/ weekend?

How do you solve your internal arguments?

Ever gone to a running seminar thing? Or run for Team in Training?

Finally a Reason

Friday morning, I woke up feeling like I had slept more hours but they were just as crappy. I just wanted to burrow under the covers for a few more hours. But I dragged myself out of bed and got ready for work. Since I was feeling crappy, I wore my newest skirt and my most comfortable boots to work. Fake it ’til you make it right?

Yeah, I rock funky socks, every day :) — Yeah, I rock funky socks, every day 🙂

Don’t worry, I push the socks down before we open the doors. 🙂 I was also treated to this morning view while picking up the cookies-

Shaping up to be a good day, right? By early afternoon, my headache had turned into a head pounder and my swallowing was so painful. Ahhhh, light bulb moment, I was sick. Maybe that explained the week of crappy sleep and the zoning out I did a few times at night. I watched Biggest Loser on my DVR over the week, but I couldn’t tell you a dang thing that happened. I don’t remember it at all. 😦 After leaving work yesterday, I crashed in the Comfy chair with a blanket. I was hoping I would be better in time for a long run today.

I had a little shopping trip planned with my mom; she wanted help looking for a wedding gift for one of her former players. I set an alarm in the hopes I could get a run in this morning first. Ha! My head and throat were worse. So I tried to get a little more sleep before getting ready for the day. Shopping went well, even if both my mother and I were feeling poorly and moving a little slower than usual. Even though my throat hurt, I was able to enjoy lunch. 🙂 She also found a great gift, which is good as the wedding is tomorrow. 🙂

She then needed to head to the Tennis Warehouse to pick up a few things for the team. Uhoh- danger zone! The Running Warehouse was literally 10 feet away. And I had been feeling the urge for new shoes. I was one of those rare runners who only had one pair of shoes. I wore them for every race, training run and occasional trail adventure. When they wore out, I replaced them. With my planned increase in training this spring and more half marathons on the schedule as well I was thinking about getting another pair.

The place was packed, but then the store front is small. However customer service there is amazing. I tried to resist, I really did. I ended up trying on the Mizuno Wave Inspire 10 and the Mizuno Wave Rider 17. I love my current pair of Inspire 9’s so I was optimistic for the 10’s. They felt like an entirely different shoe, tighter and flatter. Not cool. The Wave Rider’s on the other hand felt awesome! Restraint be damned!

The Wave Rider’s are a neutral support shoe so that is a change. So I will be trying them out on the treadmill for the first few runs. If I like them, I figured I would use them for the flatter, shorter runs and races. I can’t wait to test them out. Our shopping trip was longer than planned; I ran out of daylight. My mother cannot make a quick trip to Petco. I ended up wandering away at one point and having a conversion with a little boy about betta fish. He was excited because they are fighter fish. I told him we have one at work that likes to try to attack a coworker. He thought that was great. 🙂

Once home, I had absolutely no energy for the gym. So today became a rest day. I am hoping that I will feel better tomorrow and can get in some miles. Maybe not the 8 that I missed today but anything between 4 and 6 would be cool. It will have to be early though as I am my mother’s plus 1 for the wedding. My dad, well he’s not the partying type. Neither am I, really, but I fake it better. 🙂

How was everyone’s Saturday?

Was I really the only one with one pair of shoes?

A little unplanned rest?

So, yeah, this week has been a total mess. If my goal was to be as much of a Slacker as possible, I have succeeded. However, since that was not my goal, big fail!!!!! I have not run since Sunday. Yikes!! I swear I have this kneejerk reaction to challenges, it’s like I try to fail. It has happened twice now with both the plank challenge and the pushup challenge. As I posted before, I set myself a challenge for miles in November and the first week isn’t looking so pretty.

Monday I did not run as I was getting ready for the trip the next day. I did take my running gear with me on Tuesday, hopeful that I could get in a few miles around the area while the girls were playing their tennis match. First sign against this was the tall locked gates and fences prohibiting us from actually getting on campus, let alone to the tennis courts. Once we finally were let in, it was around the 3^rd comment from another coach there that we had to make sure to look out for “unsavories”, which made me think, umm maybe not. I sat in the van for a bit and worked on school work instead and sure enough, some kids tried a stunt until they noticed me still in it. Seriously? That was an exhausting day without running though, so maybe that was a good thing.

ok, this should have been the first clue

As for Wednesday, that was just pure Slacker-ness. I should have taken my gear with me and changed at work and then driven straight to the gym. But I did not. No, I drove all the way home with the intention of changing and then heading out. Well the road to Slacker-ness is paved with good intentions, right? Yep, day 3 with no run. 😦 Tonight was school and with the time change, I can no longer run before class. The road is too narrow to run in the dark. Ugh!!!!

A little pre- dinner road trip photo op.

I have been feeling a little under the weather the past two days but didn’t think much of it. That changed tonight when I became so ill in the class that the teacher stopped class to ask if I was ok. That was then followed by them trying to find me a ride home. The campus is about 30 miles away. Talk about embarrassing. I drove myself home but did leave early. Plans of trying to run tomorrow before work have now been scrapped. This time may be for a good reason but I feel like I have become the excuse queen this week.

I have work tomorrow and Saturday, so at this point I think I will just call this an unplanned rest week. It means I will more than likely not make the miles goal that I set for this week for the Pile on the Miles challenge. 😦 But hopefully some rest, planned or not, will just help me step it up next week and after. As for now, I am resting in my chair watching Glee.

Hope everyone else is having a good week!

Any races this weekend?