Tag: Thanksgiving

Week 47- R.I.C.E

Boo.

But, first things first- I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!

Ok, back to the boo, maybe boo boo would be more accurate. Grrr. Remember how the week leading up to Las Vegas was spent mostly resting due some leg pain after a long run. However Vegas was mostly fine and I had 2 good runs the week after. Followed by a not good one. Then last week happened.

You know that feeling when you’re wearing form fitting clothing but have a band-aid on and that band-aid starts to come loose? Kind of like it’s not quite flapping around but definitely is not right either.

That’s how my left leg felt on Monday during my run. Thing was, I wasn’t wearing a band-aid. So what the hell was I feeling?!! That’s not normal! I have a pretty high pain tolerance but Monday’s run attempt pretty much resulted in me slamming on the brakes for the rest of week. But my leg kept hurting. Grrr. There are words I refuse to use that kind of rhyme with best tractor. 😒

So what did I do?

Monday- 2 miles A slow, painful crawl in the dark.

Tuesday– Of course just as I decide I need to take some time off, super pretty new shoes arrive. I forgot I ordered these after getting home from Las Vegas last week.

Thursday–I vicariously enjoyed everyone else’s Turkey Trot’s while I iced my leg from the couch.

Friday– Does putting up the work Christmas decorations count as a workout?

Sunday- 8 miles on the bike. I really wanted to run but I can still feel oddness in my leg so I talked myself into being smart. I was tired of being a lazy lump though so I decided to test the leg on the bike. I tried to keep a steady pace and not push things. If I felt even a twinge I backed off.

So yeah, that was a crappy week. As for the week to come. I packed my gym bag and as of right now, we’ll just see what happens. Fingers crossed!

In other news, I have already watched so many cheesy Christmas movies thanks to the Hallmark/ Lifetime channels. My DVR is getting the workout that I am missing. 😛

How was your week?

Did you run a Turkey Trot?

Week 48 Um Ouch Recap

After the last week, I am so glad I don’t have anything to put under the “Training For” label. I had such high hopes for getting back to running but life was like yeah no. 😛

Monday– I packed all my stuff for an evening run and I was looking forward to testing out my new reflective vest and tights. My back started to feel sore bordering on painful towards the end of the day which I thought was odd but other than that didn’t think much of it. Since I was also waiting for a new shoe delivery I used it as a reason to rest. I figured I had the rest of the week to run, right?

Haha! Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday- Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch

My alarm went off on Tuesday and I damn near screamed when I went to turn it off. Whatever had been wrong with my back the day before was nothing compared to this, I could barely move without crying. Getting dressed was one of the most painful things I’ve done and I have a pretty decent pain tolerance. Every movement hurt. And kept hurting. I could have used a sling, I basically kept my left arm at a right angle and glued to my side for 3 days. Instead of screaming or cursing, I would only whimper with the occasional moan.

Problem was I realized just how left hand dominant I am. I am right handed so I write and eat with my right hand but I do damn near everything else with my left hand and arm. I felt like I forgot how to do everything. I kept losing the computer mouse at work, I’m not used to having it on the right side! Grrrrr. Anyways, I was about as active as a lump on a log those days. A moany lump on a log.

There were Shiny moments though- I saw Fantastic Beasts and it was awesome! Movie theater seats were not a good idea but the movie was great! Thanksgiving was a very low key, chill day with family, just the way I like it. I’m also not a huge fan of traditional fare so it’s the one day a year I have no worries of overeating. 😛😛 I was feeling a little better on Friday, so with slooooow, deliberate movements, a coworker and I decorated the building for Christmas. I guess that was pretty active, I hung lights around 9 windows. 🙂

Saturday was crazy rainy but I was feeling a little better so I took advantage of a break in the rain and headed out to attempt a short run. I made it 3 miles and kept it super slow both due to my back and the now 3 weeks off. I feel like I am starting over! That said, it was a pretty good run, it helped that I had zero expectations about this run. I was pretty happy that I was even able to get a sports bra on.

Sunday was spent doing some Christmas shopping. I also returned the Hoka’s. They just weren’t working. My toes felt bruised every time I wore them and I still have that odd spongy feeling in my left arch every now and then. It never existed until the Hoka’s. I hate returning shoes but I also can’t afford to just eat the cost on $130 pair of shoes either. I exchanged them for another pair of Nike’s. That is the only pair of shoes that hasn’t caused me any issues other than I can only wear them up to 8 miles. But it’s not like I will be hitting the double digits any time soon so these should get me through. Also, fingers crossed that the Hail Mary Sayonara’s that arrived on Monday will work for longer runs.

My back is still sore but drastically better then it was during the week. I feel a knot or something but I’m still going to take it easy until it is back to normal. This has happened once before, years ago. I remember rolling over to get out of bed, feeling and hearing something pop before the pain hit and I couldn’t get up. I also remember yelling for help for 40 minutes before someone in the house heard me. That may be why I forced myself to try to work through the pain this week. That or I am stupid. My boss tried to get me to go to a chiropractor but 1- they scare me, 2-by the time I jump through the insurance hoops it will be next year. 😞

How was your week?

How was your Thanksgiving? Did you run a Turkey Trot?

Ever break yourself while sleeping?😛

A Tale of 2 Runs

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I had planned on finishing this post for Wednesday night but I was exhausted after a planned hike that grew…by a lot. More on those adventures next time. 😄

I guess Monday was my first real, official day of vacation. I slept in. It was lovely. I was feeling a little sore (my feet) after Sunday’s hike/ trail run but I was looking forward to a run. Running outside on a weekday during daylight savings? Yes please! I wasn’t sure how far I’d get with my feet feeling bruised but they felt pretty good once I started running.

I headed for the river path in the mid afternoon. Seriously, I would love it if I could run at that time all fall and winter. How can I make that happen? Anyhow, my goal was to take this run super easy and shoot for 3-4 miles. I really missed this route, it’s like the perfect excuse for a progression run. I kind of zoned out a bit and just kept running. 4.5 miles later I was back at my car. I might have added more but 4.5 was literally 2 feet from my car. 😉 Even better was that I hadn’t needed any walk breaks. Last week, I struggled with a 12:00 pace on the treadmill and Monday I ran a 12:53, 10:38, 10:05, 9:29 for the full mile splits. Why is the treadmill so hard for me?! No walks breaks but I did come to a complete stop when I saw this tree. Because holy crap!-

In trying to temper the urge to #runallthemiles on vacation since I’ve been a super slacker for the past month or so, I rested on Tuesday. I met an old friend for lunch instead. Wednesday’s workout doubled in planned size and left me feeling a little achy. I was a little nervous for the Turkey Trot. But I was running with C and her husband so I was looking forward to it.

Thanksgiving dawned and it was 30º. Allrighty then. Then I tried to get up. Aaagh! My calves were so tight, they were down right painful. How was I going to run a 10K? No lies, I texted C to see if she was ready, hoping she would say it was too cold. No dice. I had ProCompression full socks under my leggings and I left my house in my pea coat and Uggs. I registered for the race in them as well. I didn’t change shoes until about 5 minutes to the start. 😝

Me and C. I really dislike this shirt but it’s the warmest running gear I own. 😦

This trot is super low key. You register on race morning, get your t-shirt and run your race. The course is an out and back on rural roads and the start/finish is literally in the Food4 Less parking lot. C, C-Hub and I had run the race before so we knew the course. My parents usually come to the finish but when I was shivering in my car, I texted them and told them it was too cold and they should stay home. They didn’t listen. The race seemed smaller this year but that could have been due the freezing temps.

It was go time and we were off! I was super tight and cold usually triggers my asthma so I was a little skeptic about how this was going to go. Thankfully C and her husband weren’t feeling particularly speedy either so we just hung out the whole race. My toes were numb, my hands were numb and my butt felt like it was frozen. We joked about turning around at the 5K mark but kept going. It was great catching up with them, I wasn’t able to run with them as much as I had hoped this year. C-hub kept us running and even thought I wanted to walk a few times, we kept running averaging between a 10:30-10:45. I felt so sluggish and my Garmin kept telling me we were running in the 11’s. Guess it doesn’t like the cold either. I was dreaming of a large, hot coffee from McDonald’s and started pulling away towards the end. I didn’t mean to but I was letting my legs do whatever they wanted to, they were still so tight. Mile 6 clocked in at 9:42. Finish- 1:04:49. Not the speediest but much better than I had been expecting and there weren’t any asthma issues. 😎

I also wore my Turkey Trot shirt for the rest of the day. And indulged in a few too many chips and a second slice of cheesecake. It was a great Thanksgiving. I am not fond of crowds so I will be avoiding anything Black Friday related. My original plan was to go hiking but I’ve put 25 miles on these legs in the last 5 days, way more than normal, and my calves are seriously pissed. So my plan is to take it easy, maybe take the puppy for a walk. If I can move.

How was your Thanksgiving? Did you run a turkey trot?

Favorite food of the day?

Are you shopping?

Sticking to a Plan

I am really trying to stick to my plan. I want to go into 2015 and my spring races without feeling like I have to start from scratch after the holidays. That said, a big part of my plan is flexibility. So when my stomach was a butt head on Saturday, I ran 5 instead of 8. However, I still followed through with my back to back days and did the 6 mile Cerro Alto hike.

Tuesday, I ended up getting a way later start than planned and was only able to get in 5 miles before dusk. However, they felt pretty damn good. They weren’t the speediest but they felt solid. After a pretty great 5, I was eager to get running again on Wednesday. But I was questioning if I should. Vacation is hard, part of me wants to run all the miles but the more sensible part really wanted to stick my schedule and get comfortable with it. I never did find a nearby turkey trot but was planning on doing a couple of miles with my mother. Also, I knew that I would be spending Saturday or Sunday shopping so I started rearranging my running days in my head. I started thinking I could squeeze 6 out of Thanksgiving and then run 8-10 on Friday. With that in mind, I took Wednesday as a rest day since I know my body is not a fan of running 4 days in a row.

Oh such plans. Thanksgiving morning rolled in and I woke with a sore throat and a headache and scratchy eyes. I spent the day half in pajamas and half in running gear under a blanket on the couch. I was cold and it was a balmy 75º in my neck of the woods. My family had a very low key Thanksgiving. We hung out and watched movies- Into the Storm, Lone Survivor, and Heaven is For Real. Interesting choices, right? Luckily, we never really go overboard on Thanksgiving so I didn’t feel too guilty. 🙂 In fact, minor sickness aside, it was a pretty great day.

I don’t do the whole shop at night or at the crack of dawn thing, so I slept in on Friday. I still felt a little off but better than Thursday. After a small lunch and a couple of errands, I headed out for a few miles. 5 miles seem to have become my new go-to. With just trying to complete both races in January before focusing on speed for SLO, there is no speed work built into my plan right now. Plus, my stomach doesn’t really like it these days. So any speed work that happens is just based on how I feel that day. That said, I have been trying to work on a fast finish to most of my runs. Usually by the end of races and runs, I am done, I can never kick it in to the end. I figure my stomach should be able to handle that.

I will say it’s a lot easier on the treadmill. Turn the speed up and just hang on. Out on the road, I have to focus more. All I’m aiming for is a speedy last half mile before cool down. That’s not too long, right? I felt like I pulled it off the last couple of runs. My fast pace alert was vibrating my Garmin on Tuesday’s run but I never actually looked at it. But then it just averaged in with the rest of the mile. Urgh. So even though I was tired today, I used the lap buttons. The last half mile comes right after hill that always kicks my butt. I have never run it. It’s short but steep and just makes me tired. I hit the lap button as soon as I got to the top and started running. Oh,man that was hard. I felt slower than Tuesday, which made sense, and like there was no way I could maintain anything for a half mile. I hit 5 miles, pushed the lap button and stopped the Garmin. It wasn’t until I synced my Garmin with my phone that I figured out why it felt so hard. I did what?!

Holy crap! I realize that it wasn’t even a mile but still sweet! Also not the pace I was looking for, haha! I was aiming for the mid to high 8’s but I’ll take it! Probably couldn’t pull it off again or maintain it for a full mile, but it’s still kind of cool. 🙂

How was your Thanksgiving?

Anyone join the crush of crazy shopping? Any good deals?

Turkey Trot and too much food

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had good food and a good time.

I don’t say it enough but I am truly thankful for my family and friends. I don’t know where I would be without them. They put up with a lot of my crap 🙂

When my alarm went off this morning, I admit to questioning my sanity in running a race on Thanksgiving. Once I finally managed to drag myself out of bed, I was wishing that the race was a 5K and not a 10K. I was feeling ill so eating prior to the race was not an option. I got ready and then headed out to meet C and her husband. It was going to be her first 10K 🙂

The race was small as was expected. Could it have been better organized? Yes but they still did a good job. Start and finish was in actually in a supermarket parking lot, which was hopping. More people than I expected were out getting last minute items for Thanksgiving. We started on time and we were off. The race was an out and back along a back road. It was primarily flat with a fairly decent downhill around mile 2.3 until the turn around. Thing about that downhill? It was uphill on the way back. Ugh. But there have been way worse hills in other races, so I sucked it up and ran. I passed C and her husband on the way back up.

Mile 4, my stomach cramped and it never really went away. It made for an uncomfortable last 2 miles. Heading back towards the parking lot, I could see my family on the corner. It was a Thanksgiving miracle, my pops and brother were there with my mom as well.

I crossed the finish line at 56:21. I felt like I was slower than that so woo hoo! We were told our times at crossing and then had to report them to the registration table. There were only 3 age groups- Amateur (high school), Open (18-35), and Master (35-up). I was either 3rd in my age group or just 3rd to report in, not sure which. I then waited to see C and her husband come across. I think I will always try to get one these in our races (well until they become faster than me)-

The rest of the day was spent with my family, possibly eating too much food. But it was yummy. We watched some TV (Independence Day- we were holiday confused) and played with the puppy.

Tomorrow is Christmas Tree day 🙂 I will avoid all stores as much as possible. I plan to meet C and another friend for lunch and maybe hit the gym in the afternoon. Hopefully neither of those places will be too crowded. I really should do homework as well. Ha!

On the upside, today’s race pushed me 5 miles passed my Pile on the Miles challenge for November!! I followed through with something!!!! And I have 2 days to spare.

I hope that everyone had a truly wonderful Thanksgiving!