Tag: tired

2016 Firehouse 5K Recap

I love this race but I knew going in I was unprepared. I don’t think I’ve ever been prepared for this race. Even know what is coming doesn’t help. I thought I was last year but it ended up being slower than the previous 2 years. Oops. The last few months I have been more focused on getting in the long runs than I have speed work. I’ve done 1 speed workout this year, 1. Guess it’s a good thing this is not a PR possible race for me.

Packet pick up was a breeze. The town is on my way home so it was easy to stop by the day before and pick it up. New this year- no bibs just a shirt. Our county has odd rules about what makes a race versus a fun run and that can affect the permits. I was fine with not having a bib as they never really mattered in this race. The race is gun timed not chip timed and times are recorded via post card handed to you as you cross the finish line. The race is almost free ($25!) and the money raised by the firehouse goes to local charities.

Race morning dawned early and dreary. Cloudy but no rain, I’ll take it! Since the race is short and close, my dad usually comes too so we all headed out early. My legs were still feeling the cramps from Thursday so I though about running a short warm up but I was afraid it would hurt. The sun started to come out as we all lined up. After getting stuck in the back last year, I had learned my lesson and moved up to the front. After a few announcements from the race director, we were off!

Mile 1-

The race starts with 1/2 mile on neighborhood streets before we hit the trail. My legs were feeling pretty good actually and my lungs were happy which surprised me as I ran an 8:30 pace for that portion. Then we hit the trail, passed the one water station, and started climbing. The trail is single track and switch backs up the hill for a 1/4 mile. I ran 2, then walked 2 and repeated until we were out of that section. I passed some people and some passed me. My lungs were on fire. I ran without music and all I could hear was my breathing. It sounded more like panting. I also realized I was overdressed and lost the top layer. Then I just kept trucking. 11:22

Mile 2-

Just keep climbing, just keep moving. I passed a few people but then got stuck behind some people walking. I could have tried to pass but I honestly didn’t think I had enough in me to pass and then maintain. I wasn’t going to be one of those people who surges around and then comes to a stop. I stayed behind the pack until we hit the teardrop. The tear drop is a tiny out and back we run at the top. Except it’s not the top. There’s one more climb and it’s steep and short. From mile .6-1.5, we gained 500+ feet. I happened to see my lap pace at the top of the mountain and it said 18:something. What?!

Time for my favorite part- the downhill. I seriously throw myself down the mountain. Which is what trashes my quads but I don’t care. I did keep it a little calmer as there is a marathon looming in a few months though. ☺ I only skidded out twice. However the damage was done, I maybe should have passed earlier. 12:25

Mile 3-

More downhill- woo hoo!! At this point I was hauling but I knew there was one last hill lurking. I took a walk break on the hill but overall maintained until the last downhill where I tried to open it up. Unfortunately I was hung up behind some people and it took a bit until the trail was wide enough for them to get over so the person in front of me and I could pass. Then it was out of the park, back on the streets and trying to finish strong. I won’t lie, I was tired. The finish line seemed so far away. 9:45

Finish- 34:23

I felt like I was crawling to the finish but my watch claims I was running an 8:20. I crossed the line and my legs were shaking. I was smiling but I was whipped. I noticed that my index card said 52- so I was about 15 people further up in the field than I was last year. I put my name on the card and checked my watch as I left the chute. Well crap, I was slower than last year by almost 30 seconds. Yay for a course worst!! I am not mad, a little bummed but I love this race and just running it was awesome. I know a few places I could have shaved some time but it wouldn’t have changed how I felt about this race. I will be back for more pain next year. ☺

And major shout out to this woman-

Meet Peggy. She ran the race in full turn out gear. That would be bad ass at any race but this was a mountain! She does it to raise money to fight cancer. 4 days later and I am still sore. How does she feel?!

See you gain next year, Firehouse. Maybe I will be fully prepared. 😛

Week 15 Training Recap

Upcoming races– Firehouse 5K (this week!!)
SLO Marathon 13.1

Focus– Take it easy and bump it up to 4 days of running

Maybe it was something in the air or the water but this week kicked my trash. I haven’t been sleeping well and that hasn’t helped matters any. I was so tired most days I ordered a coffee and a soda most mornings. Not the best, I know. Towards the end of the week, I made a choice about my stomach meds and that threw some things out of whack as well. I was also feeling very hermit like this week and I ended up bailing on all my public involved plans. #horribleslacker

Running was rough but I hit the days I set out to. Last week was the week of the my first 16 miler attempt and this was the week where I stepped it up to 4 days a week. In retrospect, I should have scheduled those 4 days better.

Monday- 3.5 miles I ran on a Monday! Say what?! I was supposed to have plans later in the week, so I decided to run on Monday. I also ran in some new shorts that I had picked up over the weekend. I have to get over my sudden phobia of running in shorts in public somehow right? Even if it means buying a bigger size. 😭 The run was average if anything. I wasn’t sore after the 16 miler but my legs felt tired. I headed to the lake path for a few easy laps. I kept the pace slow and easy and just tried to enjoy running. However I had shoe issues. I started out in my Launch’s thinking the extra cushion would be a good thing right? My calves tightened up so badly, I changed my shoes 2 laps into the run. Luckily I had my Nike’s in the car as well. I made sure to stretch really well after my run.

Tuesday- Rest This was a rough day at work and a big part of me wanted to run it out. However I was trying to rest my legs after the previous days issues. It was also the lovely shattered make up morning.

Wednesday- Rest– I wanted to run after work, I had everything packed. I had a meeting in SLO in the morning. Part way through the meeting my head started to hurt. By the time I got back to work, I had a full on migraine. I still told myself I was running after work. Around 4:30, I realized that just wasn’t going to happen. I wanted pizza, then comfy clothes and a dark room and an ice pack. So I did just that.

Thursday- 4.5 miles– Ouch, ouch, ouch, damn it. Another run in the Launch’s and a ouch filled 4.5 miles. I probably should have called it sooner but I was stubborn. I kept stopping and stretching out my calves. No luck. I was thisclose to taking my shoes off and finishing the run barefoot. But instead, I went back to my car, then home to stretch. It was probably payback for not going to the work social thing that I was supposed to that evening.

I don’t know if it was the shoes or what but I woke up in the middle of the night with the worst cramp in my left leg. I damn near screamed. It was like a charlie horse all over my calf. I felt like I had barely dozed off when it happened again- in the right leg. WTF?!

Friday- Rest– Ha! Standing in the morning and walking around was real fun. My upper calves were so painful and tight from the cramps. Compression socks can be had to conceal at work but thankfully it was a casual Friday. And I pushed it to the limit when I wore my old dark blue Pureflow’s with my jeans. I meant to change them, I really did but never did. So bad.

Saturday- Firehouse 5K, 3.75 walk– First 5K of the year! It was rough, no lies, recap will be up on Wednesday. I tried to get ahead of the soreness I knew was coming by heading out for a walk later that day. I could tell that I was getting super stiff already. I was really hoping the walk would make things better. I also missed another social situation- this one was family related. #horribleslacker

Sunday- 7.5 miles– Oh my quad. Serious ouch! Full disclosure- I have never run the day after Firehouse. I usually take 2-3 days off, sometimes 4, I’m that sore. I ventured out Sunday morning for a long run. I was hoping for 10 miles but I knew that was unlikely. My quads were so tight, my feet hurt and my knees were sore. Throw in 90% plus humidity and this run was Rough. I slogged my way through 7.5 miles. I welcomed any break so when some cyclists needed directions, I was more than happy to. ☺ 7.5 is better than none right?

All in all, it wasn’t a bad week. The runs weren’t the best but I got them done. The mileage was a little lower than I would have liked but I knew that was likely with Firehouse in the mix. It’s suddenly dawned on me that SLO is only 3 weeks away. How did that happen? I feel unprepared, I’m not ready! I need more time. So this week, I am just going to keep my head down and just keep running. Hopefully the soreness will ease up and I can have a decent week of running. And foam rolling, I really need to do that more. 😛

How was your week?

Ever get horrible cramps in the middle of the night?

Have you ever had a week where you just wanted to be a hermit?

March Madness- Recap

Just like that March is gone. Instead of lamenting about fast it flew by, let’s talk about what happened.

66.8 Miles

March ended up being a race free month. I sat out Wine Country Half for the first time in 5 (6?) years and never replaced it with anything. I think this is the longest race free stretch that I have had in years. Part of me likes it and the other part fears I’ve forgotten all race etiquette. 😛

After February’s realization that my long run consistency over the years was all a big lie, I was hoping for a better March. In some ways it was. I had 3 good long runs and one major flame out. I missed one long run and a few easy runs due a stupid cold/ flu thing that knocked me out but other than that I stuck to my 3x a week schedule. I do wish my overall mileage was higher but you get back what you put in right?

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Looking to April, it’s time to step things up. SLO is one month out and San Fransisco is 4 months out. That means increased mileage and the return of speed work. If I stick to my plan, running will increase to 4x a week. Cross training really needs to be more consistent too. It’s just so hard for me to follow through. Again, that is something I need to work on.

Let’s end on a funny story–

I headed out for a run with NikeC tonight. We explored a neighborhood I had never run in before so that was cool. On the way back to the car, a moth was flying towards us. I batted at it as it neared my face but it didn’t help. I felt like it was stuck between the frame of my sunglasses and my face. I tried swatting it away while running but it didn’t help. I ended up coming to a full stop and ripping my glasses off my face. I don’t know if it flew away then or if it was even ever really there but I noticed NikeC trying not to laugh while I swatted my face. I know I probably looked funny but it was more than that. Between coming to a stop and ripping off my glasses, I had paused my Garmin. I didn’t even realize I had done it. Apparently pausing the watch was more important than getting the moth off my face. Priorities right?

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How was your March? Are you ready for April?

Do you pause your Garmin when you stop?

Week 10 Training Recap

Upcoming Races- Wine Country 13.1??
SLO Marathon 13.1

Focus– Keep it slow and steady but solid.

The lament of runners all over- Easy is hard! Grr. I’ve been thinking a lot about pace. It’s part of that insecurities post I’ve been sitting on for a while. But in short, I’ve been thinking about how I ran better when I didn’t care about my pace as much. 98% of my runs were also “easy” runs. So, I’ve been revisiting 80/20. I bought it about a year ago but really just skimmed it. With my lungs being what they are lately, I figured this would be a good time to read it again. Plus, running slower is fun when it’s the plan. 😀 But still hard.

Monday- Rest I really love Monday rest days. I really do.

Tuesday- Rest I usually run on Tuesdays and that was the plan. Work was insane that afternoon and ran late. By the time I would have changed and gotten out the door I would have only had time for about a mile before the sunset. I took it as a sign that I should just head home and get to the pharmacy for my new medications before it closed. Since I’m still only running 3x a week right now, I figured I had plenty of time to make up my run. Plus I was able to take part in my first Twitter chat. Damn that moves fast!

Wednesday- Rest Spanish tutoring. Or I tried. My mother volunteered me to help one of her tennis players. Except that the days of me being fluent have long since lapsed. Conjugating my verbs is not something I do anymore. But I tried…and since we met at the pizza place, I still had my Wednesday pizza night.

Thursday- 3.91 miles I headed out after work for a few miles. El Nino has been threatening to drop some heavy storms in the area so I knew the humidity level was up. A heavy marine layer was rolling in and I knew this run was going to be a struggle breathing-wise. It was but I just slowed down and tried to keep my breathing under control. It was rough but there was an amazing sunset so it all evens out right? I hit 3.9 miles at my car. I was going to run around the block to hit 4 miles but there was a crowd of cops outside the police station so I just called it. Running around the block a few times looks crazy to most people- what would the police think?

Friday – Rest day Something about this week kicked my ass. I was so tired by Friday and the scale pissed me off in the morning. I was waiting for closing time a little more eagerly than usual.

Saturday- Rest This was not the plan. My mom had been wanting to go shopping in SLO so we were going to head down in the AM and I was hoping to get in a few miles later in the day. It was also supposed to pour all day. SLO did happen but running did not. I felt super tired when I woke up but other than that ok. I didn’t realize anything was wrong until my first few words to my mom. I had no voice! I sounded like a squeaky frog! What the?! It continued to get worse throughout the day and I felt off. Like I couldn’t keep my body temp regulated. So I skipped my run. Boo. But I did indulge with some pretty kicks.

Sunday- 8 miles My training plan called for 10-12 miles but I wasn’t even going to try for that. I still had no voice but I felt ok, just tired. I decided to head to the lake path and attempt my long run. Lapping the lake meant I was never even a mile from my car so if I had to bail, I could. I also had my mom and S along for the ride; they were going to walk while I ran. This way I had backup if things went south. The weather was sunny and high 50’s but I wore pants and long sleeves just in case. I tried to keep things easy. I went back to my old method of running at the lake- ran all of the lap except the park. I walked through the park. That way every lap had a built in walk break and it was easier to avoid all the children playing. I felt tired and sore but not bad. I just kept moving. I told myself I would be happy with 6 miles. That put me on the backside of the lake so I figured why not finish out the lap? Then back at the parking lot I could see my mom and S on the backside but they seemed closer so I figured I would keep running until I caught op to them. Yeah, my eyesight must have been off. I didn’t catch up to them until 7.6 miles. Then I figured I may as well just run until I hit 8 miles. So I did. But there was nothing else left in me. Surprisingly though, the run was one of the steadiest paced runs in a long time. Go figure!

I don’t feel any worse right now but I don’t feel better either. Wine Country is 7 days away and I am on the fence about it. It’s one of my favorite races and this would be my 6th year running it. I will just have to see how I feel this week. Hopefully my voice comes back soon, I am tired of sounding like an angry Mickey Mouse. At least according to my mom and S.

Low-carb-– I did damn good last week, I really did. I was so proud of the myself. Then the scale pissed me off on Friday and I let it derail me this weekend. Time to start over on Monday- again.

So it wasn’t the best week but it could have been worse. Right?

How was your weekend?

Ever lose your voice?

Do I have a shoe problem?

Slacker does Disney

Sorry, couldn’t help myself. 🙂

Ok, I hadn’t been to Disneyland since Disneyland Grad Nite my senior year of high school. People, that was last century!! I’ve been trying to go for a couple of years now but never made it work. My birthday, mom’s birthday, random day in March, nothing seemed to work out. Then last year, it occurred to me- Surf City! Disneyland is like 5 minutes from Huntington Beach. Ok, more like 30. But then that was in the middle of their not so little measles outbreak. Yeah, umm no thank you. Cut to this year.

We were torn between going to Disneyland on Sunday after the race or Monday. I was concerned with how sore I would feel- Disneyland is a lot of walking. Then my little lung issue put a kibosh on a Sunday trip. After lounging around the hotel on Sunday, we headed to Disneyland bright and early on Monday. Yay! So while this is not running related, how about a little recap of my little adventure?

Favorite Ride-

More like experience but Star Tours rocked. I remember loving it years ago, but the addition of Star Wars made my inner nerd so very happy. We even managed to ride it twice. Which was sweet because there was more than one story line!!! The second time was also the longest wait in line of the day but that’s ok, we had some visitors while in line-

Other Rides-

Throughout the day we managed to ride the Matterhorn (2x), Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (story there), Hyperspace Mountain, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, the teacups, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion and Indiana Jones. Indiana Jones is still one of my favorites, the sharp turns and drops are awesome. Haunted Mansion as an adult is only meh, kind of cheesy. And Pirates of the Caribbean?! Where did that come from? I don’t think I had ever been on that ride before because I remembered nothing! And considering I ended up drenched, I would have remembered that! Oh and there’s a random restaurant inside the ride? How do you get reservations there?

Fun Story-

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Yeah, normally this is a pretty speedy coaster (for Disneyland) and our first ride had started normally. Halfway through, the coaster had just started to go up a hill when it just stopped. There was a pre-recorded message about a slow train ahead on the tracks so we thought it may have been part of the ride. Nope! Soon another voice came on the speakers announcing that all the trains had stopped due to technical difficulties and that we needed to stay in our seats until we were evacuated. What?! Eventually some cast members came out and instructed us to stay in our sits as the coaster had to be anchored before we could get off. Apparently the coaster could roll if it wasn’t tied down. Then the fire department showed up. Meanwhile the couple sitting behind me and my mother were throwing a fit about their lunch plans and trying to get off before the fire department showed up. One of the cast members threatened to get security. Truthfully, I was trying not to laugh. Once off we were escorted through the tunnels on foot.

Bummer-

Due to the building of Star Wars land and some scheduled refurbishments, there were quite a few rides closed. Splash Mountain, Autopia, Jungle Cruise, Mark Twain’s Riverboat, the pirate ship and some other attractions were all closed. Boo. 😦 Also, we were in line for Hyperspace Mountain again when it too was shut down. Also it turned out to be a school holiday so the place was very crowded. And hot- who predicted temps in the 80’s in February?!

Nerd Moment-

Super Hero HQ was nerd-vana for me. Well, that and Star Wars Launch Bay. Seriously awesome. And I finally found myself a trucker hat. I’ve wanted one for running but could never find one I liked.

The take home-

We saved all the stores for last as we didn’t want to have to carry anything. I am not a huge Mickey or Minnie fan (sorry!) nor am I fond of the princesses. My favorite Disney cartoon is Lilo and Stitch. I remember seeing it in the theater when it came out years ago. I was a little over 20 and I went with my best friends-at that time they were all guys. All 4 of us were sniffling by the end, I still get teary eyed watching it today. So I wanted a Stitch stuffed animal. I finally found one in the very last store. I swear I picked it up, hugged it and proceeded to carry it around the store like a 5 year old. #noshame

Fail-

Everyone was gathering to watch the parade in the afternoon but we chose to skip it and go try Big Thunder Mountain Railroad again. While this ride was successful, we missed something big. Peyton Manning was in the freakin’ parade!!! Seriously?!

All in all it was a fun and tiring day. Maybe someday I will finally make it to California Adventure. 🙂

Ever been to Disneyland?

Favorite ride?

Favorite Disney character? Who is Mr. Toad?