Tag: tired

Call it Craos

Tomorrow is Friday!!!! Woo hoo!!!

Lately, I have been so tired and stressed, I have troubles putting words together. Or maybe it’s the blonde coming through, I don’t know. But I have made my co-workers laugh so then it’s ok right? The first moment was few weeks ago when I was trying say one of their names. Instead I stumbled over all 3 of them and somehow combined them all into “Renini”. 3 names into 1 just makes things easier right? Then since we have been borrowing people from other locations while we work on hiring, we have had people who are surprised by how quickly we can go from calm to crazy busy. I was trying to say welcome to the crazy but accidentally combined it with chaos. So craos. Hmm, that one kind of works- change approved. 🙂 But today was the real winner. I noticed that 2 of my coworkers were wearing similar skirts and looked nice. I said I felt left out since I missed the skirt memo as the 3 of them were wearing skirts and I was wearing pants. They all just stared at me for a moment or two. Not only was employee 3 wearing pants but I was wearing a dress! Wow.

I have lost my mind ... Thanks Pinterest.

After Sunday’s race, I was pumped to run this week. I packed my gym bag every night and took it to work. Monday went off track though. Not only did Monday show more crazy CA weather, I hurt myself. Home town hit 105 and work town only made it to 59. That’s a 46º difference. Now work may be 45 minutes away by car but it’s actually less than 30 miles. What the frak?! Ugh, I wasn’t sure where to run. I’ve been feeling some odd left foot pain since I tried the Inspires. It hasn’t gone away with the new Riders. It doesn’t happen all the time but I have been trying to figure it out. I wasn’t sure if the new shoes started/ contributed to it or not. I had also picked up some store-bought insoles for the boots I wear most frequently, so maybe that was part of it. Monday I had the bright idea to take the left one out…but not the right one. Maybe that aggravated what happened later or it was when I lifted a heavy bag I shouldn’t have been lifting. But by the end of the day, I felt like my neck and shoulders were tingling and there was a band of pressure on the back of my head at the top of my spine. I felt off, not quite dizzy but not normal. It was odd. Between that and the heat, I decided to rest instead. Which worked out since my mother needed a ride from tennis practice as her car died on Sunday. 😦Tuesday turned into another rest day as I woke up feeling like I had pinched or pulled something in my neck. Grrr. Wednesday it felt a little better so I was hoping for a short easy run. Cue the crazy weather again. Work town was sunny but with high humidity. Then we find out that home town is under a thunder/ lightning storm warning and there was hail. Then the emergency broadcast system broke in and said that people in my home town should take cover. What?! It cleared up by the time I was off so I headed to run town hoping that the storm hadn’t moved south. The temp was nice in the low 70’s but the humidity level matched. Ugh. The air felt stale and stagnant. Kind of like the way the little remaining lake water looks. I struggled through 3.5 miles but was just glad to be out running. Today I took next week’s half day. I had been looking forward to running early but was feeling rough. I indulged in pizza last night for the first time in 3 weeks and my system was not happy with that many carbs. I decided to head home to rest a bit first. Arrived home to 94º. Don’t get me wrong, I love the warmth, I just haven’t adjusted yet. I decided to read some blogs as inspiration to get out the door, I fell asleep instead. Once I woke up, the last thing I wanted to do was run, but it’s become too easy to bail so I forced myself out the door. I knew it was going to be a slow, warm slog and I was ok with that. A little over 4 miles later and I was done. It was slow, it was rough but I was glad I had done it. 🙂

And now it sounds like the Army base up the road is playing war games and the house is shaking, so bring on more craos!! Also, I do realize that I have been freakishly tired lately and will be making a doctor’s appointment to see about that. But tomorrow is Friday, so woo hoo! I am picking up bagels on the way to thank everyone for their hard work, hopefully I don’t eat too many…that would be bad.

What do you think? Does Craos need an “h”?

How was your week? What’s your weather like?

Have any weekend plans?

Dress Rehearsal

It was the weekend before SLO, so of course I made sure to get in all my workouts right? Ummm, no. I had good intentions but was feeling tired on Saturday. Even after sleeping in. I ended up helping my mom move a bunch of rocks. After multiple buckets of lifting rocks and carrying them, my hamstrings were cranky again. I decided that counted as cross training and was good or the day. 🙂

When too tired for miles, Mizuno make great yard work shoes.

Sunday though was going to happen. Last longish run before SLO. My training plan called for a 75 minute 2/3 progression run, each third progressively faster. On race days, 75 minutes could mean 8 miles, however on long run days, that would be more like 7. Having not run on Saturday, I was internally hoping for 9 at an easy pace. Since I know the likelihood of breaking 2:00 this weekend is small, I was fine with longer, slower miles.

I was a little sore from the rocks, oops, so I headed to the lake path for a flat surface. I headed out before lunch!! Who am I? My mom came with me, she was going to walk laps of the lake while I was running. I walked my usual warm up and just got to running. I didn’t feel up to the 2/3 plan but I thought maybe I could run the first have around 10:45 and the last half around 10:00. That sounded like a solid plan to me. That’s what I thought I could do, I was wrong. But in a good way for once! I didn’t feel like I was moving faster but according to my splits I was. I’m not sure how I hit those when I was feeling super tired but no complaints from me! Mile 6 was a little slower as I had run into my mother again and walked a bit with her. At that point, she was planning on only one more lap and I was torn between 2 or 3 more miles. It was a warmer day than planned so I decided to be smart and call it at 8 miles. It was in the 70’s by the time we were done. Last longish run done! Bring on the taper- oh wait, my plan doesn’t have one!It’s crunch time for the race now, so I set out on Sunday in a potential race day outfit. I had purchased a new skirt at Lululemon the week before so I wanted to test it out. SLO has a Lululemon now, well kind of, it’s only open 3 days a week, and my first time there cost me some money. I love their shorts so I bought a new pair and a skirt. Oops! I think I am a skirt fan now. If I could have an unlimited budget at Skirt Sports and Lulu, that would be awesome. Well, there and Mizuno too. 🙂 Endless shoes and skirts!!

I also hope it is partly the shade. :) — I also hope it is partly the shade. 🙂

Over all the outfit worked well. I am still not sold on the shirt and I will be wearing full compression socks but the skirt is a go. It turned out to be super comfy for 8 miles and that was without any Body Glide. I figured that was the only way to figure where the hot spots might be. 🙂 Since my mom was with me, I asked her to take a pic. I think another goal of 2015 is to finally get a decent race pic. Seriously, the pics from Surf City and Wine Country were so bad. So bad. Actually breaking 2:00 might be easier than a good race pic. Ha! My sock tan makes me laugh. I don’t wear full compression socks that often, just long runs and races but check that out!

Does moving rocks count as cross training?

What do you like to race in?

Do you take good pictures?

I Needed That

I really, really needed that.

If you’ve been along for the ride awhile, you may have heard me mention a time or a million that my stomach and I don’t get along. Also that it’s been a rough 10 months, stomach wise. That roughness carried over into my running and things slowed down. I was so gung-ho to set PR’s in 2014 and it just didn’t happen. Even though I finally accepted that and moved on, a part of me was still frustrated. Also with doctors but that’s another story.

While I have trained pretty consistently this year, I am still not where I was before my flare. Walk breaks have become a part of run, long or short, slow or fast. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with walking, heck I look forward to those breaks on most runs. But long runs stressed me out. I don’t know if I hid it well or not but I was beginning to dread long runs. I felt like I was moving so slow and that I walked too often but just couldn’t seem to pick it up.Beyond that I have a serious mental block when it comes to long runs past 10 miles. I love half marathons but double-digit slow runs by myself? Umm, not so much. I have done one 12 mile run outside of a race. One- and it took me 2.5 hours. Actually it might have been longer but I’ve blocked it out, I am pretty sure I walked the last 2 miles. So when I saw so many 12-16 milers on my training schedule, I had a mini freak out. And I haven’t run a single one. Once again I topped out at 10 for most of the runs. Which was noticeable in Wine Country when I hit a wall at 10. Did that make me go out and run 12 the next weekend? No. Then my doctor changed my diet pretty drastically and I missed 2 long runs in a row. Crap. I knew I could not miss another with SLO being so close.

While I am looking forward to my 5k race tomorrow, it is one that I know leaves me super sore. So sore that I knew banking on a 10-12 mile run with a fast finish on Sunday was probably foolish. Because work was a little crazy this week and I worked longer days on Monday and Tuesday and couldn’t leave the building on Wednesday and Friday, my boss said she was going to try and let me leave a little early on Thursday. This sparked an idea but I wasn’t fully committed. A small part of me thought I could move my long run to Thursday instead. My 5K race is not a PR race but more for fun, so I figured if I was a little tired for it that was fine. But I was still on the fence about if I even wanted to run that many miles after working all day. Or if I even could. I got off an hour early so I headed to the lake to run a few laps. My stomach was the crankiest it’s been since I started this new diet, but then I had cheated the day before. I also wasn’t dressed for a long run. I wasn’t wearing compression socks nor a 10+ mile sports bra. Yes, I have different sports bras I wear depending on the length of the run. If I did run long I was going to split it. 7-8 miles at the lake and then I was going to head to the river path for the remainder. My mother was thinking about meeting me for the second part. So, in other words, I wasn’t expecting much and anticipating another Slacker moment.

I warmed up with my usual slow first mile before picking it up. Miles 2 and 3 clocked in at 9:57 and 10:10. So not long run pace. I should have been aiming for 10:45-11:15. I went out too fast, there was no way I was maintaining. I was irritated with myself and doubting that I would even follow through with driving to the river path. Then my mother texted that she wasn’t going to make it. There went that motivation to follow through. Ok fine, I was just going to run until I was tired or my stomach rebelled, I figured 6 miles tops. Around mile 6, I noticed that I was still running. As in, I hadn’t taken a single walk break. Not one and I felt pretty good. Huh? I did stop for a bathroom break but decided to just keep running after that. Mile 7 and I was running. Mile 8 still running. Mile 9, more running. Still no walk breaks. I was starting to think I might actually pull this off. Miles 9, 10, and 11 all came in at 10:00 or under. Did you see that 11?!?! I cleared 10 miles on a long run!!!!!! I wanted to throw a party and celebrate but I was surrounded by strangers! I stopped my Garmin at 11 and walked the 3/4 of a mile back to my car.

Dudes, I ran the whole thing- no walking breaks!! Who am I? And 11 miles at that pace and not racing?! I know it’s not much by some standards but for me and the past year, I was stoked. It also reinforced that consistent training works and does pay off even if you don’t see it immediately. I was seriously beginning to doubt I could even hit double digits after the last few weeks. I was feeling rough and not confident in my running ability at all. I had chalked my last race up to being a fluke and was mentally preparing myself for a rough race in a few weeks. I didn’t know how badly I needed a long run- a good, long run. Until I pulled it off. 🙂 Bring it on SLO!

Lapping the lake so many times, I passed a few people multiple times. I was wearing a tank that says “I hate running” and that was getting a few comments. 🙂 I passed one pair of older ladies multiple times. They said something to me once but I didn’t quite catch it. Another 2 times past them and they stopped me. One asked how many I was doing because I had to be near 20. I wish! I said that I was aiming for 11 miles and only had 3/4 of a mile to go. I passed them again on the cool down walk and they said good job. 🙂

I still want to do a little happy dance when I think about yesterday’s run. Training works, who knew? I think I need to get this McMillan plan laminated for future use. Haha. Now I should probably get some sleep, I have a mountain to run up in the morning. 🙂

How do you feel about long runs?

Who is racing this weekend?

What was your last great run?

8 into the Wall

Ooof, it’s been a long week. And I have 2 more days of work to get through, wah. Ok, now 1 since I fell asleep before finishing this last night.

I knew going into this dietary change that the first few weeks were going to be rough. I just didn’t realize how tired I was going to feel. This is a new level of tired. In some ways the adjustment is going easier than I thought but I know it will take a few weeks to figure things out and get in the flow. I’d like to try to give it some more time before I get into more details, hopefully. I’m anxious about how it will go over for some reason.

Last week we hit the 90’s a few times and this week we have had some crazy wind going on. I left work on Wednesday and was treated to 35 mph winds. Which might be nothing to someone else but is about 16x the normal for around here. I was glad I wasn’t running until Thursday. Plus, Thursdays’ run was making me anxious so putting it off was a little bit of denial. Thursday was the rescheduling of Tuesday’s speed work. 8 miles on tap- 2 mile warm up, 4 miles at half marathon pace, 2 mile cool down. Say what?! 8 miles mid-week was the first part that made me anxious. Luckily I had a half day on Thursday, so that was kind of awesome. As for half marathon pace miles, I have never intentionally set out to run those paces in a run outside of a race. When I cut back on the speed work in March due to my hamstring issues the only workouts I missed or abbreviated were tempos or intervals. This was the first time pace miles were on the schedule. Plus being so tired and basically under-fueled made me nervous. I am all for running on an empty stomach but it’s been a very light few days- calorie wise. I wasn’t even sure I could hit those paces right now.

While the idea of lapping the lake numerous times didn’t thrill me, I headed to the lake path after work to get in the miles. I parked on the backside so I could have easy access to my car. I treated it like an aid station. I left my water in the car and had some string cheese in case I needed a snack. Mile 1 felt tough but manageable but I was still thinking of only doing an easy 5. I was feeling better in mile 2 so I decided to stick to the original plan. Mile 3 felt hard but not too bad, 9:13 wasn’t where I needed to be but it was pretty damn close. I was trying to not look at my watch while running and just judge by how I felt. Mile 4 felt similar to 3 but clocked in faster at 8:56. I was feeling pretty good but had to detour to the restrooms. Another plus about running at the lake.Starting mile 5, I was still feeling pretty good and starting to think I was going to pull this off. Seeing 9:05 when it buzzed was pretty cool. I was still only looking at my watch when it buzzed the lap splits. Mile 6 was a whole other story. I have no idea what happened. I felt like I was putting out the same effort and running the same pace but I happened to glance at my watch and I saw a 10:00 lap pace. What?!

I had walked slightly more in the beginning of the mile because I had to dodge around a large crowd of people in the park. No matter what I did, I just could not get the lap pace down. I felt like I was running through sand and my legs just wanted to stop moving. Then as I neared my car again, I noticed a truck parked length wise behind it blocking it in. What the hell? I stopped a bit away to see what was going on and instead of hitting pause, I hit the damn lap button. Ugh. Turns out the truck was just a city worker replacing the doggie bags in the dispenser. I then ran on, trying to hit my pace for what I thought was left in that mile. Didn’t happen.

Pace miles done, all I had left was the cool down. The rest of mile 7 still felt hard and sluggish. Mile 8 felt much better. I had a delusional moment during 8 where I briefly considered trying to run my 12 miler right then. Luckily sanity kicked in and I finished with 8. Miles 6 and 7 kicked my ass and I was considering more? I walked back to my car using the fitness equipment along the way to stretch.

So, I hit pace for 3 of the 4 HMP miles. Not too bad. I really wish I would have hit the 4th mile as well but I am still calling it a win. Now I just have to figure out how to get through a 12 miler this weekend without running into the same wall. I think I may slow my pace to a crawl to get through it. Make my goal time on my feet, so even if I have to walk part of it, that’s fine. But we’ll see how it goes.

What about your weekend? Long run or race in the plans?

12 mile crawl or solid 8-10?

How is your weather?

March is Marchin’

March being over already feels like an April Fool’s joke. It cannot be time for a monthly recap yet!

But it is, so here we go!

Miles- 83.1

Races- Wine Country Half

Highest mileage moth of the year so far even if it’s not quite where I had hoped it would be at the beginning of the month. Had I hit my weekend long run like planned, I would have been closer to 95. Which is so close to 100!! But close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Did anyone else grow up with that expression? I never understood the point. I mean I do but why say it?

Anyways, moving on. This was still a damn good month. I stuck to my training plan fairly well considering I started the month with some crazy tightness and hamstring issues. March also saw me run a pretty great race , for me, so yay! I survived a work inspection and filled in at another location. My stomach was its’ asshat self but I tried to not let it disrupt training too much. I managed to some mile paces that I haven’t seen in months. I can’t hold them for very long yet, but even just seeing low 9’s and mid 8’s on my watch is kind of awesome! Now to work on maintaining them.

That means continuing to stick to my training as closely as I can. SLO is now less than 30 days away and I am looking forward to race weekend. A little vacation time, hanging out with runners and running an awesome race. There’s a local 5K I want to run the weekend after next. Firehouse 5K, it kicks my butt every year, but it’s such a fun race. I usually hurt for the following week so I am glad that it falls a little sooner this year. 🙂 All that said, I am glad that I already decided to make SLO a fun race as opposed to a goal race. At last week’s appointment with my gastro, we decided that the most recent prescription changes were not working. So I have a shiny new diet to follow. More on the specifics later, but I had to say goodbye to a lot of things for the next few months. So very many things. I am still figuring things out, so right now all I know is that the last few days have been some hungry, tired days.

I had a scheduling conflict today so I moved my easy run of the week to Monday. Woof, that was hard. Not sure if it was because it was a Monday, or because my side still hurt a bit or if it was the dietary changes but it was hard. So much harder than easy should feel. I was also testing out my new shoes. While I love getting new shoes, the break in period is always interesting. While I think I am going to really like them, I had unusual aches and niggles throughout the run. I stopped every mile or so to stretch out. I am not really concerned by this because it has happened every time I have broken in a new shoe style. It usually takes a week or so of alternating shoes to fully adjust. But that is one reason I bought them a month before SLO.

How long do you usually take to break in new shoes?

What is your March highlight?

What are you looking forward to in April?