Tag: tired

35-Countdown

I ran!! Kind of.

Anyways, lets back up. Most of the week was spent low key wheezing, trying to catch up on work. The winds had shifted again which brought back some back but I was focused on keeping my head down and checking things off my list.

My first PTO in over 9 months was coming up and I was focused. I have been so tired and while I love my job, I knew I needed a break. Granted my plans have changed drastically due to COVID- bye marathon- but I was looking forward to a break.

So Monday through Friday was just work and hoping I didn’t forget anything. I feel like I did but I set my out of office on Friday and I won’t be back until after Labor Day. Now if I could just tell myself to not check my work cell for email.

Not gonna lie, I slept in on Saturday and it was awesome. Then I just kind of felt lazy all day. I was going to run and then I wasn’t. But then I jumped up from a nap and changed in like 2 minutes and was out the door. It was a hard, hot slog but really what did I expect after 20 days off? It actually wasn’t as horrible as it could have been and I managed 3 miles.

Sunday, I headed for somewhere different. My mother had never been to the Bob Jones trail, so we headed that way and just it a brisk walk. The ‘trail’ is a paved path of sorts that runs from one city to another south of it. Well, mostly. There were moments where there was no one on the trail and moments that there were too many people. And no one seemed to understand any form of trail ettiquette. Granted these bikers were more of the beach cruiser type but still. We also got a little sidetracked going off the trail but we made it back to where I had parked. 5ish miles for the day.

Then we went for a truly decadent slice of cake at the Madonna Inn. We also witnessed what could have been a horrible pileup on the freeway yet turned into a miraculous recovery. For reference, we can’t eat in restaurants in CA but dining is allowed in parking lots or street side. The Inn has a great lot but if you’ve been there, the 101 is right next to it. Which I used to my advantage that time I jumped out of the car on the freeway and hopped the fence to get to the race start years ago. But this also gave diners a front seat to a car spinning out into a 360, fishtailing into the center divider but somehow pulling out before wrecking and getting back in a lane. How they saved it, I have no idea. How no other driver hit them, I have no idea. Scary.

How was your week?

30-Breathe

In the grand scheme of things, last week didn’t suck.

I ran some, walked some, and napped some.
Worked a lot, got a little dizzy. You know, the usual.

I did 2 5K’s last week.

The first one was a toasty one on Wednesday evening after work. But it wasn’t too bad. It actually ended up being more of a walk as my mother was out there too and I kept running- no pun intended- into her. It’s hard to run and talk these days. Yeah, that’s what I will keep telling myself.

Friday saw me feeling like my blood sugar was crashing, skin went clammy and and I had the shakes. And my first quasi panic attack wearing a mask. I dealt with it and made it through work- with my mask on- but I was so damn tired by the time the day was done . I picked a bad year to finally decide I needed nose surgery. That’s what you get for putting things off. I thought surgery was scary before, ha!

I was still feeling a little rough on Saturday but I headed out for a short run. It was another warm one as well as a another 3 miler. Well… at least I am consistently short! Actually it was a decent run. I think I have finally accepted where I am pace wise these days. Still trying to find the inner motivation again though.

Which is why Sunday saw me napping instead of running. My nose has been affecting my sleep as well so I know that contributes to my tiredness. But I could also be using it as a cop out too.

I feel like I wanted to write something else about last week but I can’t seem to recall what it was! Oops! I barely know what day it is anymore and I’ve been going to work like normal this whole time, ha!

How was your week?

16- Maintain

This weeks snack obsession- Cheetos. The crunchy ones.

I have mentioned I am a stress eater, right?

Actually last week was a little better. I think. A little calmer at work, a few less carbs. Anyone else eating an impressive amount of banana bread?? Runner was better and my sleep was…well, can’t win ’em all.

I can’ remember anything particular about Monday so let’s just move on to Tuesday. I headed out for a few miles after work. Still running my neighborhood but I park at another work office not far from my house. Anything to avoid my damn driveway. I kept the run short and sweet- 2 miles– it was almost 80 and everyone and their brother was out. I’ve been running variations of this route for almost 10 years; I think I saw more people on Tuesday than I had in those 10 years combined.

Wednesday was another warm day so I didn’t even try to run. Knew the weather was changing soon.

Yep, a 20 degree temp drop on Thursday meant empty roads. I headed out for an easy-ish 5k after work. Easy-ish- I am so out of shape. And even though I am skipping my driveway, I am still running more hills than in the last year or so. This run saw a few hundred elevation gain/loss. Beginning to realize running more places over the past few years actually made me lazier. Oops.

Friday was stress and I just wanted to go home and hide. So I did. I resorted to one of my comfort movies and watched Battleship for the umpteenth time.

Saturday, I ventured out for a few essentials. Then I headed out for a few miles in the early afternoon. 5 miles. Longest run since Napa Valley. Ouch. The middle miles were fairly steady but I was dragging by mile 5. The only upside is that I didn’t allow myself to stop- no breaks. It’s been a while since I did that. Ok, I did stop once for a moment but that was because I had to make a route choice when I was essentially chasing another runner. That kind of doesn’t work right now.

Sunday, I woke with a knot in the hamstring area of my left leg. Odd, never felt anything there before. I was debating if running would help or hurt when my choice was made for me. I ended up being called into work and was there until dinner. I did finally prove that I could make it to my desk phone from the other side of the building before it went to voicemail. The difference between heels and running shoes- ha!

10ish miles and 3 runs for the week. Still small but a marked improvement over previous weeks.

How was your week?

8-Disappeared

I kind of ghosted social media last week.

I didn’t mean to, I just kind of felt like one day it was Tuesday and then it was Saturday. Woosh.

The week started strong. With Monday off work, I headed down to a new set of trails that opened recently. Holy moly- it was like Disneyland! I have never seen so many people at a trail before. The good sized parking lot was full as well and we had to park on the other side of the freeway about 1/2 mile away. I was with my mother and she was feeling super sore so we picked one of the shorter trails. We ended up with around 3.5 miles.

The trails were very runnable and had gorgeous views. I can’t wait to go back. However, I was very irritated by the lack of trail etiquette by so many people. There were already trampled down short cuts visible and people were climbing all over a tree that clearly has signs saying to stay away. I may have snapped something very not nice at them.

Tuesday was a long day at work but I held strong and changed into my running gear. I headed out for an easy 3 after work. My legs were feeling the previous 2 days worth of running but overall it was a decent run.

After 3 days running, I knew I needed a rest day on Wednesday. My legs are not used to that.

I had planned on running on Thursday, I really did. I told myself if I ran on Thursday, I could enjoy a leisurely Saturday with no guilt. But thanks to some family drama- more ER trips, that did not happen. I did got to dinner with my mother though.

I thought about trying to run on my lunch on Friday but I chose to read a book instead.

Despite failing to run on Thursday, I did take the leisurely Saturday. With only a minor built of guilt.

This weekend was supposed to be chilly and rainy so I slept in on Sunday and headed out for my run in the early afternoon. It was not rainy. The run started off very sluggish and rough. I tried to not think about it at all and just keep going. Not gonna lie, I am currently using a run/ walk strategy for my long runs. And the running portion isn’t very long. Like I ran 9 miles in the time it used to take me to do 10. However, it is what it is and I need to stop stressing about or I run myself into a panic attack. So that is what I tried to do this run. I have to say that it ended much better than it began.

15.4ish miles for the week. Better than last week, time to keep moving up.

How was your week?

Castle to Coast 2020

What is a runner with a slacker mentality who has a long run on a cold day but likes to be lazy? She signs up for a local race of course.

Castle to Coast is a super chill, laid back 8 miles along the coast. No bibs, no medals, just running. Actually I was surprised with the timing chips this year. Those could have been around last year too but I DNS’ed. Oops.

The morning dawned early and cold as I made my way over to the coast. Things started a little rocky as the park rangers hadn’t gotten the memo and the gates to the park were locked. In an odd way I feel it made check in go faster. Eventually the gates were unlocked and we were all able to get parked and hop in the portapotty lines. We started a few minutes late due to gate snafu but like I said it’s all chill.

We lined up and we were off. Now here’s the maybe not chill part- the roads aren’t closed and we run along the highway. Highway 1 to be exact- from Hearst State Beach to Cambria. Hearst as in Hearst Castle.

I planned to take it easy and was aiming for my current long run pace around 12:00. Or my all around pace right now, like I’ve said, I’m out of shape.

Miles 1-4 10:57, 12:18, 12:30, 12:28
Started a little too fast but nothing crazy and I felt like I settled into a nice, easy maintainable pace. Due to the running along the highway portion, the race is limited to 300 people and usually sells out. We started out in a big pack, sort of, all in the bike lane. With no room to pass, it takes a few miles to thin out even with so few people. That said I was still feeling pretty ok.

Mile 5- 13:23
I have no idea what happened. I hit the only water stop around 4 and it was like my body quit. I went from feeling fine to being done. And I mean done.

I may have made this one the wallpaper on my phone

Miles 6-8 12:55, 12:48, 13:18
Yep still done. I turned on my headphones – didn’t help. Had a gel- didn’t help. I was basically walking and sprinkling in running. People were passing me right and left. What the hell? The previous week’s long run had gone so much better. If this had been a regular run I would have quit but my ride was at the finish line. Apparently I wasn’t the only one having a bad day, I was passing people who had previously passed me. One runner told me I walked fast.

Finish 8.2 miles- 1:43:51

Only 20 minutes slower than the last time I ran this race. And I thought I was out of shape then, ha! Even days later I am trying to figure out why I ran out of steam. The humidity was high but my asthma was manageable. Or I thought so. My stomach did flare that afternoon and it lasted about 3-4 days but I don’t think pre-tired is a thing. Is it a thing?? Ha!

It was slow but I showed up.