Tag: trails

Run!, Training

Week 28- Too Many Tabs

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Upcoming Races-

  • Rock to the Pier 10K?
  • Salinas Valley Half Marathon

This week was so much better than last week but there were numerous points when I felt like an internet browser with too many tabs open.  Not just any internet browser- Internet Explorer.😛

The week leading up to system conversion was just as crazy as I anticipated and I didn’t make it to half of the training meetings that I had on the schedule.  I managed to have everyone else stick to the plan but me not so much.  Adding to the chaos, I was greeted Monday by a dead computer.  Yay.   With the computer change coming, I didn’t the point in bugging IT when they were already stressed to the max so I just stole pieces from other computers until I was working, haha.   This actually prompted someone to tell me that I was surprisingly positive.  😛

Oddly enough, this week, I was.   Don’t get me wrong, there were times I felt completely underwater but somehow stayed positive.  At least I think I did.  Maybe I should with my  coworkers.   I was exhausted but kept trucking.  Ran more miles than last week but still fell short in a big way.  Oh and that 10k?   Ha!

Monday-  Rest   I had an early morning conference call and afternoon meeting at the south end of the county.  The meeting ended early but instead of heading home, I headed back to the office which turned out to be a good thing as even with me, we still got out an hour late.    No running for me.

Tuesday- 4 miles First run in 4 days.  And a source of amusement.  I was a little accident prone this week.   How I did not cause actual harm to myself on this run, I have no idea.   It was a slow run but it was a nice stress release besides all the drama.  😛

Wednesday- Rest The day was chaos.  It was also my birthday.    Neither meeting really panned out.   My coworkers brought me donuts, Taco Works and Starburst’s.   Aww, they know me.   This system conversion is going to make my pants tighter. 🙂

Thursday- 3.6 miles  The tiredness was setting in. I was beginning to realize that Saturday’s 10K was not a good idea.  I really did not want to run.   I changed and headed for home town trying to talk myself out of running the whole way.   However I parked, changed into my shoes and told myself I could do a 5K.   I ended up running a little more that but it wasn’t pretty.   I was sluggish and stopped more than necessary for a short run but it was done.

Friday- Work We’re just going to call it that.   I think I left work after a long day a little after 7.  Maybe later.  It’s hard to remember.

Saturday- 4.2 miles trail  Ok- no 10K race because- 1) the thought of an early morning alarm made me want to cry, 2) the idea of driving to work town 12 days in a row, mmm, nope.   So instead my mother took me shopping for my birthday- new shoes!- and then we did a little trail run in the afternoon.  The trail is awesome and very friendly to tired Slackers like me.    I considered running 6ish miles when I got home to finish a long run but it was 100+ still and there was another fire so we had a smoke advisory.   Boo.

Sunday- Work  Here’s where the 12 days in a row would have come in.   I actually went in to work in running clothes with my shoes and pack in the car but we ended up being there so much longer than planned.  I also found that while I had managed to get a computer working for me during the week I didn’t come out so pretty on the other side of conversion.  A lot of my settings and links were unrecoverable. 😢 It’s cool, I didn’t need those anyway right?  Fingers crossed.  I returned home to temps of 104.  I still planned on trying for a few miles but I ended up passing out for a long nap instead.  Oops.

11.8 miles for the week.  Again so much better than last week but kind of missing that 10 mile long run.   I am hopeful for the coming week but I know that it’s going to be another intense week at work and that needs to be my top priority.     I think I can, I think I can.   I also don’t want to disappear into a hole.  I feel like I barely read or commented on your blogs last week- well I think I read them but I’m not sure what happened after that.  Like I said- I was kind of hazardous.  😛

How was your week?

Do you ever have accident prone weeks?  Moments?

Hiking-Trails, Run!

Sunday Summit- A Little Lost

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Finally.

After 11 days off (stupid flu!!!) I finally got out there and did something!  I also made it to work on Thursday and Friday.   Wowza, Thursday was rough, I was exhausted.  No lie, I got through the day with a lot of Diet Coke.  But anyways, on to Sunday.IMG_8590

With the 25k 7 days away, eek, Sunday was my last day to get in a trail run/hike.   Plus I needed to test run my race day gear.  Because of the narrowness on the trails and the chance for ticks, I am wearing clothing that is a little more form-fitting than usual.   I also had a new hydration vest I needed to test.  The first one didn’t work out so well.    It didn’t fit right with water in the bladder and just didn’t feel like it was made well.  I replaced it with a new one a few weeks back but hadn’t been able to test it yet.  This one doesn’t have a bladder but has 2 water bottles in the front.  I stashed snacks in the back pocket and filled the bottles.   Success!  Well, except I haven’t figured out how to easily access my phone.  But I’ll work on that.  🙂IMG_8603

With me being sick and my mom being slightly hurt, we have readjusted our general time goal for the 25K.  Sunday, the plan was to head out to the race course and hike part of the last out and back.  According to the course map, that section is 8.4 miles.   We had troubles finding the right trail head but we were near another one that my mom had hiked before and really wanted to again.  The sign said it was 3 miles and it looked to be all fire road.   Fine by me, 6 easy miles was probably all I was up for anyways.IMG_8621 IMG_8626

It was freakishly warm!  High 70’s and I was burning up!   Being a fire road, the trail was easy but I was still coughing a bit.   The trail ends near a worn down, beat up, old barn.  It was equal parts creepy and cool.    So of course we had to take a few pictures right?  IMG_8634When we headed back, we passed a tiny, almost hidden single track trail head.  My mother insisted she had hiked it before so we should do it too.  Holy mother of incline.   We gained 700 ft over the next 1/2 mile.    Once we finally made it to the top, we found a picnic table.  We took a break and ate a few snacks.   And enjoyed the view.  🙂   We headed back down another way, hoping it was shorter way back.  Ha!IMG_8639 IMG_8666

Since we weren’t positive what mountain we were on, I pulled up a park map on my phone.   It didn’t really help.  Or maybe I just don’t know how to read it.  Eventually we found our way down to a trail intersection.  According to the map, the right trail led to a dead-end and the left trail was the backside of Hazard peak.    We went left which meant we then had another climb in front of us.     My mom’s knee was just starting to hurt and we coming up on 6 miles and we weren’t even at the top of the mountain.   Our pace had slowed but we mad it to the top once again and enjoyed more views.  There were some mountain bikers at the top discussing trails and I overheard one say that the trail we had not chosen led to another fire road.  Really?!  That would have been so much easier!  Where were they when we could have used directions?IMG_8645 IMG_8670Then it was time to head back towards the parking lot, down the front side of Hazard Peak.  So at least we were able to check out the race course from that direction.  Down hill it’s not too bad, but I am wondering what the uphill will feel like after 8 miles.   Guess I’ll find out next weekend!  We finally made it back to the parking lot- 9.65 miles later.   We survived, haha!  IMG_8701 IMG_8703Even with getting a little turned around, going farther than planned,and getting a little sunburned, it was a good hike.  I don’t think I would have hiked that far without getting turned around but some coughing attacks aside, it was great to get outside and do something again.    Plus it was a good practice run for next weekend.  It gave us a general idea of what kind of time to expect.  Sunday’s hike was just that a hike and we covered 9.65 miles with 1400 ft gained and maintained a 17:00 pace.  Next week the race will add some speed on the downhills but a little slowness when we climb Valencia Peak, but that’s only 1.5 towards the beginning, so fingers crossed?IMG_8734 IMG_8746Sunday’s route took us from fire road to single track, packed dirt to loose shale and then loose sand.   The surroundings changed from scrub brush to trees then to a Eucalyptus grove.   The sun was shining and sometimes we could hear the ocean.  I’d call it a pretty good day!

How was your weekend?

Ever got lost in the woods?  (yes, I wasn’t in the woods but still)  🙂