Tag: Training

BibRave, Run!, Training

Big Sur Marathon Training-Week 13

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Ok, I lied, you get the training recap before the race recap.  Oops.

It’s coming, really!  It’s never taken me this long to write a race recap before but maybe that’s because my brain checked out last week.  I was so tired and just couldn’t figure out why or seem to catch up on my sleep.

I had wanted to move my 20 miler up a week to this weekend as it just fit my schedule better that way but between some leg issues and the extreme tiredness I was getting the feeling that was probably not a good idea.

Monday- 2.5 miles I planned on a few shake out, easy miles to get my legs loose from the day before.  I was aiming for 3-4.   My leg had felt ok during the day at work but it quickly let me know that it was not on board with a run.  Not at all.  I was hoping it would loosen up but instead it steadily grew worse until it felt like the pain was in the bone too which alarmed me so I called it short and just headed back to the car.

Tuesday/ Wednesday- Nada  I was giving the leg a few days to see what it would do.   Working at my desk makes it very, very angry.  I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again- stand up desks are not all they are cracked up to be.

Thursday- 4.5 miles  I headed to lake path as I had a feeling that the dirt path would be more forgiving than pavement or concrete.   I started slow and kept it nice and easy.  Because spring had suddenly made an appearance and it was 80 degrees at 6 PM, going slow was not an issue.  In fact I needed a few walk breaks due to the warmth.   However those breaks pointed out that my leg was ok once in motion, it really does not the stops and starts of walk breaks.  Which is problematic as I know I will be walking part of this marathon.

Friday- Stupid For some reason I was so freakin’ tired this week… and it was making me stupid.  And slap happy.  I took a nap on my lunch but it didn’t help.  I had a feeling my long run wasn’t happening on Saturday.

Saturday- 2.2 miles  I was still super tired and my leg was sore but this was supposed to be longer.  But we got a little lost.  My mom and headed to do a trail but the one we did a few weeks ago is closed, boo. So instead, we did the Pine Mountain loop.   It gains almost 500 feet in the first 1/2 mile or so but the path is fun with a couple of random off shoots.  Once we made our way to the top, we took one of the random off shoots thinking it would make the path longer but instead we had climb over and under some downed trees before it deposited us almost in someones front yard and on the highway.  Oops!

Sunday- 10 miles My leg was sore and I was still so tired, I pretty much knew that 20 wasn’t going to happen early and I was going to stick to the plan of 12.  But when my alarm went off in the morning, my head was pounding, likely due to hormones from that TOM, so I rolled over and went back to sleep.

That had me heading out for my run in the afternoon.  It was over 80.  I didn’t think it would be that bad.  And it wasn’t until mile 5 and then it was all downhill from there.  So much walking.  I was so damn warm.  I had 2 bottles of water in my pack and I drank them both.   I even took a few moments iny a lone shady spot to just try and cool off.   But no luck.  It took me so long, that I ended up only having time for 10 miles before I needed to head back for Easter Dinner.

19.23 miles for the week.  Not great but not horrible considering how my leg felt on Monday.

How was your week?

Run!, Uncategorized

Rambling On 30

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Heyo…

I owe you a race recap but I have been so tired this week that my brain just hasn’t been in race recap mode.  I keep trying but keep failing.   It will be up before this week’s training recap next week.  I think.  I hope.   Maybe.  Ha.

Yeah, marathon tiredness has set in.  Or I am fighting the bug that seems to be going around work again.  Nope, don’t got time for that.  Marathon training tiredness it is.

The weather flipped and 80 degrees arrived. I’m not ready but I’m not complaining!!!😎 I ran in a tank top!

It’s spring break around here and I think some people’s brains have gone on vacation. I work in a tourist town and there has been some crazy driving going on. 2 different trucks were driving around with their back trailer doors swinging open. Ummm, hello- stop!!! And stop signs mean stop. But, no do not stop in the middle of the roundabout!

Speaking of the roundabout, we can see it out the windows from work- craziness, just craziness. People get off the highway only to get confused.

I have a lot of miles on tap for the weekend but am concerned how my leg is going to hold up. I’m still having issues with that groin pull issue from a few weeks ago and it’s not making me happy.

How is it already April? How?

What are you doing this weekend?

BibRave, Recap, Run!, Training

Big Sur Marathon Training-Week 12

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Last week was better… of sorts.

Mother nature decided to rain fury down upon us last week and try to make up for months of doubt.  And yes I meant to spell it like that.

The storm started Tuesday and stayed until Friday morning.   There were mudslides, rocks down, trees down, flooding, too many car accidents and just chaos.  The damn river (of the river path) rose so fast overnight Wednesday that there ended up being 10 swift water rescues on Thursday. 10!  I went to work and I went home, that was it.

I am sure I did other things last week but the rain is the only thing that sticks in my mind besides the running, ha!  So let’s just get to it.

Monday- 3.1 miles I tried to get in a few miles before the storm.   I don’t recall much about the miles but I pulled some decent paces for miles 2 and 3 looking back so it had to be a decent run, right?😜

Tuesday- Thursday- Nada– See opening above.  Unless white knuckled driving counts.

Friday- Rest The sun came out so I took my gear to work to run after we closed.  At least that was the plan.   I got something in my eye and could not get it out.   I tried eye drops, taking out my contacts, nothing worked.   I finally gave up and just went straight home.

Saturday- 3.1 miles 5K shakeout, I had lots of miles planned for Sunday and I wanted to get the legs moving after so many days off.  This run actually felt pretty dang good.  In fact at one point, I felt like I was powering up a hill impressively.  Of course I couldn’t see myself, so I have no idea if that was true or not.  🤣

Sunday- Tent City Half Marathon/ 5 miles = 18 miles total  Surprise! Half marathon #30 went down on Sunday.  At the butt crack of dawn… nope pre-dawn.  In the freakin’ cold.  Race recap to come.  😀

The plan called for 19 miles so after some food and a nap I headed out in the afternoon to complete another 6 miles.  Oh my misery.  I don’t think I am built for 2 a days anymore.  I liked them during my last marathon cycle- this time not so much.  I never found a rhythm or settled into a decent pace.  I dragged ass for 5 miles and knew adding another mile would likely do more harm than good so I just headed for home knowing I would fall short.  But 18 is nothing to frown at right??

24.4 miles for the week.   Better than the last two weeks!!!

How was your week?

BibRave, Run!, Training

Big Sur Marathon Training-Week 11

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Never mind, can I have week 10 back?

Who knew that it would look good by comparison.  😛

This week was a step back week but I had a specific way it was going to go down.  Run Monday and Wednesday after work, 8 miles on Friday since I had the day off due to a tennis thing and then a local half marathon on Sunday.

I hit a minor stumbling block on Monday but wasn’t worried as I still had the rest of the week to catch up.   The tennis trip was canceled due to rain so I debated canceling my vacation day too but decided to keep it after Wednesday night into Thursday morning turned into pure misery.  My stomach hurt so bad, I just wanted to cry.  Thursday morning saw me sitting on the floor by my closet talking myself into getting dressed and forcing myself to go to work.   Things didn’t get much better from there.

Monday- Rest Planned on running but a sudden trip to another work location at the end of the day put a pin in those plans.   Actually I would be at this location for the next 2 days.

Tuesday- Rest Pouring rain and working in the other location kept me from running.  The drive to work was sketchy enough, I wanted to get home and off the road as soon as possible.

Wednesday- 3.30 miles Once again at the other location which meant the only running option was changing ad heading back to home town.  I hit up the river path and hoped to break in my new Altra’s.   While I had no real break in period for the Torin’s, that is not going to be true for these Intuition’s.   My calves and achilles were super tight so I kept stopping to stretch them out.  Which gave me more time to enjoy the sunset.  😊  I also made my last mile a bit speedier than my past few runs.  I think I’ve made the run/ walk intervals a crutch.  They were only supposed to be for long runs for Big Sur practice but they’ve become more of an every run thing.  Oops.

Thursday- 2.3 miles The start of the pain days.  I headed to the lake path after work hoping that a few miles would help make things better.  I figured the path was a good idea because if things went south, the car was never that far away and there are bathrooms there if needed.  It wasn’t a miserable run but it wasn’t marvelous either.  Nor did it seem to help the pain or make it worse.  Just to be on the safe side, I called it at just shy of 2 laps of the lake.

Which was probably a good idea as that night I was in so much pain, I damn near went to the ER.

Friday- Rest Less pain than the day before.   I had the day off from work due to the now canceled tennis trip but I knew I wasn’t getting in my 8 miles like planned.  In fact, I knew I was barely going to do anything.  I was also beginning to question the likelihood of me running the half marathon on Sunday.   This was further reinforced by another epic bout of pain that evening, this one my mother happened to witness and she was volunteering to drive me to the ER.

Saturday- Rest Less pain but I was still on the fence about the race.  I went to packet pickup and picked up my bib and shirt.  I’d never down graded a race before but I also didn’t think I had a DNF in me if it came to that.  If you’ve been following me for a while, then you may recall that I have a proclivity for running races when I shouldn’t or finishing them when I know I shouldn’t.   My mother was lecturing me and I was texting Kate who was trying to talk me down.  In our Squadrunner channel, James and Dorothea were also trying to talk some sense into me.   I went to bed mostly decided to drop to the 5K but still thinking about the half.  I love this half and it would be half #30.

Sunday- Wine Country Run 5K  Holy crap, I did something smart.  😛  Race recap to come but damn it was cold!

8.71 miles for the week.  Sunday evening was actually the best my stomach has felt in days so fingers crossed that stays.  The coming week has tons of rain and a 19 miler on the schedule.

As for my stomach- my gastroenterologist can’t see me until the middle of May.  So either I get lucky and snag a cancellation or I wait it out.  Otherwise another round like this week may send me to the ER before then.

So, someone tell me something good!

BibRave, Run!, Training

Big Sur Marathon Training-Week 10

Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Oh, week 10, why you gotta play me like that?

If I ever train for another marathon, I swear I may skip week 10.  Just go from week 9 to week 11, you know like they skip floor 13 for some high rises?  Week 10 is cursed to be a hot mess.  During San Francisco training, week 10 was the breaking point with Hanson’s and I spent the last weeks just trying to hang on and get through the race without making my leg worse.

This time- I managed to hurt everything.   Right shin. Left shin.   Pulled a left groin muscle.  Popped/ pulled something on the right side of my back.   Oh and had a panic attack on the side of the road.    As for running?  I pulled off a whopping, crawling 15.75 miles last week.

So let’s whine talk about what I managed to do-

Tuesday- 1.54 miles I headed to lake path after work, looking forward to bringing it back into play.  The path being back means speed work is an option again and I was looking forward to going back to 4 days a week.  However my legs didn’t get the memo.  I knew right away something was wrong but I was hoping it would go away after a lap of the lake.  My left shin hurt but the scary part was my right shin.  I felt like something was loose under the skin- kind of like the muscle was pulling away from the bone.   It wasn’t getting better, getting worse in fact so I called if after a lap.  Grrr.

Saturday- Rain What do runners in denial of injuries do?  Buy new kicks.

Sunday-   12.55 run/ 1.66 walk The plan called for 18 and that’s what I set out to do.  However between all the rain of the week and all the pains I had been feeling, I was tired and not feeling it but I told myself to get over it.  I forgot my pepper spray and had to turn around to get it.   I had to change my route less than 1/4 mile in as there was a funeral at the cemetery and I try to not run past when there are actual services.   I started out slow and it never got any faster.  I was dragging around mile 7 when a passer-by leaned out their car window and yelled “good job” with a thumbs up.  It gave me a second wind for about 5 minutes but also made me wonder if I looked as rough as I felt.

My legs were aching, my feet felt like they were swelling.  It was 70+* and I was hot.   I was so damn thirsty and I had 2 bottles of water in my pack.  I stopped for a bathroom break around mile 10 and doused my hat and Buff in water.  I kept trying to move faster but I just kept moving through quicksand.  I couldn’t catch my breath and it just got worse.  By mile 11 I was sitting on the side of the road having a freaking panic attack, crying.

I somewhat pulled myself together, ha, called my mom and asked her if she wanted to join me for my last miles so I would have some company.  She said no and told me I should quit and she would come get me and give me a ride.  I was stubborn and said no.   I tried to suck it up and run on.  At mile 12.55, I knew I was being stupid.  My pace was in the toilet and my head still wasn’t right.   I stopped my watch and decided to walk a shorter way home.   That was still almost another 3 miles.  I didn’t make it.  I ended up calling for that ride.

I was so damn irritated with myself for not finishing 18 but I also knew that pushing on would have done more harm than good.  As it was, I was limping, dehydrated and exhausted.  I was done.

Now starts week 11… and I am filled with doubt and lingering muscle pain.  Oh boy.

How was your week?  Tell me something good!