Tag: Training

1- New Year

I sent 2019 out with a migraine for 3 days. Or did it see me out with a migraine. Hmmm.

One thing I want to change in 2020 is these weekly recaps. Part of me likes them as it helps me remember what I did and how I felt. Also it is the only way I have ever effectively stuck to a training log. I’ve tried various forms of diaries and log books but they’ve never lasted more than a few months. So I know that I want to keep it but I also want to change things up. However, I am not sure how so until I figure it out, I’ll keep on keeping on.

Outside of the migraine, I think last week went about as well as everyone else’s- I had no idea what day it was half the time. Holidays in the middle of the week with work on both sides mess with your head. The fact that I worked the Saturday before New Year’s too just made things seem screwier.

Monday and Tuesday were spent at work and then hiding in the dark in the evenings. Wish I could say it was the migraine that kept me from a New Year’s Eve celebration but it wasn’t. #introvert

Wednesday– Best thing about winter and days off is the running in the afternoon part. I headed out for a few easy miles but they just felt hard. Which is fine as I know I am very out of shape right now but a wheezing 4 miles done.

Thursday and Friday– work, work. Plus it kind of hurt to breath.

Saturday- 7 miles Hey, look who ran a baby long run! I headed out in the early afternoon again and the weather was pretty good. It wasn’t exactly easy but it wasn’t exactly hard either. If that makes sense. I may have overdressed a bit but I have a paranoia of getting sick.

Sunday- 7.ish miles on the bike. I meant to do the recovery run on my training plan but it was crazy windy. Did I mention the paranoia? I spent 3-4 months sick at the beginning of 2019 and I am not going back. I used an interval option and for once I feel like I got in a decent workout.

So 11 miles running for the week. Doesn’t sound like a lot or hardly anything at all but it’s my first double digit week in 2 months. Yep, gonna be a tough road back.

How was your week?

Rear View- 2019

2019 was not what I would have expected. Nor was it what I hoped for at the beginning of the year. It is what it is, however it’s up to me to how I respond to it.

So what happened in 2019?

shiny

  • Ran 8 races
  • Met some great running peeps in real life
  • Promotion at work
  • Transfer to a much close location
  • Finally made it to California Adventure
  • I ran.

dull-

  • DNS’ed 2 races- Castle to Coast in January, RnR San Jose in October
  • Spent January through March sick
  • Both parents in and out of hospital
  • Gained 20ish pounds (on top pf the 20 I gained in 2018)
  • Beachbody
  • Fewer miles than previous 3 years
  • No 1st 50K- my only real goal of the year
  • Not enough trail time
  • Nowhere near 1000 miles- yes, an arbitrary goal- actual total- 591

2018 was kind of a mess- I didn’t even write a year review, my usual Shiny and Dull. I had high hopes for 2019 but I also never even published my goals post. It’s still in my drafts folder even now.

2019, I aimed for something higher. But I didn’t really try. I don’t even know if I can say I phoned it in. Admitting it is only half a start. I need to make a change if I want 2020 to be different. Even if typing 2020 just broke my brain a bit. This is no new year, new me bit- merely me admitting that I’ve become a little comfortable being lazy. So comfortable, it’s going to be very hard to follow through. And hard. Some of the weight gain is on me (literally, ha!) and some is due to my lovely GI disorder but the docs are stumped, yay me. However I have become a little too comfortable using that as an excuse. The Slacker will find a way, haha.

So now I need to unlearn all my bad habits (ok, most of them) and stop rationalizing everything I do or eat to increase my Slacker-ness. It’s going to be an uphill battle and likely a long climb.

So here’s to a lackluster 2019 and lessons hopefully learned.

Ok, 2020, what you got?

Week 50 – Caution

Ok, somewhere along the lines I messed up the weeks. Oops. Not gonna worry about it now.🤪

I started last week with some lingering pain in my right foot from the trail race. Also some super tight calves but those didn’t worry me. The foot pain on the other hand…

I ended up resting Monday through Wednesday. I couldn’t even make it through a day of work without switching to my stretchiest work appropriate flats.

Thursday dawned and I went for a few test miles in the evening. As night runs go, it was fairly speedy. There was a fair amount of walking interspersed- the trees on half the path decided to dump ALL their leaves and after almost eating it twice, I walked every time there was a pile on the sidewalk.😂

Friday dawned with a super sore throat. Of course, I just get back running AND am about to go on my first full week vacation in over a year and I wake up sick.

The weekend saw me hiding from a cold snap and hibernating. People, I was sick for the better part of 3 months starting in December of 18’ and I’m not going back!!!

So, a whopping 3 miles for the week. I suck at running in December.🤷‍♀️

How was your week?

Week 46- Huh

So that was interesesting.

Know how much running I got in last week?

0. Zilch. Nada.

That wasn’t how it was supposed to go. I had plans to run multiple nights after work. But like I mentioned in my last post, I need to rearrange how I run. This realization came about on Thursday so I was irritated that I had been lazy Monday through Wednesday. Well, unless dancing around the kitchen on Monday while I graded 4 pounds of cheese counts as a workout. No?

Friday was day one of the morning experiment- fail. Did start decorating the work tree er… trees.

Saturday- again fail. Which might not have been so bad as I could have run after work. Except my damn stomach chose that day to be an absolute asshat. Gee thanks.

Then Sunday, well, I was easily distracted.

So yeah, that was my week.

How was yours?

Week 45- Dark

Daylight savings never used to bother me. This year I feel like it smacked me in the face.

Which is odd because I thought it would be better now that I work so much closer to home. Doesn’t make a difference, I still don’t get off work until it’s full dark. Boo. Someone want to come run with me?

On the work front, things are looking up and we should hopefully be fully staffed in a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed, I think I can, I think I can.

I watched more Christmas movies this weekend. I am trying to wait until Thanksgiving but I am losing the battle. This is one way the stupid 80* weather is helping.

I also slept. A lot. I really mean a lot. I took the weekend to reset after a rough few weeks… well, truthfully I didn’t plan but that’s what my body dictated. Surprisingly no naps were involved.

Monday- Wednesday- Dark
I packed clothes to run after work but I kept putting it off. I told myself I hadn’t had time to test my lights since spring. I even went so far as to order new ones. I mean extra light never hurts, right?

Can you see me now?

Thursday- 1.6 miles
The plan was to run and then meet my mom for dinner. What I didn’t account for was traffic on the freeway being at a standstill. One fender bender had turned into 4 and they backed up both sides of the freeway. Thankfully it looked like everyone in the accidents were just irritated. I made it to my running spot but I only had 20 minutes. So I ran. Slower like I do in the dark… maybe I should use winter as a way to work on my heart rate?

Friday- Nope
Another open to close.

Saturday- 4 miles
It’s freezing overnight and 85 in the day. Should I be melting on runs in November? No! I rode the struggle bus the whole time. I know it won’t be long until I am complaining about the cold but right now, it’s welcome.

Sunday- 4 miles
I was so tired. I woke with a headache so went back to sleep. Even with that, by afternoon, I had zero desire to run. Hell, I didn’t even want to move. I wanted to nap. I forced myself to get up and drive to my running spot. Less than a mile in, I knew running was not going to happen. I could have thrown in the towel and quit but instead I walked. 4 miles and I even managed to negative split the thing. Better than nothing!

9.6 miles for the week. Not too surprising considering it was the first week of Daylight savings and it usually takes me awhile to rip off that bandaid. Missing a long run is what really killed the mileage. But let’s be real….when was my last long run??

How was your week?