Tag: Training

Week 52- Christmas

Is anyone else loving the Apple commercials with Frankenstein’s monster as much as I am?  Random, I know, but I can’t help but smile but when I watch them.

While last week seemed to be prolific in writing- I wrote 4 posts!- it was less so in running.  No lies, I did nothing that even remotely resembled exercise.  I meant to but it just never happened.   Oh well.    I made through a full week of work, that counts for something right? 😛

I caught up on everything I missed while I was gone from work for 2 weeks.  I don’t really know anything more than I did before in regards to the merger but I am choosing to remain as optimistic and open about it as I can.    I did some last minute Christmas shopping.   I tried to help my mom with some last minute Christmas shopping.  It kind of failed.   We tried, though right?

Friday, I kind of felt like my day turned into a bad country song.  It’s not even that the day was bad, it was just a rough start to the morning.  Then I was delivering chocolates and cards to a few of our customers and realized that my old boots really need to be retired.  That same puddle I parked in rewarded me with wet feet for the rest of the day.  Then the end of the work day turned classic.   You know those scenes in movies when cars drive by and drench the person and you think that doesn’t happen in real life?  It so does!  One lingering employee caught the action and we just stared at each other in disbelief.  Well, she was in her nice dry car laughing and I was in a new puddle by my car.😔


Christmas eve dawned and it was freaking cold!  I was hoping to get in a short run before Christmas Eve dinner and movie but instead I helped my brother do some very last minute Christmas shopping.    Family had a very low key Christmas, comfy clothes, yummy food and movies for the weekend.   This year’s viewing choices were Sully, Star Trek Beyond and a Netflix series called Travelers.  Just the way we like it.   It’s been a sad year family wise, so it was kind of an odd Christmas too but that happens sometimes too right?

How was your Christmas?  or weekend?

Did you run? 

Best gift?

 

Rambling On

I think I finally figured out what to call these random brain dumps.

Are we seriously only 3 days from Christmas?  How is that even possible? Just how? I’m not ready!


Between the cold front and my cough, my running has taken a huge hit.   I’ve decided to not stress on it for December.  It is what it is, I’ll run when it’s not 30 something and I’m not coughing up a lung.  I realize people are out there running in -bazillion and covered in snow but I’m a big baby.

I’m (trying) remaining optimistic and positive about the work situation but it’s hard when everywhere I go someone brings it up.  I had my quarterly check up with my gastroenterologist on Wednesday and we ended the appointment talking about the merger.   Really?

I’m working on my 2016 recap and I hope to have it up next week.  I also hope to have my plan for 2017 up the week after that.  That g word (rhymes with foal) is still a four letter word in my book. But that’s ok, I have a new word for 2017.

Holiday traffic started early.  This week has been rough.  I’ve been late every day to work due to slow or just nuts traffic and driving home? Forget it.  60 has become 40.  Boo.

I am anxious to get working on a training plan for my races next year, but I seem to have lost the book I was using.  Oops.  Blonde moment?  Or just Slacker at my finest?

Tuesday night was cookie baking night and I was proud that I ate less than one whole cookie all night.  Only to eat 4 yesterday.  Ouch.

I just found out there’s a Doctor Who marathon on for the next 3 days.  Why aren’t I on vacation now?!?!?!?! #nerdmoment

Share something random!

How many cookie have you eaten lately?

 

 

 

Week 49 Recap- Double Digits!

Ok, for the week but we’re getting somewhere right??  🙂

Last week was weird and long and rough and short -all wrapped up into 7 days.   My boss said it best- when you wake up Monday thinking it’s Friday, you know it’s going to be a long week.  While I wasn’t quite that bad, I was pretty close.    Part of my issue was vacation brain.  I was trying to get everything done that I had to do before I left.  I wanted to try and leave nothing behind when I left for 2 weeks.  It didn’t help that open enrollment for our health insurance fell during the 2 weeks I am gone.   Well, that’s not good timing.  Grrr.   But as of 6:30 Friday I am on vacation!   Ask me again in 3 days if I am still liking this vacation thing.  😛

Monday- Rest  Hmmm, I can’t remember anything particularly special about Monday

Tuesday- Rest  Same as above

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Wednesday- 3.1 miles  Another night run.   Farthest one yet!   I was bundled up and in reflective gear.  Or at least I hope it was reflective.  It’s not like I stopped a car and asked and I received no helpful cat calls this time.  On the plus side, Christmas lights are going up and every light helps to run to!  Then I went and did some shopping for the Toy Bank and that was nerve wracking.  When did toys get so expensive??  If you follow me on Twitter, you know I was asking for help.   😛

Thursday- Rest I’m giving my lungs a chance to adjust to the 4o’s and only running at night once a week and I just couldn’t force myself to go to the gym just yet.

Friday- Last day of work!  Also, my mom’s birthday.  I made poor food choices throughout the day.  Oops.


Saturday- 4.7 miles  Farthest and fastest run in a month!   Which is awesome and kind of sad all at the same time.  I set out in the middle of the afternoon and I quickly realized how over dressed I was.   The plan had been to run to the high school where my mother was having tennis practice then we’d run some errands.    I was hoping to run 5 miles but unfortunately all of my sugary, carby food choices made over the last few days came back to haunt me while I was running across the bridge.   The fact that that was also my fastest mile in well over a month and a half probably didn’t help either.  I spent that last .7 just trying not to be sick.  That put me right at the high school and I figured that was good enough for the day.


Oh, and for the first time in the 30+ years I’ve lived in this town, I went to the Christmas Parade!   We froze- 70 floats?!!- but it was super cute.   The announcers on the other hand- they needed help. They either thought they were funny or were a little deeper in their cups then they should have been.


Sunday- 3 miles  Ooof.    I had a headache in the morning and a dinner plans with the family in the evening so I headed in the early afternoon.   Maybe I should have skipped it.   My Garmin died 1/2 mile in.  My lungs never got on board the run train.    I took a ton of walk breaks.  Near as I can tell, I completed 3 miles around a 13:00 pace.  Say what?   3 miles is 3 miles right?    My legs felt fine, my lungs and head had other plans.  It is what it is, right?  I brushed it off before joining the family for dinner at Olive Garden.  Breadsticks, anyone?

Just barely over double digits for the week, woo hoo!     Food choices on the other hand got a little screwy by the end of the week.   With work having donuts on Thursday, a celebratory lunch on Friday, my mom’s birthday Friday and my dad’s birthday Sunday, I’m feeling a little fluffy and bogged down.   I didn’t even feel like this after Thanksgiving.

How was your week?

Any vacation tips?

 

 

Week 45 Training Recap

Training for:

  • Golden Gate Half

It’s the final countdown!    Race day was Sunday and I was hoping to get in a solid week of running before that.   Unfortunately, that was not the case.    The aftermath of the very wet Harvest Marathon took a toll on me.  Boo.

Monday- Rest   I was feeling a little rough so rest was awesome.  I was also afraid to even attempt putting on a sports bra after the chafing hell leftover from Sunday’s race.  Boo.

Tuesday- 45 minute recovery run  Sick.  I didn’t even make it through the work day.   I felt horrible and looked like crap so my boss kicked me out.  I made the long trek home and took a very long nap that felt more like a coma.


Wednesday- 2.5 miles.  I still felt wobbly but I wanted to try and get my legs moving.   Putting on a sports bra was a little uncomfortable.  Boo.  I lasted for a slow 2.5 miles on what was most likely my last time running the lake path until next year.   Good night lake.


Thursday- 3.6 miles Shouldn’t have done that.   I wasn’t feeling so great but I didn’t want to only have Wednesday’s run before race day.  So I headed out for a few miles after work.  I told myself to stick to 3 miles but I allowed the thought that this was likely my last work run until next year get to my head.  I ran on until the 2 mile point, not thinking about the fact that it was getting colder and the return trip was uphill.  I crashed hard.  Shouldn’t have done that.

Friday- Rest Felt like crap.


Saturday- Rest?  The plan called for a shakeout run but I was feeling crappy and didn’t want to figure out the logistics of that in San Francisco.  Instead my Fitbit says I covered almost 7 miles walking around San Francisco and it usually runs short so I figured that was enough.


My mom and I headed up to SF early and picked S up from college along the way.   The plan was to hang out around the Embarcadero during the day, pick up my race packet and head to the hotel.  The hotel was within walking distance of the start and then S and mom would come down to finish line on race morning.  I started to feel worse during the day but I tried to chalk it up to a bad pepperoni pretzel.  Wishful thinking.  After finding dinner a nearby burger place, I still felt horrible so I headed to bed early.  I also got a little bitchy.  Sorry mom and S!   I was tossing and turning, alternating between freezing and burning up.    Then to make matters worse- a large, loud group of guys returned to the hotel room next to ours around 1:30am.  They were the loudest, most obnoxious group of people ever.    It sounded like they were slamming into walls.   I can only imagine what the poor people below them heard.  ☹ I just wanted to sleep.   I was beginning to wonder if I should even race.


Sunday- Golden Gate Half….. could I do it?

How was your week?

Have any hotel nightmares? or chafing nightmares?

Would you have raced?

 

Week 44 Training Recap

Training for-

  • Paso Harvest Marathon 13.1
  • Golden Gate Half

So I started titling my weekly recaps like this back in January but took a little break during marathon training.  The weekly numbers are starting to drag on me.  I need figure out another way to do this.  Good thing it’s almost 2017!   Ouch, did I just say that?

This week saw me back on the dreadmill and it almost broke me.   I don’t know if I can do that 2 nights a week until spring.   I may have to get over my mountain lion fear.  Well, and the fear of what’s hiding in the dark when you run at night.    To that end, I bought a new pair of reflective leggings this week and I am hunting down all my blinking lights.   I think I have them stashed in odd places.  My flashlight also needs new batteries.  Who said running was a cheap sport? 😛


Monday-2.3 miles  The plan called for an easy 30 minute recovery run.  Oh man, my calves were stiff.   I walked more than I would have liked which meant I barely hit 3 miles in 30 minutes.  Ouch.   At least I was able to enjoy the view.


Tuesday- Rest I spent some time with my foam roller but probably not enough.   I can’t remember if I did anything else. 😛


Wednesday- 4 miles  Son of a treadmill.  The plan was for a 7 mile run- some warm up and cool down with mile repeats at half marathon pace.  Ha!   I hate treadmills but I was trying to be optimistic.   I couldn’t even pull off one mile at pace.  My calves were tight and would not loosen up. I paused the treadmill so many times to try and stretch them out.   At one point, I stretched so long the damn treadmill reset itself.  I finally decided that I was doing more harm than good and called it.  I was still pissed though so I cranked the incline to 7 and power walked it out.  Things finally loosened up.   So what, all my treadmill dates this winter will power walking at an incline?

Thursday- Rest  I was still feeling sore from the day before so not much happened.  I planned on jumping on the bike for a few miles but I didn’t.  Oops.

Friday- Rest


Saturday- Rest  Oops.   I was supposed to do a 20-30 minute shakeout run.  This also would have worked great with the Alzheimer’s Walk that I was supposed to participate in and yet neither happened.  I took my car in for some tire work and planned on doing the shakeout run then except they moved at lightning pace and I did not have time.    After a few errands, I headed to pick up my packet for the Harvest Half.   I was nervous.  This is the first time in 4 years that I haven’t volunteered to work it and it was the first time in 6 years that I was running it again.   I ran the 5k years ago.   This was also my first race with BibRave so I a little anxious.

They moved the expo into town this year and livened it up with a few vendor booths, some live music and a dinner in the park.   I have to give them points for effort.  There were only 2 vendors- Costco and a local gym.   The tri tip smelled amazing though.  I headed home to eat dinner and try to get a decent night’s sleep.

Sunday- Harvest Half  To be continued…but ouch.

How was your week?

Any tips on making the treadmill less miserable?