Tag: Training

Poser

I don’t recall the exact date but I know that I started running in 2010. Or at least attempting to then. My first race was that fall. Since then I have run 13 half marathons and more than a few 5k’s and 10k’s. All that aside, more often than not, I still feel like a poser. Like I am only playing pretend with running. Instead of dressing up in my mother’s clothes like a little kid, I am putting on short shorts, sports bras and compression socks and just hoping I fit in. Oh and my ever present Garmin.

I was one of those people who said I would never run, hated it. Drove past people running and wondered what the hell they were thinking. Then a friend signed up for Team In Training. Seeing her go through training for a marathon and let’s be truthful, I didn’t like the way my clothes fit, I thought maybe I would try running. However I still didn’t start running until I purchased my first iPhone. I didn’t want to carry a phone and my ipod, I didn’t even think about water, #priorities. 🙂 Even that little beginning was walking. For a while I used those crazy rocker Sketchers shoes that were popular for a very short time. Yeah, that hurt my shins. Then that same friend pretty much bought my first pair of running shoes. I actually started running. But I felt awkward and out of place. I was torn between wanting to walk when cars drove past so they didn’t see me huffing and puffing and running faster so I looked less like a turtle when they passed. Then a few customers asked if that was me they had seen running past their house. Ummm, maybe? I would ask where they lived so I could make sure to run past their houses every time after that and walk when I was around the corner. 🙂 #poser

Then came races. Cue the doubts. Man, these people look fast. What was I thinking? Oh, look at all their pretty gear. I wonder what that does? Hmmm, those shoes look interesting. Hell, I ran in cotton shirts and tennis shorts for over a year. Plus side was big pockets. Oh and I put on weight. Grrrrr. That wasn’t the plan. Running was hit and miss, I’d run 6 days in a row and then take a month off, then throw in a random race. Training plan wasn’t even part of my vocabulary.

Then something changed. Running became less a way to burn some calories and more something I needed to do. Along the way, I picked up some speed and set a few PR’s. Hey, that’s kind of cool. My clothes changed, my accessories multiplied both by quantity and cost and can now fill a box in the trunk of my car. But there were times I still felt out of place, like I was waiting to be told I couldn’t hang with the cool kids. I would stalk online race times for every race I signed up for just to make sure I wasn’t going to be last.

There are still moments, hell entire runs, where I feel like a wannabe. Days when walking seems to be all I can do, or at least seems more efficient than the slow crawl, hobble thing I was doing other wise. When I think everyone passing is wondering if they are gonna have to help me to my car. Then there are the runs that start off hellishly but end on a note that leaves me feeling awesome and ready for more. There are still race mornings when I show up feeling outclassed and outnumbered but what happens between that starting gun and finish line can be pretty unifying.

My superpower? I change from "pretty girl" to "hot, panting, smelly wad of hair and sweat" in under 30 minutes. Wanna see?

In the last few weeks I have had more #poser moments than #runner. But those runner moments make it all worth it. And leave me feeling the deep thoughts. 🙂 Oh and coming in last at a race? #beentheredonethat and it’s no big deal. And I love my compression socks. Time to get my run on. Well, not right now, it’s dark out. 🙂

Ever feel like a #poser?

When was your last awesome running moment?

No Need To Panic

I consider myself a fairly calm person in emergency situations. This has also been tested a few times and been proven mostly true. Earthquakes, car accidents, electrical panels catching on fire, customers trying to beat up employees, etc, I stay calm. Even my first car accident when I was young and dumb, I stayed mostly calm. I calmly came to, assessed the damage ( I hit a wall) and tried to turn the car off and take the keys out of the ignition to cut the power. Too bad I wasn’t thinking about the fact that the car had to be in park to accomplish all that. 🙂 I was also calm when I saw my passenger lying on the ground. I knew he had to have gotten there on his own and he had. He got out and went and laid down. No, none of us had been drinking. I stayed fairly calm through all this but lost it when I called my mom- so mostly calm. That big earthquake that damaged town years ago? I was working when it rolled through, I told everyone to take cover and I went to turn off the large open gas range. We then evacuated, still calm. My point to all this is that I am not one who panics easily. So imagine my shock when I ran myself into a panic attack a couple years ago.

I did a good majority of my runs on the high school track that summer. I would run in the evenings after work. The football team was usually practicing but they never said I couldn’t be there so I would just run in the outside lane minding my own business. The track used to be my happy place and favorite place to run. I headed there one evening for an easy 5 mile run. The team was there as usual and my mother was as well, she was going walk laps while I ran. It was hot but no hotter than any other day. I remember feeling pretty good and keeping a good pace. 2 miles in I started to freak out. For no reason. First, I had trouble breathing. I knew it wasn’t an asthma attack but I could not catch my breath or calm myself down. Then I started crying, I mean full on sobs, again for no known reason. I had plenty of water and didn’t feel dehydrated. In fact my body felt fine other than the emotional freak out. I had no idea what was going on and it was scary but I could not calm down. But I’m wasn’t very smart, so I finished my run, thinking it would help calm me down. I hadn’t discovered the online running community yet so I did the only thing I could think of when I got home. Google. I read stories of people having similar experiences but no clues as to why it happened. I was nervous to run for a while but it never happened again so I put it out of my mind. Until Wednesday’s run.

Summer has definitely arrived and temps in home town have been in the high 90’s to 100 range. While I am loving it, I have been taking things a little slower. Wednesday was day 3 of my training plan and my second run. The plan called for a 30 minute easy run but I was aiming for 40. My weather app said that the temp at the lake was 81 so I headed there to run. It lied. It was more like 91. Still, I was fine with that, I had had 90 oz of water at work and had a full bottle for my run. I used plenty of sunblock and wore my hat, I felt good and ready to go. I walked my usual little warm up and started to run. Then stopped 20 yards later. Walked some more, then tried running again. Only to stop again. Repeat numerous times over the next mile and a half. My head was totally in the game but I could not get my body to do what I wanted it to do. It was like it was refusing to run. The more I tried to push, the more it pushed back. At mile 1.5, I felt it again. My breathing was becoming erratic and it wasn’t from exertion. Maybe it was because it happened before but this time I recognized that I was about to have a panic attack. For no reason, again. I knew I had plenty of water, wasn’t dehydrated and was still sweating so I don’t think the heat had anything to do with it. It hadn’t been a stressful day and my stomach has been feeling better lately. Then, trying to force myself to calm down was just making things worse. Being smarter now (just a little) I just walked back to the car and stayed in the shade while I got everything under control. What the hell?!

Once again, I have no idea what caused it. I didn’t feel like it was too hot, but maybe my run the day before was too hot? I always clear a minimum of 120 oz of water a day, so it’s not like I was dehydrated. Yes, work has been stressful but no more than usual. Sleep is the same as always so it couldn’t have been that. Grrrrr. Granted, it’s only happened twice but it’s still freaky. It doesn’t make sense. And now I am nervous for my next run. Grrrr.

Ever have a panic attack? Running or not?

Favorite place to run?

How much water do you drink on average?

Finally

Is Sunday already over? Boo. Weekends need to be 3 days long, they really do. EDIT- read this as if I posted Sunday evening- I was having internet issues- and then WordPress erased half of it- grrrr.

I finished the week out with a short 4 mile run on Sunday afternoon. I think I am finally ready for this lackadaisical approach to training to go away. Getting ready for City to the Sea starts tomorrow. I will probably stick to the 3x a week plan until mid July. By then we should be fully staffed and my hours can get a little shorter. Fingers crossed. But going forward I plan to have my runs be something of substance rather than just phoning it in. Speaking of substance, I had hoped that Sunday’s run would be between 6-8 miles but I held off too long. I headed out late afternoon when it was close to 90. Oops. I also didn’t have enough time as I had Sunday dinner to get to. Another reason I have been trying to rearrange my long run days. The run was warm but not too bad. I walked the first 10 minutes though, it took awhile to get my head and legs into it. 😬. After that I averaged a 10:30 pace which for the temp and it only being my second run in that warmth, I say is pretty good. Heat and slow pace aside, this run felt good. I was dripping in sweat by the end but smiling. It was the first run in a month where I was just happy to be running. Yay! And these might have helped too- I decided to buy another pair of 17’s. I know they are being phased out but I figured it made more sense than running in shoes that made my feet cranky. Yes, I still felt the odd little niggles but overall they felt like slippers on my feet. 😃 Truthfully, I didn’t even try them on the store, I just told them my size and paid. The Warehouse did let me know that they have about 100 in my size so I might be able to get another pair in a few months. If only I had unlimited funds and a place to store them, I would seriously stock up right now!! Orange wasn’t my first choice but it grew on me. I think I was obnoxiously bright when I ran today- In non running news- Friday was a sad day at work. My fish died!! I always greet him in the morning and my greeting turned into a shriek! I was sad and didn’t know what to do. 😢 Customers asked where he was throughout the day and we had to tell them the sad news. He had been a little under the weather for awhile but I was hoping he would pull through.

Saturday saw a family tradition when we went to see Jurassic World. I really liked it, my brother was meh about it. My mother liked it even though she made fun of parts of it too. This also meant I decimated a movie popcorn but I was ok with that. I also realized that I can no longer tolerate candy. I was on such a sugar high, I felt ill. Score one for Atkins. I also had a similar revelation to pizza last week, boo.

I am finally eager to get back to training. I really would like to break 2:00 in a half this year. In order to do that, I have to put the work in first. This also means that I am reconsidering my July race. I keep going back and forth about what to do. But that’s for another post. I may need your help. 🙂 I also misplaced my training so I am trying an app this time.

How was your weekend?

What are you training for? Do you train during the summer or just run?

Ever had a fish? How do you take care of them?!

Week of Woe

I have a race tomorrow. A 10K. How did that happen?

It’s not that I forgot about it, just that it somehow snuck up on me. I thought I had another few weeks. But I don’t. I feel woefully unprepared for this race. Not just because I still haven’t upped my mileage but my head is just not in the game. At all. I considered downgrading to the 5K at packet pick up today. This coming from the person who completed a 5K after a 10K with serious asthma complications. But let’s back up.

Monday– I knew I wasn’t going to be running after work but it was odd not taking my gym bag. I had a meeting after work about a fall race so the evening was still spent talking about running. 🙂 Of course, as I was driving home I was jealous of all the people out running. Tuesday– Headed out after work for an easy run. My legs felt like lead. I tried out a new interval setting for my runs. I always take a walk break at some point each mile so I decided to try 4:30 run/ :30 walk intervals. I was curious to see how I felt. My easy runs never seem to feel that easy, so I was curious if this would help. I didn’t really notice a difference. I ran 3.5 miles with an average pace of 10:14. Which would have been fine if the splits hadn’t looked like this- 11:40, 9:51, 9:30. Wednesday– National Running Day! I was planning on running anyways but by days end I really needed to run. For the past month, I feel like I have been waiting for the other shoe to drop. I don’t have to wait anymore, it drop kicked me. But it happened, so now I can build from here and move on. I made it through the day and headed to the lake for an easy 5K. 11:44, 10:17, 9:27. All over the place but pace wasn’t the goal, quiet thoughts were. I also stopped along the way to visit with lake cat. 🙂Thursday– I really had planned on running. The weather was odd all day and just kept getting grey-er and grey-er. The wind had increased as well. I changed into my running clothes and headed north, hoping to drive out of the grey. An upside to commuting is that I have multiple locations along the way to run. The sun came out a bit along the way but the wind increased. By the time I hit home town, the wind was 20+ mph and my head was not mentally wiling to do that. Rest day instead.

Friday– National Donut Day! My boss was nice enough to pick up donuts on her way in and you better believe I partook. I had 2. 🙂 Both were equally amazing. I had planned for the 2 all week, and my carb choices were on point all week, so I had zero guilt with either donut. Plus, don’t donuts have magical healing powers? And as an added bonus, I got to leave work shortly after 5, so it was only a 10 hour day. Woo hoo!Today- Instead of running, I headed down to SLO to pick up my packet for the race tomorrow. I had received an email that said this was their largest year yet with well over 500 runners and I knew that race morning could be more than chaotic. Parking!!! Packets could be picked up early at Left Lane Sports in SLO, so I decided it was worth the drive down. Plus, I’ll never turn down Firestone for lunch. 🙂 I returned home in time to make my hair appointment. I loved the cut I got in February but it had grown a little too long, so it needed to be chopped. I tried to take a before and after picture but I am crap at selfies. 🙂

Which brings me to tomorrow’s race. Honestly my head has been elsewhere all week. 6 miles seems so very far. My only goals are to finish and have fun. I ran this race 2 years ago, so I know it is lots of loops and turns throughout the vineyard. I am probably going to wear my trail shoes. It also has a start time of 8:00 and is quite a drive from home, so it will be an early morning. I am hoping it won’t be too cold. This has been the oddest May/ June weather.

Who raced today? Racing Sunday?

Advice for when your pride gets punched?

Did you indulge in donut day? How was your week?

10K Thursday

10K’s and I have a rough relationship. 4 years ago today, I lined up at the start of my 1st 10k. It was my third race, I had previously run a 5k and a half marathon. Having run a half, I figured how bad could a 10k be? Umm, yeah. I actually had this post planned this week without realizing the date. Timehop can be so helpful sometimes. Or eerily psychic.I am smiling in this picture but this race was rough. I had planned on running it withNikeC but she was so much faster than I was. My training at that point was best described as non-existent. She pulled ahead of me fairly quickly. I don’t remembermuch other than I walked a lot and generally felt exhausted. At one point during an out and back portion, I passedNikeC on her way back and she cheered me on. I probably grimaced. She texted me a few moments later to let me know I wasn’t last. At that time in my racing, I was obsessed with not being last. So I hung on to the finish. I actually finished that race in the time goal that I set for myself -1:12 but was so disappointed. For some reason it made me feel defeated and irritated. I couldn’t understand how I had finished 13.1 miles 2 months previous. I felt fried. I think I took the next 2-3 months off- zero running. Looking back I am not even sure why, but that feeling stayed with me for a long time.

Don't I look ready to race? Ha! Pre-Talley — Don’t I look ready to race? Ha! Pre-Talley

A long time. That first 10K was May of 2011. My next 10K was June 2013. Every time I saw a possible 10k race before that, I thought hell no. I finally decided to try another one, granted getting a comped entry helped. 🙂 So early one June morning, I headed out to Talley Vineyard for attempt #2. I told myself anything around 1:05 would make me happy. Right before the start, my mother dared me to break an hour. The incentive? $50.00. I laughed. I also didn’t anticipate that running in a vineyard was more like trail running and I was not prepared for that. That said, I crossed the finish line in 59:11. Hell yeah!

I ran 3 more 10K’s in 2013- 57:17, 55:57, 56:21. I began to think I liked 10K’s. A little less crazy than a 5K but only half as long as a half marathon. I thought it could be my new favorite distance. I went into 2014 with this mindset. First up was the Heart & Sole’s 10K– 55:40. This still stands as my PR but it was rough. 5 of the 6 miles, I felt like my achilles was going to snap. I even stopped to stretch it out at one point. It hurt. Next up was Bands on the Run– 59:28. The race where I phoned it in. I was mentally not there and it felt rough. I also hadn’t put it together yet that humidity triggered my asthma and with a race on the beach you get lots of humidity. Oops. Then there was the disaster that was the HOB Fun Run 10K– 1:08:03. That September when I finally admitted I had to back off racing because my system just wasn’t tolerating it. Stupid stomach. So out of 7 10K’s run, 4 have been less than stellar experiences. Where am I going with this? This Saturday, I am running Bands on the Run again. I haven’t really raced a 10K since Heart & Soles’ and I don’t think this will be a real race. I have no idea what time to even shoot for. I am hoping to use this as a tune up for next month when I run Talley again. But I don’t want to phone it in either. The course covers pavement, the high school track, a dirt trail, soft pack dune sand and hard pack wet sand. I don’t think I could PR it even if I was in tip-top shape. That damn dune sand takes a lot out of you. 🙂 And that’s ok, I want to enjoy the scenery and the music this year and not feel frustrated with myself. That said, :59 and below would be awesome but we’ll see.

This popped up today too, is the world trying to tell me something?

Speaking of the beach, I’ve run 4 races on the beach but this time I have shoe options. So what do you think? My normal shoes, trail shoes or my lighter weight pair of shoes?

Thoughts on 10K’s? What’s your favorite distance?

Anyone racing this weekend?