You know that saying about the difference between try and triumph is a little “umph”? Or something like that? I’ve lost my umph. Where did it go? Can you help me find it?
I’ve been feeling adrift since SLO. I thought having no training plan would feel liberating. I mean I am a Slacker after all, I was looking forward to it, thinking it would be awesome. Yet it hasn’t been. My last few posts have talked of my lack of motivation and each one said the same thing- I need to get back on track. Obviously saying it means absolutely nothing. Want to know how many miles I’ve run in May? 26. Seriously!?? Ouch.
Ouch
Work has officially hit crazy, and my hours got a little longer, like open to close. Friday is the biggest change, last Friday ran around 11 hours. However that should be no excuse to be lazy. Maybe I should just try to go to sleep earlier. Ok, that one made me laugh a little. What time did this post go up? I also need to work on my time management skills outside of work but that’s for another post. Anyways, time to hopefully actually follow through with what I say. So to that effect, I planned out a race schedule. With a goal race. So here we go.
May– Bands on the Run 10K June– Talley Vineyard 10K July– Rock’n around the Pier 13.1 and a possible 4th of July 5kAugust– Trail 25K September– Central Coast Cancer Challenge 10k, HOB Fun Run 10K/ 5K October– City to the Sea 13.1 (GOAL) November– Big Sur Half Marathon
At least Sunday had a view
A race schedule seemed to work for me before, so let’s try it again. Since I really think my training plan for SLO worked, I am going to re purpose it for City to the Sea. That is also where I set my half marathon PR and I love the course…except they changed the course this year, so we will see what happens. Now, this plan is flexible, life does happen so I may adjust things if I have to. May, June, HOB and Big Sur are the only ones set right now.
Thank you wind for the crazy hair.
Most of this was thought out after a truly lackluster weekend of running. I ended up napping on Saturday- again. Sunday did see my longest run since SLO- a slow 10K. I ran a 10:52 pace which is great for an easy run which was the goal. What was not so great was how hard it was. I was huffing and puffing the whole way, that pace felt more like race pace than easy run. Ugh. That was not confidence inspiring, but rough runs happen and we move on. But I was out there long enough to think of all the reasons I have been lazy and what I can do about it. I am 20 weeks out from City to the Sea and I am aiming for a 16 week plan. The next 4 weeks will be testing a couple of new weekly schedules out since this newest one isn’t working out so well. 🙂 Plus I need to figure out what works best with the work schedule. Running later in the evening makes it harder to sleep and now I have to get up earlier so that probably won’t work, but I will figure it out. I also need to figure out how to stop the stress eating that has been happening for 2 weeks.
California is confused. The weather has been cold and windy for a month. It’s May and it’s California, what gives!? I have run in pants and long sleeves more in May than I did all “winter” long. Plus I put away all my “winter” clothing except for 2 pairs ofcapris so I have to keep washing them. Grrr. It was cold, windy and rainy tonight so I decided to stick to my original running schedule instead of trying the new one again. I am so over the wind. Wind aside, I did have a couple of pretty good runs this week.
Wednesday’s run
I headed out Monday after work to get started on the whole 3x weekday running. Running on Monday seems so much harder but it wasn’t as rough as it was last week. I headed to the lake with my new shoes to get in some easy miles. You’d think the cold would make the gnats less annoying but no such luck. Every third mile or so, I ran with my arms flailing around my face trying to keep them away. But no such luck, again. After finishing my run, 3.5 miles at 10:04 pace, I stopped to stretch and take a pic or 2. I tried to get a selfie showing that I was actually wearing a race shirt- Surf City, long sleeves for the win!- but I failed. However I noticed a speck on my face later. I zoomed in and there was a gnat stuck to my sweaty forehead- gross!!!Sometimes I have to work on Saturday and when I do, I usually get a half day during the week. I love half days. 🙂 To me they seem like an invitation to run more miles. Sweet! I had a half day on Tuesday and I was looking forward to at least 6 miles after work. Thanks to a training meeting in my hometown that went 3.5 hours, I didn’t even have to drive to work town so I had even more time to run. However, my stomach laughed at my plans and I eventually gave up trying. I felt like it was a waste of a half day. 😦 But I did get some laundry done and took a small nap.
Work ran late on Wednesday (it started!) and then I spent 10 minutes looking for myFitbit. When I was changing into my running gear I realized that it had fallen out of my sock at some point during the day. Crap! Luckily I found it by the front door. I headed to the river path hoping for less wind. Ha! Luckily I found a headband in my car to cover my ears. I can’t stand cold ears.
I look kind of scary in a headband. 🙂
I spent the first mile trying to talk myself out of running. I was cold, tired and my stomach hurt. And apparently feeling very whiny. 🙂 But I trucked on telling myself to get over it. I kept my watch covered with my sleeves since I really didn’t have a pace goal, my only goal was to finish 4 miles. I walked when I needed to and did pause for a break at one point for my stomach. Overall the run felt comfortably hard and I felt that was more due to the wind than the actual running. Then I checked my splits.
?????
Say what?! My last mile came in at 8:15 and I didn’t feel like throwing up? My fastest mile since high school was 8:05, set last fall in broken down shoes, running in a straight shot, going downhill. I thought I was going lose my cookies after that mile. So how did 8:15 seem fairly comfortable? Still mostly downhill, but across 3 intersections and a couple of streets. Huh? How did I do that? Actually the last 3 miles were pretty speedy and didn’t feel horrible. Sweet! Can I do it again though?
As exciting as that last mile was, I was also very happy that I did not have to deal with any gnats. 🙂
I ended up taking the weekend of from running. It wasn’t the plan but hey, the name fits. On Saturday, I worked then napped then hit the movies to see the new Avengers. Awesome! I planned on running Sunday but I started a spring cleaning project that just grew and snowballed as the day went on. Suddenly it was almost Sunday dinner time and I hadn’t run yet. Oops! In other news, I have way too many pairs of running shorts. And pants.
oh and socks
Monday rolled around and I was looking forward to running. I want to transition to running 3x a week, Monday through Friday as opposed to 2x. So this week is my first attempt. Monday running just seems so hard to me, I don’t know why. I did it a few times during my training cycle but it was usually only because I had other conflicts I couldn’t reschedule. Instead of feeling fresh and ready to run, my legs just felt super heavy. That actually wasn’t horrible. What really irritated me was the wind and the thousands upon thousands of gnats.
It’s hard to get a picture of gnats.
We kind of skipped winter and the warmer weather (then) had brought a gazillion gnats. There are hordes of them around the lake path. I’ve mentioned it before but seriously it’s nasty. I alternate between flailing my arms around my face and blowing air out of my mouth or nose. I refuse to swallow a bug! I also think of the X-Files every single time. Anyone ever see that episode with the loggers in the forest from like first or second season? Where the creepy gnat-like bugs come out of the tree rings and web people in killing them? Blech. I think of that every single time.
Now for the elephant run. I think I’ve posted this before, but what is an elephant run? This is what I call these runs where things just feel off. Not a little off, a whole lot off. Like you feel more like a circus performer flailing about the street than anything remotely resembling a runner. It has nothing to do with pace, sometimes these runs are slow and sometimes they can be speedy. Most often I can hear my feet pounding the pavement and I sound heavy footed. Normally, you can barely hear my feet. I felt like my left ankle was dropping in, my right knee and lower leg felt all off kilter, like they were swinging out. My shorts which I have run in at least 1x a week for the last year suddenly kept trying to turn into underwear. My shirt was riding up under my long sleeved layer. I kept hitting the headphone cord and pulling them loose. I stopped every mile to fix some wardrobe malfunction or another. Oh and the wind! The last two miles were straight into a headwind. Ugh. I think winter’s cousin stopped by for a visit…in May! Temps have been in the 50’s and the wind has been ridiculous for weeks. Yes, everyone back east can shake your head an laugh at me. I have run in pants more in the last month then all winter. Which is a annoying since I just put all my “winter” stuff away. 20-30 mph winds just need to stop. I don’t even like driving in them. 😦
To further add to my elephant running, I crossed paths with another runner on my way back down the hill. I felt like an ungainly mess and was just getting irritated with everything, and here comes this shirtless Adonis running my way making it look effortless. Come on! Actually I have no idea what he looked like. I was running into the sun and he was slightly in the shade. So all I know is that he was male and shirtless. Apparently he wasn’t cold like the rest of us out there. 🙂
They weren’t pretty runs but I got them done. 🙂 That’s what counts right? I took today off since my legs felt so odd yesterday. This 3x during the week is going a little work to get used to.
Ever had an elephant run? Or something of the sort?
Has the urge to spring clean hit you yet?
Is it possible to have too many pairs of shorts? 🙂
On March 30, on doctor’s orders I started the Atkins diet. Yes, I know exactly what you’re thinking- “but, wait, all the yummy carbs!’. Ok, now I want a donut. Anyways, moving on. I may have spent one last weekend indulging in all the things I was about to lose. 🙂 I also bought one of the books, the newer ones- The New Atkins Made Easy. The original book was published back in 2003 and from the free preview I downloaded online, it read more like a science book. I didn’t want or need all that- I didn’t need to be convinced, I was doing this because I was told to.
If you’ve been reading awhile, you’ve seen me talk as nauseuam about my stomach and it’s stupid-ness (gastroparesis). This is not the first time I have been told to limit my carb intake, however this is the most severe it’s been. But as this current flare up has now gone on for almost a year, I made a sad face and told the doc I would do my best.
So in brief- Atkins is a lifestyle change that believes that a lower carb intake will help weight loss and help with some recurring or long term conditions. This is where my doc comes in. He suggested it, so I figured I would give it a shot.
Atkins has 4 phases-
Phase 1- Induction- 20g carbs
Phase 2- Ongoing Weight Loss- 25g-50g- for some people higher
Phase 3- Pre-maintenance 60-70g
Phase 4-Lifetime Maintenance 80-100g
For perspective- the normal recommended intake for carbs is 180-300g.
At each phase, you can add in more foods that were previously restricted. Like fruit and some starchy vegetables among other things. Now Atkins is primarily geared towards weight loss, I didn’t really care about that so I started at the higher end of phase 2. Now I won’t complain about weight loss if it happens but that is not the end goal here. My goal was to aim for an average of 40-50g per day allowing 2 cheat meals a week that should not send my daily limit over 100. If I stuck to that, my weekly average would be around 64g of carbs. Why cheat meals? Because Pizza. I cut way back on the pizza intake but I am not cutting it out completely.
That’s real food, maybe I can do this
I read the whole book but was slow in finishing it so sometimes I was a little misinformed. Like the time I was so proud during family dinner because I substituted broccoli for the pasta in Spaghetti. Too bad I didn’t realize that the sauce could hide a ton of carbs! Oops. It took me a while to join the website. But since it actually confuses me that’s not such a bad thing. I downloaded the app but really just stick to the Lose It app for keeping track of daily carb intake. I also decided to keep some notes about this little experiment was going.
Week 1-
Didn’t do the best grocery shopping, snacking is kind of hard. Also dinner is hard but not as hard as I thought it would be. I had a moderate headache for the first few days. Running felt hard but doable, so I just tried to take it easy. I was so tired, I had thought about cutting back on soda this week too but there is no way I would have made it through the week. It kept me from becoming a crazy person. I think I figured out how to eat out most everywhere except Mexican food. Friday night was an accidental/ intentional cheat at Taco Bell. I am usually not a fan but they had a new item that was pretty good but super carb heavy. Oops! In plus news, I dropped 5 pounds in 4 days. Not the point of this whole experiment but interesting none the less.
Weekly Average- 72g- not too bad
I can add salt, sweet!
Week 2-
Started off so much better. I did a better grocery shopping the prior weekend so I felt more prepared. Monday and Tuesday were great, on track counting wise. Wednesday evening was my first weekly cheat meal but that was fine. What was not fine was the cheating on Thursday evening, Friday evening, all Saturday and Sunday lunch. Umm, yeah that was bad. So bad. I still had a headache most of the week but stomach wise I felt ok. I learned that if Lay’s are in the house, I have zero self control. But on the upside, I pulled off Thursday’s 11 miles on only 15g of carbs. This was the longest run since the dietary changes took places. Until this I wasn’t sure I could pull this off, let alone at the pace I did.
Weekly average- 106-going the wrong direction
Week 3-
Started the week out well, fell apart by Thursday. Why do I have such problems later in the week? I do feel like I feel better when I restrict more but it’s hard. I really want some damn potato chips. My mother asked if feeling better was all in my head and I said well that would work too. 🙂
Weekly Average- 90g
Week 4-
SLO race week. This was a problem. I felt conflicted between following the new plan vs the common consensus of carb loading prior to a race. I couldn’t decide what would be better. In the end I consumed more carbs than the past few weeks and it was not a good idea.
Weekly Average- 130g– Ouch
So that was month one. Even knowing that I need to buckle down and really commit to this to see if it helps, week 1 of month two has been a failure. I do fine while at work. I have actually started eating breakfasts again, I figured out snacks and I look forward to my lunches. I figured out how to eat at most of the restaurants I frequent. Even pizza, replaced a large pizza and bread sticks to share with a medium pizza and a salad to share.
This is awesome, have no idea where it came from but I want it.
I start each week with resolve but stumble hard by the end. Last week, cookie Friday proved too much temptation. I hadn’t really had many since Christmas but Friday I ate way too many. Ugh. I think the diet is helping but it’s hard to tell since I have no follow through by the week end. I have a little less than 2 months before I go back to the doctor, so I really want to try and stick to it to see how it goes. Plus I don’t have a half until mid July at the earliest, so now would be the time to figure this out. Beside the other alternative is some heavy duty antibiotics that will break the bank if my insurance doesn’t always kick in like they have warned me. Expensive like the cash price could be a down payment on a car. 😦 So Atkins and I need a little more time together. 🙂
I wish that my miles were higher but with the dietary changes during the month, I am still pretty happy with that number. The first couple of weeks were a little rough. A full post on what changes I made… or was supposed to make will be up this weekend. I still feel proud of how I handled everything thrown at me during me SLO. I feel like using an actual training plan and following through 85% of the time gave me the confidence I needed in myself. The last half of last year kind of kicked my pride and confidence in the gut. I know I can and will break 2 and when it happens, it happens. 🙂 Plus those hills at SLO didn’t seem very big this year. 🙂
My body seems confused this week. SLO was my last big race for a while and though it’s only been a few days, I feel a little lost. I am sure the Slacker in me will kick in sooner or later and embrace the laziness but this week I just wanted to run. Monday, I was sore from the fall. My legs felt great after the race but my knees hurt and I suddenly knew how hard I had landed on my right shoulder so I rested. I had Monday and Tuesday off and I indulged by being lazy. On Tuesday, I set out for a slow recovery jog. Ha ha! 3.5 miles in 47:51. It was in the high 80’s and I loved it. I wore my new Wave Inspires since I am still trying to break them in. I just can’t, I’ve never met a pair of Mizuno’s that I didn’t like but these are leaning towards hate. They still feel huge and I can feel the insole on the inside of my right foot. I’ve tried moving it around but no luck so far. A coworker described it perfectly- it’s like when you are wearing boots and short socks and your sock keeps slipping down inside the shoe. I finally just gave up and walked most of it. I figured I didn’t make it through 4 months of training and 5 races to hurt myself on a short recovery jog. I am planning on trying the shoes one more time but I am afraid that we may have to break up. 😦
Today’s run was a farce. My head is in the game but my body is not. I did one lap of the lake. One lap. 1.2 miles. And the Garmin registered it short so it doesn’t even show as that long. My mother called part way through the lap asking if I wanted to meet her and a tennis player at Chipotle. It didn’t take too much convincing. So, that brought me to 79.3 miles for the month. Yes, a tiny part of me considered running up and down my driveway to hit 80 but I didn’t.
On to May. I have decided to pass on one of the 10k’s but I would like to up my training. I want to bring my base mileage up so that I when I start training for fall races, I feel stronger. Also with temps hitting the 90’s again, I would like to transition to running 3x a week after work and a long run on the weekends. That would mean a little less heat and sun exposure, plus an entire weekend day off. That sounds kind of nice. 🙂 Or who knows, this could be the start of me transitioning to running 5x a week. Ok, let’s not get that crazy yet… I’m still a Slacker. I also want to get back out on the trails, I miss them. I should also add cross training. Or at least try.
Oh and I finally figured out what to do with my medals!! –Non running goals for May are a little up in the air. I would like to read more, and hang out with friends. There are some movie nights coming up too. I need to focus on the diet a little more as well. And I really need to start that project for the craft swap I signed up for. Oops!! Running may also turn into stress relief because work is about get insane for a month or two.
How was your April? Goals/ plans for May?
Anyone racing this weekend?
Ever been unable to break in a pair of shoes? Any suggestions?
Slacker Runner 