Tag: Training

Mark Your Calendars

Happy Friday!! I hope everyone had a good day and if not, well tomorrow is Saturday! Go for a run! I survived my day trip yesterday but man it was tiring. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that I was in notary class. It was for my renewal so realistically it should have been easy but sitting in a room for 8 hours sandwiched between 2 2+hour car trips and I was done. The class was only 6 hours and the rest of the time was spent on registering, picture taking, finger printing and listening to the exam proctors drone on. I actually made it through the day on one 20 oz Diet Coke, which was probably not good as I dozed off 4 times. Oops! Now just to wait for the results. Odd note- my seminar was at the Santa Barbara Mission- who knew they had conference halls?

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It’s time to start thinking of what races to run in the beginning of 2015. What are you doing in April? Come run with me!! Well and a couple thousand other people. Last year I was lucky enough to an open call for Ambassador for the SLO Marathon pop up on Facebook. I jumped at it and was lucky enough to be chosen.

Sweet! I met a great group of people and had an amazing weekend. The scenery for the half marathon was awesome and I heard the full was even better. Plus I love SLO which is why I spend many weekends there. 🙂

For 2015, I get to be an Ambassador again, woo hoo! I am so excited. I am also determined. There’s a hill or 2 that I have some unfinished business with. 🙂 I know it’s early but if you’re looking for a great race, come visit!! Plenty of planning time!! 🙂

And now it’s off to bed for me, I heading down to SLO in the morning. 🙂

How was your week?

Ever doze off more than once in the same seminar/ class?

Anyone racing this weekend?

Sayonara September

September was synonymous with stress. Anyone else have that feeling? I didn’t even have to deal with the biggest stressor- back to school. Starting with the last 2 weekends of August, I had something going on every weekend since. Either work events or work, races or the festival. I call myself Slacker for a reason; I like a weekend where the only thing I need to plan is if I want to run before or after lunch. I am so looking forward to this weekend, I swear I am sleeping until after 9 on Saturday.

But all whining aside, let’s talk numbers. I said I needed to step back and have a few more rest days and I followed through. September is my lowest mileage month yet. But that’s ok because I am finally listening to my body, it only had to shout for a while. 🙂

Miles-61
Races-3

Ventura Half Marathon –
HOB Fun Run 10K
HOB Fun Run 5k Going forward into October (how is it October?!) I will continue to take it easy. Running only 3 days a week and hopefully cross training 2. I am trying to work on slowing down my paces until I figure out this asthma thing. That’s actually a lot harder than it sounds. Sometimes I feel like I am crawling but running a 9:00 minute pace, other times I feel like I am really pushing and look at my watch to see an 11:00 minute pace. Time to focus on trying to run by feel, fingers crossed.
Me these days.

I also want to have fun. Health issues aside, the 5k last weekend was fun. I wouldn’t mind a few more of those. At this moment, my race calendar is completely clear. I had wanted to run 2 half marathons in October and 1 in November, so now I am looking for fun 5k’s. I was also hoping to run a trail race in November with my mom again but it’s been pushed to January for some reason. However that actually works better. 🙂

Funny thing about my 62 miles? On Tuesday I was super tired but wanted to hit 60 miles for the month. I was at 57.5, so I told myself I only needed 3.5 miles to hit 60. See a problem there? While running I wanted to quit at mile 2.5 but my lack of math skills were still in full force. It wasn’t until I added the run into Nike+ that I realized my error. Seriously?! Basic addition and I mess it up.

Happy October! Happy Friday!

Anyone else add wrong running?

Any awesome October plans?

Fessing Up

Considering how badly I hurt after Ventura I was expecting to be in pain on Monday and Tuesday. Surprisingly, I felt fine. I only felt a couple of twinges here and there. Which was good as Monday was my first night back to volleyball. I had Monday and Tuesday as vacation days, so it was super nice to sleep in on Monday. I ran some errands and played on the computer, a nice relaxing day before volleyball in the evening. While we didn’t win, we played well. It was new team (sort of) and I hadn’t played in almost a year. I thought I was going to be more rusty but it felt very familiar.

The only downside was the niggling of headache that had been lingering for a few days. That niggling turned into a full blown migraine by Tuesday morning and I could barely walk, let alone get in my planned run. I spent Tuesday in bed in a dark room. Great vacation day right? That headache has hung around since, so I actually have not run since Ventura. I did make it to work the rest of the week though. I had to take a personality type assessment (similar to Myers Briggs) on Wednesday for a training seminar. Never take those when you have a headache. Your answers are just a little off. Oops! Oh well, at least I got a decent laugh out of it. And I think I figured out what triggered the headaches, so hopefully those will be easing. 🙂

My 6+ miles of walking in the Ventura half gave me plenty of time to think; plenty of time to fess up. Back in the beginning of June I posted my No Excuses Summer post. For the most part I stuck to it. But I shouldn’t have. My lovely GI issue flared up shortly after that and it’s now going on 3 months. Instead of stepping back and getting some rest, I turned in 2 of my highest mileage months ever. My body said one thing and my ~~head~~ ego said something else. Which led me to Ventura. I’m not even mad because honestly the writing was on the wall. My paces have gotten slower, walking breaks longer and I take a nap any chance I get- damn near everyday.

So, where am I going with this? Half marathons and I are taking a little break. I am dropping back to running 3x a week and capping my long runs around 9. I have run 4 half marathons this year, that is double any previous year so really I have nothing to complain about. But this means missing City to the Sea and that kind of pisses me off. This would have been my third year running it. I really like the course and the volunteers and this year the shirt is purple! I want that! But the race also falls 4 days after I go to USC so a smarter head must prevail. I’m not done racing though, I love races! I am just going to stick to 10K’s and under for a bit. I would love to run a half in November if I am healthy enough but I have accepted that Surf City (NikeC!) in February might be my next half.

At times I am ok with this scaled back plan and others I am irritated. But then I did it to myself. Now I have to stick to this plan and not let the lower monthly numbers play with my head. Which is what happened the last time I said I should scale back. I have the Avocado Margarita Festival this weekend so it’s going to be busy but hopefully my next post will have some actual running in it. I want to run 3 days a week not none!

Ever taken one of those fun assessment tests?

Ever run yourself into a hole or is it just my special talent?

What are you doing this weekend?

Anyone racing? (Good luck to Courtney at Don’t Blink Just Run!)

Ventura Goals

My next half is only 2 sleeps away! I am leaving for Ventura tomorrow morning. Half marathon #9 is on Sunday. 🙂

With my recent rough patch, I have readjusted my goals for this race. When I first signed up back in June I was hoping that the flat course would help with my goal of breaking 2:00 for a half marathon. While that would be amazing, I don’t feel I am in the position to do that right now. Frankly, I don’t think I should even try. So in an effort to be smart, I have a new goal this weekend- have fun. Plus this will be a race weekend of firsts-

First race I travel to
First race out of the county
First time sleeping in a hotel in I have no idea how long
First time eating dinner somewhere random pre race?

I am heading down tomorrow morning and dragging my mother along with me. We are planning on getting in some shopping at the mall before picking up my packet and checking into the hotel. I also don’t remember the last time I was in a mall. With those plans I will be breaking quite a few pre-race rules. Which helps the choice to just have fun. Now I would like to have fun and still be around 2:10 but it will all depend on how I feel. I ran that in SLO with hills, so fingers crossed.

I got off a few hours early today so I had plenty of time to pack. Packing is stressful! I am only going for 2 days/ 1 night and I feel like I am both packing too much and not enough. I have had my race outfit planned for a while but am still taking extra shorts and compression socks. Maybe I will change my mind? Who knows. I am looking forward to hitting the expo too. The race sounds like one giant beach party, so yay!

I also updated my playlist. I am in weird mood, so it is kind of all over the place. Some good stuff, some bad. 🙂 Headphones are discouraged but I am not at the point where I can run without music. The site recommends only running with one in and I already do that anyways. Plus I still like hearing Mr. Nike chime in with how I am doing. Yes, my Garmin buzzes but I like hearing it too. I tried to take a screenshot of it, but apparently I don’t know how to get the whole thing in one image, oops.

Fingers crossed!!!!

Hope everyone had a good Friday! Happy weekend!

Anyone else racing? Any other plans?

Headphones- yay or nay?

August Recap-So Close

I came pretty close but fell just short. August clocked in at my second highest mileage month of the year. As cool as that it was, I was also a little irritated. I had been on track to finally break 100 miles in a month, but life happens. Taking 4 days off due to a headache that wouldn’t quit and then turning a 10 miler into 4– well that hurt the numbers.

August Totals-

Miles- 87.7
Races- 0

I also managed to make it back to the track twice. None of that was speed work, but the track is still my happy place. I ran the lake path, the river path, from home, around the track and on the treadmill. I realized that my long runs may have too many hills to be called a long, easy run but they definitely meet the slow mark. However I did run my fastest mile in August-

Beyond that, I finally had my doctor’s appointment, attended the company picnic, got a new boss and took a lot of naps. Seriously, why do I nap so much? My doctor’s appointment gave some lovely antibiotics, which are kicking my ass, and a referral to USC. Anywho, hopefully something works, I miss speed work.

I also had a very scary run in with some dogs. Last Friday, the customer that has 2 Bouvier’s brought them in. I forced myself to give them a treat. Granted, I kept the counter between us, but they still good have bitten my hands. Mission safely accomplished. However I have yet to run/walk down my driveway since then.

Coming into to September, I have 3 races scheduled, half marathon, 10k and 5k. With that being said, I am not going to try to hit 100 in September. In fact I am thinking that I will run very little the week after Ventura. I start volleyball again on Monday and a boot camp class next Saturday. I also am volunteering at the Avocado Margarita Festival over that weekend, probably on both days. So it seems to me like it will be the perfect time for fewer miles. But I also have Monday and Tuesday off, so my feet may be itching to run, depends on Ventura. How well I will be able to squat and bump the ball at volleyball will also depend on Ventura, ha! 🙂

August was rough and I feel a little run down, between work and my stupid stomach and a few weeks of rough runs. With that in mind I have not registered for my October half yet. I have two options. City to the Sea (which may sell out) that I have done the last 2 years and the Harvest Marathon. Harvest may win just because it is the end of October and literally down the street. However running goes in ebbs and flows and it will be awesome again, I just have to bide my time. And maybe cross my fingers. 🙂

What are you doing in September? Any races?

What about boot camp- should I be scared?

What’s something awesome that you did in August?

First race I travel to

First race out of the county

First time sleeping in a hotel in I have no idea how long

First time eating dinner somewhere random pre race?