Tag: vacation

Vacation Week 2 Recap

Started off with a bang and ended with a whimper. Whereas week 1 was crazy mileage for a Slacker like me, week 2 was more like my usual. Maybe I can say I embraced the relaxation vibe of vacation? Even though I didn’t go anywhere?

Monday- Rest My ankle/calf was twinging from all the miles last week so I chose to rest. This also worked out as I ended up spending way too much time in AT&T stores this past week. My parents, brother and I share a family plan and have for years. One it’s more cost effective and two, I refuse to lose my unlimited data. It was time for my mom’s phone upgrade and since she needs me as the plan holder to make changes it worked out that I was on vacation. She picked out a shiny new HTC A9 or something another. She’s anti iPhone despite owning one the last 2 years. Her new phone was pretty until we realized over the weekend it wouldn’t send text messages. Well, that’s a problem. So, after hours of internet research and on the phone with tech support on Monda, the verdict was to give the phone back. Seriously, that’s what tech support said. 😒 So days later, after shipping fiascoes, rigged up iPhone 4’s, she is now the owner of shiny new, working, iPhone 6s.

Tuesday-4 miles More late afternoon running for the win. Well kind of. I headed out closer to dusk than planned but figured I would see how many miles I could get in before it got too dark. Parts of my run were great and other parts not so much. Once again my pace was better than I had expected and I didn’t need any walking breaks. However I stopped 3 times to stretch. My calf/ ankle thing is not happy at all and I kept stopping to stretch it out along the ways. Trees and curbs were all fair game. Grrr. The run turned out to be a nice little progression but my leg is not happy.

Wednesday– Rest With my ankle area being weird, I decided to try an every other day running schedule this week. Which works out as both my parents had birthdays this week. My mom’s was today. The brother and I took the parents to dinner that night. I may have eaten a few too many bread sticks at Olive Garden. 😉

Thursday 3.75 miles– holy ouch, batman. That rest day didn’t help the tightness is my ankle/ calf area. Once again I was using trees and curbs to stretch it out along the way. It started raining on me on the way back but I was too cranky to enjoy it. I shortened my run which made me cranky. I was hoping to hit 6 but there was no way. 😐

The weather man lied- it rained!! Oh and I saw this lovely sign. 🙂

Friday- Rest Pop’s birthday!

Saturday- Rest Unplanned, I was hoping for a run but I felt crappy. I had tossed and turned all night and felt exhausted. I also felt a little nauseous. I meant to take a 30 minute nap after lunch but ended up napping for 2.5 hours. Oops.

Sunday- Rest Sensing a pattern here? Part of me wanted to run and part of me wanted to be lazy on this last day of vacation. I still wasn’t feeling so hot so I wasted the day away watching cheesy tv Christmas movies. #sorrynotsorry

Somehow vacation has come to an end. Normally by now I am itching to get back to work. However I don’t feel ready to go back. I feel like there was so much more that I needed to do (like clean my car) but time just seemed to move quickly these past 2 weeks. Make it slow down! How is Christmas so close? And I seriously have no gift ideas. Normally by this time I am done shopping! I have wrapping paper but nothing to wrap!

So it’s back to work tomorrow. Back to treadmill running, boo. Back to better eating habits, hopefully. 😃

How was your weekend?

How is your Christmas shopping coming?

Any good calf stretches? I need help.

A Tale of 2 Runs

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I had planned on finishing this post for Wednesday night but I was exhausted after a planned hike that grew…by a lot. More on those adventures next time. 😄

I guess Monday was my first real, official day of vacation. I slept in. It was lovely. I was feeling a little sore (my feet) after Sunday’s hike/ trail run but I was looking forward to a run. Running outside on a weekday during daylight savings? Yes please! I wasn’t sure how far I’d get with my feet feeling bruised but they felt pretty good once I started running.

I headed for the river path in the mid afternoon. Seriously, I would love it if I could run at that time all fall and winter. How can I make that happen? Anyhow, my goal was to take this run super easy and shoot for 3-4 miles. I really missed this route, it’s like the perfect excuse for a progression run. I kind of zoned out a bit and just kept running. 4.5 miles later I was back at my car. I might have added more but 4.5 was literally 2 feet from my car. 😉 Even better was that I hadn’t needed any walk breaks. Last week, I struggled with a 12:00 pace on the treadmill and Monday I ran a 12:53, 10:38, 10:05, 9:29 for the full mile splits. Why is the treadmill so hard for me?! No walks breaks but I did come to a complete stop when I saw this tree. Because holy crap!-

In trying to temper the urge to #runallthemiles on vacation since I’ve been a super slacker for the past month or so, I rested on Tuesday. I met an old friend for lunch instead. Wednesday’s workout doubled in planned size and left me feeling a little achy. I was a little nervous for the Turkey Trot. But I was running with C and her husband so I was looking forward to it.

Thanksgiving dawned and it was 30º. Allrighty then. Then I tried to get up. Aaagh! My calves were so tight, they were down right painful. How was I going to run a 10K? No lies, I texted C to see if she was ready, hoping she would say it was too cold. No dice. I had ProCompression full socks under my leggings and I left my house in my pea coat and Uggs. I registered for the race in them as well. I didn’t change shoes until about 5 minutes to the start. 😝

Me and C. I really dislike this shirt but it’s the warmest running gear I own. 😦

This trot is super low key. You register on race morning, get your t-shirt and run your race. The course is an out and back on rural roads and the start/finish is literally in the Food4 Less parking lot. C, C-Hub and I had run the race before so we knew the course. My parents usually come to the finish but when I was shivering in my car, I texted them and told them it was too cold and they should stay home. They didn’t listen. The race seemed smaller this year but that could have been due the freezing temps.

It was go time and we were off! I was super tight and cold usually triggers my asthma so I was a little skeptic about how this was going to go. Thankfully C and her husband weren’t feeling particularly speedy either so we just hung out the whole race. My toes were numb, my hands were numb and my butt felt like it was frozen. We joked about turning around at the 5K mark but kept going. It was great catching up with them, I wasn’t able to run with them as much as I had hoped this year. C-hub kept us running and even thought I wanted to walk a few times, we kept running averaging between a 10:30-10:45. I felt so sluggish and my Garmin kept telling me we were running in the 11’s. Guess it doesn’t like the cold either. I was dreaming of a large, hot coffee from McDonald’s and started pulling away towards the end. I didn’t mean to but I was letting my legs do whatever they wanted to, they were still so tight. Mile 6 clocked in at 9:42. Finish- 1:04:49. Not the speediest but much better than I had been expecting and there weren’t any asthma issues. 😎

I also wore my Turkey Trot shirt for the rest of the day. And indulged in a few too many chips and a second slice of cheesecake. It was a great Thanksgiving. I am not fond of crowds so I will be avoiding anything Black Friday related. My original plan was to go hiking but I’ve put 25 miles on these legs in the last 5 days, way more than normal, and my calves are seriously pissed. So my plan is to take it easy, maybe take the puppy for a walk. If I can move.

How was your Thanksgiving? Did you run a turkey trot?

Favorite food of the day?

Are you shopping?

The Oddest Taper

It’s almost Friday!! And I’m on vacation! 😛

But let’s back up. Even before the reality of a trail 25K kicked my ass, I knew I may have to adjust some things this week. I figured if I was feeling extra achy and sore after Sunday, I would push Tuesday’s run to Wednesday and Thursday’s to Friday since I took a few days off for Surf City. Ummm, what was I thinking running a 25K and a half 7 days apart?

13.1 It Takes a Special Kind of Idiot... I think I should start training for a half marathon :) — 7 days later, ouch source

I was a little achy but headed to the gym on Tuesday per usual. I ran super slow but I was just fine with that. 3.5 miles later, I stretched and called it a day. Even though my pace was slow, I unintentionally pulled off the perceived effort progression that was on tap per my training plan. Calling that a win! Oh and my gym now has those scary stair things, it was interesting watching people on them. But much better than the freaky cut-the-alien-out-of-the-stomach sci fi movie on in front me. Blech, I love sci fi but not creature flicks.

Going Tuesday worked out well as I was so tired on Wednesday I overslept that morning. Then I fell asleep in the comfy chair trying to watch Supernatural that night. How I didn’t knock the laptop off my lap, I have no idea. I had planned on running today per usual but my stomach was rebelling pretty badly so I went back to the Friday plan. Well hopefully. 🙂 I kind of need to pack at some point too.

I got this... right? — I got this… right?

I took a few days off around Surf City because I figured these 8-9 days were going make me pretty tired. However when I planned that I didn’t realize that was also my window to complete reviews at work. So I spent most of this week trying to kick those out. Or at least to a point where I only have to make some minor edits when I return. Writing reviews stress me out, maybe that’s contributing to my tiredness. I am so turning off the alarm tomorrow morning.

Wednesday was also my re-check with my gastro. He’s at a loss, so we’re changing my medication. This kind of freaks me out, I’ve been taking it for 12 years, what’s going to happen? He actually warned me that I could have a rough couple of days when I make the change, so we agreed that I could do that Monday after the race. Plus I have those days off so yay? Way less exciting than the original plan to go to Disneyland on Monday. But you know, measles.

Ever use those scary stair machines? I am not even sure I could even get on one without falling.

Would you chance the measles?

Anyone racing this weekend or having a Super Bowl party?

Who cried at the Budweiser commercial?

Things I’ve learned

So, my first ever two week vacation is coming to an end. Man, it’s been such a riot. Haha, 😛

But I have made a few observations over the days-

That insomnia I thought I was over? Ummm, not so much. I was wide awake every night until at least 1 AM and then I tossed and turned.

Diet soda has zero effect on my sleep. Normal non vacation days, I average 2 sodas a day- yes, usually 32 oz, I know, I know- and was in bed asleep by midnight. These past vacation days, I only had one soda a day and couldn’t sleep.

If I have nowhere to be, I have absolutely no problems staying in bed until 9. I think the odds of me ever being a morning runner outside of races are pretty non-existent.

However, 3:00 pm running? That’s kind of awesome. How does that become a regular thing? Oh, wait, it can’t.

Running in light to moderate rain is fun, pouring not so much. Either that or I am a big wuss like that.

Only owning running shoes, flip flops and heals is problematic when they are predicting a serious rainy season in our neck of the woods. I almost broke my ass wearing heeled boots during Sunday’s first storm. I had sudden paranoid visions of breaking an ankle.

This made me a hypocrite. Why? Because I finally broke down and bought a pair of these- I said I never would.

While I haven’t managed to quit sugar while on vacation, I have managed to cut back. Can it last through the holidays? Even the cake from the other day tasted odd. 😦

I was a very naive betty when I figured the prep for the colonoscopy would be easy peasy. Not true, nuff said.

I have strong customer service opinions. I had some business that had to be done before returning to work so I went to the local location. I was less than impressed. 😦

Somehow I messed up the mileage count on my shoes. It’s about 50 miles off. Which on a shoe I usually only get 300 miles out of is a lot. 😦

The moon looks really cool on a wet rainy night- if you are outside to see it at 11, that is.

Movie popcorn doesn’t even have to be that good for me to consume too much of it. Luckily, I bought a small and shared it. Oh, but the movie was really good!

Taking the puppy on jog-walks is fun now. She does so much better than she used to.

The flexibility is nice- knew I wouldn’t have a lot of time to run today, so I switched my 7 miles to Friday. They were wet and dreary but otherwise good!Running errands- literally- is interesting. Part of my run yesterday involved dropping my car off for an oil change and then running home. Took the puppy for the walk back to get it.

All in all, the time off was good. I feel like I accomplished some good running, got some errands done and failed at Christmas shopping. Oops. I’m still not the biggest fan of vacations but that’s ok. That said, I have another few days off in January/ February. I thought a little rest might be a good idea after back to back races. 🙂 Going forward, maybe I should work on saving some money so when I take my forced 2 weeks next year, I can actually go somewhere. Maybe follow through with the R n R Vegas plans. Hmmm.

What about you?

Do you love vacations? I like long weekends.

Anyone else see Mockingjay?

Almost Turkey Time!!!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!!!!

Anyone racing tomorrow? Have to rationalize the calories someway right?

A puppy is tiring and she isn’t even mine. Just playing with her is exhausting. She passed her first vet check with flying colors. What is it about the vets office that makes all animals want to cuddle? She didn’t even have a frame of reference, but she was not happy. She also finally has a name. Meet Zoey–

Vacation brain has somewhat set in but I was able to get in a 5 mile run on Tuesday. It started out really sluggish but all in all it was a pretty good run. I never quite got up to speed but I felt good at the end. This run also put me within 1.1 miles of my Pile on the Miles goal! Woo hoo! I may succeed at a challenge!

Tomorrow’s Turkey Trot will be the final push needed to meet my goal. It should be a smaller race, there’s only race day registration available. But it’s also fairly cheap and it benefits the local high school wrestling team as well as the food bank. I am planning on meeting C and her husband there tomorrow morning. It’s close, so I can pretty much roll out of bed and head over there. (See- Slacker!!!!) I would not say that I am super prepared for this so my goal is just have fun. It will be more for the camaraderie than the pace. I say that now, we’ll see if I follow through or bolt at the starting line 🙂

I thought by this point of vacation, I would be going a little stir crazy. But, nope, just slacking it big time. I should be Christmas shopping, I have an advertising plan that I am woefully behind on. Actually forget Christmas, both my parents birthdays are next week. I need to register for classes, etc etc. I did manage to get my car to the dealer to fix the door locks and made it through a dentist appointment with flying colors. 🙂 I also met some friends for a yummy lunch today. We couldn’t decide where to go, so we hit the Irish pub. I had never been there before. Pretty sad considering it’s 2 blocks for where I used to work…for 5 years. We ate some of the largest salads I have ever seen. M’s made me laugh, it was called the “Man Salad”. It looked amazing though. We may have gone over their lunch a bit, oops.

Now its time to get some rest for tomorrows race and family fun to follow. Plus puppy time!

I hope anyone who’s traveling has safe journeys.

Anyone else running a “trot” tomorrow? Good luck!