Tag: work

Random Roller Coaster

Man, this week flew by!  How do I have a 25k in 8 hours?  Yikes!

Even though my shiny new plan came on Sunday and I was eager to start it, I also had to rearrange the days.  In the first week!!  But Monday was scheduled as a rest day and I just couldn’t waste a day off of work to run outside.  So Tuesday’s easy 50 minutes were completed on Monday.   That worked out better than the gym after on Tuesday anyways- work ran late like it tends to after a 3 day weekend.  IMG_8769I thought about running on Wednesday after work instead of Thursday but the day just ran away from me.  Or rather, my brain did.   Every quarter work gives out an award that goes to a few individuals.   The people are nominated by their peers and then voted on by a committee.  It was something new that rolled out at the beginning of 2014 and is kind of a big deal.  The executives deliver the award in person and then a story and picture go up online.  Every person who earns the award then has a chance to earn/win the Presidents’ Award for the year.    I knew they were coming out to our location because a coworker had received one.    I had to be sneaky when I was scheduling the lunches because I wanted everyone to be there to see him get it.  They arrived on time and surprise!!  I received one too! Two of us!  Holy crap!  My brain left the building for the rest of the day, I was so excited.IMG_8778Ever since I was sick, I have not been sleeping well.  I have had coughing fits every night and it makes it hard to sleep.  According to my lovely Fitbit I have been averaging 5 hours a night.  Ouch.  After a few coughing attacks at work on Thursday, I decided that an extra rest day would be a good idea and skipped the gym.    Boo!

Friday was average as Fridays go and I allowed myself to indulge in one cookie at work.   The shocking thing came that night when I went to sleep-IMG_878910 hours?  WTH?  I knew I was tired but come on!   I’ve also noticed that when I sleep with the Fitbit in my sock, it doesn’t measure restlessness very well.  Either that or I was unconscious.   You’d think that with all that sleep I would be raring to go today.  Not so.  After running my usual Saturday errands I came home with the intention of running sooner than usual.  Instead I took a nap.   Seriously?  Once I woke up I headed out for an easy 45 minutes.   It was not.  The whole 4.5 miles felt so hard.   I took plenty of walk breaks.  IMG_8804Which now leads me to being less than 12 hours from a 25K.  Commence the freak out.  Even knowing that I am predominately hiking it, I am freaking out.     What was I thinking?  Maybe I should just go to bed.

How was your week?

Ever been surprised (in a good way) at work?

Who raced today?  Anyone racing tomorrow?

Busting Out

Saturday’s fair trip took the place of running. I dug out my Fuelband and wore it just for the fair that afternoon. Just under 10,000 steps. Which means it was actually over 10,000 because the Fuelband hasn’t worked properly in months. Granted that wasn’t anywhere near enough to negate the funnel cake or the pretzel I ate but it only comes once a year right? Totally worth it.

so yummy, I had to show it again
so yummy, I had to show it again

Sunday, I was a little tired, so I headed out for my run in early afternoon. I did this run the same way I had the previous two. Letting my feet do whatever they wanted to do, and every now and again they were reined in by my stomach. Apparently my head was still not invited to the party. I set out to do 5 or 6 miles. Also on the plan was to meet up with my mom and the puppy for the first mile and then mile 4. Other those 2 miles which I knew would be mostly walked, I had wanted to keep miles 2, 3, 5+ around a 10:15 pace. That seemed like a good pace for an easy run for me. Well, that’s what my head wanted to do. Miles 1 and 2 went mostly according to plan. Mile 3, umm oops. Mile 4 brought a big hill and puppy time, so it was back to the plan. Except I would have thought it would have been a little slower than that- closer to 14:00. Mile 5- again, oops. So not 10:15. Maybe I should ignore my head more often? I shut off the Garmin at 5 miles and walked another ½ mile to my house.7-20 (1)

Every time I walk up my driveway, I tell myself that it is the perfect place for hill repeats if I could just force myself to follow through. I totally get the point of hill repeats but they are just so damn scary sounding.

Halfway up said hill
Halfway up said hill

Monday was well, Monday and let’s leave it at that .  🙂   Since I usually leave work and head somewhere else to run, it is inevitable that when I get there I have the urge to pee.  So annoying, and of course, there are often no available bathrooms. So I generally run the next 4-5 miles trying to ignore it. Great training for a half right? Haha! I planned on running tonight after work and at 3:30 I realized that I had already consumed 154 ounces of liquid. Ummm, oops?  So I stopped drinking after that to see if it changed anything.    I headed to the river path for a few miles.  Even though I was running solo, I chose to treat the run like I was starting with my mother.   I walked the concrete part of the path before hitting the asphalt and running.7-20 (2)

It felt so much hotter than 80.  They were quite a few people out today.  As I was running up the hill, it felt harder than it should.   As I was huffing and puffing and probably turning a lovely shade of red, I noticed about 3 people running towards me.  3 turned into 5 high school boys.   A hundred yards later, oh look here comes the cross country boys team, complete with coach and assistant.  Please don’t notice my poor form or the fact that a 9:30 mile is kicking my butt while you all fly by me.   At least it wasn’t the girls team, that would just be perfect.  Did I mention I felt like busted can of biscuits when I put on my running clothes tonight?  Thanks “recovery” week.   Few hundred yards later, oh look- I spoke too soon.  Here comes the girls cross country team.   And yes, I now feel giant, thank you very much.photo

I kept running until I hit the turn around point.  My pace felt pretty good going back down but harder than I would have liked.    I ran under a little tree, little not big, and my Garmin went cuckoo.  My slow pace alert kept buzzing- 15:14, 14:45, 13:25, and on.  WTF!  I know it wasn’t right but it was pissing me off.  For once, I really did need the Nike app as a back up.  My pace was pretty good (for me) but I was tiring, so I called it at 4 and just walked the rest of the way back to the car.  Which turned out to be good choice because I could the trail from the street and there were 2 roaming, off leash dogs.   Safe!!  My splits on Nike were pretty good actually.  The Garmin had mile 3 about 35 seconds behind, but mile 4 was pretty close.  How does that work?

My shin is still a little sore from last week’s half so I am thinking of trying to go other day now for a while.  I even wore compression sock under my boots while walking around the fair on Saturday.20140719-184635-67595930.jpg

Speaking of the fair, I can hear Lady Antebellum through my windows right now.  Last night was the only concert that I kind of  really wanted to go to but couldn’t make it work with work right now.   😦   I was hoping I could some of it but it was the first concert that I couldn’t make out.  All I heard was bass and drums, come on Florida Georgia Line, help a girl out!

How has your week gone so far?

Any good concerts on your horizon?  Or even bad ones?