My commitment to making Saturdays run the worst!

Before I get started on my whine fest.  Check out how awesome my phone is. 

Tells me how long it would take for me to get home.  How cool is that?  Yeah, I've had my iPhone for almost 3 years now.  I may be technologically challenged but I get there sooner or later.

I ran Saturday.  It was more then awful.  It's almost like the week leading to the run was planned out to sabotage it.  Of course when your a runner and there is a run on the calendar then you run.  I started out with good enough intentions but in the end my commitment to make it horrid was too much for even my running spirit to overcome.

WIND - I understand I don't control the weather.  I do know that my 8 miler earlier in the week on the same running path was pretty darn windy.  Somehow it forgot to click in my head how windy the Jordan Parkway can be this time of year.  Saturday the wind managed to be head on BOTH ways.  Magic wind I tell you!

LATE - I set my alarm for 8 and planned to be running by 9:30.  Not too bad for a Saturday.  It's getting cooler and I don't have to get up at O dark 30.  Night shift on Thursday night messed me up a little and I woke up at 3am ready to party.  Finally fell back to sleep at 5am and did not wake up until 1045.  YES.  I slept through a double alarm.  That, my friends, is talent.  Take note.  I started my run at 1:30pm.

PRE-WORKOUT - huh.  who knew?  I just perused the book 80/20 and decided to try the longer slower miles.  In order to make sure I'm going slow enough then it's good to monitor heart rate.  I bought a new pre-workout for when I start running really long miles and for some reason thought SATURDAY was the day to try it.  It works!  I couldn't even understand my thoughts my body was racing so fast.  My heart rate?  Don't ask.  For a little while I would have had to lie down in the grass to get it within my training range.  

PREPARATION - Usually I have all my clothes and gear out the night before a relatively early run.  I didn't do that.  It didn't slow me down too much but usually if it's out I don't procrastinate as much.  I also didn't tape my knee the night before which I usually do.

BREAKFAST - I wanted a good breakfast and had planned to make banana pancakes.  I did make them.  I made them for me and my son and added some bacon.  Really took my time.  But not very fast because I was on my feet within an hour of such a delicious meal that wasn't quite ready to run on.  

CORE WORK - I did some core work at PT on Friday but I didn't do all of it.  That is the secret to pain free running right now.  Really strengthen those glutes and hammies.  SO I did about 20 minutes of it just before I left for my run.  

Speaking of physical therapy.  These are the torture tools that are keeping me running.  "Hurts so good", Tera Schatz.

AND THE GRAND FINALE!!!
   I was on day 14 of the 21 day Primal challenge with my daily carbohydrate intake under 100 g.  (My big push to try and loose that 10 lbs before Ragnar Vegas)  I had ZERO energy.  I know the carb flu well and it was almost peaked on this day. I don't know if I could have changed this by eating a few more carbs or carbs the night before and that morning.  I just didn't feel well.  

Felt just like that only I was thinking....have I hit 14 min miles yet?

I had planned to run 8 miles.  The first 2 miles were not bad.  Pretty slow but I still felt like I could move forward.  The next 2 were awful and no good.  I tried having a GU (salted caramel) and I could barely choke down half of it.  Then I tried running 3 minutes and walking 2.  Finally at 4 miles I decided to turn back to my car that was 2 miles away.  I ran a little here and there but at 4.5 miles I walked and didn't run any more.  I don't remember having this bad of a run in a very long time.  My average pace was over 12 min/miles so I was barely scooting long.  I'm going to scratch that up to lesson learned and somedays runs are just bad.  I did take some pics to take up some time.

Lots of bikers

No selfie.  I was cranky.  Just a taped knee and the most awesome shoes EVER!!

Go Hokas!

Utah.  It's really beautiful.  Those mountains will soon be covered in snow!

Bug. 

Great running path!

No matter what I do know this!

TeeHee

Tell me about your worst run.  I mean, how bad can it be??

Blog on........

Give me Strength!

I’m having one of those weeks.  You know the ones.  Where it takes you DAYS to do what can be done in one day, you always look tired and you dream of taking long naps.  These periods of time happen once in a while to me and I can’t figure out what precipitates it.  My shifts last week were not necessarily tiring. I had an all night flight, but I had plenty of rest and sleep when I got home.  I have just been dragging.  I have made it to every Pilate’s class and worked out every day but Sunday.  I thought if I gave myself a day off from the gym then I would feel a little better.  Not so much. I even drank lots of water and my favorite hydration drink, NUUN. 

I had a list of things I needed to get done when I got home from work last Friday.  I had calls to make, projects to finish and bills to pay. It’s now Tuesday night and I still have a cabin project to do and a phone call to make.  I could have done it all in a day, but magically dragged it out for 4 and tomorrow will be five.  The good news is, it will be all done before I go back to work on Thursday in Rock Springs for 5 days. 

After much thought in the past 2 days of why I feel this way I’m sure it is a combination of stuff. First, I think I’m a little depressed. This is what happens when I can’t run. Any runner will back me up when I say that injury is a throw down.  Add that to the stress Matt and I have with all our travels coupled with having 2 teenagers at home that are struggling to find their independence and I have a trifecta for sadness.  Another thing, I dropped my carbohydrate intake under 80-100 to lose the last few pounds I want to lose and that can make your energy levels drop briefly.  At least I’ve lost a few pounds!  Woot Woot!  Stress at work, stress at home,the never ending dog hair and the heat.  Tada!  There it is.  Doesn’t make it easier, but it does make it better to know the possibilities in my lack of energy and motivation.   It’s hard to be filled with too much self-pity when I realize how silly it is and how hard things could be.  Plus there are many times when I've had the same stress or even more and managed to keep my energy up and motivation going.   It could be my monthly cycle or (heaven forbid) I finally go into menopause!  (completely sarcastic)

So I took a long nap this afternoon.  I didn’t think I would sleep after 9 hours last night, but I did.  I owned that nap!  It was spectacular in so many ways. 

This is exactly how I feel.

Daniel is feeling it too.

So the pity party is winding down, I plan to give out the party treats and start cleaning up tomorrow.  Wish me luck!

Blog on................

Who am I and what have I done with me??

Somehow, some way my inner crafter has popped up and I wonder how long she will stay.  Today, I used a glue gun!  Quite exciting I might add.

 In some ways I think I'm avoiding studying for my CCRN and ATCN.  There is those things and then I am probably avoiding the basement and all the organizing I still have to do.  I have put in 2 days out of 60.  Being put on call for my second job doesn't even give me the working excuse.  I do have the "training for a 10K" excuse though.  The great news is that most people will get handmade gifts this year and I will not be killing the earth by buying new things.  Recycle or reuse.  If you don't believe that there isn't enough crap around, just come look in my basement.  Not so much hoarder style, but definitely a sign of "enough"!

My dollar store wreath that I made with a dollar frame, some dollar store leaves and my glue gun.  I even used one of the vintage buttons I bought from Etsy.  I love buttons.  

On another note:

Sami had her Senior pictures taken today and I have a feeling they are going to be wicked awesome!!  We had a great photographer and with Sami's beauty it was a match!  This picture was taken with my cell phone in the Crown Burger parking lot while we waited for our order.  She still looks super cute!

Reminder to myself:  Only get the fries with fry sauce.  They are my favorite and I'm usually too full to eat the burger. Oh my!

Blog on.............