Zenaida Arroyo

16
Jun
2019

Weekly Run Down: Summer school and some flooding along the lakefront

categories: Oiselle, Running, Weekly Run Down

Weekly Mileage-13.jpg

What a week! It was my first week of summer school and it went by fast. I like the schedule. I start at 8am and get off at 12:15pm. My last day is Wednesday, July 3rd. Not bad huh? Currently I have 12 students and hope I don’t get more. I have 3 that are so well behaved and pleasant. However, I have 6 that cannot read. How is that possible? Very sad and depressing. My students will be going to 2nd grade in August.

Monday was 3 miles in the morning. Great but sweaty run! After school I did laundry and then and took a nap with Lola. 🙂

Tuesday was 5 miles and it was also a sweaty one. Great weather for a run! My sister and nephew flew in from San Antonio and they will be here for a week. They’re both here to see my mom and other family members and to celebrate his HS graduation.

I was supposed to do a speed workout on Thursday but could not get up in the morning. I was so tired. Then I thought maybe I could do it Friday morning. Nope. After school on Friday I met a friend for lunch and then came home and took a nap.

https://giphy.com/gifs/cat-gif-tired-this-is-dieting-yVWks4eecteKc

Again with the crazy weather. While it has been warm in the afternoon, it is a little chilly in the morning and evening. During the winter I use a blanket to sleep and during the summer a sheet. Now I get cold at night and need a blanket. All day Thursday I felt cold and like I was getting sick. I emailed my coach about missing my Thursday workout and not being up for running 13 miles on Saturday. She told me to do my best, rest up, and get better. I felt better on Friday and went to bed that night with the intention of running 13 miles (being positive).

On Saturday I went to the lake instead of The Arboretum. My sister was having a graduation party for my nephew and she wanted me to be home as early as possible. Well, I wanted to be home early too for a nap. 🙂

I drank Generation UCAN in the morning and also made my own gel to use on my run. Elizabeth uses UCAN on her runs and gave me the idea to make a gel. I used a reusable food pouch to store the gel. While I like the cranberry raspberry in the liquid format, I was not a big fan of it in the gel format. It tasted funny. I also have chocolate and will try that next in a gel (I like it mixed with water).

The weather was perfect! Marathon training has begun and there were so many people out there. The last time I ran on the lakefront was 3 weeks ago. I was surprised to see some parts of the path flooded. The ducks were enjoying it!

I don’t think I’ve ever run 13 miles while training for a half marathon. I felt good at the beginning and then slowly got tired. I was supposed to run 7 miles as a warmup, 4 at marathon pace (10:43) and 2 as a cooldown. I did not hit the marathon pace. I tried. However, I am proud for running 13 miles and felt better at the end than when I ran 10 miles last week. I had some UCAN gel at 6.5 miles and then again 3 miles later. The food pouch was so easy to use and I am planning to use it again for future long runs.

Workout-88

I wore a new Oiselle tank and goodness sake but that thing chafed the heck out of me. It was painful and so uncomfortable. There was even some blood on the tank. I love the look of it and the material but definitely not made for a long and sweaty run.

There was a Color Run Race going on and for some reason I have never been interested in them. You? They do look fun though!

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.

Weekly Run Down.jpg

13
Jun
2019

Random Thoughts Thursday 76

categories: Random Thoughts Thursday

Random Thoughts Thursday

• I am usually a good driver. I don’t speed and tend to follow the rules of the road. Somehow I must have not been paying attention because I received two tickets for a red light violation. Yes, TWO violations. Yes, that was $200 I had to pay and it hurt me to pay those tickets.

• I saw The Secret Life of Pets 2. Such a funny movie. I laughed throughout the entire movie. I could definitely see it again. Have you watched it?

• My mother spent 3 weeks in a nursing facility. We received a bill for her and I was afraid to open it. Happy to see that number in the bill. 🙂

Mother's Bill-1.jpg

• I have a checkbook and write a check once a month for my rent. The other transactions in my checking account are Target charges, deposits from work, and ATM withdrawals. I went to my bank to get more check registers. Apparently they don’t have them anymore. Chase doesn’t make too many of them anymore because customers don’t use them like before. This girl does. I added my name to a waitlist and was told it would be about 7 weeks before I can get one. In the meantime I can use a small notebook to record my transactions. Do you still have a register for your checkbook?

Small Notebook

• Say what? I know periods suck but why would anyone do this?

Women in ER.jpg

11
Jun
2019

Tuesday Topics: My Summer running tips

categories: Tuesday Topics

Well, Mother Nature hasn’t made up her mind because the weather has been crazy these past couple of weeks. Or has it been months? It was a long and cold winter. Then Spring came along and it was still cold. Then it rained almost every single day in May. Now we occasionally have a warm/hot day but then sometimes it rains the next day. Will Summer be here soon?

You know I enjoy running in the morning. It is tough waking up early but I like to have my run done and then have the rest of the day to do other things that I need to do. Now I am loving that it isn’t as dark at 5 am. I don’t have to wear my reflective vest (which I still love) nor my headlamp.

Maybe Summer will be here soon or maybe it won’t. Who knows? However, here are some Summer running tips that work for me.

• Run when it isn’t hot. I know, pretty obvious whether it is running early in the morning or in the evening once it has cooled down. I used to run in the evening and loved feeling the cooler weather and seeing the sunset. I remember during marathon training in the summer our runs would start at 6:30 am in order to be done before it got too hot. If you cannot make it in the morning or in the evening, then run on the treadmill. I’ve done numerous runs on the treadmill because I would wake up “late” and by then it would be too hot to run outside.

• Hydrate. Normally I don’t carry water with me on a run less than 5-6 miles unless it is very hot or I am thirsty. Two weeks ago I did a 6 mile run and took a water bottle with me because it was warm and I drank the whole thing! I have a Nathan Hydration Pack and for my runs at The Arboretum, I fill half the hydration bladder with water and leave it overnight in the freezer. The next morning I add more water to it. Throughout my run the ice melts and I always have cold water to drink.

• Listen to your body. Running in the heat will make you run slower. Nothing wrong with that. If you start to feel awful and need to stop then do so. If you need to walk then walk. I remember one run in which I was shivering (despite the heat) and was feeling a bit delusional. I took a long break and drank water with Nuun. Eventually I felt better and ended up walking back to my car (about 2 miles away).

• Wear a visor or hat. I have a couple from Headsweats and love them. They block the sun from your eyes while at the same time allow the heat to rise from your head (visors).

• The less you wear the better. I love running in shorts and always look forward to when it is warm enough (after winter) to wear them. I also wear a tank or short sleeve top. My favorites are the Oiselle flyout tops. They’re light, comfortable and sweat wicking – perfect for the hot summer days! The best part is that they don’t stink with all of the sweat.

Flyout Tops-1

Tuesday Topics

This week’s Tuesday Topic: What are your Summer running tips? You can write about this topic, or feel free to post any running related blog post. Remember to Link-up with Kim and Zenaida! Visit at least two of the other linked posts – the more the merrier! Remember to come back for later linkers!

09
Jun
2019

Weekly Run Down: Hot days and committee work

categories: Running, Weekly Run Down

Weekly Mileage-12.jpg

With school being out last Friday you would think that I would actually be on break this week, right? Nope. It was all work. Well, Monday I went to my uncle’s funeral with my mom. It was actually a nice day (not cold and no rain). The rest of the week was spent in school working on our reading, writing, and social studies curriculum. We had to update pacing guides, curriculum maps, and PBA (performance based assessments). It was a lot of work and there were many times where I was frustrated. We did not finish our work and will possibly be meeting July 31 and August 1.

After I complained so much about the cold and long winter, we had some HOT days this week. Humid days too and then some rainy days. Definitely not consistent here.

I was supposed to run 3 miles on Monday but when I was getting ready in the morning at my mom’s, I realized that I had two sets of running clothes but no shoes. 🙁 So I did 3 easy miles on Tuesday. Later on in the day I went to see my mother and had pozole for dinner. Yummy!

Did you run on Wednesday for Global Running Day? I did! I wasn’t planning on but ended up running 5.34 miles. It had been raining and it was HUMID. I almost skipped the run because of the rain but eventually it did stop. Despite the weather, it was a fun run! Aren’t my shoes cute?

Thursday was 1.5 mile warmup, 2×5 minutes and 3×2 minutes, and 2 miles cool down. It was a tough workout! I did better than I expected and proud of it.

Friday morning I woke up a little dizzy and nauseous and was uncomfortable the rest of the day. I did a few errands after school and then went home to bed. Saturday’s run was tough. I don’t know if I was still tired from Thursday’s workout or I was just simply tired. I am still trying to figure out this fueling thing. You would think that by now I would have figured it out? Nope. Still working on it. I drank one serving on the way to the Arboretum. I also had two gels with me just in case but did not use them. Maybe I need more fuel?

Generation UCAN-2.jpg

The beginning of the run was tough but then somehow I felt better in the middle of it. But by the end I was struggling again. The last 2 miles were not my slowest but they were my toughest ones. Check out the butterfly made with legos. It has almost 40,000 pieces of legos!

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.

Weekly Run Down.jpg

06
Jun
2019

Random Thoughts Thursday 75

categories: Random Thoughts Thursday

Random Thoughts Thursday

• How is it Thursday already? This week is going by fast! I’ve been busy with working with other committee members to plan next year’s reading and social studies curriculum. It isn’t fun because it is a lot of work. At least I am getting paid for that time or else I don’t think I would have signed up to do the committee work.

• Remember how last week I posted about the ridiculous prices to fly to Missoula, MT? Friday morning I checked online again and found a “cheap” ticket. I paid $557. That was the cheapest price and it is a direct flight which I like. Still, the price is ridiculous.

• I saw this too. Why?

Missoula Flights-5.jpg

• Yep, that is me.

Older I get

• Yesterday I was making hotel reservations for my upcoming races in KS, MI, and GA. Got good deals through Southwest but one of the reservations in Olathe, KS must be a mistake. I paid $59 in a different hotel. I checked again in two other places and they also list the same prices. $999 for one room? What is up with these prices?

Olathe, KS Hotel-3

Olathe, KS Hotel-2

Olathe, KS Hotel-1