Quality Miles Wednesday: Hill Day

Plan: 2 miles warm up, 8x 1:00 up the hill hard, rest is back down the hill, 2 miles cool down
Actual Mileage: 5.57 miles

Route: I was out on the Rum River trail which was in decent shape when I started.  The salt truck came by about 20 minutes into the run, so the trail was even better on the way back.
Weather: 35* and cloudy.  Winds were out of the south (so strong on the way out, not as bad on the way back)

 Wardrobe: It's that time of year right?
Feet: Wool compression socks and Altras.  I kind of love the Lone Peaks better than these shoes.  A lot better. They are warmer.
Legs: Brooks running pants.
Top: Long sleeve shirt and grey sweatshirt.
Other: Buff on my head.

 High Points of the workout: I mean, I started it and I survived it.
Struggles of the workout: I was just feeling lousy all day. I'd actually woken up early to run in the morning and I was so tired and blah that I just went back to bed and did this in the afternoon. Blah I tell you!
From the high points, I learned: Get it done anyway?
From the struggles, I learned: The hardest part is getting started.
Next steps: I really focused on cadence on this one, more than pace. I have no idea how I did because I haven't looked yet.

 Bonus:Would you like to see what this place looks like without the snow?

Before and After - Rum River North

Last time I found myself at Rum River North County Park was all the way back in June of 2014 when there was wicked flooding pretty much everywhere around the metro (and somewhat outstate as well).  Today, the river is maybe a bit high, but certainly not at flood stage.  See how the bases of the trees are above water? And there's grass as well?

Trail Monday - Rum River North

In a surprise for 2016, I did a (sort of) trail run.  I hadn't been doing that since winter and then my catastrophic fall and ankle failure.  Also unusual is that I worked on a Monday (which is not my thing)  These two circumstances together put me near a trail I remember but hadn't run in a couple of years. 

Trail: Rum River North County Park is this little gem in St Francis, MN.  The park itself doesn't have a ton of mileage for hiking or running, so I did some loops more than once.

Hills: There are hills.  They are steep but mostly short and survivable.  Running down them is fun as hell.

Ease of Running:  This has a little bit of everything.  There is paved trail, wood chip trail, grass, and even a little bit of single track.  The majority of the non-paved trail is a gravel road masquerading as something pleasant to run on.  It is pleasant until the ball of my foot lands on a big piece of gravel and then it blows again for a while.  I should've worn something other than minimal shoes for this trail.  Lesson learned.

Nature: Nothing exciting.  It's the middle of the day and there's a huge construction project on the road nearby, so I wasn't terribly disappointed.

Will I come back: Yes, I will run here again if I'm in the area.  But I won't go out of my way to get here.  The main drawback is the mileage on the trails is quite short.  The biggest plus is the wonderful scenery.

Hanging out on the Rum River Trail

This is a step back week for me so I'm not running super far nor super hard.  Thank god after that race on Saturday.

Today at the end of the day, I found myself near the trail head for the Rum River Regional Trail.  The trail is one of my favorites because it's gorgeous.  It also meets my post-work requirements of having a place to park and a place to change into running gear.  

I had a slow, low heart rate run and took lots of pictures.  I was shocked when Strava told me my last run on this trail was last summer.  What have I been doing?!?! This trail is not super hilly, but has lots of little ups and downs which keep things interesting.  Perhaps I should make more of an effort to run here this year.

4 Miles and a finisher

I think I'm on a quest to see all of the Anoka County Parks and Trails.  Today I finished my day pretty close to Rum River North County Park.  I found a library to use the restroom and change clothes and then headed over to the park.  Apparently I'm also on a quest to see all of the Anoka County Libraries.

The Park: Rum River North seems to be a tiny strip of land along the river bank.  I'm sure it's normally a much larger strip of land but much of it was underwater today.  The big attractions seem to be canoe access points and a canoers only camp ground.  It doesn't have a super lot of trails and I had to run one loop a couple times just to get up to four miles.  What it lacks in mileage it makes up for in variety.  I had a paved trail most of the way, crushed limestone/gravel, dirt and grass, all within four miles.  I also had lots of hills, up and down, which I'm making peace with.

The Finisher: Today's finisher was Single Leg Front Raises and side steps.  I didn't use a band, but legs were on fire afterwards so that probably means I worked hard enough.  I started at 15 leg raises on each leg and then 15 lateral steps on each leg; 14 on each, all the way down to 1 on each side.  That's a total of 120 of each element on each leg, in 11:25. I did some dynamic drills and then headed back to the car, hips aching.

Bottom Line: The short mileage of the trails means I probably won't go out of my way to come so far north again.  If I'm nearby at the end of my day, I'd go here again.  It's close to a library and gas station for changing into workout gear. It has nice trails, lots of portopots and even a drinking fountain.  The trails were in really good shape, except for the far out grass trails which could've used a mow but were ultimately easily avoidable.