Loony Challenge 1 Week To Go

Weekly Miles Planned: Not that many. Just be patient and enjoy the taper.
Actual: 25 run, 2 walked

Long Run Miles Planned: 6-8
Actual:: 6.65 Miles on Sunday morning.

Sunday Planned: 6-10 Miles at MAF, Sunday Kettlebell Workout, Sunday Abs
Actual:
Run: 6.65 Miles at Ft Snelling with a goal of having fun.
Kettlebells: Done, and a minute faster than last week
Abs: Also done.
Bonus 2.5 miles walk with Dungeon Master on the track at the gym. 
From today, I learned: Normally I run, walk the last 5-10 minutes of the route back to the gym, and then do my weights/abs workout.  Today I ran, cooled down, got in my car and drove to the gym, and then did weights/abs.  My weights workout is rep based, and this week I got it done about 1 minute faster than last week, at the same reps and weights.

Monday Planned: 6-10 Miles at MAF 1-3 Miles, Plyos
Actual: 1.2 miles in the morning.
From today, I learned: Turn off my watch at the end of the run.  I had a slight failure here and realized I'd left it on for about five minutes while I was putting the dishes away.
I'm going back and re-reading my past weeks of training.  In the beginning I talked a lot about nutrition as well as work outs, and then I had an unplanned failure in July and took that bullet point out.  I'm liking going back and looking at that, and may want to add it back in for Flying Pig training.

Tuesday Planned: 4-6 Miles at MAF, Lift Weights
Actual: 4.66 Miles on the Rum River Trail. I've missed it here.
From today, I learned: This was a fun run.  I didn't look at my watch. I practiced having positive thoughts like I'll need Saturday and Sunday.  It felt great to be outside and enjoying nature.  Fall colors are trying their hardest to come out.

Wednesday Planned: 1 Mile Run
Actual: 1.2 miles in the morning.
From today, I learned: I am legit wondering if 7pm is too early to go to bed.  Taper means rest, right?  I woke up with a massive headache.  Ibuprofen is doing it's job so far though.

Thursday Planned: 4-6 Miles at MAF, Lift Weights 1 Mile Run.
Actual: 1.2 Miles in the morning
From today, I learned: Not on my run, but later I learned the Buffalo Montrose trail has been paved. I've run there a time or two or three.  It's always been a crushed limestone trail, and then used for snowmobiles in winter.  I'm curious with the blacktop now if that'll make a difference for winter use. There's no way they're going to plow that thing all winter long.  Right?

Friday Planned: 1 Mile Run
Actual: 1.2 Miles in the morning.
From today, I learned: Last night I swapped my winter and summer clothes.  I have too many running clothes.  I also have 50 pairs of sweat pants and I don't like many of them at all.

Saturday Planned: 4-6 Miles at MAF, Plyos 10K race, 5K race
Actual: 10K race and 5K race completed
From today, I learned: Trust my body; my body is stronger than my mind today.

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.

6 Hot Miles - Rum River Trail

For a long time, I'd see the Rum River Trail was pretty highly rated.  Bonus for the trail head being at a library so I have a place to change after work.  The starts finally aligned tonight for me to give the route a try.  It was definitely not a fast run for me.  Nonetheless, I had a blast.

Construction: Despite consulting several maps more than once, I had a bit of a hiccup to start off with when the trail was literally not there and I found myself running in the tracks of graders and other construction equipment.  Luckily a quick consultation with Google Maps pointed me in the right direction and I was able to find a different way back to my car post run. 

Route: I started at the Rum River Library and headed south into the city of Anoka where the Rum River meets the Mississippi River.  The trail stays pretty close to the bank of the river and it's fantastic.  The trail goes by a bunch of other parks which seem to have bird watching and grass trails.  I didn't have the right shoes tonight, otherwise I would've explored those a bit more.  The trail is decidedly not flat.  I keep telling myself this is a good thing.  It kept me honest about pace and heart rate.

Heat:  It was hot and muggy tonight.  I'm finding that the craziness of our most recent winter has given me new enthusiasm for running in the heat.  There's something exactly no one ever would've predicted.  A fair portion of the trail is in the shade, but not all of it.  The weather was a mix of sun and clouds, and tons of wind.  I was a massive ball of sweat and mosquito bites by the end of the run.

Overall: I really liked this trail, and I'd do it again in a heart beat.  So far with the new job, I'm finding it hard to plan a run after work.  I've really only done it 3 or 4 times successfully.  This trail has some pluses, including a safe place to park and a good place to change into running gear, and I'd really like to do it again.  I've also read it's one of the better plowed paths in the winter (gah!) so it's a year-round possibility.