run streak update

 A couple of thoughts on the run streak: 

I checked today.  If I registered my run streak, I'd be in the top 500 streakers in the world, and the top 100 women. <i>Why don't you register?</i>  I said it's the same reason I don't like putting away my clean dishes.  OMG Blogger, I hate you!!!!!

Also, honestly, very very early, in the streak I started for myself, there were elliptical only workouts. So I'd need to find a different date to register for the start of the run streak, different than what I genuinely consider the start of my streak.

Second funny story: One of the blogs I love, the author was all "I don't trust running shorts on Amazon that are $15" or similar.  And I'm all "you need to try a running streak".  Because, yo, the running streak has taught me what clothes, and running clothes, and regular clothes actually do. And for serious, $15 shorts from Amazon are fine for many many many workouts. 

Lockdown day whatever. Liz in her house day 3 at least

 Today was a super sad day.

I've talked a lot about the city of Buffalo on this blog.  Some of my favorite lake spots and running spots are out there.  As well as a lovely cider orchard that Dungeon Master and I hit up one time.

There was a horrific shooting at a medical clinic in Buffalo today.  I will say I'm familiar with the clinic.  Victims have not been named but I'm fairly certain I'm going to know either the person who was murdered or one of the critical patients.  One person was shot, treated, and released. One person has died.  Three are in critical condition at this time.

So, yeah.  My day stopped around the time my phone blew up with people checking in with me. 

I'd originally planned to actually leave my house today, run on a treadmill, and attempt a weights workout.  That didn't happen.  Instead, this is day 3 of my Living Room Mile streak.  (That's one streak that can end any day now.) It's day 2,000 of me not seeing another human being.  (Not really; it's Tuesday and it's been since Saturday?).  I was so emotionally wrecked, I pretty much stopped and walked it out after I knew I'd hit my mile.  That's not a thing I do too often.

I am apparently the captain of Doom Scrolling.  Found that out today as well.  Sigh.

We're going to try it again tomorrow.  I've invited the Qat Lady over for Jazzercise and more fried squid.  And Captain Smiley for squid.  I don't think he's into the Jazzercise.  We'll see.

COVID Diaires - Dec 30

 

Run Streak - thoughts 4 years on

In October 2012, I started this little run steak, just thinking I'd do it for a couple months as part of a fitness challenge.  Well... First I made it six months.  And I kept going.  Then, I made it a year and honestly didn't know if I would keep it up.  But I did. I wrote about my 2 year anniversary but obviously skipped year 3.

Here's how things are 4 years on 1500 days on: 

• I definitely didn't mean this to go four years, nor 1500 days when I started
• I don't remember a time when I didn't run every day.  And that is weird.
• I honestly have no desire to give it up. 
• I have nightmares about missing my mile.  True story.  The worst is when I get home and take a nap on my couch in the late afternoon, and I'm all "I'll run when I wake up".  All my dreams will be about messing up my mile in some way. 
• People often don't get it, but they still try to be supportive.  In general.  There are those who really don't understand why working out makes a body feel good and not bad.  I keep working out in the hopes that doesn't happen to me.
• Those "I am so lucky I get to run everywhere" statements that pepper this blog, still true!

PS - my 1500th day, I got up at 5am and ran 1.2 miles before getting in the car and driving for 10 hours to be with family for Thanksgiving.  It was quite a way to celebrate. 

Sunday Long Run - Ft Snelling

Plan: Run the Ft Snelling route.  Keep the heart rate low.  Walk up the big hill.

Route: Along the creek to Ft Snelling, around the fort, then back home.  This is the route with all of the hills.

Weather: It was around 70* for this run.  I got up at 5am because I didn't want to deal with anything warmer than that.  Ever.

Execution:
Walk up the big hill - Check
Keep the heart rate low - big fat check!  Avg HR 134
Run the route - well, there was a fall and then later I got sick.  But other than that, 'run the route' went okay too.  The fall involved a sideways roll, but nothing scraped or bruised.

Nutrition: I had a few sips of water and some gummies.  I had yogurt before I left the house.

Bonus: I saw an oriel, then later I saw a mom and Bambi deer.

Thursday 2nd Long Run

Thursdays will now be known as "hot Thursdays" because all my runs seem to be in the afternoon when it's really hot.  This one was the hottest but wound up being an okay run.  This one wasn't supposed to be hot and wound up being not so fun. 

Plan: I had no plan.
Distance? I was going to go to the gym and run outside for at least a mile.  After that, I could see how I was feeling at any point on the run and finish any miles I needed to on the elliptical.
Heart rate?  Whatever feels good I guess.  Keeping it low in the beginning is always a good idea, but have fun.
Route?  Didn't even have that planned because I didn't know what I'd want to do outside.

Route: Ultimately, I went along the Cedar Lake Trail and around the lake itself, then headed back through Loring Park and the greenway to the gym.

Weather: Today was around 75*, sometimes sunny and sometimes humid.  I was okay the whole time, but I was really thirsty when I was done.

Execution: I started trying to keep my heart rate low, but got a bit messed up in Loring Park with all of the people setting up for Pride. Mostly, I stayed low heart rate until I was about done with Lake Cedar.  Then I decided I could do whatever I wanted and I sped up considerably.

Bonus: After I foam rolled, I caught the end of my friends spin class.  The pedal pub was parked outside the window of the spin class which was pretty funny. 

Long Run Sunday: The Creek and The Lakes

Plan: Get up early.  5am.  On Sunday.  Run 13-14 miles.  Low heart rate.

Route: A full loop involving some of the best running spots in town. This route is new to me.  Obviously I've run all of these places before.  I've just never put things together in quite this way.

Weather: Mother nature was making me nervous.  I walked outside and saw lightning up in the clouds and very far away.  Still, WTF?!?  My weather app said the storm had already passed me by and I'd be fine. Still, the sky looked ready to rain for at least half the run.  By the time I got back and stretched out, clear blue skies.

Execution: I am very pleased with the way this turned out. I tried to keep my heart rate in the 130s.  It started creeping up in the low 140s by Lake Calhoun and it was around 150 by the time I peeled off the Greenway and started heading south again.  Even with my heart rate that low, my splits were in the 13:xx range.  If you'd told me six months ago this is how I'd be running, I never would've believed you.

Nutrition: Due to a planning failure on my part, I was out of my favorite pre-run foods.  I had a banana but nothing else at 5am. I carried two water bottles but didn't drink much.   I had gummies, two chews every 3 miles.  I was hungry early on but felt better by the end.

Bonus: I did a post-run finisher involving squats, calf raises, standing leg raises, standing bicycles (ab work) and that cross over move.  After that I laid down in the grass and had a nice long stretch under blue skies.  No clouds.  No lightning.

Long Run - Taper

I'm racing Saturday. I wanted to do a long-ish run this week, but not a really long run ahead of the half-marathon.  Also, I believe this is day one of the Runner's World Run Streak.  Welcome to the summer streakers.

Plan: 8 miles.  Heart rate is actually less important on this run.  The race is going to be anaerobic, some of the training should be too right?

Route: I've done this route before, but Strava said it's been almost a solid year since the last time I went this way.

Weather: It was in the 60s and humid.  I was using this as a test case for Saturday.  There was some sunshine and some clouds.  It made me realize if Saturday is any warmer, it will hurt.

Execution: I really didn't look at my heart rate much after mile 3. I just had fun with it.  I really had myself questioning what pace I should run on Saturday with the heat and the hills.  It may be one of those "just go hard and do what feels good" kind of races after all.

Nutrition: I did not eat before I ran and I did not carry anything with me.

Bonus: No pictures, but I did do another finisher like last week.  Then I lay outside in the grass to stretch.  I can't stretch inside in my living room right now because it's been swallowed by new floor boards.

Trail Monday: Baker Park Reserve

I find myself accidentally registered for the William O'Brien 10 Mile Trail Run this September.  I originally registered for June 2014 which was flooded out and then I deferred my September 2014 entry because it was the week before Loony Challenge and I just couldn't make that work.

In support of surviving this race and not injuring myself, I decided that Mondays when I'm off work, I should head out to the trails and run on them instead of on the paved paths much closer to home.   Three Rivers has some great parks.  I've scouted out Crow Hassan Park though never really run there. French Park is one of my favorites, as the Medicine Lake Trail runs through it.  Though I've never gone off road in that park either.  Elm Creek is another absolute gem, but when I looked at the map I found myself unequal to deciphering a route I could take. I wound up at Baker Park Preserve because I knew where to park and following the grass trail looked fairly simple as the grass trail parallels the paved trail basically the entire way.

Thoughts on the run:
Nature: This run was straight up gorgeous.  There were lakes, deer, turtles, all kinds of birds.  Some places, all I could see around me was the park and it was wonderful.  Though Minneapolis has some world class parks, it doesn't have anything of this size really.  It was wonderful to spend time here. 

Hills:  There are some for real big hills, but lots and lots of little speed bumps as well.  I decided to follow what I'll call the Larisa Dannis plan.  I focused on running the downs.  I ran up whenever I felt like it but didn't focus on that so much.

Grass: It's kind of hard to run in long grass.  I'm not talking about prairie grass.  The path I was on is primarily groomed for horses in the summer, so the grass does get mowed from time to time, but it was about a foot tall in some places.  The footing was a bit uneven and the going was slow.  I found myself very glad I started practicing the trails now.

Woods: Running in the woods was an absolute pleasure because the footing was utterly stable and solid.  Later in the run, I found myself walking more on the grass, but any time I got packed dirt under my feet I really enjoyed it and moved pretty well.

Clothes: I ran in my trail shoes and ProCompression Socks.  I found some of the grass dewy as well as a couple legit mud spots.  My feet were soaked but blister free when I got back to my car.  I packed a pair of flip flops but almost wished for a complete change of clothes.  Glad I didn't take a dive in any of the mud!

4 Miles of Flooding

I had a nice run this morning with my favorite running neighbor.  We did our four-mile neighborhood route and got to survey the flooding on Lake Hiawatha and Minnehaha Creek.  Some of it stinks.  Literally.  We did a cool down of backwards walking, side steps, walking bicycles, and this one other thing I can't find a link for on the internet because I don't know what it's called.  Sigh. 

The real interesting portion of my day came later.  This week I worked Monday through Thursday which isn't normal for me anymore.  And the week had really done me in.  So much so that I was way too tired to even try to make it to Zumba.  Sorry!  Nathan took care of me and made sure I had some ice cream before bed at least.

6 Miles - Minnesota River Bluffs Trail

I had ever intention of running this morning before work.  Thank goodness I didn't, because I had a great run tonight!  I woke up in the middle of the night because of a neighbor's television and that just threw everything out of whack.  I wound up sleeping in a bit and saving the running for later in the day.  For those curious: yes.  Yes, I am still enjoying running in the heat.  I have no idea what's wrong with me but it's making summer training much more pleasant than in previous years.

The workout: I ran 6.2 miles, with a cool down of just under 1 mile for a total of  7.15 miles.  During the cool down I did some exercises including side steps, twists, and standing bicycles, and some dynamic stretching at the end.  Starting off I'd planned to do a five or six or seven mile run.  It was that kind of night.  I just kept feeling good, so I went all the way to where the path crosses this major road and used that as my turn around point.  I didn't have a heart rate monitor sigh but I kept things nice and easy.  Towards the end of the run, my legs started feeling heavy in a not-so-good way.  I picked up the pace just a bit and decided not to care if it jacked up my heart rate.  I know; I'm living on the edge. 

The trail: I ran on the River Bluffs Trail in Hopkins.  I have a special place in my heart for this trail.  Except for the first .75 miles and the bridge over 62, it's all crushed limestone trail.  It's soft like trail or a dirt road, but solid and predictable enough footing that it's just a beautiful experience all around.  I first met this trail back in March and ran on it a few times, but really hadn't been back since this beast of a workout.  The trail is apparently experiencing some flooding, but I definitely didn't make it far enough south to hit the portion of the trail that was closed.

The people: Oh my gosh the people.  This must be a really popular trail because it was packed.  In a mostly good way.  There were more bikers than anything else.  They all tend to have mountain bikes, which is the kind of tires that you'd need on a bike for that trail.  The number of runners was probably equal to the number of walkers, but we were definitely in the minority.  I saw a couple people on roller blades, but they could only use the little part of the trail that was paved.  It was actually more crowded coming back into Hopkins.  I assume people were getting off work and getting on their bikes for a ride?  Most people on that trail are pretty friendly so I was happy for the company.

Happy Pride!

If I knew how to put rainbows on this blog, I would.  This weekend was Pride Weekend and my first time ever for going to the festival.  I was invited to go yesterday but my couch made a better offer.  

The only thing I knew about Pride ahead of time was not to drive there.  I checked the bus schedule but on a Sunday nothing was going to work so I got on my bike and headed up.  First Avenue is way more pleasant for biking on the weekends than at rush hour.  And that's even including all the cars legally parked in the bike lane.  Which is a stupid design.  But I digress.  Pride even had a bike corral for me to stash my bike.  It wasn't as crowded as I expected, probably owing to the billions of other bike racks in the neighborhood along the edge of the park.

The event itself was about like I expected.  I loved all the rainbows, and was really proud to see so many Minnesota companies in the mix.  The thing to do seemed to be walking around talking to people in booths and eating food, which is pretty much what we did.  To be clear, Walk-a-taco is fine, but Los Ocampos is way better.  Sorry Maggie.  The lemonade was my favorite and a big hit today because of the heat.

After Pride, I biked home and ran my mile.  Now I know why they call it a brick workout.  My legs did indeed feel heavier than rocks. I'd planned to go 2-3 miles but my stomach made it quite clear that 1.25 miles was plenty.  Will we ever be at peace?  For the evening entertainment, we headed to Lake Harriet to watch the Minneapolis Pops play what turned out to be their first concert of the season.  The concert started at 5:30pm and we sat in full sun in 89* temps.  I am so screwed up from this winter that the head didn't even bother me. 

A Short Distance Week - 1 more mile today

I think being sick on Monday really killed any chance of working out this week.  Sigh.  I woke up this morning and basically went back to bed until 10am.  I skipped Zumba.  In the evening, I got out and ran my mile.  In the rain, and thunder.  I kept thinking the thunder was airplanes.  And then I had a finisher of Reverse Lunges and standing bicycles.  I started from 10 and went down to 1.  I would've started at 15 but I was afraid for myself on the lunges, not being able to finish that many.  I'll know for next time that I can do it.

We're having crazy flooding and rain here obviously.  The park by my house is usually dry and used for dog walking and stuff.  Right now it's a drainage pond.  And the Family Dollar parking lot now has an unwanted water feature.  Maybe with a dry night, some of the water will drain into the sewers and down into the river.  Once the rain stopped though, the skies were beautiful.

After running, I finally found strength to leave the house.  First place I hit was Los Ocampos for some lovely Tacos.  It was after 8pm.  The line was to the door.  Because this place is that popular.  Then I hit up the co op for some food and I will have to use some of my time tomorrow to actually make lunches.  This week coming up I am working Monday through Thursday because Friday is a holiday. It made this weekend only a 2-day weekend and that's really screwing me up right now.

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. 

Blog-streaking: Pros and Cons

Last week, I decided that I'd try to write every day until the end of the Runner's World Run Streak and so far, I have written every day.  I think in the future, the rule should be "no writing on 'one mile run' days" because one mile runs are like a place holder.  It's not a ton of training, just a bit, enough to keep the streak alive but not to build a ton of fitness.  There's nothing interesting to say about runs like this. 

I mention these thoughts because today was indeed a 'one mile run' day.  The most remarkable thing may be that I ran in my Vibrams and I ran much faster than usual, because I still haven't dug my heart rate monitor out of whatever hole it fell into.  I was so tired at the end of my work day I was seriously considering not going to Zumba until a friend offered to come fetch me and provide transportation.  So today, among other thing, I am grateful for great friends!

6 Miles - Elm Creek Preserve

My biggest accomplishment today was being able to keep solid food down.  For the most part.  Running six miles felt pretty nice too.  I had a weird ending to my day.  I'd originally planned to try out Medicine Lake Trail, but a cancellation and a visit further out meant I was really close to Elm Creek Park Preserve so I headed that direction.

Originally I was really excited to try some of the single track trails because there seem to be about eight billion of them.  Sadly they are totally muddy.  The bikes could make it through, but I didn't have spare clothes and wasn't in the mood.  So I turned around pretty quickly and headed to a beautifully paved trail instead.  I ran 3 miles out, 3 miles back along the trail.  It vaguely went around a lake, but not in the way that paths go around the lakes in Minneapolis.  The trail was all up and down, not a ton of flat to enjoy.  But the return trip felt more 'down' so I did just fine.  I did not have my heart rate monitor.  I was secretly relieved.  Thank goodness!  Now I can just run how I like!

After my run I did a 'finisher' that really finished me off.  Side steps (hello IT band) and then standing bicycle crunches.  I started at 20 and worked down to 15, which took me ten minutes.  By then I could barely stand and my hip flexors were starting to seize up so I declared defeat and just stopped.  I did some dynamic drills and stretched out a bit before jumping in the car to go home.  My plan worked beautifully because by the time I got in my car and hit the road, I'd completely missed rush hour traffic (win for me!).   While I was cooling off, I saw tons and tons and tons of mountain bikers roll in.  I was at a trail head they use apparently.  I heard one of them say this is one of the only parks in the Twin Cities that's still open to bikers and not flooded out.  That explains the crowd!

I'm pretty excited to get out here again and try some more of the trails.  Particularly once the rain stops and I can go play in the dirt!  It looks like there's a few different places to park and trail heads.  It seems like this park will have no end of exploration for me.

Lazy Sunday

Running: the streak continues, but that's about it.  I declared today a Rest Day and only ran 1.25 miles, just enough to keep the streak alive.  Instead I had a bit of time to do laundry and clean, and lots of relaxing and eating.  I talked to Nathan and met his family, and got to talk to Mom and Dad on Facetime.

Breakfast:  I went with a neighbor and his family to Hell's Kitchen.  I had the Bison Benedict.  The food that was on my plate was excellent but for $15, there should have been two poached eggs, not one. 

Farmer's Market: We headed over to the Farmer's Market and I grabbed some fresh strawberries.  On the way home, Nathan showed me the flooding at Minnehaha Creek and Cedar Ave which is crazy impressive.  We drove through standing water which is just not normal.

Dinner: I had a strong desire for some grilled squid, so we went to Kyatchi which has crazy good food.  The beef melted in my mouth and the grilled squid was fantastic as always.  I was sad they were out of donuts for desert, but it's okay, I had plenty of food without that.

Dessert: We headed across the street to Five Watt Coffee, where we'd been once before.  It was busy inside, nice to see on a Sunday night. I had what is apparently called "the Kingfield".  The first time we went in there I told the guy, "I usually just like a straight up latte, no sugar, no flavors" and he said "we make our own vanilla syrup here, I'm going to make you something I think you'll like".  When I came back tonight and described it, they told me the name of the drink.  It is crazy good.  Not super sweet, but a nice flavor.  I'm excited this shop is doing so well because it's a cool place to hang out.

Happy Birthday to Me!

6.3 miles run, slowly, this time with a heart rate monitor which kept me honest.  Sigh.  The Greenway was full of bikers training for I can only imagine what.  Peleton after peleton!  I pretended it was a parade of bicycles for my birthday.