Ft Snelling State Park

Well, we needed one that was super close today.  That or the activity at the state park had to be swimming.  Those were my conditions.  We picked close so that we could go early.  Why did we need to go early?  And how is that a thing either one of us would've picked?  Because the high today was projected to be around 100* and that was just not our thing.

We parked near the swimming beach.  This was not necessarily the WRONG place to park, but it meant that most of our walk was not on Pike Island.  But, I got to see a part of the park I'd never seen before, so I thought that was legit.

 

We hiked past the swimming beach to Pike Island and tooled around there for a bit before turning around and heading back to the car.  We got there around 9am and needed to be gone by 10:30am for Dungeon Master's later plans that day. 

This turned out to be much more fun than I expected.  I was like "we'll just go so we can get to 8 parks, right?"  I wound up enjoying myself and was glad to get out before the heat.  When I came home I ran my mile and watered my garden.  Then I hid inside in the a/c the rest of the day. This heat is no joke.

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.

Long Run Sunday: Ft Snelling

Plan: Run: The goal of the run is to have fun running.
Post run: Sunday weights and Sunday abs.

Route: I haven't been to Ft Snelling all year.  But I didn't want to do my normal 10-12 mile route today.  So I parked down by the lock and dam and ran from there.
Weather: In the 40s, no sun, no wind.

Wardrobe: Capris, long sleeve shirt, head band, wool socks, Merrel shoes.  Those shoes were not think enough for the gnarly worn down part of that trail either. I needed my Altras.

Execution: I definitely had fun.  I listened to nature, or the lack of birds singing as was the case today.  I enjoyed the scenery.  I used a couple different camera apps to take all of the pictures.  I felt like garbage at the beginning of this run (thanks mother nature) but somehow ran through it and felt a lot better at the end.  I have not looked at my splits from the run.  It's good practice for next week when I'll try not to look at my 5K/10K results until Sunday when all racing is complete.
Nutrition: I had a fat bomb before leaving the house.  And no, that's not the reason I felt like garbage.  I did not carry food or water on my run.  I'm sure I will spend the rest of the day hydrating and managing my electrolytes.
From today, I learned: When I'm about to get my period and I feel like garbage at the beginning of a run, apparently it's possible to run through that and feel better by the end.

Bonus: Here's pictures from a few different apps. The best one I got is CameraTimerDC and it's a paid app, but it can take photos every second. Honorable mention goes to PhotoTimer+ which is free, but only takes one picture every five seconds.  For the macros I used Obscura which is normally a paid app but I managed to get it for free one time.

Long Run Sunday: Ft Snelling

Plan: Run the Ft Snelling route.  I used a program on my Garmin that beep is my heart rate goes to low (ha!) or over 152 bpm.  If I can keep my heart rate low for this run it will be a miracle. 

Route:  The Ft Snelling Route Amended - run back up the long but not steep hill, making this a slightly different route than the one I normally do.  This will be better practice for Flying Pig which has its own very long hill. 

Weather: Started in the low 40s and got up to the 50s by the time I was done. It was cloudy but the sun poked out from time to time.

Wardrobe: I ran in capris and a shirt, and arm sleeves.  I took the sleeves off at the bottom of the big hill.  I wore my orange visor.

Execution: My heart rate did stay within range back up the hill, but it went haywire shortly after that.  I mostly ignored my heart rate alarm for the last two miles of the running.  Sigh. I have to say, that hill was nowhere near as bad in real life as I'd made it up to be in my mind.

Nutrition: Before the run I had a handfull of apricots.  During the run I had some water and a whole pack of chews.  I had chews at miles 4, 6, and 9.  By the time I was home I felt like I'd had too many chews.  Good lesson for next time.

Bonus: According to Strava, the last time I ran at Ft Snelling was the end of July last summer and the time before that was late June last summer.

Sunday Long Run - Ft Snelling

Plan: Run at a low heart rate, walk up the big hill.

Route: I took the Ft Snelling Route today.

Weather: I accidentally woke up at 5am.  Because I hadn't re-set my alarm from last week.  So I stayed up and headed out then.  It was 68* and 80% humidity when I started.  It didn't get much hotter during the run.

Execution: I find myself in the unusual predicament of having to try and run faster to keep my heart rate above 130.  I so do not understand what is happening.  I kept my heart rate in Z2 until around mile 9.  After that my brain kind of gave up and my heart rate went up a bit, but nothing outrageous. I was really pleased with this run, especially the 'go faster' bits.

Nutrition: I did not eat before I ran.  At 5am I couldn't get anything down. I carried two bottles of water, and a bag of gummy chews.  I did eat the chews, finishing them up around mile 9 or 10.  I had a few sips of water whenever I wanted. 

Bonus: I saw this guy up fishing for his breakfast after mile 1.

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.

Long Run Sunday - Ft Snelling 2

Plan: Keep a low heart rate.  Except on that one hill, anything is fair game on that hill.  Run all the way home and quick cool down, because I have to fetch a friend from the airport after.

Route: Ft Snelling Run.  Today there was no ice nor snow.  Excellent.

Weather: Winds were strong out of the SSE.  Therefore, I run SSE into the wind at the beginning of the run and the back half of the run is with the wind.  Excellent planning.  It was around 40* and cloudy most of the run, but sunny for about the last mile.

Execution: Pretty good I thought.  I kept a low heart rate until the hill.  After the hill, I kept my heart rate relatively under control until the last mile.  Things always seem to fall apart in the last mile.  Sigh.

Nutrition: I woke up early and had only yogurt (no fruit or granola) before the run.  I finished off a bag of chomps during the run.  One or two pieces every couple of miles.  My stomach was fine the whole time.  Thank you universe.

Bonus: I tried to take pictures of places I don't normally take pictures on this trail.

Trail Monday: Trail Sunday

Today was the final trail run before my only trail race of the year.  The most important thing this run did was help me make a decision about which shoes to wear on race day. It's not the ones I wore today.

Trail: Ft Snelling's Pike Island.  I've run here several times before this summer.  The loop around the island is roughly 3 miles, so it's the shortest of all the trails I've found acceptable.  The Anoka Preserve is technically shorter, but I'm divorcing that trail.

Hills: The island itself is fairly flat.  The run on the mainland from where I park my bike to the island is another story. This is the hill I use to identify my "max heart rate" for heart rate training.  174BPM may be a new record for me.  Is that good or bad?

Ease of Running: There was more gravel on the island than there has been in the past, and that's what hurts me in my itty-bitty minimal trail shoes.  It's clear gravel was added to some parts of the trail that had been flooded for a while, probably as a way to improve drainage. And it was those moments it was clear to me I needed different shoes for the race.  Shoe choice aside, this path is an absolute pleasure.  It's wide and clear and most runners don't even bother with trail shoes on it because it's so well done.

Nature: I saw road kill on the bike path.  I can't imagine being the biker who managed to run over a squirrel.  How does that happen? 

Will I come back: Likely.  I've liked this path for several reasons.  It's by far the closest to my house and the only trail that doesn't require me to drive to it.  I also like the excuse to add biking to the workouts.  The trail is short enough that I can easily do it, even when I cut back miles for the post-race season.

Trail Monday: I forgot all about it until Saturday

Trail running has all these intricacies that make it a bit harder to schedule for me.
Sunday I'd actually thought to do a trail run but it was crazy hot and then stormed all night.
Monday the aforementioned storms put me off running on grass and dirt for the day because I'm basically against a mud slog.   Tuesday night I did make it to Elm Creek but it was crazy hot again, and I was without proper trail shoes, and in a part of the park where the horse trails are much harder to follow.  The rest of the week went on until last night when I was all "I haven't done a trail run yet this week.  Doh!!"  

Trail: Ft Snelling - Pike Island.  This time I had a goal of running six miles, so I wound up doing and odd mix of a loop and out and back on the island to get the correct distance.  (One loop around the outside of the island is roughly 3 miles.)

Hills: Yes, that one hill.  Anyone who's ever run at Ft Snelling knows what I'm talking about.  See what it does to my heart rate?

Ease of Running: This is the most runnable trail of the three I've done so far.  It's got a wide flat path.  There were some giant puddles in a couple places, but I was able to pick my way around them without any trouble. It was a bit rocky at times, and sandy at other.  I found myself wishing for a shoe with rock plates in a couple places, and I'd never felt like that the other times I've run here so I'm not sure what's up.

Nature: I saw some deer coming up from a drink at the river, and a fresh Bald Eagle sighting that was pretty cool.  I also thought I was going to get attacked by some crows.  I'm not sure what they were so mad about.

Will I come back: Well obviously.  I'm digging this route a lot, partly because it's so much closer than any other option that exists, and I can squeeze it in quite early in the morning if I need to.  Adding biking into the workouts has also been a positive for me so I'd like to keep it up.

Trail Monday: Trail Sunday Again

Trail: I hit up the Ft Snelling Pike Island Trail again.  A couple of weeks ago, I rode to the trail by bike and had a great run.  This week, I took a slightly different route by bike and started my run in a different place, but still had a great run.  This the most runnable dirt trail I've found, and the biking is a nice touch.

Hills: Did I ever tell you about that giant hill at Ft Snelling?  Here's the elevation profile?  Guess where is the island and where is the mainland with the giant hill.

Ease of Running: I ran this in my Skoras.  Not even trail shoes.  Because the trail is that good.

Nature: I did, in fact, see a deer.  This deer had a very small rack.  But I saw him on the bike trail on the way home.  Happily, I did not encounter any wild turkeys because they are mean.  It had rained recently so there were one billion snails.

Will I come back: I'm digging this bike/run scenario and digging the trail too.

Trail Monday: Trail Sunday

This is a special edition of Trail Monday.  Due to a forecasted day of rain tomorrow, I wanted to get in the trail run today. 

Trail: I decided to ride my bike over to Ft Snelling State Park, and run around Pike Island.  It's by far the shortest of any of the trails I've run.  This is a step back week for me, so a short run fit nicely into the rest of my schedule.

Hills: Well, there's that one hill at Ft Snelling that I walked my bike up.  Pike Island itself is almost pancake flat.

Ease of Running: By far the most runnable trail I've been on.  There was no grass.  It was packed mud/dirt/sand and gloriously free of mud.  If I want a longer run in the future, I think I will try multiple laps of the island.

Nature: No ticks.  I have continued my streak of seeing at least one deer on every trail run.

Will I come back: The appeal is the most utterly runnable trail I've found so far.  The wild card here is transportation to the trail.  Parking at the trail head is more complex than you'd think, which I knew ahead of time. The bike ride kind of wore me out ahead of time.  Despite the ease of running, I didn't have the fastest time out there. I think as I get stronger on the bike, it will be an appealing option to head back this way.