4.3 Miles - to Downtown

Today started out with me eating popcorn for breakfast, feeling undernourished, and then purchasing a new dishwasher.  It was rough and by the afternoon, I was really ready for a run.

Run: I'd kept threatening to run from my house to the gym downtown and today felt like the day to actually drop the hammer.  I didn't run on the Greenway or out by the lakes, just straight up to downtown.  It's different running in the city because there's so many people on the sidewalk who are not running or walking for fitness.  I found them an excellent distraction.  The other striking distance is the stop lights every couple of blocks.  Those really slowed me down but ultimately I was glad for the break.  Because it's almost all uphill to get to downtown. Who knew?

Spin: I've renamed the teacher 'Dungeon Master' because someone already called her Satan and she didn't like that nickname.  Not kidding.   Today we did workout #1.  I'm trying to keep track of workouts 1-9 and which ones are the worst torture.  Don't tell her but I found this one challenging but possible, just shy of absolute torture.  I think she took out the jumps for me because I really hate those.  Does it hurt anyone else to come out of the saddle on a spin bike or is it just me?

Brick: To get home from Spin, I have a very tight bus connection so I ran a few more blocks and then walked the last one or two to get to the bus stop.  It really seemed like a lot of people got on the bus with me.  Then the driver said "the bus before me was a no show; but for the record, I am on time".  That bus showed up about 10 minutes later and we leap-frogged with him most of the route from there on. 

Questions:
Really, it hurts my body to come out of the saddle on the bike.  Am I doing something wrong?
What should my heartrate be for a Spin class?  Was I working hard enough?
 I'm trying to find an app that can handle data from a heart rate monitor while I'm on a stationary bike.  Any recommendations?

Milk Run 5K and the Minnesota State Fair

The Milk Run was my very first race back in 2005.  I ran it again in 2006 and 2007 and I think that was my fastest year as well.  Since then I stopped registering or wasn't in town to make it work, but kept going to the fair.  2008 was the year of the Chicken, 2010 was the year of 'why we don't ride Sky Gondolas', and in 2013 a friend reintroduced me to the awesomeness that is the Milk Run and put it back in my brain....

Milk Run: or as I like to call it the Pain Train.  The course winds around the Falcon Heights neighborhood and seems like it should be awesome and lovely.  And then you see the course profile and you're all 'well welcome to hell'.  I planned emotionally to be on the pain train for this entire race.  Because really, a 5K is no time to hold back.  But with a bachelorette party the night before and 4 hours of sleep, I wasn't planning on a PR either.   I just wanted to see what I could do.  I was disappointed that I didn't get the last mile faster than 10:00, but I really couldn't breathe by then anyways so I guess it's fine.  Chip time: 33:46

Fair Fun: Lucinda and I and a friend of hers saw most of the fair.  My legs were absolutely killing me by the end of the day.  I've never wished for compression socks and a foam roller so bad in my entire life.

Highlights of this year's fair

• The horses: It's hilarious they bring in the miniatures and then the Clydesdale group next.  Excellent juxtaposition.
• Poultry Barn: I got excellent pictures of the chickens I think
• SkyTower: where I am I still afraid
• The Fine Arts Building: it's always so much better than I expect it to be
• Bonus highlight: The Raptor Center.  It was too late for a tour when we stopped but we did get to see a couple animals close up

Fair Fails this year

• Fried Buckeyes: I was originally very excited for the food of my original people to be served to the food of my adopted people, but they got bad reviews and the picture just didn't look right so we stayed away.  Too bad.
• Commonwealth Ave is no longer open to pedestrian traffic.  What the actual fuck?!?  This irked Lucinda to no end.  It didn't bother me 'till later when I realized it literally added a mile of walking each way to the car.  I'm so glad I didn't know that at the time because I would've tried to climb the fence.
• No compression socks and no ibuprofen.  Seriously.  I hurt. A lot.

#ALSIceBucketChallenge

5.3 Miles - back to my running paths

The thing about Cincinnati Running is that it mostly takes place on main streets with cars zooming by next to the sidewalk.  (Madison Road and Grandin Road, I'm looking at you.)  Where I was running last week, some of the busiest places don't even have a grass boulevard between the sidewalk and the cars so I was really right next to them.  It was not my favorite kind of running.

Today, I went for an early run, 5.3 miles along the creek.  I noticed myself being really grateful for not running along a main road. I stayed on these big sidewalks on these very quiet side streets, and had a block on the main road becuase I go up to a walk light to cross.  Then I zipped down to a running path that's not even near a road.   I got to see lakes and creeks and my Blue Heron friend.  I have no idea where the egret went.  I didn't realize how not fun it was to be always running around cars until I got a break from it. Another reason I'm glad to be in Minnesota.

Running Cincinnati

There's not too terribly much I want to say about my trip home.  It had some definite highs but some lows as well.  Running was definitely a bright spot, so I will talk about the crazy hills there.  There is literally no flat space there. 

Wednesday: 3.3 mile run, stop at coffee shop, 1 mile walk home.  This is the profile for the entire trip.

Thursday: 6.3 miles.  Hilly which was hilarious because Mom assured me it was flat.  That stuff in the middle was about as much fun as it looks like.

Friday: 1.25 mile run, just enough to keep the streak alive.

Saturday: 6.3 miles, again.  This time at least I knew it was going to be hilly.

Sunday: 1.5 miles run.  I was worn out.

Monday: 7.65 miles run.  2.8 mile walk in the woods with Mom and Dad.  This was a hard run.  I did not use my heart rate monitor, but still took walk breaks in places I knew I should.  This is the profile for the run only.

Wordless Monday: I love you!

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5 Fitness Things I Can Definitely Live Without

The other day I wrote a list of my fitness must-haves.  Then I saw this fun post about the fitness items we could all do without.  Of course I must do a part 2: Fitness things I can't stand.

1. Running shorts with a 3.5" inseam.  What the hell is this about?  These are great for professional runners and 11 year old girls.  Ladies with actual bodies and actual curves?  Not so much.

2. Capris and tights without draw strings.  I may be on my own here.  Carpis have always fit me funky, and tended to ride down my hips without a draw string.  No amount of chunky waistband has ever helped.  For some reason, this is no problem in shorts.

3. Gu Roctane.  I totally agree with the original poster.  I only had this once and I had that "it burns" feeling the entire time.

4. Tanks with a built in bra. I laugh (and jiggle) in the face of your elastic.

5. Shoe inserts.  Boo.  Hiss.  I'm the most comfortable with the least amount of shoe.  I feel like too much down there just gets in my way. 

I have this feeling that the moment I hit 'publish' I'm going to remember five or ten more things, so keep an eye out for part 2.

5 Miles of Steam

What is it called when water particles rise up from a body of water and then hang there?  Fog?  Mist?  Steam?  Whatever it was, it was happening this morning on the creek.  I did five miles, a touch slower than yesterday but faster than anything that would happen in the heat, and stopped for some pictures.  Today I'm deeming 'bird day'.  There was a Blue Heron that eluded photography, a hawk, and eight billion geese.  At the end of the day I did this foam rolling video.  I've done it a few times now and am liking it.  Although, pretty quickly I'm coming to the point where I never want to show my IT band another foam roller.  Ouch!

4 Fun Miles

I ran 4 miles this morning.  Followed by a finisher of squats and standing front leg raises from 12.  I was too nervous to go from 15, afraid of falling down or something.  Sigh.  It was a really fun morning for a run because it was really cool out.  My heart rate stayed pleasantly low which meant I got to run faster than I'm used to in the afternoon.  I had so much fun that I didn't even take a picture until I was done, a bug playing in a flower.

In the evening Nathan and I tried to have Marlas.  The reviews that describe the food as awesome and everything else as unreliable are utterly true.  Marlas was closed tonight.  Sigh.  We made it to Tiny where I had fried Okra and some other stuff.  Then we walked around Powderhorn and watched the sun set.

8.5 Miles in Minneapolis

I was all over the place today, similar to last Monday's Run.  Except this time, I didn't stop at the sculpture garden.  I continued on through Loring Park and up Loring Greenway into downtown.  It was a hot and very slow run.

Today I at least had the sense to program intervals into my workout, so I'd planned walk breaks which really helped keep my heart rate down. Not as low, probably, as it should've been the entire time, but much lower than last week. Average heart rate was 144 for the run, compared to 153 last week.  In a second stroke of genius, I ended the run at the downtown gym.  I stopped in for a nice foam roll session and to re-fill my bottle before taking the bus home.  Excellent.

Today, I also tried not to repeat the same pictures as last week.  I'm not sure how I did.  For sure the Spoonbridge is at a different angle. 

4 Miles in the Rural Minnesot Heat

I found a new trail today.  The Buffalo to Montrose Trail is so new, it hasn't even made it up onto TrailLink.  So instead, I will review the thing properly.  I only got to run part of the trail today because it was hotter than fire and I didn't want to run 20 miles.  And yes, I am impressed that rural Wright County has a protected bike trail.

Description: This trail runs along the side of CSAH 12, separated from traffic but a boulevard of grass at most places except for the Crow River crossing where runners go on a wide shoulder of the bridge with cars.  In Montrose, the path moves to sidewalks for the last few blocks.  I thought the cars zooming by would be annoying.  Really it's a rural road with some traffic but not tons and it didn't bother me.  The suburban traffic from this day was much worse. 

Trail Surface: Crushed limestone; a few patches of asphalt on larger hills.  I can only assume they are trying to prevent washouts. 
Distance: 8 miles or so.  I'm not totally clear.
Best For: Running, hiking, biking
Connects To: Buffalo Lake, US 12 in Montrose it seems to just stop there?
Use During Winter: It seems this path will be designated for snow mobiles in winter and not cleared for running or biking.
Parking: Seems to be the drawback for this trail.  I found an obvious parking spot at the trail head in Buffalo and no other parking until some side streets in Montrose.  I wonder if Farmer Bob would mind if I parked my car in his yard one day for a run.

July 2014 Totals

I've found a hitch in my record keeping.  Separating totals by month is actually harder than it seems on my current spreadsheet.  Sigh.  I will keep working at it because the monthly statistics seem quite useful.

What Worked Well: I upped my daily mileage to include several 6-mile runs, and my weekly mileage to low 30s.  I'm also making a strong effort to run in all kinds of new and fun places.  Elm Creek Preserve is a favorite for longer runs and varying trail types, and the Anoka Nature Preserve is a favorite for dirt/grass/sand trails. 

What Could Go Better: I didn't do very many finishers.  Hello, lateral stability!  I did about half as many minutes compared to June.  In July, I did a lot of hot afternoon runs and was just utterly spent by the time I was done. Runs that defeated me include the time I tried to run hills, Medicine Lake in the heat, and a Monday long run to the sculpture garden. 

Biggest Surprise:Stretching minutes nearly doubled from last month.  It must be having the second foam roller.  Foam rolling has accounted for almost all of those stretching minutes this month.  I'm guessing most of my non-finisher time wound up in this category.  Especially because I typically foam roll right before bed, long after I recovered from a hot run.

Plans for the next month: I will try to keep exploring new places to run.  Today I found Buffalo and Montrose.  I'd like to keep the stretching around 30 minutes per week and move the 'finisher' up to once a week as well.