Long Run - Outdoor Adventure

I'd been wanting to do this run for some time.  Rain, fatigue, and some other sad circumstances kept me from it for a while.  Once I saw my schedule and geography for the day, it seemed the right time to try it again.

Plan: Have a running adventure.  It will be hilly but try to keep the heart rate in check.  Have fun!

Route: This is a lollipop route, down a long path, around a loop and then back up the path.  I've seen and been on parts of the out/back path and the loop in the past.  It took me a while to figure out this combination of paths and starting/stopping points to get the correct distance for my current training.

Weather: It was projected to be cloudy.  Those clouds were making my crazy nervous.  I felt a total of 3 drops of rain, mostly in the cool down.  The wind was for real too.

Execution:
Part 1 - Panic and impatience.  I started running what I thought was a reasonable pace and my heart rate just kept climbing.  It took me several miles to figure out that was mostly up hill.  Miles 1-4 did not have a lot of even nice paced running.  It was just up or down. 
Part 2 - It doesn't look flat, but the running got easier.  The 'loop' for miles 4-8 was actually quite runnable except for a couple of awful hills. I was starting to enjoy myself.
Part 3 - Fast finish.  I told myself that for the last 4 miles, I could just run and not look at my watch.  This always means I go faster than any other time of the run (and my heart rate climbs quite a bit too).  It was fun.  It was also good to have a push at the end, bit of a confidence builder for the half marathon I just signed up for.

Nutrition:
Note to my future self - I need 2 bottles, 8oz, for a run of this distance.  3 or 4 bottles is overkill for temperatures below 75*.  Obviously I carried more water than I needed.  I had a bag of gummies too.  I took a few at miles 3, 6, and 9.

Bonus: I saw a Pileated Woodpecker.  I tried to take a pic but it flew away. But I saw it in real life.  So that's two so far this spring.  Since I couldn't get a pic of the woodpecker, here's my face when I realized I was almost done running.

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.

Sunday Long Run - Sun and wind around the lakes

I have an odd week before me.  My only option was to do my long run this morning.  Because of other plans, I got up at 6am to go for the run.  I surprised even myself by actually getting up for my alarm.

Plan: Keep a loooow heart rate until at least Bryant Ave (roughly mile 2, and the top of that big hill).  Try to keep the low heart rate magic going for as long after that as possible.  Have fun.

Route: I added a bit of mileage to another route I've run often. (This day for example.)  This time, I went around Lake Harriet before heading up to Calhoun and the Greenway.

Weather: Winds were out of the NNE at 10mph, though I would've sworn it was closer to 20mph.  Running up the side of Calhoun was challenging, but the last mile or two felt really nice.  It was about 45*.  I wore capris, short sleeve and long sleeve shirts and was fine.

Execution: Biggest WIN ever.  The whole time I was telling myself: When I started heart rate training, I was running a 15:00 mile with a heart rate above 150.  Now I was down in the 13s and my heart rate was mostly below 143 until I got on the Greenway.  Wheels had to fall off the wagon somewhere.  My long term goal is to be able to run much faster than this.  Today's workout was definitely a step in the right direction.

Nutrition: I carried gummies with me.  I had some at miles 4, 8, and the end of the run.  I carried water mixed with juice but didn't drink much.  It wasn't a hot run and I didn't feel terribly thirsty.

Bonus: Saw this Pileated Woodpecker.  I always hear them but I almost never see them. 

Bonus 2: I did a 'finisher' at the end.  11:00 more work.  Then I stretched and cooled down to a yoga video. 

Inside Long Run: Sadness

It's raining.  It's been raining here since Sunday, which is when I would've liked to have done my long run.  Here we are at Thursday and I was getting desperate.  I knew I was going to have to do this mess inside.  Sigh.

Plan: Run on the track at least six miles, then go to the elliptical for at least an hour.  Try very hard not to go insane.

Route: I'm so sad because I had this excellent adventure at Elm Creek Park Reserve all mapped out.  Instead I was running in circles on an indoor track. 

Weather: Rain.  Clearly these bullet points that I created for my posts will never work for an indoor workout.

Execution - Run: I am surprised to report that the track running went better than expected and I stayed on the track longer than expected.  My initial goal was to run 6 miles on the track, with a possible bail point at 5 miles if I hated everyone.  Instead, I was able to keep my pace steady and my heart rate low.  At mile 6 I felt good and stayed out there.  At one point I had delusions of grandeur and was picturing all 10 miles done on the track.  By mile 7, the track was getting crowded and less fun for me, and my heart rate was creeping up.  So I stopped there and headed over to the elliptical.  I'm calling this a win.

Execution - Elliptical: It's always much easier for me to manage my heart rate on the elliptical.  With such precise measurements about incline and resistance, how could it not be? Even though this graph looks somehow worse than the running one, the heart rate is lower overall.

Nutrition: It was nice I didn't have to carry water with me.  The downside of track running is that I will not stop for water or food on the track, because I'll never get started again.  So I had a few gummies before I started, and a few at the end.  On the elliptical I had a couple gummies at 20 mins into the workout and 40 mins into the workout, and that was all the food I had.

Bonus: I have no photos because it's creepy to take photos at the gym. Sorry.

Palmer Lake

I had a weird schedule today and the best weather ever.  Which meant a fun run in the sun.

Plan: Enjoy the freaking weather. 
Backup plan: Manage the heart rate. It's hot.

Route: 2 laps around Lake Palmer.  Each lap is 3 miles.

Weather: 70*, crazy sunny, strong winds out of the south.

Execution: Plan A was a great success.  Backup plan, not so much.  But whatever, it was a gorgeous day.

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.

Treadmill runs

I read a bunch of other blogs and people always post these really interesting speed workouts they do on the treadmill.  In my mind I keep thinking it'd be great for me to do, but in my mind I'm also intimidated by running at speed for a while.  So I picked a speed roughly equal to my most recent 5K speed.   My brain was still intimidated but I tried it anyways.

Warmup - 10 mins
Run - 1 min, 2 min, 3 min, 4 min, 5 min, 4, min, 3 min, 2 min, 1 min at just faster than 5K pace with 2 mins slow jog in between each. 
Cooldown - 10 mins

Actual: I didn't make it the full 10 mins because my stomach got upset, but otherwise it went okay.  Sometimes it's fun to run faster than I normally go.  Not sure if this was a real confidence booster or an aberration, but it was fun.

Heartrate: Obviously I didn't care about my heart rate during the fast parts.  I wish my heart rate would've come down a bit more in the between times.  Recovery is always important.

Annandale Running

A friend told me that the lake in Annandale would be fun running.  This friend is obviously a country girl because her next sentence was "the road won't be too busy so you'll be fine."  The city girl in me drove the route once before running it.

Plan: The run is about 5 miles.  Run facing traffic.  Stay safe and have fun.

Route: Around the lake.  On the east and west sides of the lake, it's basically along the road.  On the north side of the lake there's a legit path and it was a pleasure.  The south side of the lake is in town and has sidewalks. Running northbound on Park St was not the most relaxing thing in the world, but after that things were really fun.

Weather: It was 15mph winds and 37*.  I was kind of cold, and very happy for warm clothes after I was done.

Execution: I had a surprisingly fun time.  I ran in NB Minimus.  I wish I'd had something with a bit more protection from the rocks/gravel on the side of the road.  I decided to not pay any attention to my heart rate and just have fun.  Mission accomplished.

Nutrition: After the run I had a great latte and an hour drive home.  The latte was legit.

Sunday Long Run - Mississippi River

Plan: Warm up for 0.5 miles, run with a low heart rate, stop when I get to the coffee shop near my house, buy coffee and walk home from there.

Route: Along the creek to the river, up one side of the river, back down the other, then home.  I used this route a lot when marathon training.  The route itself is around 12 miles and I haven't used it at all in training the past couple of years.  It's not my favorite route, but today was nice to change things up a bit.

Weather: It was windy.  But winds were out of the south so they were quite warm. I started the run around 43* and finished the run above 50*.  I went in shorts and a shirt with arm sleeves.  The arm sleeves were down by mile 1 and not back on until I got my coffee.

Execution: Warm up and low heart rate worked for a long time.  Longer than I'd expected, especially given the up/down nature of this route.  I kept reminding myself of when I started heart rate training and could run 15:00/mile with a heart rate of 154.  Today I was 10-15 beats/minute below that and not quite as slow.  (Almost, but not quite.)  Once I got near the Ford Parkway bridge I was pretty much ready to be done.  I started moving a little faster and stopped caring about my heart rate.  Obviously.

Nutrition: Today's nutrition worked significantly better than my last long run.  I took a couple chews whenever I was hungry and had a sip of water or two whenever I was thirsty.  No stomach issues, which is always nice for a long run.

Surprise Saturday - indoor track

Weather: When I woke up it was 29*, 28mph winds, wind chill of 14*.  So yeah, I'm working out inside today. 

Plan: When I entered the gym, my plan was to warm up and run my mile on the track, and then jump on the elliptical for an hour to finish the workout.

Actual: I started doing my warmup on the track.  It felt good.  I was in the unusual position of not hating everything and everyone and I was running in circles.  So I just kept going on the track.  I decided I didn't really care about heart rate as long as I was having fun.  I ran a solid five miles, and then used mile 6 as a "cool down" to slow my heart rate back to normal.

This should count as my one track workout for the month I think.