Long Run Thursday: Hot as he!!

Plan: Wake up at 5am, run 14 miles.  Don't be late to work.
I did in fact wake up at 5am.  To a thunder storm.  I had no backup indoor workout planned.  This is what doom looks like.

Plan B: Run after work.  14 miles would be good but whatever.  It will be over 80* so be careful out there.
Updated plan B: It's really hot.  Intervals will be a good idea. 
Update to the update: This is nuts.

Route: I used my outdoor adventure route at Elm Creek.  This is all paved bike trail.

Weather: Hotter than fire.  It was around 84* and about 80% humidity (or it felt like it was that humid)  Winds were out of the south, and they were a pleasure.

Execution:
Miles 0-4: I did a warm up and then ran over a mile (gotta get that in first) and then I went into 5:00 run, 2:00 walk intervals.  I was surprised that my heart rate stayed as low as it did in the beginning.
Miles 4-8 (the circle at the bottom): I was starting to walk up more of the hills, and starting to get a bit impatient with the pace.  My heart rate was creeping into the higher 140s but still very manageable
Miles 9-12: I stopped looking at heart rate.  I just wanted to be done.  I did go much faster for the intervals at the end.  My heart rate shot up like a champ and I was spent by the end.

Nutrition:  I carried 2 bottles of water, 8oz each and took at least 1 small sip every mile.  I had a couple of gummy chews but my stomach was seriously not into the food.

Bonus: Today was all about temperature management.  Bad decision today was to run outside.  Good decisions following the bad decision were to run intervals, run slower than typical most of the run, drink water regularly and watch my heart rate most of the time.  This run was hard, but not nearly as awful as I'd thought it would be before I started.

Trail Monday - Sort of

I'm trying to get back to Trail Mondays, but I'm also trying to avoid peak tick season.  So today I was all, "I'll go to Baker, but I'll stay on the paved trail"  Because that way I will get the nature and the hills, but far fewer ticks.

Trail: I parked in the camp grounds today, and took the long Baker trail from there. The loop itself is 6.2 miles, plus a bit added on to get from the parking lot to the loop itself.  (The other place where I could park is just a lot, no facilities.)

Hills: True story.  I picked this route because I want to start running hills now in practice for 2017 Lola's. Not sure if this will hold 'till next year.  For now, I want revenge.

Ease of Running: It's a paved trail, so yeah.  I did look over at the horse trail from time to time and was all "man, that looks like it would be no fun to run on".  

Nature: There were swans on Lake Katrina, but way too far for a picture.  I startled a Blue Heron which startled me right back as I ran by it.  That was pretty cool.

Heart rate: I was surprised that my heart rate stayed as low as it did.  It was hot and sunny at the beginning of the run, and the hills are for real. 

Will I come back: For sure.  Baker has a special place in my heart.  I much prefer the paved trails at Baker to the grass/horse trails.  I found this particular route challenging without being totally frustrating. 

Bonus: The campground where I parked has showers with hot water.

Happy 10 Year Runnerversary - Lola's Half Marathon

Lola's Half Marathon was an impulse registration once I realized it was schedule on the day I think is my anniversary of running.  I should've registered for the 10-mile, but am glad I did the half-marathon as it was a good learning experience ahead of Red White and Boom.

Registration - online registration was easy as always.

Packet Pick Up - Olive and I went to early packet pick up at Running Room in MOA.  I'd never poked around the MOA store.  I found it small and not having a ton of clothing merchandise.  Shockingly, I wasn't in the market for shoes so didn't peruse those.  We were offered a discount if we purchased something, except running watches (duh) and nutrition (wtf?)

Weather and Wardrobe: Race started in the 60s with humidity.  Rain and clouds were a possibility but the race was mostly sunny and ended in the 70s
Feet: NB Minimus - the green ones because those can get wet.  That turned out to be a great choice for other reasons.  Thin liner socks.
Body: 2XU shorts and Nike singlet.  This is so much less complicated than a winter race.

Start line: There were sort of not enough port o potties.  They made up for it by having two massive lines, instead of those bunches of shorter lines.  But even getting to the start line at 7:35, I barely made it to race start at 8am.

Course: The first 5K are in town, and then a long loop around Lake Waconia itself. I had done a waters top on this course for Bolder Options some years ago, so I'd had a brief preview of one specific spot.   Apparently I saw the flattest part of the course ever.
Hills - I'd had a sense from looking at the course profile that it was going to be hilly.  The hills are different than Flying Pig (shorter climbs, but more of them).  The terrain was very challenging.  That hill at the end is every bit as awful as it looks.
Mixed surfaces - The course is mainly on paved roads.  In the beginning there was a bit of a bike trail.  And then there's some legitimate single track.  Those shoes were a great choice.  Also, a bit of dirt roads which were surprisingly pleasant for running.  Thank goodness it didn't rain because there were some places on this course that could've become a true slog.
Open course - this course is closed to traffic in a few places near the start/finish and through one park. The country roads around the lake are open to traffic and runners stay on the shoulder.  Some of the cars slowed down but some blew right by at 55mph which was not that comfortable.  Running on the shoulder of the road made me feel like I had one leg longer than the other by end of the race.

Race:
Pacer problems - unlike my last race, the pacer showed up for this one.  I was excited to stay with her for the start.  The first mile had some downhill and I was keen not to do anything too stupid.  By like, the second block of the race I was all "well, I'm just going to let her go".  I caught back up on the down hill only to come into the first mile in 11:02. It was supposed to be 11:27.  That was exactly what I did not want to do. I pulled back my speed and didn't try to stay up with her.
Pacing myself problems - I wished I'd started this race at my own pace, focusing on about a 12:00/mile pace.  Once I let the pacer go, I wished I'd slowed myself down more than I did. I think it would've paid off at the end.   I did not look at my heart rate once, but I did look at my current pace and lap pace a lot.
Endurance issues - I was really pleased with my time through 10 miles (I came in under two hours).  After that, the hills just owned me.  Most of my training runs have been in the 10 mile range.  I have a month to add some 12-14 mile runs ahead of Red White and Boom.  I will focus on correct pacing and staying strong towards the end of the run.
10 year Runnerversary Celebration - This run was really to celebrate that 10 years ago I started running when a friend wanted to try a 5K and I asked if I could join.  So when I hurt at the end, I let go of the time goal and focused on the learning for Red White and Boom.  Olive helped me celebrate and I ran into a friend on the course who paced me for a couple of miles in the middle that would've been very dark without her. 

Finish: I pretty much collapsed at the finish.  I got my medal and went down hard on the grass willing myself not to be sick.  Great success.

Post Race Party: The post race party at Lola's Lake House was fun.  The post race food (Pulled pork sandwich and chips) was really good and the beer was great as well.  They had the beer and food lines moving fast. I didn't expect to like it near as much as I did.

Race Recommended For:
5K - there is a 5K with dogs if that's your thing.  Olive liked it
Half Marathon/10 Mile - Anyone who likes hills or likes a challenge.  Running is single file where the course is open to traffic so this is not a "let's run with a big group" kind of race.
Someone asked me if I'd do this next year.  I found this to be a well organized and well supported race. If I knew ahead of time, I could train for the hills.  I wasn't wild about the cars on the course. 

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.

Long Run - Revenge

Remember this winter when I had this horrendous long run that included my watch running out of batteries (my fault) and my heart rate being too high for no good reason (apparently also my bodies fault).  I was finally ready to tackle this route again.

Plan: Do nothing stupid.  You have to race in 10 days.  Keep my heart rate low.

Route: My new-ish 10 mile route.  The end is more up hill than I'd realized.   But I like it.

Weather: 60s and crazy humid.  I actually woke up around 4:30am to the sound of rain.  My brain was all WTF?!?  It wasn't supposed to rain.  I could tell from the radar that it would be mostly through by the time I headed out the door.  I got about 10 drops on me as I started the run.  The humidity took a long time to bake off.

Execution: I stayed in my target heart rate almost the whole time.  Towards the end, my heart rate was getting a bit out of control.  I was all "what is wrong with me?" until I saw the elevation profile had significantly more up hill than I'd realized before.

Nutrition: I had a small bottle of water and a pack of gummies.

Bonus: The best thing about this run is that it gave me a lot of time to think about the Half Marthon I signed up for on impulse.  That's a whole other post.
I'd read all these articles about planning your race in your mind, and planning how you're going to handle bad things that happen, like feeling tired early or dropping all your food.  Like I wished I'd had a mental plan for what would I do if the pacer just doesn't show up?.  
Lola's has a 2:30:00 pacer and I'd been thinking I'd try to keep up with her.  But for a June race, Lola's starts kind of late.  And running fast in the heat is a dumb idea.  And there's other challenging goals I could make for myself.  Plus I want to have fun because this is my 10 year runnerversary.  I made what I'm calling my "cool weather plan" and my "warm or humid weather plan".  I don't want to call them Plans A and B, because they are both plan A. It was a helpful way to spend my time.

Bonus 2: After the run, I did a finisher involving standing bicycles, standing leg raises, squats and some other things.  Then I tried to take a selfie for my friend Deb who says I need to smile when I selfie.  I believe this is called a smirk.

We Walk Half Marathon

This race was a long time coming.  A loooong time ago I was talking to a friend who improved her 5K walking time.  I told her she should come walk the Flying Pig Half Marathon.  We looked at the course time limits and it wound up not being the right fit.  I knew such thing as a walking half marathon and marathon did exist though.  After a little time on the google, I found the We Walk Half Marathon.  We started training sometime last fall.

Registration: Online registration was very easy.

Housing: This race is far enough away, with an early enough start time, that it seemed worth it to stay nearby.  College of St Ben's has dorm rooms available for one or two nights.  We opted for the one night stay.  Dorms were nice for a dorm.  The bed moved every time I moved, but I was almost expecting that.

Packet Pick Up: We did pick up the night before.  It was at the same place we had to sign in for housing.  There was some catastrophe with the shirt order, but the race organizers tried their best to make things right with what was delivered.

Pasta Dinner: This was my first time going to a pre-race pasta dinner.  I'd wanted to do it because I knew it would be simple and offer predictable pre-race food.  We also got to meet the race organizers and hear about the course for the next day.

Weather and Wardrobe:  Starting temps were in the 60s, finishing temps were around 80* and a slight breeze.  It was crazy sunny all day.
Top: Tank top (and a long sleeve shirt I dropped at the first water station)
Bottom: Running skirt (yes, seriously)
Shoes: Altra Intuition Running shoes.  I bought them specifically for this. 

Start Line: We parked at the finish line and took a school bus to the start line. There were 30-50 people at the start.  It was very friendly.  We got a bit of a pre-race speech and then "take your marks, go" and that was it.

Course: The Lake Wobegon Trail is a rail-trail.  Since trains can't climb big hills, this course didn't have any.  It was relatively flat and very scenic.  Lots of fields, some lakes, and some back yards.
The trail itself is marked every mile.  Our mile markers were counting us down.  We started at 13.1 and worked our way back to 0 which was the finish.  I was really confused.
There were water stops every couple of miles at trail access points.  Some water stops also had cut up fruit.  The watermelon was great.
The trail was obviously open to non-races.  I liked that the bikers actually called out "on your left" which is something they don't often do here in the cities.
The full marathon and 50K both start at 26.2 miles up the trail from the finish.  The 50K people get about 1.5 miles from the finish, and then have to turn and do a little out and back to get the rest of their distance.

Race: Walking a half marathon takes a long time.

Finish: The finish line was about as small as the start line.  My two racing companions both placed in their age groups so they got their age group medals and finisher medals right away.  I was told there were too many people my age in the race for me to have placed.  I was not surprised.

Race Recommended For: If it sounds good to you, definitely give it a try.  Everyone is welcoming and encouraging.  For such a tiny race it's very well organized and well supported with volunteers.
These races also had a "run/walk" category, particularly for the marathon and the 50K.  So if going the distance is a good thing but typical race time limits are a bad thing, this is a great race to look at.

Running Gear - Tuesdays on the Run

This is a few Tuesdays late, but a topic near and dear to my heart:
Tuesdays on The Run: Where to get your gear.

Shoes:
Step 1 is to get fit at a local running store.  In Twin Cities my favorite is Run n Fun.  (They partner with Bolder Options so they are automatically wonderful.)  In Cincinnati, the best place is Ronkers.  Long term - Amazon, REI, REI Outlet and other sites.  Once I know the brand, model, size, etc, I order online.  I tend to find 'last year's models' in the ugliest colors available, but super discounted.  Having ugly running shoes is a badge of honor.

Clothes:
Outlets: The Nike Outlet has so much of my money it's ridiculous.  Mostly for pants.  I've also had surprisingly good luck at the Adidas Outlet store.
Marhsalls/TJ Maxx/Ross etc: I tend to be able to find really good basics at these stores.

Specialty - my favorites:  Sometimes affordability is the most important thing in running clothes. And then sometimes it's worth paying a bit more for exactly the perfect thing.
Graphic tees, shorts, skirts - InkNBurn Last year I badly wanted that Christmas Sweater Running Shirt.  I did the pre order and found it totally worth the massive amount of money I paid.
Skirts - Skirt Sports is a new favorite of mine.  I run in these but also lounge around, take walks, and hang out in them.  Totally legit.
Minimal Shoes - Skora shoes have been a favorite of mine for a while.  They do sometimes have sales or run specials so the site is worth checking.
More good gear - 2xu Outlet is an online outlet that also has a lot of my money. I have several of their jackets and the old tri shorts are a favorite of mine.  I will wear them until they disintegrate.
Compression Gear - ProCompression makes great compression socks.  I wear them for work, for fun, for laying on the couch, and I have several designs.  It's worth liking their Facebook page becuase they will put huge discount codes on there.

Honorable mention:
Joes New Balance Outlet has crazy good deals and I have used them before.  I find their website a bit under-developed.  Even with the advanced search, the sorting mechanisms are useless.  I find myself sorting through a bunch of crap I don't want to find anything I'd like.

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.