Ethan Cannon

5:57 pace, Gateway to Browns creek trail. It was probably the coldest I've ever run on the trail (15 degrees to start) but was very sunny, and the trees always block the majority of the wind. I did 3x3 minutes on, with rest until the end of the mile, on the way back. Only a few ice patches, most was completely clear. It took a while to kind of clear my gut and get rolling. Recorded miles: 6:18, 6:10, 5:52, 6:01, 6:34 (not a mile), 5:47, 5:51, 5:45, 5:53, 5:59, 5:39, 6:30 (not a mile), 5:48, 6:11, 6:03, 6:05. My knee started hurting a bit at the very end. Considering how long I ran and how previous LRs have gone, I feel very good about that. 

6:53 pace, Como classic for my last swim lessons run. Felt slow to start out, then loosened up later. 

6:56 pace, I hit up east river flats again before the snow came. It was an overcast day outside but the air was also kind of bad. It's been not the best for a while now. I'm hoping things will get a lot cleaner with the spring air. This winter I've often felt a lump in my throat after running.

Apparently it has snowed nearly 10 inches since last night. But the busses were grounded this morning so I worked from home, and the last thing I wanted to do was run at the gym, where I would still be inside, at my apartment complex, plugged into a device. So I ran outside which was really enjoyable. Apparently it was 6:39 pace. I did about 10 minutes hard in 4 segments coming home. 

Apparently 6:39 pace in New Orleans. I enjoyed this more than my runs in Chicago which isn't saying much. Smelled lots of pot. I actually got lost once because there wasn't a street sign where I needed one. I asked a guy on a horse-drawn carriage where Dauphine street was and here very eagerly corrected my pronunciation to "Daw-pheen". Oh well. Definitely an interesting climate though. Some of the trees are what I've seen in pictures but never in real life, it was kind of cool. Also, the French culture and architecture is cool. 

About 6:03 pace to Audobon park and then the river parkway. It'll take a while to forget the smell of this city. Knee wasn't great today.

Apparently 6:46 pace. Very warm outside but it didn't bother me. I also felt fine despite having done my LR yesterday. Ran to the city park again. 

7:07 pace, loosely. It was a good day to take my kids on their first stroller run of the year. We went to Como park so they could play. It was really nice out, over 60 degrees. The worst part was the huge puddles everywhere from the snow. These wouldn't have bothered me too much, but the wheels going through them splashed up a ton of mud onto the stroller and stuff. Pushing the stroller felt hard today, either because I'm out of practice or because the kids have grown. 

6:39 pace on East River road. So I certainly wasn't going slow but I felt slow getting passed  by another runner for the second time in a week, when usually that happens once a year or so. I was quite surprised when it happened in New Orleans of all places. 

Workout today. It was nice and sunny out and not very windy. I think someone threw something at me from their car but other than that, a great day for a workout. I repeated a stadium workout I have previously done with 1k on, 1k float. I did the same route and as I recall, hit about the same times, which is a good sign. But I did check and the route is only 0.97 kilometers. 3:25, 3:02, 3:22, 3:00, 3:24, 2:59.

6:44 pace on a warm, windy day. Met up with my family who were on a walk at Como lake. 

7 flat pace, east river flats. I felt tired running this morning after having run last night. 

5:55 pace, ran to Lino Lakes. This was another very long point to point run, and I met my family at the end of it at our friends' house for brunch. Knee hurt a bit which was what I expected. It was interesting to see some new parts of the metro. I'm amazed how big that wide-open army area is in Arden Hills. 

6:52 pace, farmers fields. I was surprised that the trail was still muddy.

6:47 pace, Boom island. 

West river north. The mill ruins area was open again. 

Workout. 2 mile tempo, (nearly) full recovery, then 4 by 800 with equal recovery. Sure there was wind and some physical issues, but I felt tired. I'm out of shape and need to get back into it quickly. I'm grateful I can run hard at all. 10:27, 2:29, 2:26, 2:29, 2:24. The two mile was a little long and the 800s were half miles. 

6:55 pace on Como classic in the morning. 

Very approximately 6:14 pace. That varied a lot. I went out controlled on the way out. Right after my workout, my hands started hurting really bad. It was 18 degrees when I started but sunny, not very windy, and getting warmer. So given that I was going on a fast run, I thought I would be fine in my light gloves. Apparently not. By the time I warmed up my hands in fists, my knee wasn't feeling great and so I definitely coasted home from the far side of the University. The workout was 5-4-3-2-1 with rest equal to the next rep. I felt much smoother today compared to Thursday. It looks like I averaged 5:55 pace for those 25 minutes, 10 of which were easy. Hard to say what pace I was going on the hard parts. 

6:48 pace, east river flats. Knee was not feeling good today.

6:41 pace, farmers fields. Knee hurt again but maybe not as much as yesterday. I think I can say my easy day pace is a product of five things: A) fitness (which probably doesn't play a major role when I am generally in shape); B) fatigue (which again probably affects me on a relatively low percent of runs); C) time of day, where afternoons are faster than mornings; D) environmental factors such as rain and wind; D) weather, where warm weather leads to faster speeds. 

I wasn't going to work out today but I saw the track was empty and decided I'd rather work out this afternoon than tomorrow morning. I did a workout that I thought would do me good- 4x4x400, with 2 minutes between sets and ~20 second jog to the start line of lane 9 (or the finish line when I reversed direction) between reps. I ran (72, 74, 73, 73), (71, 72, 72, 72), (71, 71, 70, 71), and (69, 69, 69, 66). Lane 9 is so far out that you basically end at the inflection point of the track, so with the wind, it made it much easier to go one direction than another. Still slow times but this is what I need to do. Update: I compared this to what I did last year. I had more rest and did less reps this time but did run faster. 

6:48 pace, Como classic. Surprisingly fast and pain free the day after my workout. Being good about my exercises may have helped. 

East river flats with the jogging stroller. That was really really hard. Yikes.

6:11 pace on a new combination of routes- first to Como park, then up to Resevoir woods. On the way back I did a three mile tempo at 5:13 pace. 

6:47 pace, east river flats. It was cool out but the air was clean which made running enjoyable. 

Update: I think this was on east river road. I'm not sure how I calculated that pace or messed that up but it is what it is.