Ethan Cannon

6:52 pace on the way back from west river north. Still feeling tight in the calve. Still feeling a little weak from the race but that seems to be wearing off. 

I can hardly complain. I knew going into today that the river would likely not let me pass on east river flats, and it didn't. I was turned around in the usual place. This is the year that I was able to run there in december and in january though. So I can live with it. According to my map I went 9.13 miles but I am rounding down because I think it thought I went a more circuitious route in a few instances. Still feeling calve pain, tightness throughout the lower extremety, and a little fatigue. Hoping to get in a nice good marathon prep LR Saturday. Was like mist raining today. 

6:43 pace, farmer's fields. I thought about going elsewhere where there would be more shade, but it honestly felt nice to be outside under the sun on a bright warm day that really felt like summer. They just put up signs on the soft surface trail saying it is not maintained for human use. I would be interested in knowing that story behind that and hope it will continue to be passable, as it is one of my favorite sections of running here. I felt better today in terms of energy and injury than I have since my race! 

Como classic, rain route. It was coming down a good amount. 6:42 pace. I was bummed to feel my calve act up again at one point. For some reason I've been feeling really tight recently but I'm not sure why or how to make things better. I am stretching and rolling out. 

6:39 pace coming back from east river road. Another day of misting rain. Leg felt a little better today. 

Given that I hadn't done anything hard in two weeks since my race, I knew this would be a good opportunity for a marathon prep long run. Last year I did 3 LRs of 20+ miles, and I had yet to do any this year. After flipping back and forth, I decided to run on west river road, rather than Theodore Wirth, given that I thought it was important to be able to get up to speed on a route I know well and just click off miles. I ran 5:46 pace overall, 5:38s on the way back. At 20.68 miles, this is the 3rd longest training run I've ever done. Fort Snelling state park is gross right now. A lot of it was under water, much of it still is. So it smells yucky and is grimy and slippery. It was only 60 degrees when I started but must have been humid because I was pretty lathered in sweat. 

I took Maurten for the first time today. I unfortunately need to report that GU has it beat in about every way- cheaper, lighter, less bulky, more aesthetically pleasing, better tasting. The only reason I left GU was becuase I thought it had less carbs than it actually does now that I check again (oops). There may be some other technical reasons why Maurten is better, so I think my plan for now will be to take 4 GUs and 1 Maurten in upcoming training runs, followed by 5 GUs and 1 Maurten on race day. Maybe miles 2, 5, 8, 12, 15, 18 we'll say tentatively. 

Ran to Como park with my wife (on bike) and girls. She really enjoyed it. I'm glad she got to experience that route. 

I think this was actually Monday, and I think it was farmers fields. 

Estimating distance as map my run didn't seem reliable (it said I went further than I thought!) Nice run in Cable, Wisconsin. 

Another run in Cable. The hills here sure keep you from going into autopilot. Very beautiful though. So many trees and hardly any cars so I can just run on the road. 

Ran (estimated) four miles pushing the girls in the stroller, then six on my own. Felt exhausted pushing the stroller, maybe due to soreness from kayaking. Could probably lube the wheels too. One of the things I'll most most about running here is how good it smells. 

Certainly one of the most memorable LRs I have done. One thing I've learned is that you can map out a new route and see the satellite but the real thing will always be different than you expected. The low today was 69 and I've been getting like 6 hours of sleep a night, so I didn't feel any motivation to make this more than a long slog. That being said, it was a great blessing that my girls really slept in so I was able to go early. I ran through the Lino Lakes / Lexington / Blaina area, including a cool wetland boardwalk, some parks, and some cool lakes that looked artificial in an area of wealthy new homes. The sun was never beating on me, but on the way back, the clouds became very very dark. Like the street lights went on again. It was the most interesting thing. Very much enjoyed it. I got rained on once briefly and then again harder at the end. Overall a really cool place,  it the mosquitos seem worse here than elsewhere. 6:05 pace overall, 6:00 coming back. 

Last run of vacation through the lakes of Lino Lakes. It was raining too so obviously a fun run. But I seem to remember being under the impression that I would be hit by mosquitos if I stopped running. Idk if I actually observed them or if it was just from my prior experience from this weekend, but it leaves you with a less favorable opinion of the area. I'm glad I live where I do. 

6:48 pace, west river roundabout. Felt very tired. It has been a long week with poor sleep, but I'm dissapointed that I'm nearly a month out from my half marathon and have yet to log a real workout. This is kind of what happened to me last year and I was hoping to not repeat it again. 

Glad to almost be done with this pair of shoes. It was nice and cool outside this morning. Felt great, like fall. 6:40 pace on farmers fields. Felt fatigued but a littler better towards the end. 

It felt good to be back on the track again. I've slept through the night 3 nights in a row which makes a huge difference. It was a nice warm day for a summer workout. Wind was not excessive. I did 20x400, with a recovery jog from the finish to the lane 7 start line. The first time I only got 13 seconds rest, thereafter I figured it out and hit around 18 seconds each time. Switched directions half way through and took 2:30 rest. Overall this was on the easier side of workouts. Probably a really good one to maintain a decent speed for longer. I ran: (77, 74, 74, 73, 74, 74, 74, 74, 73, 75) and (74, 73, 72, 72, 72, 71, 72, 71, 71, 65). 

Sweaty run to boom island with the family. Turns out those soft surfaces aren't as nice when you are pushing a stroller or a bike, haha.

Warm morning running to Theodore Wirth. 6:12 pace overall, 6:06s coming back. That includes a couple of miles of running on some extremely steep paths near the butterfly garden that were nice but slowed me down. That being said, pace did feel harder than the easy effort I was going for. Right afterward I bike to church and bike to finish up a very active morning. Took one of my (expired) GUs. It felt fine during the run but afterwards I had knots in my stomach, hopefully any after effects would happen after my future races. 

Ran further than normal for a family bike/run. Glad the girls were great for it. 6:45 pace apparently, maybe a bit slower due to mapping innacuracies. Pretty humid outside but it was enjoyable. We ended up doing a weird loop essentially because I was expecting to get turned around by flooding on east river flats. That never happened and it didn't smell bad like I thought it would either so we went to the end of that and came back on east river road. 

Great overcast day for a run on Como classic, rain route (due to storms the past couple of days). 6:45 pace. 

This was to be my biggest workout between now and the marathon I have planned in August. For marathon training, it's just hard to get good specificity without putting in mileage worthy of a long run (I may have to start doing more real workouts in LRs). I started out with a 5 mile race pace* run from the bridge near the athletic complex, all the way to the playground on west river north. I tried to hit 5:40s, but didn't know what my pace would be until halfway, which I hit in 13:16 (5:19 pace). That was certainly more controlled than a tempo, but wasn't easy and I was glad to see I had been going too fast. Fatigue from the first part made running 5:38 pace the second half (27:20 or 5:28 pace total) harder. Took a total of <8 minutes off before running 2x1600 with what ended up being equal recovery. I was happy to hit the first lap in 70 seconds. I ended up running 4:43, followed by 4:39. Sure I closed hard, but the effort on the track to run that pace was surprisingly reasonable. I'm pleased with this workout. I'm reminded of my past observation that I feel like I can do a tempo, followed by track work, and feel basically fresh for the latter. We are at the time of year where morning weather in the low 60s feels really good out. 

6:43 pace coming back from east river road. In addition to the expected post-workout fatigue, I felt a unique stomach upsetness early on that eventually faded. My shoes were dirty, then they got wet from sweat one day, so I washed them out but they took days to dry. So I finally wore them today and they were still a little damp. Needless to say I'm ready to show them the door. 

Out with the old, in with the new in terms of shoes. And these ones don't leave you with that good new shoe feeling. Really, the Gel Nimbus 25s has been one of the biggest shoe flops I've experienced and was not a good look to me for ASICS which had its one chance to impress me here. Saucony all the way! 6:43 pace on farmers fields. Felt better today for sure but still a small tummy ache at the beginning.

I meant to go 17 but apparently did 17.9. 5:54 pace overall, 5:48 on the way back from east river road and hidden falls park. Didn't think I was going that fast. The new half tights worked quite well. Despite being drenched with sweat, they didn't feel uncomfortable in any way in the later stages as a pair of shorts would. I put 6 gels in to practice for the race. I'll appreciate going through them in the race itself (I took just one today), but having all 6 was maneagable. Low 70s when I left, 79 with a dew point of 71 when I returned. I stop for water like 4 times and wish I had stopped one more. Like gels, I think in my race, taking the time to hydrate will be well worth it, especially if it is hot. 

6:41 pace, east river flats, with the stroller! Another downside of the Gel Nimbus' is they collect sweat really well- they were worse on today's run than my Triumph's were on Saturday's LR. This was our longest bike/run yet. Kids have done really well. I would never do a long run, that is just too much for them and for me. 

6:50 pace, Como classic. Almost that time of year when the fairgrounds close. 

6:42 pace on the way back from east river flats. Very hot and humid out this morning and I felt tired.