Ethan Cannon

Went skiing today and wasn't able to run

Did my last run in medford and last run with Adam. He was doing a workout so I did it with him since I figured it wouldn't do me any harm. We ran 5 by mile with 2 minutes rest on the relatively flat in 5:40, 5:39, 5:41, 5:42, 5:56. He hasn't worked out in a few weeks so it wasn't his best workout.

Ran at like 8:30 tonight. It has snowed over 12 inches in the last day or snow, which was an additional reason going outside was out of the question. After having traveled for 11 hours today, I actually felt pretty alright. 

I didn't run as far as I wanted to because I had to get back. It has been a rocky return to routine here. For example, I spent nearly an hour unburying the car after the storm. I guess it was nice to run in the afternoon because I don't love doing a morning run following a night run. Actually snuck in 6:57 pace because transitway was very clear. The sidewalks were not, but thankfully I felt very good about running on the road because there were very few busses presumably because it is break. I definitely don't regret running outside, though I would have if I had twisted an ankle on talmage. 

7:16 pace. Lots of slipping around on the run again today, though of course transitway was fine. 

Woke up with a sore throat an the AQ outside was also kind of bad (120) and of course it being -1 degree with lots of snow didn't help (though as of last night, I knew about those latter items and was still planning on going outside). So I ran on the treadmill. It was probably only my second LR ever on the treadmill. My heart rate seemed to be decent. I took it twice, once at 138 and once at 150 near the end of my run (and probably a little faster since I had stopped). Still, I didn't feel like I had run 16 miles when I got home so I didn't know what to make of that. 

7:02 pace, west river road. Was a very nice morning other than the bad air quality. Underneath my face covering (for warmth) I wore a K95 mask (for my lungs) which was made less comfortable because my sickness has caused me to have lots of snot. All those things together weren't the best but it could have been worse. 

6:57 pace on west river road north. 

Freezing rain last night so I couldn't run outside this morning, though I'm sure I could have later. Apparently I did a 4 mile tempo run at 5:00 pace. I say apparently because I don't know how grounded in reality that was. It felt hard but not hard like a normal tempo run would be. 

7:18 pace. I did not select the best route for avoiding ice. It was nice to run outside without a mask though!

7:02 pace. I looped around to do transit way because the snow has gone away and its just ice on the dinkytown greenway so I didn't want to run that way twice. 

6:25s on the way out, 6:02s on the way back, 6:14 overall. Included transitway and then on to como. 

Just over 7 minute pace. It was a lovely, rainy January morning. Some areas that had melted yesterday became icy and slippery this morning, so it might have been a good idea to run inside, but I couldn't resist such nice weather. I couldn't go down Talmage so I ran east on Como to the lake instead. 

Had to run on treadmill due to an inch of slush despite it being warm outside

The ground was clearing up from the slush the other day by this afternoon when I ran, and its supposed to snow tonight so I took advantage of this window and ran not only a run outside but a workout. I did the 3 on 1 off deal again. Originally I intended it to be 20 minutes total but I decided to finish running around Como lake. This turned out to be 19:40 total, or almost exactly what I had intended, not the 24 or so minutes I thought it would be mid-workout. I calculated that I was doing about 4:56 pace on the hard assuming the easy was about 7:25 pace. I don't feel too bad about that given that it was windy and at times snowy while running on Como avenue to get to the lake, though the lake loop itself was fine. 

Snowed last night. Had a nice little slip which sealed the deal that it was wise to run inside. It wasn't too bad today. Maybe I'm getting used to it? 

Somehow I ran 7 minute pace despite going backwards on some parts. I think it took me like 6:30 to get off of talmage. I was happy to run outside though! Went over to transit again.

5:54 pace overall. That's what happens when you get to run most of the way (but not all) on actual pavement. Partway through my run on east river, I noticed that part of the bike path was clear, while the path I was running on was iced over. There also wasn't much traffic so I was even able to run in the road sometimes. 

Baby was born this evening, so didn't go for a run. 

About 7 minute pace including some ice on Como. Decided to run outside even though it was dark last night because we have a really cold spell coming so I will have plenty of time to run on the treadmill. I'm glad I went outside.  

Was a little slippery with a bit of snow today, but once again I wanted to get outside this afternoon before it gets bad. Only did 6 since I am still not getting much sleep. And sure enough my achilles tendon did feel a bit twingy again. Might be a good idea to rotate in a new pair of shoes. 7:02 pace, did the first half part of Como classic despite the sketchy conditions for my ankles on the soft surface areas. Was fine though. 

Started at Roseville library and ran around, eventually through the Villa park/Resevoir Woods area. I don't think I've ever done that when there was snow on the ground. 7:07 pace. It would be impossible to run a barn burner there, but it wasn't bad for running easy pace. Snow was pretty manageable. 

Ran over around the fairgrounds to check something out. It was quite the slop shop for much of the way and windy as well, so I have a hard time believing 6:55 pace but oh well.

Wore my new shoes. I was pretty dissapointed by them. The 39s seem to be very firm underneath. I felt like it made a big difference towards promoting injury and discomfort. Its sad that I have three pairs of those that I got on black friday. I really tried to do the research on them and am very dissapointed with the reviews I looked up that neglected to mention this very extremely obvious difference between the 38s and 39s. From now on I will not buy shoes I have not personally tested. I hope my legs can be ok. But I feel like I should switch in even really old 38s for a break.  

6:26 pace on a 0 degree morning on west river road. The trail wasn't fully clear but was pretty good. 

9 miles on treadmill, it was like -10 outside this morning or something

6:38 pace? Surprising. It was -8 (-23 windchill) when I started my run which might be a record (-3 or so by when I got back). But I had come back from the airport that morning and the sunrise was beautiful which provided additional motivation to go outside. It was really not that bad.  

Another sub-0, quick (6:41 pace) day. I went on east river road which was a little icy but ok.

6:58 pace, Boom Island. It was a day to be remembered- my first time falling down this season. I had had a bad slide on the way out, then on the way back I didn't really think about it and plummeted. Thankfully it was not a major issue. 

I think it was really cold yesterday so I ran inside

1.25 mile warm up to Bierman, then later a 3.5 mile or so warm up on the Dakota rail trail (I think) in Minnetonka. It was a lot like what I remember of Minnetonka LRT. Then a 6 mile tempo at 5:11 pace. Started in the low 5:20s then progressed. Overall I do think we lost a decent bit of elevation. I haven't run miles that fast in a bit and it was in the teens outside which I don't do well in, so I was hurting by the end. I just barely got dropped by a bit which is too bad. It was good to run with three old teammates- two from UMN and one from BYU who might transfer. 

6:42 pace. For some reason I have always run fast in these new shoes. Was a nice warmer morning to run to Como lake.

It was a nice morning and a great day but the ground was exceptionally slippery after a light snow yesterday. At one point I took like five consecutive steps and slipping on each one! So I ran inside, and for a certain reason I wasn't quite able to finish the mileage I intended. However I was going a bit faster than normal, I really do feel like these shoes are fast. 

6:43 pace on same route as monday. In spring, minnesota goes from being the land of 10,000 lakes to the land of 1 million puddles! Despite it being 40 degrees and sunny when I ran this afternoon (which I did specifically so I could enjoy running outside rather than slipping on ice and maybe having to treadmill it), I actually checked a bucket list item and walked on (the edge of) Como lake. I saw a guy out there in the middle with his dog. Seems kind of crazy because I kept running and saw that the north end of it was completely thawed. 

7:02 pace on west river north, despite lots of bothersome ice. You pay a high price for a warm day in the winter with all of the snow that it melts and refreezes. 

Sub 6:40 pace, which means I must have been really cooking on the faster parts of the run since there were some areas in the Como neighborhood I ran on that were really bad.

Ouch. That hurt terribly. And I had a whole nearly 8 mile warm up to suspect it was going to go bad. Was going to do 3 by 2 mile on a route on transit that I had mapped out. Did the first one in 10:09 feeling bad. The wind was awful. Then on the way back, the wind was still bad and it was uphill. Did it in 10:26 and called it (partway through that rep). Felt absolutely horrible. Think it is the sleep deprivation. Reminds me of March 2021.

6:51 pace on west river. Sunny morning and 24 degrees or so felt great and the birds were chirping like it was spring! 

Not sure exactly how fast I ran. But if I ever say "I am wondering if I should run the diagonal today, it might be too icy though" somone should definitely talk me out of that. That's all I'll say. On the bright side, it was high 30s and raining. 

Apparently 6:42 pace? If the shorter classic east river route is 9.36 miles. Some slipping, but overall definitely worth going outside. 

9 miles treadmill though I'm not sure that was necessary

6:46 pace. Ran to the far side of Como lake as I have done a couple times recently. 

Wow! I guess it was a nice morning for a run because I probably saw 200 people out on west river road. I think one of the running clubs was going or something. After last week and a bad sleep last night, I wasn't expecting much other than a 95 minute run, but I was able to feel pretty strong running 5:43 pace! There was a little but not much ice. I knew things were going well when I got to the two mile mark in 12:20. 5:32 pace on the way back even though I didn't feel like I was going faster. 

A snow storm blew in this morning. I made it a whole mile before I decided to turn around and run indoors, mostly because the snow was so strong. But I slipped several times on my way back, and the sidewalks are now very slippery. 

Specifically tried to go slower today becasue of my aching outer heel. Also some places there was snow on the ground. 6:57 pace to Como park. 

Treadmill run after the snow yesterday.

Another day at the office, and by office I mean treadmill. 

Another day on the 'mill. Hoping to run outside tomorrow. 

Glad I ran outside though. West river road had snow the whole way (and como ave was worse) but it was relatively workable. 6:46s on the way out. Then I ran on the road the first ten minutes of the way back and in general tried to pick the pace up more than I had been on the way out and did 6:22s. So 6:34 is what I'd guess overall. 

Apparently this ws 6:48 pace. Have a hard time believing that. There were a couple times when I stopped (which I had to do frequently because of the massive sleet puddles) and may have not pressed the start button hard enough such that my time was actually longer than I recorded. I went in the afternoo and had really wanted to run outside. It was a rough day to do that. The university area was fine though. 

Somehow despite the snow I did 6:42 pace again? Hard to believe. Ran in the afternoon again because of a meeting this morning. That choice did allow me to run outside though because it was nice and warm out and the ice had melted a good amount. Did a big loop around campus (from dinkytown greenway and back on the other side) to maximize running on clean areas. 

Found yet another reason to run this afternoon, which meant I could run outside. And with it being wednesday, I realized I should do a workout.

Did 6 by 3 min on, one minute off on west river. I've done that workout before. I read recently an article that changed my view a bit about training. I think the idea is to just do as much work as possible at your lactate thresshold or otherwise to stress your body, even if it's not at a specific pace or whatever. It looks like today I was hovering around 5 minute pace (very rough estimation) for the hard running. Given the major patches of ice/snow, that is not a problem.

Really nice to have my feet get less wet today and have less ice to slip on. Maybe the mostly dry road combined with the fast shoes and the afternoon time to mean I ran 6:36 pace. 

I ran further than intended, and since I saw some old teammates doing a hills workout, I joined them for the last 5 reps of 40 second hill repeats. Now my achilles tendon feels sore so I'm glad I saw them but shouldn't have probably run quite that hard on a whim. 

Very conscientously relaxed on the run today to accomodate my sore achilles tendon, which I felt at times but never turned me back. That ended up looking like 6:23 pace on west river road, including many minor patches of ice. 

I know its not a big deal, but I'm proud of this being my longest week in a while. 

Snowed again last night, so back to the treadmill for my morning run. 

6:45 pace. I went around the long way to get to east river, then switched over to west river on franklin ave. But there were probably more routes I could have taken. I'm surprised how quickly the snow dissapeared after the storm the other day. 

6:54 pace running on Boom island for the first time in quite a while, despite keeping my watch running for all of the soft surface which was icy. 

6:46 pace. Snow started coming down pretty hard, so I'm glad I decided to take some respite by running an extra loop around the stadium going each direction. 

9 treadmill miles in the morning after the snow. 

Well that was that. I went out on east river road and did the first half of my run without any particular goal, but at 6 flat pace. At almost the halfway point, it started to lightly snow. The snow picked up a bit on the way back. At the St Thomas jut, I had a huge slip and landed on my back. My elbows were a little scraped but most of the issue was my right glute. Thankfully nothing worse happened. I lay there for like a minute or so before slowly getting up. As I started running, I felt kind of traumatized each time I would slip on ice, which would happen frequently since it was invisible under the snow. Eventually I got off and ran on the road. "Ran" is a strong term to describe what I was doing. The whole way back before the fall I averaged 7:24 pace, including the sub 6s I was probably doing the first third or so. I was surprised it contiued to bother me and keep me going so slow. Honestly I wonder if it even helped my cardiovascular fitness, I felt like aerobically I might as well have been walking! haha. Oh well. Be warned- don't move to MN if you have osteoporosis but like to go for walks in the winter. You're going to have a hard time. 

6:48 pace this afternoon around campus and across Franklin ave bridge.

6:53 pace transitway. Was cold outside but I bundles up and was not chilly at all. 

4 mile tempo on east river road starting at Franklin ave bridge. 5:06 pace. Good to be huffing and puffing like that. You can't get fit without working out. 

6:53 pace on an rainy morning around como lake. Felt tired from yesterday.

I think this was a treadmill day

Woke up to a new dusting of snow on the ground and wasn't interested in falling down again, so I went to the treadmill. Ran for about 100 minutes with no breaks. I ran 16 miles according to the treadmill plus getting there and back, but I've long suspected that it overstimates how fast you are going at higher speeds, so I am rounding down to 15.75. 

Hard to say exact mileage. I lucked out and saw some old teammates and was able to do a workout with them. Just a little thing, a fartlek with equal recovery and 3, 2x2, 3x1:30, and 4x1 minute hard, but the faster pace was good for me, and so much easier to workout with teammates. We went on transit. 

6:48 pace on west river road. 

Yes, you are reading this right- I just did my second workout in one week! It's like I'm a college runner again. The thing is, the summer racing season is coming up and I'd like to actually be in shape for it. I have a 10K in Minneapolis planned as well as a half marathon in Duluth. I'd like to add in some other events as well. In order to do well at those, I need to get some legit training in. I used to consider my hard long runs sufficient, but especially during the winter they often ended up at 6 flat pace, or even slower. That does not cut it for training for a 10K. So today I did 4 by mile with 4 min rest on a windy day on Como ave (from Raymond ave to almost Snelling). 4:53, 4:53, 4:51, 4:52. It's a start. 

7 flat pace. I was ready to do east river flats, but it wasn't ready for me. I fell down on the ice for my third fall of the year. Wasn't too bad. 

About 6:48 pace on west river road. 

I tried a new route today. I continued past Reservoir Woods and onto the Roseville "chain of parks". It was not a bad run. I felt still depleted, presumably because of the workouts this week but I'm not sure. 6:05 pace, including 5:55s on the way back. I was pushing it harder that direction. There is still a lot of snow on the ground, and when it melt onto a path and then freezes, it means there was more ice than I expected. I'm not sure if the ice will end because the snow will melt, or because it gets consistently above a point where it ever freezes and just remains as puddles. It might be the latter. This route, particularly the way I did it going via Hoyt avenue, is one of the hilliest routes I can think of to do. 

My left hip felt a little aggravated today. That was a bit concerning. Time to get new shoes fast or at least alternate with a newer pair I guess. Amazingly, the track is like 95% melted! I'm stoked to be able to work out on it, provided I feel ok. Didn't get pace because I saw some teammates and forgot to re start my watch. 

On a cold morning, somhow I ran 6:42 pace in a pair of very old Peg 38s around Como lake despite having hip issues. Hope that feels better but for now I am not planning on doing my workout tomorrow. 

If my recording is correct, these are the first non-Hoka shoes I have run more than 700 miles in in a long time. I didn't intend to wear those shoes and will wear newer ones tomorrow. 

Cold day to run around the bridges. Thankfully, my hip felt ok. But I wasn't able to do a workout on the track because there is actually still ice on it. For about 300 meters it was pretty clean but the other 100 it wasn't. 

Did a workout in the cold this morning. I went to Como avenue again, and this time ran half miles from transitway to the fair entrance. I intended to make it a relatively easy workout, aiming for 2:30 800s. Running east was definitely not that. You had a headwind but mostly my legs just felt sapped so much because of the hill. And I'm embaressed to say that because it is not that steep. But the way back felt good. I had considered just doing 6 but did 8. 90 seconds rest. These were half miles, so you can take a second off for the 800. 2:31, 2:26, 2:29, 2:23, 2:27, 2:23, 2:28, 2:22. 

6:51 pace, I tried to go chill. It was a nice rainy morning. I wore shorts to celebrate the nice weather on west river. Hip was a little sore but not bad. 

We got 8 inches of snow last night! So I trudged through said snow to get to the exercise room. I ran 14.45 miles according to the treadmill, but for reasons previously described, will round it to 14.25.

6:45ish pace on the roundabout loop to east river. There was some patches of ice but nothing major. 

8 by 1K w/ 1 minute rest. I did it sort of making a box around the football stadium. In each direction, you started out going uphill and into the wind. 3:08, 3:01, 3:05, 3:01, 3:00, 3:00, 2:58, 3:00. So it was 3:01-3:02 average. Not dissapointed. 

6:50 pace out to Como lake this afternoon. The wind was super strong and it was flurrying snow, so it was one of those ones that you just get it done. 

6:48 pace, east river road, hip still sore

6:50 pace, east river road. Feeling kind of tired still. Hip also still sore. Hope tomorrow goes well. 

Warm morning run down to the end of Minnehaha park. I did a 4 mile tempo on the way back. I was kind of bummed that it was only 5:07 pace, including the final half mile going down "the hill". Oh well. 6:01 pace overall. I tried to reign it in on the way out. 

6:45 pace on a beautiful sunny morning. Today there was a few firsts. It was my first time running a whole lap around the track this year. It was also my first time doing the whole east river flats run this year. And, it was probably my first time this year I regretted wearing gloves on a morning run. 

Pretty typical windy April morning for a workout, but it was very warm which was nice. First I did a 3 mile tempo along Dinkytown greenway. Ran 15:10. Could have been more like 5:05 pace since I may have miss measured a bit. That felt hard. But then I went to the track and did 4 by 800 with equal recovery. Because it was in a different setting, you almost forget that you've already worked out. I did 2:20, 2:19, 2:18, 2:13. My goal was 2:20 so I'm happy with that, but I know I still have a long way to go. 

6:46 pace? Didn't feel that fast. I tried to do farmers fields. It is MOSTLY ready to run on. The fields and Falcon heights park are fine, but the path to get there is still a river. I'll have to wait at least another week for that, in my estimation. Felt kind of banged up today after the workout. 

Probably about 9.5. I was blocked by the river on east river flats. I think its risen about 3 feet since monday. Shouldn't be surprised with it being so hot. Felt fatigued still. 

Boom island.

East river road on a beautiful, rainy morning. Felt nice and easy going out at 6 flat pace because I had the wind at my back. Miles 10-16 were a workout of sorts. It was supposed to be alternating miles at 5:15-5:45 pace. I didn't have mile markers obviously which made it suboptimal. However, with a little bit of a kick during the last "slow" mile, I was able to finish averaging 5:30 pace, so technically on pace. 

Cold and windy morning on west river. 6:43 pace. 

I got kind of nervous for my workout today, then felt pretty junky in my 2 mile tempo in 10:20. After that, I took more rest than I had planned because my coach and a UMN runner were doing a workout, so I ran a rep with him. I ended up doing 800, mile, mile w/ 2:30-3 min rest, in 2:19, 4:55, 4:44. The first mile was at 5 minute pace through 1k fyi. Overall the tempo was not great but I felt pretty capable during the track work. 

I estimated my mileage. Ran in the rain around east river flats. The flooding is crazy right now, part of west river road is underwater. I felt tired and my hip felt janky at times.

Intended to run like a half mile with my daughter then take her back. But she kept on wanting to go further, even though it was like 40 degrees and overcast outside. So we kept going and going. I thought that west river road north would be a good route with the new jogging stroller. It was very fun, like a dad-daughter date. I ran essentially normal pace. My shoulders did start to ache a bit at the end. Also, one thing about toddlers is that they don't calculate the return journey in their requests, and she wanted to get out with like 1.5 miles to go so I had to kind of push it to get home. But overall it was so easy, it made me really interested in trying out breaking the WR mile. its apparently down to 4:32 by now. I think I could maybe break that even with a double stroller. 

Pros of today:

-Hip didn't really hurt I think

-I NAILED my pace like never before. I was right on target with all 3 800s, only checking at the 400 meter mark.

-I got home at 8:57 and was able to take a shower before the water was scheduled to be turned off at 9

Cons:

-That did NOT feel as easy as it should have been to run 3x800 w/ 2:15ish rest in 2:30, 2:25, 2:20. Not a confidence booster in my last workout pre race. 

I (unintentionally) celebrated earth day with my first run of the year on the gateway trail after the temple. It was a cold run but still nice to be out really in nature. I ran a relaxed 6 flat pace, which is not that hard on that route. Prepping for race next week. 

Ran with the fam, then ran up to farmers fields. I was trying to relax so I was surprised to have gone 6:41 pace. Maybe its because I had already gotten my warm up out of the way. 

6:46 pace, down on east river flats and around because river still very flooded.

6:43 pace on boom island, even though I tried to go slow.

East river road. Ran with the fam to start out, so all I can say for pace is 6:50s on the way back. 

Tried to keep it nice and slow. Went fast than I wanted, just over 7 minute pace. Strides. I'm really looking forward to a nice race tomorrow, my first in six months (I'm telling myself it's a workout in company so I don't get nervous). 

First race in 5 months. It was a beautiful overcast spring day for a run on river road. Additionally, it wasn't rainy and the wind was really minimal for this time of year. Based on the clocks I saw, my splits were: 4:50, 9:42, 14:38, 19:32, 24:26. 

The race: a pack of 4 quickly dwindled to three, which made me happy because I wanted prize money (especially after dropping 64 stinking dollars on this race). The mile splits I saw built my confidence because they were pretty fast but I felt under control for the first couple of miles. Before mile 3, Danny Docherty and the other guy leading dropped me. Apparently at 5K I was 4 seconds behind them. But then Danny dropped the other guy, who wasn't really getting further ahead of me. My mental game is pretty bad, I was definitely consigning myself to 3rd place for a lot of the race. Probably the smartest thought I had was: "just keep running, and see how things shake out". Turns out, I eased past the other guy, and on the bridge coming back, someone said I had 15 meters on him. On the home straight, I heard him coming but did that thing where you find strength our of nowhere to sprint to the finish. I beat him by one second, and was 13 seconds off the winner. Based on my workouts, this was a pretty good day. It's a lifetime PR for a road race 10K. I'm also excited because I think the door is definitely open for a half marathon PR in a couple months. I'm assuming that I'm better at longer distances, and that I'll be in a bit better shape then. I'd be really happy if I could still run decent times (I consider 66 mid for a half marathon to be decent) after a year with no teammates, plus a surgery and a new addition to the family thrown in. 

Update: finally mapped it out. Trying to be very conservative (taking turns as tight as possible), it still looks like a 6.32 mile race. Overall that means I may have run 29:58 for 10K. Sounds good to me!

7 flat pace on farmers fields. I tried to keep it easy as I recover from my race. Windy today.

9 miles with my daughter again. She woke up at 6 so I decided to take advantage. Probably should wait to do this again until its warmer. I did make a good call to bring a phone to distract her when she was done. 

Beautiful morning on west river road, 6:48 pace. First time this year on the lower trail, and first run on WRR since the flood receded. It was nicer weather out this morning and tbh it was less stressful just to run on my own.

Was booking it apparently at 6:40 pace on boom island. 

6:50 pace in the afternoon since I had a final this morning. It was rainy/sunny, the trees were in bloom, and was really nice! I had some reflux, probably due to what I had eaten earlier. It reminded me why I like running in the morning. 

Second longest run ever. One of the more painful ones I've done, too. I ran 20.12 miles, running over the Minnesota bridge then down along west river and making it a good way on the trail that goes to the fort Snelling park area. Just under 5:44 pace overall, so I'll call it a tie for my fastest/longest LR ever. It was a super beautiful overcast, quiet Saturday spring morning. It rained last night so it felt humid for the first time in a while. I didn't enjoy the run quite as much on the way home when I was on the pain train (mostly just fatigue as you'd expect), but overall it was still quite nice. I stopped once to use the restroom, but I intentionally didn't stop to take my GU. Honestly it wasn't that hard. I feel like it's a lot easier around 6 flat pace then when I've tried to do it at like 5:20 pace. 

Update: apparently last year my gateway run was only 20.1 miles, not 20.3. Therefore, this was (barely) my longest run ever. 

Farmers fields. 6:51 pace, but I definitely felt tired after my effort on Saturday. That is not something to do every week. 

Really pretty, overcast morning for a run with the fam to the train tracks and then along east river. 6:50 pace for the part I ran on my own, even though I felt kind of tired still. Need to decide whether to work out tomorrow or Thursday.

6:57 pace after breaking off from the family. I was going to do a track workout today but had a bad sleep and thought maybe I could use another day of recovery after my long run workout so I postponed. 

Humid, wet morning for a track workout. As you might suspect, my plan to do 10-12 reps of Ks with 60 seconds rest was settled on 10 around the sixth one. In fairness, 12 would be a big workout. I read Kipchoge does 15, we'll see if I get there. I didn't go through a "warm up" phase- things just started easy and got progressively harder. It's kind of interesting to see that happen to yourself over the course of a workout. 3:03, 3:03, 3:03, 3:03, 3:03, 3:03, 3:04, 3:05, 3:05, 3:01.

6:57 pace. Went down to east river flats- it is so close to being ready. I should be be able to do the whole thing next week. Hopefully some rain will clean it up though, right now some of it smells like dried up river. I did feel a titch of inside left knee pain. Very minor but it does feel like one of those ligaments you never want to hurt. I wonder if it comes from all the track running I did yesterday. I meant to do half of it going the reverse way, but only did one rep because I felt a little off balance at a time when I was struggling to keep pace, therefore running 22.5 laps in one direction. I'll try to chill on my run tomorrow and hope it is better by the time I am supposed to help people move on Monday. 

Today was a super fun run. For the third straight Saturday, I enjoyed overcast weather and this time ran east river road, which looks super pretty this time of year. I was trying to go nice and easy (ended up around 6:11 pace) to take care of my knee (which felt pretty ok) but it also made me able to enjoy things a little more. The run felt even easier in contrast with my 20 miler at 5:44 pace last week. Kinda crazy how quickly the same route can go from awful (when I slid on the hidden ice) to really amazing. 

Boom island. I'm writing this a day late so I'm not going to try to see my pace. 

Just under 7 minute pace I guess? Ran around Como lake and made a loop of it. 

6:54 pace on St A parkway. First time on that route in like 7-8 months I would guess. Lots of construction getting there- I don't think I'll plan to go back anytime soon unfortunately. I also felt tired and my inner knee kept hurting. I am greatly looking forward to buying some Hokas to dilute my time in the Pegs. I just feel like I have kept getting these little injuries since I bought them. Although I have done some intense work the past few months, it is nothing compared to what I did last year for example. 

Knee felt on the run, although it's been sensitive since then. I bought a pair of Hokas today. Sadly, I didn't think they felt as nice as the clifton 7s at least in the store. Hopefully they will help me feel better. 6:53 pace. I did the complete east river flats which was nice. They were in the process of mucking it out though so I ran on river road to come home. 

Nice run on west river. I would've shook things up but my family came for a run so I wanted to just keep going that direction. From 18th Ave to the veterans home I ran 5:57 pace apparently. Then on the way home I probably went a similar pace, but I also did a lot of running on Winchell trail which was nice but hard to keep track of mileage with. I felt a little banged up and tired but my knee wasn't in terrible pain. I'm continuing to do split squats and stuff. Today was my first day in Hoka 9s. They were ok. They felt pretty heavy, but in fairness, I have been wearing Pegs for quite a while. They don't feel as cushy as the 7s but hopefully they still help me recover and get back on track. 

I think I ran about 8 miles. Shockingly, this run went ok. I ran with my daughter on a warm early summer afternoon after coming home from camping and we were both content for the entire run despite plenty of reasons why things could've gone worse. It was actually a really pretty day. 

Did the full east river flats run. Map my run isn't working right now so I am not sure what my pace was. My knee still feels a little locky at times and it seems to be coming from the outside. Not too bad though. 

6:41 pace, east river road. That felt pretty comfortable, other than my knee which is still not up to scuff. 

Ran 6:44 pace on the way back from Boom island park. It's not there yet, but my knee does seem to be doing better today. So is it the shoes, or simply giving it time without workouts to heal? I don't know. But I should plan to mix in old shoes in the future along with my newer ones so I don't end up with a bunch of pairs of old shoes I need to wear out. 

Knee feeling better. I tried to take it easy in preparation for the race. I think I did so. 

Ran with fam for the fourth time this week. Then I kept it nice and slow and did strides at the end. They were still at the park when I came back. 

I'm a little embaressed to admit this was a race. Unfortunately, the race is a straight shot southward and there was a headwind coming north, but I thought it would be pretty mild. Was nice weather. You could tell it was really humid out there, but it was sunny and not super hot. I think I assummed I would win it by so much that I felt the need to run the first mile faster than I would if I should have. Unfortunately, this was another race with wonky mile markers- I hit 1 mile feeling a little gassed in 4:42, but that made me stoked to see what I could do. Apparently my next mile was 5:11, which ruined that excitement. When Mile 3 was a 5:00, I realized M1 had indeed been too early. Anyway map my run says it was 250 feet of elevation gain. That felt like a lot for me, near the end when most of it was at least. I kind of gave up a bit. You link up with the 5K runners (I was passing the walkers at first) on a bike path. Normally I love bike paths, but I don't like dodging and weaving through clueless walkers on an already windy, hilly, bumpy path. 31:15 is not the time I wanted. The 10K they planned didn't consider taking the bike path, so it may have been closer to 30:50 for 10K in my calculations. Not the confidence booster I wanted prior to the 1/2, but it was still fun to hang out in Stillwater after with my family. I solidified a few conclusions: A) The east side is my favorite part of the metro to go to. You can get all the way to Stillwater on a chill highway in 30 minutes. B) Stillwater>Duluth. The former is much prettier than what I saw of Duluth last week. Also, I know people go up there to go camping, but if we go camping next year, I'd like to try something around Stillwater because I think it could be just as fun in some ways, and a lot closer to home.  

Nice easy run. 6:57 pace on way back. West river. Today was memorial day so it was super quiet out. 

6:58 pace nice and easy again, felt tired but not in a way that bothered me when running slow. Was humid out this morning. I went out on east river flats but decided to come back on east river since the rain had made mud from the areas that had dirt on them from the flooding. 

Went with my daughter today again. It wasn't as nice for me as it has been previously. We did west river road which involved some hills that seem really tough when you are pushing a stroller. Also, my shoulder got sore from keeping the stroller straight since it would keep curving right. I wonder if that's because she was on the right side of the stroller. Oh well. 7:05 pace on the way out. 

Ran east for the first time in a while. They are doing some crazy construction over by the st paul campus/the Bell. I wonder what its going to look like. I don't know my pace because something crazy happened: my watch died. Yep, my most consistent running partner of nearly 6 years is gone. Kind of sad. I hope that's how I die- one day I'm plugging along just fine, then the a few hours later, I'm gone. I realized I could probably just replace the battery for cheap. but I also have this other watch I got from the UMN team. Of course that was nearly 2 years ago and its battery is likely well through its life too. It's literally the same exact watch except with a different design and on a black background, which unfortunately makes it harder to see. 

East river road. 6:42 pace on the way back, and could have been even faster since I took all the side paths. Maybe it's part of my extreme temperature running phenomenon, where I run suprisingly fast cuz I'm uncomfortable when it's very cold or hot (it wasn't too bad today though).

Even though this was going to be a good opportunity to run the Gateway trail, and the first time I've done it in 2023 since the trees bloomed, I planned a shorter long run since I thought my effort would be best spent on something faster and quicker in preparation for my race. Also, the forecast called for hot weather by the time I left the temple. Thankfully there were some cool volunteers raising awareness of the Gateway trail so very conveniently I got to take a whole bottle of water right after finishing my workout when I had 3.5 miles to go. Then after that I enjoyed running back nice and slow and really taking in the beauty. And at the end, more volunteers gave me more water and transcribed my answers to a survey about the trail (I was lathered in sweat lol). It was cloudy at the end and smelled great so it was very enjoyable. 

However, the mile markers are really questionable. My warmup splits were 6:23, 5:55, 6:08, which felt amazing, really like a quick jog, even though the latter two miles have traditionlly been fast. Then I ran 5:20 for my first of alternating recovery-tempo miles. After that I felt like I gave appropriate efforts, but the splits were all over the map because of the trails weird markers. Overall miles were: 5:20, 5:07, 5:50, 4:32, 5:09, 5:23, 5:49, 5:10. Assumming that overall the mileage was correct, that's like 5:17 pace I think. The 4:32 mile was hilarous, that was where I had supposedly run a 4:55 during my longest long run.