Ethan Cannon

Went on a run with my wife biking next to me this morning. We switched and I biked for a brief time which is why I'm writing 9.5 instead of 10 miles. I joked that it was a fartlek because some of the time I was going faster than I'd like and other times I was going slow. It was nice to have the company for sure but I think that going slow at times was also nice. I should do that more often lol. 

Just under 7 flat pace, east on W&OD. Wind made it nippy. I did a couple strides near the end. 

7:08 pace to Morven park today. I intended to go slow for multiple reasons. Unfortunately my achilles is feeling a little loose today. 

Ran east on W&OD the shortcut way. I think I'll do that more often in the future when I go east. 

Didn't sleep after 3 am the previous night (rough parenting stuff) but felt good enough to at least run short. I ran my old short run and added on so I wouldn't have to go up the hill. 

Today was not the highlight of all my runs. With a sick kid, I didn't get to go till late in the evening and ran on the treadmill for safety purposes besides that of ice. So idk whether to count this as a treadmill run or not. I would've liked to at least hit 60 miles this week but it was hot in there and late and I just wanted to be done. 

Benvenuto, inverno. 6:45 pace on east River road. Some yucky smells near my apartment. I think they are worse during the winter. Tired today. 

6:48 pace, boom island 

Ran around campus as I had to stop at the (really cool) student wellness center for the first time. Tired from helping a sick kid but the run was fine. I ran on east river flats for part of it, and there was a little snow but was doable. 

7:02 pace. Was going to get a locker but a safety incident caused me to run essentially west river north instead as a precaution. Very sad. By the end of the run, the sun was out and with my winter gear on it felt much warmer than feels like 0 degrees. 

Apparently 6:46 pace. I actually beleive that, it was very cold. Campus loops as I finally got my locker. 

Proud of myself for running outside. 6 degrees, -10 windchill. Wind definitely coming from the west, so it made my run from Como park back along the transitway a bruiser. 6:25 pace, equal going out and coming back. I did one hard lap around the stadium on the way back. Other than that, everything kind of felt hard because of the weather. Snow wasn't too big of an issue as we didn't actually get that much. 

Treadmill miles. -7 outside with windchill somewhere in the negative 20s I think. Maybe I'm just getting soft but I wasn't really up for something outdoors today. 

Ran on the treadmill this evening due to scheduling stuff, but it was frigid outside and I would've done that no matter what. 

6:51 pace, east river road. I really dislike running on the treadmill and was grateful to be able to go outside again. 

6:32 pace on east river road from the rec center (so, all the way to the bridge near the new development). This included 3x2 minutes hard. 

6:52 pace, west river road. It may have been my coldest run of the year that started around -1, but by the end I felt more comfortable than I did at the beginning in my home which has been having heat issues and was <60 degrees this morning.

I had a choice, to minimize elevation change and do my one Medford LR on the bike path, or to enjoy myself and do Roxy. I did the latter. It was a really nice, cloudy day. I even took my gloves off, though it was windy at some places which made it a little cooler. I felt super priveleged to be able to enjoy such a nice run. I only did 2 loops. Not super fast either. around 6:51 pace. 

Aerial Heights to Hillcrest. 7 flat pace. That's not bad given how hilly it is. 

Coal mine. Just under 7 minute pace. 

7:13 pace on another RoxyAnn run (not that pace really matters up there). I hope my achilles tendon will forgive me; I couldn't resist another nice morning up on the mountain. 

Apparently 7:18 pace. I was running slow for my achilles tendons but I didn't think that slow. I was also feeling hypo based on breakfast. Misty run along east river flats and east river road. 

6:53 pace, Como classic. 

I was surprised to see recently (and replicate) that I've seemingly put on some weight. I'm up to low 160s at best. This has been tough because I don't have any (good) reason why this should have happened. It certainly lowers my confidence that I can compete as a good runner still. So even though I was still recovering from the strain I put on my achilles this week, I ran the first half of this run out to the end of Minnehaha park hard. I decided to chill on the way back. And I got the confidence boost I needed, hitting 5:37 pace on the way out. 6:11s on the way back. With the easy end fresh in mind, that was the easiest 5:54 LR I've done in a while. Feeling good about things again!

Somehow I got 6:45 pace on farmers fields despite plenty of mud. Probably a bad choice of route today. It was so warm, I was ready to call it for spring. 

6:52 pace, east river road from the rec center. Was able to run on the side paths cuz there was no snow. 

6:45 pace, boom island. Didn't feel very good- achilles pain, tired. 

6:58 pace, rec center to west river road. It was warm and sunny today and was quiet in the late morning. I also felt a little better, so all in all it was a very enjoyable run. 

6:41 pace on a crisp morning where the air felt fresh and clean. The pace looks fast for Como classic, but I ran further than I normally do and did it very quickly, so I beleive it. Didn't mean to go fast. 

6:05 pace, Resevoir woods to chain of lakes. Got kind of cold with the wind on the way out. Averaged 5:58s on the way back, which actually isn't too impressive considering that I did about 12 minutes of hard. I was trying to do 3 on, 1:30 off, but that was modified somewhat due to stoplights. I think this route tends to run slow, so I guess it's ok. Congrats to Conner Mantz and Clayton Young, olympians!!!!

6:51 pace, east river flats. 

6:48 pace, east river road from rec center. Did two strides near the end. 

Decided to do a workout today because why not? It's not every year you can do a track workout in early February. Within the past couple days, I have signed up for Get in Gear as well as Grandma's Half. Did 1.5 miles on the greenway and near the stadium in 7:44. Then after 7 minutes of break, I did 4 by 800 with 90 seconds rest in 2:23, 2:23, 2:24, 2:22. Original goals were 5 minute pace tempo and 2:25 800s. So I did ok at meeting my very meager goal? Haha. Gotta start somewhere- you have to work for your speed! Feels good to do something hard. Pretty windy this morning. 

6:57 pace, west river road from rec center. 

6:45 pace, Como classic. Wind blowing due east made it cold on the way back, but I was surprised it didn't slow me down- I still came back faster. 

A cold and windy day on the gateway trail (to Stillwater) but it was a day on the gateway trail nonetheless, so that's something to be grateful for. Averaged 5:57 overall, including 5:51 on the way back, which included a 5:09 last measured mile even though I felt crummy by that point. After last season I made a goal to do stuff like that more often; in essense, to push hard when my glycogen reserves are low to simulate a race (mosty physically but also psychologically). 

I felt kind of tired during it but I was cooking 6:50 pace on east river flats. 

6:43 pace, rec center to east river road. 2 strides at end.

Somehow, I actually ran 6:39 pace to Boom island this morning despite a terrible sleep last night because of upset kids. The only casualty was a tight hip; my achilles tendons which were sensitive yesterday didn't even hurt, nor did I feel fatigued. It was a really nice morning. I had hoped to work out but between my achilles and then how I felt this morning it was a non starter. 

Treadmill at rec center. It was warm but I appreciated a fan and some lanscape videos. I even changed the slope of the treadmill (which can go not only up but down) to match the video terrain for a while to shake things up. Did one mile at 5:00, the rest were around 6:40 average. 

7:02 pace, down to river flats then to west river road. Surfaces were surprisingly clean of snow, though Talmage ave was as bad as expected. Cold but sunny.

6:10 pace, west river road. 6:03 pace on the way back, including a 4 by 3 min on, 1 minute off that went well but I'm not bothering to try to calculate the pace for. 

6:45 pace, Como classic winter route. Was like 20 degrees and cloudy at the start but I never felt cold. 

6:45 pace, rec center to east river road. Nice cloudless day. Three strides at the end. 

8 by 1/2 mile on north campus with 90 seconds rest. As opposed to my 1K routes, I liked this one because I could go straight and never have to turn. One way has the slight incline which probably does more mentally than physically. It wasn't easy but had the weird experience on rep 6 of feeling like it got easier, as if I were finally getting loose. Let's hope that's the case because I wasn't going very fast for the effort! 2:31, 2:28, 2:29, 2:26, 2:30, 2:26, 2:29, 2:24. 

6:46 pace, rec center to west river road. I did my exercises on the grass afterwards which was pretty great. 

6:52 pace, Como classic, despite slowing down for some ice on the path.

Como park route then bent north to McCarrons lake and Villa park. 5:52 pace overall. 5:45 pace on way back, including 1.05 miles (slightly downhill, from Snelling to past CTC) @ 5:00 pace. And that was hard. Yikes. I am worried about my fitness I have to say.

6:43 pace. Boom island instead of east river flats because I bumped into a friend. For all of my concerns, my easy runs have been pretty fast recently.

6:43 pace, rec center to east river road. Strides on the way back, but by then it was getting very windy and I had a hard time getting up to speed. 

Treadmill run. It was like 4 degrees, windy, and sunny. I feel like a year ago I would've gone outside, but I am a bit more of a wimp this year since I haven't had to run indoors much. One positive thing about running inside is that it allowed me to do a mini workout. I ran 1.5 miles @ 5 minute pace (the max this treadmill allows). I have previously hypothesized that at fast speeds, the treadmill becomes more innacurate. Maybe that is not true and I am just getting more fit. But you definitely can't gauge fitness off of a treadmill. I am reminded of running (apparently) 4:50 per mile on my aunt's treadmill in Portland and feeling great. 

Rec center to west river. It was gradually warming up but there was a cold wind that I felt the whole time. Technically right on 7:00 pace, but I did lots of off-roading- not quite everything available on Winchell, but just about. Felt tired today. 

Wow, I blitzed my fastest ever split (I believe) on east river flats- 62:30 for 6:40 pace, including just two strides on the way back, on a warm, windy morning. Not sure why my pace is so fast recently but I'm not complaining. Now, I definitely felt fatigued. I probably feel about as tired as I ever have, but recently the same effort gets me a faster pace. 

5:57 pace on a nice warm morning on east river road. 6:09 pace on the way out. For 4.19 miles coming back, I ran 5:33 pace as a workout- 2 minutes on, 2 minutes somewhere between "easy" and "float". That's a pretty easy workout so honestly that was pretty good- probably 5 minute pace at least on the hard stuff since I was for sure slower than 6 minute pace on the easy. At times I felt really fast and good. I really am becoming a fan of doing long run workouts. It allowed me to really chill on the way out. Then you become kind of focused on the workout during it, and by the time thats done, its cool down time. And its probably better for my fitness. Work smarter not harder. 

6:52 pace, como classic. Felt tired today. 

6:42 pace, boom island

By the time I got home the wind was apparently 10 mph, but I have to say, I thought to myself during the workout that it was relatively calm for being March! I did 2x(1600, 800, 800) with 2 min between reps and 3 min between sets. Turned out to be 3 min after one rep b/c I saw my old coach and 3:30 between sets as I took my tights off. It's really interesting how doing something like that will actually make your next rep, or at least the start of it, slower. I wonder if my body kind of just forgets it is a workout and loses some of its sharpness. Goal pace was 5:00 and 2:25. I ran 4:57, 2:24, 2:23, 4:54, 2:25, 2:18. The last one I did normal first lap then 66 for the second lap. So yes I have a long way to go but I feel like I'm making progress. 

Weird. Felt pretty darn tired today, but I still ran 6:39 pace on east river road, which I don't think is a record but is getting close to it. Recently my body seems to have forgotten how to chill. 

6:44 pace, east river flats. Wind made it cold on the way back. 

6:13 pace on the way out, but I did almost all of the detours. On the way back I did 6x2 minute on, 1 minute off again. It was either 5:39 pace or 5:20 pace overall. Honestly, with a cold headwind going that direction, it was a good way to pass the time. 6:04 pace overall on the way back. Felt slow as a sloth after the workout but I think at some parts I was going a decent pace. West river road to lake Hiawatha. 

First day with the new shoes. They were certainly underwhelming from the expectation I had that they would be soft like Hokas Clifton 7s. Hopefully they will end up being worth the $80 each. On the bright side, I ran 6:40 pace for Como classic so while I'm not sure I would use them on workouts, it's clearly not like I'm tying bricks to my feet as some seemed to suggest online.  

6:47 pace coming back from east river road to rec center. 3 strides. Didn't count pace going out because I tried to run on the path that goes down from St Thomas jut. It's not the best. 

4x1600 at the track. Not as windy as last week. Here are my splits, not because I am proud of the splits, but because I am proud that for some reason I can remember them a few hours later without looking at my watch (I only recorded splits at the end of each mile anyway):

 4:57 (74, 2:28, 3:42); 4:55 (72, 2:25, 3:40); 4:51 (71, 2:23, 3:37); 4:49 (72, 2:25, 3:38).

About 3 minutes of rest for each. Even though it wasn't great, it feels good to do something hard. 

7:02 pace but I took every longcut on rec center to west river. Felt tired though. 

Tied record of 6:40 pace on east river flats, while wearing my Nimbus'. Not bad for a pair of clunkers!

5:54 pace on the gateway trail. 

Splits: 6:18, 6:05, 5:53, 5:59, 6:03, 5:57, 6:02, 6:06, 5:53, 6:07, 6:17, 6:02, 6:17, 5:25, 5:20, 5:17. 4:06 and 4:03 for the first and last chunk, 2:43 and 2:51 in the middle. The goal was to keep it nice and easy during the body of the run to conserve energy for a 3 mile tempo at the end. I was feeling kind of fatigued and it ended up being a battle. On the one hand, the last three measured miles are downhill (50 feet but you feel it), but it was also allegedly 17 mph winds going southeast and of course at that speed my shoes did end up feeling pretty slow. Not great still but I wanted to get in a workout since I won't next Wednesday in Chicago. Nice, quiet day on the trail.

6:47 pace, Como classic. For being 20 degrees out it didn't feel that cold.

First run in Chicago. On the bright side, running here doesn't have the issues of it being literally impossible because your house is on a mountain (Tennessee) or having to wear a bear bell so you don't get eaten (Montana), but it is also very windy with only one running option where I am, which is by the lake, but also next to a highway for part of it. I think I might get more tired of the wind than the cold.  

Chicago

Chicago

Surprisingly, it is cold here and snowed last night. Honestly it's been so sunny that any kind of precipitation is probably good. But it did mean I ran inside. 

After running a lot in the Nimbus', it felt good to throw on the light Triumphs again. It was like 17 degrees when I started out on east river road but sunny, not very windy, and I was going fast so I never felt cold. 6:11 pace on the way out. 5:57 pace on the way back, including 2.5 miles at 5:09 pace from the distal side of St Thomas jut to Franklin ave bridge. 

Treadmill. Slushy morning today.

I thought the rec center treadmills were super high tec but the one I was on today really seemed off. It felt slow and uphill. So the 9 miles is just an estimate, I ran for 63 minutes. 

Another treadmill run, hopefully my last of the year due to winter weather. We've had 15 inches of snow the past few days so it's not like I'm being too much of a wimp. I wasn't planning on working out but decided to. 15 minutes at 5 minute pace. Something just seems wrong about the way I felt after that. I don't feel like I should feel after running that pace. After yesterday too, I just have really low trust in the accuracy of treadmills. At least I can say there's nothing I could do about it- I was maxing out the treadmill's speed. 

6:52 pace, rec center to east river road. Felt good to be back outside.

I ran into a teammate I hadn't seen in about two years while doing west river north, so I don't care to estimate exactly how far I ran in the 64.3 minutes. 

5:58 pace on west river road. I felt pretty compfortable the whole way, including 6:03 pace on the way out, as well as the last couple miles after the workout. On the way back I did 5-4-3-2-1 into the wind with 4-3-2-1 rest. I later mapped the 5 minute part as being 5:12 pace. That's ok- I felt extra slow on that one as I was also getting warmed up at the time. The workout generally went by quick.

6:53 pace, east river flats. 

6:43 pace, rec center to east river road with a few short strides at the end. A pleasant run where wet snow turned to rain and then stopped. First non treadmill day back under 160 lbs (159.0). Trying not to focus too much on that but I have been focusing on eating only when hungry. 

6:50 pace. Felt tired again. I was supposed to work out today but I decided not to. Wind was 17 mph and I was sick. Of course my throat didn't bother me during the run, but I think the general fatigue did. Hopefully I'll feel better by Friday. Race is coming up. 

Just over 7 minute pace. I took most of the off-routes. Felt tired. Still windy out, so glad again that I didn't workout. Hopefully things will be better tomorrow. Yesterday was an extremely odd day, I just wasn't hungry so I didn't eat from like 10 to 5 and I also never had dinner. Sickness? Still, its a little weird. Today I weighed 156.8. 

All week I've been kind of dreading this workout as it has continued to be postponed. I try to believe that a slow workout is better than none at all, but I felt that to do the Michigan justice, I couldn't aim for less than a 4:45 opening mile, which intimidated me based on my work this year. Even as I warmed up, I felt tired once again and didn't have any idea how it would go. In my experience, the first lap can tell you a lot about how your workout will go. My first lap was 67, which was a very, very good sign. 4:38 for the opening 1600. Then 3:32 and 2:17 for the 1200 and 800. The "mile" reps were around the athletic complex in 5:18, 5:07, and 5:12, and were about 4 seconds too far. They felt very easy. Amazingly, my legs felt great during that- the biggest issue was that I scorched my lungs on the first rep, which is to be expected when you do faster track work than you have in a while. It was in the low 30s when I ran and hardly windy (a huge upgrade from prior workouts and even previous days this week), but I really think I see an obvious difference maker, in that I'm a little lighter than before. I may still have a couple more pounds to go, too. Rest ended up being ~1:45. This workout is similar to the Ethan classic that I like in that both workouts require you to "recover" while still running relatively fast. 

6:18 pace. The goal was to keep it slow with having worked out yesterday. TBH this still felt hard, just fatigued I guess. By extending the route in some reasonable ways, I was able to get in all this mileage before reaching the normal turnaround point of my reservoir woods loop. The normal loop and even more so the extension are not suited for a fast LR, but it's good when pace isn't a concern. Happy conference! 6 months ago I was running a marathon and a year ago I had to do my conference LR on the treadmill due to snow. 

6:47 pace, east river flats on a warm, damp morning. Kind of tired.

6:36 pace, rec center to east river road. Nice weather. Small strides at end. 156.6.

6:49 pace, boom island. 

4 mile tempo on west river road, starting at rec center. I am a little dissapointed with 5:07 pace as there wasn't really any good reason why I couldn't have gone faster. 155.

6:45 pace, Como classic. Felt tired. 

Probably should call it quits on these shoes but they keep doing fine. Was in the 50s and 60s when I ran today which made me sweat a lot. Looks like 5:57 pace overall. Splits of complete miles were: 6:21, 6:08, 5:51, 5:54, 6:33, 5:54, 5:52, 5:52, 5:57, 6:10, 4:55, 6:39, 5:15, 6:26, 6:06, 5:58. The two slowest splits were when I transitioned to Browns Creek trail, so probably just over a mile. As you can see, I threw in two hard miles. The first was uphill but with wind at my back. The second was overall probably flat but wind at my face, which is surprising since I hadn't changed directions or anything. I think especially for the first one the gel I took helped. 

6:36 pace (fast!) farmers fields. I haven't done that route in quite some time. It's a nice spring route, as it is something you really can't do during the winter. 

Light rain turned into a deluge on east river road from rec center. The workout came with a free shower! Other people don't seem to love this weather as much as me. 6:40 pace. 

6xK w/ 1 minute rest at the track, my last significant workout before my race. 3:04, 3:04, 3:04, 3:04, 3:06, 3:01. I noticed right away that the pace I started out at felt harder than it did about a year ago when I did 10 reps. In fairness, the track was more slippery than I ever remember it and there was a nasty wind on the backstretch. 

7 minute pace, including some side trails on west river road. 

6:40 pace on east river flats despite some wind (62:30), I believe that again ties my record. Not that I'm trying for that!

I hit 1000 miles in 2024 today!

Woke up to a dusting of snow this morning. Yikes. My tolerance for cold wanes in the spring so I decided to delay my MLR (race next week) until around noon. 6:07 pace was surprisingly fast, especially for Resevoir woods. I wasn't trying that hard, especially on the way out. Coming back I had the wind against me so that was a little more difficult. 

Started with family (first time this year!) then ran boom island. 6:40 pace for the parts I ran alone.

6:46 pace, east river road from rec center. I tried running on the ERR equivalent of Winchell trail on the way back for a bit, but it wasn't great for running. Couple strides. A little leg pain. 155.2

I felt tired today. Stopped by the track on the way home from west river road north to do a little something that would get my legs moving more than strides, but wouldn't tire me out like a workout. 3x400 in 75, 72, 67. You expect the 75 to feel like a jog which it doesn't haha. Hopefully I will be ready to go saturday. 

Last run from the rec center. Also last run I plan to do in Peg 39s. I've very much enjoyed doing my Tuesday/Thursday runs this semester. 2 strides at the end. I wanted to go slow and was able to keep myself in check long enough that it stuck. Probably 7:10-20 pace. Really nice day outside. I stopped and smelled the flowers. 

Started with family, then finished my pre-race. Started raining at the end. Strides.

The pros:
-It was amazing weather. Warm, muggy, overcast- my favorite.
-I got to warm up and run most of the race with an old teammate from UMN
-I got to enjoy running down to the lowlands by fort snelling for my long cooldown. The trees are blooming early this year so it was lots of fun.

The cons:
-the race itself. I still finished 2nd like last year so that’s ok I guess but my time was awful, 45 seconds slower than last year. There are pretty much no excuses. The wind wasn’t as bad as it was supposed to be, I had new shoes (which didn’t seem as springy as I hoped even early), and there have been no other issues to write about. So I hope it’s just a bad day or some residual extra weight I need to shed. My workouts will need to start coming along a lot or hopefully I run much better in Duluth (at least sub 67) so I can still plan on my marathon this fall.

Not very excited to share splits. I could tell I was going a smart pace at the first mile, so I knew it was going to be a bad day time-wise when I saw the time. 4:59. 5:01, 10:07, 5:03, 6:00 (last 1.2). Its a good thing there are more important things in my life than running because today was not a good one in that department. Still, it's a tough pill to swallow. 

Surprisingly quick 6:48 pace on east river flats on a soggy, drizzly day. With all the rain yesterday, this route is still about 2 feet above water level at its closest point. Thus, the past year it has been far more accessible than previous years, with very little snow/ice days preventing it from being run in the winter, and no flooding issues in the spring. I felt surprisingly well recovered, with little residual fatigue or pains. 

6:37 pace on the way back from east river road. Sad to not be doing my old route, but nice to run with the family. New shoes. 

Supposed to go running with my daughter, but she wanted to turn around after a mile. Either it was too cold today or she just is no longer interested. Too bad. I finished with running abbreviated farmers fields. 

Como classic, rain route. It was pouring the whole way. 

Didn't calculate this until Saturday. In light of how my long run went, maybe I shouldn't be surprised. After running with the family, did west river roundabout route, and came back in 6:28 pace. 

Today was the last day the temple was open for over six months. That is a huge bummer. It was a very rainy day, you could hear the rain in the temple. It was still raining when I started my run, so I put my key inside one of my gloves. My original plan had been to chill on the way out and make it a "barn burner" on the way back, but by the time I saw one of my old teammates a mile or two in, I could tell that I wasn't going to hold back on the way out. The rain went from a heavy drizzle to a light drizzle and stopped around the turnaround on the road by pine point. At the halfway, I took my GU. It was interesting, I was not surprised to not be aerobically challenged by the pace, but I knew I was a ticking time bomb before "the wheels came off", as so often happens. I haven't blitzed a long run in a while so I was just expecting this to happen. But mile after mile on the back end, it didn't. As the miles ticked by, I just felt stronger, knowing that if I did start to feel bad, it wouldn't have very long to affect me. Now, I was going faster than normal on the back end, but still enjoying it more. Crazy. So I ended up hitting 5:35 pace, my fastest long run of all time!!! I've repeatedly been in the ~5:45 range, but never below 5:43 or so as I recall. I guess the combination of the Gateway, where I tend to run really fast, with the magic of the week after Get in Gear (when I ran a fast LR last year) was enough to do it for me. I'm very pleased and wish I could say this means I am super fit. It's not a bad sign, but I really do feel like it had everything to do with the odd fact that I just didn't run out of gas. Somehow my glycogen was fine. No idea why. Look at these splits! 5:44, 5:53, 5:37, 5:40, 5:39, 5:36, 5:46, 5:46, 5:37, 5:36, 5:38, 5:31, 5:31, 5:31, 5:23, 5:17. 3:47 and 3:38 for the first and last parts, and about 4:30 each way in the middle without a mile marker. Crazy that I just ran 19 miles faster than my marathon pace. I definitely should be able to PR at that distance!

Met a random biker at Pine Point who was talking about all these tiny little towns that I have never heard of lol. 

After running with the fam, I found that east river flats was finally flooded. Interesting. 

Rainy morning to run como classic rain route. 

6:35 pace coming back from boom island. I don't have splits for going out because I took a spill on the bridge to the island. It's crazy I didn't fall all winter and then this happened. I cut my knee somewhat but the clotting worked well and I was able to finish going out and then come back without having issues. Just some minor scrapes on the hands. 

I have been feeling sick the past couple days (better today though) which caused poor sleep, plus I feel like my body needed a little to recoup from my LR, so I pushed my workout back to today and was looking for something chill. This meant avoiding the track. I settled on 2 X campus loop, where you start and end on dinkytown greenway and run down to river flats, then back up on Oak street like normal. This is 2.45 miles. I ran 12:26 and 12:13, with 3:30 rest in between and each rep I had to stop twice for a traffic light for 5-30 seconds or so. This was 5:04 pace and 4:59 pace. Used the new scale today and weighed 156.0 (protocol: before drinking after the run). 

Almost unbelievable 6:28 pace on a perfect sunny morning on farmers fields. I felt tired today but didn't feel like going slower. I don't think I've run under 6:30 pace over an entire normal easy day in years. I know it's just a run but I sure hope this type of thing somehow translates to better performance when it really counts. 

6:06 pace on west river road. 6:00 pace coming back. It was a perfect morning- sunny and 50 degrees or so. Great way to enjoy the side trails of WRR for the first time since the bloom. Felt tired today, at least near the beginning. The goal was to just take it really chill. I'm surprised I went as fast as I did with having done the side trails. 

Totally unintentional but this is the highest mileage week I've done this year by 0.75 miles. The LR is the reason. The standard deviation of my weekly mileage has been really low thus far. 

I ran from work for the first time ever. I unfortunately have gotten used to waking up in the morning, opening the weather app on my phone, and being dismayed to see that the air is still very smoky. Thus it was this morning. Now thankfully, right around my deadline for heading out on my run this afternoon, the AQI started to improve a lot such that I hardly noticed it. So it was actually a nice run on west river. But I have to say, I'm definitely a morning run guy. It feels better on my body, and the roads are a lot quieter at 7:30 AM than 4:30 PM. 

Things can change fast. This morning was super nice out. We ran to 11th, then my wife fell on her knee on the way back, one week after I did the same. You'd think running was like this extreme sport or something. So then I just did the same abbreviated farmers fields run that I did recently. 

I had been anticipating this workout. I'm grateful for running, and separately for training. It's just fun. I hope that as my fitness declines over the years to come, that I can still enjoy getting out there and doing workouts, some of which will go well and others less well; I want to still enjoy the work and feel accomplished afterwards. Today I wanted to test my super shoes head to head, as the new ones didn't feel as good as I had hoped during my race. The end result is that they felt too similar to make a clear call. If I could buy a brand new pair, it would definitely be the Vaporfly 2s instead of the 3s. But I don't think it is a good idea to revert to my old 2s for upcoming races. I was supposed to do 2 miles, then a couple of 400s in each of the racing shoes separately, then another 2 miles. As usual, the first 400 was telling. It felt fast, so it wsa a good thing that I ran 70-71. 4:48 through the first 1600 before it caught up to me a bit and I finished in 9:47 for the first rep (goal was 10:00). I got 3-4 minutes rest between that and each of the 4s, which were run in 70-71, because it took a while to change shoes. On the last one I wasn't sure what I would do. I focused on trying to do a good or ok job on each lap, just like I had on my way home from my fast long run a few weeks ago. Once again, each split turned out ok. I hit 1600 in 4:50 and finished in 9:43. When you look back on previous workouts like miles or 800s, that's not bad at all. I'm not sure I'm in way better shape than I was when I ran Ks a little ways back, but either I've improved a lot or the rain and wind that day really slowed me down, as my 3K split was faster than I averaged for each K that day. 

Started my run at 5:45 this morning. I had planned to go shorter and double for the first time in two years, but I woke up and couldn't fall back to sleep. I had my PhD qualifying exam today, and wanted to at least run somewhat to engage my brain. As I write this, I am feeling kind of gross and really hope I can get the rest I have fallen behind on. Felt tired and slow but still ran 6:43 pace on a beautiful, overcast morning on east river road. I've only run once in the morning when it was dark, and it was sure nice this morning to have light despite the early hour. 

6:39 pace, como classic. Little light rain at the end. 

We were going to go down to Minnehaha falls for my wife's race and I was planning on doing a loop around pike island but she wasn't able to do it, so I wanted to try something new. So I went as if I was going to do resevoir woods, but then went straight north for a few miles all the way to Lake Johanna. I ran through that park, then looped around and ran by Bethel University (which looks super nice, btw). This was a really fun place to run. Felt very warm and humid, but tbh I'm really surprised I only ran 6:27 pace (UPDATE: miscalculated. 6:06 pace. Didn't mean to go that fast but that seems more like it). Feel very tired. 

6:49 pace, east river flats on another muggy morning after it rained. 

Once again I noticed the odd thing that I was more tired on a Monday than on other days of the week. In fairness, I was also fasting yesterday and had only eaten one meal since that before my run. 

6:34 pace back from west river roundabout (likely a little slower on the way out). Started raining at the end. This afternoon it has been dumping. My hip has felt painful to the touch today (and I think it previously was like this too) but I'm not currently noticing anything major while running. I will plan to take tomorrow off from a workout (which I have a well planned reason why anyway) and hope that gives it any rest it needs. 

Sheesh. 6:23 pace coming back from east river road. If I'm not mistaken, 6:28 pace overall after getting to 18th. Hip felt ok. Once again, I would love to believe these hot paces on longer, easier efforts would translate into races, at least the 1/2 and marathon distance. We'll know soon enough hopefully with Grandma's coming up. 

6:45 pace, farmers fields (rain route, as I figured things would still be very soggy after we got a whopping 2.3 inches of rain the other day)

Easy run in the rain, longer than a real pre-race for the sake of exercise and enjoyment but short enough to hopefully freshen up the legs and think like a race. 

You couldn't ask for a nicer day. Bright blue skies, weather in the 50s during my run, really nice. The wind was present but not awful. I ran a 10K "race" on river road, starting on 24th and then going south before crossing the bridge that I've only ever crossed on foot as part of Get in Gear, and heading back up north on east river road, ending before the lake street bridge. 31:58. Couldn't have asked for a nicer day but could have asked for a nicer time. Hard to believe I'll be ready for 5:04 pace for a half marathon if I can't run that pace for even 6 miles right now. In terms of effort, obviously I was just wearing my normal shoes and you'll never work as hard when you are running all alone. If you look at it as a 6.2 mile tempo at 5:09 pace, even then its still not amazing. But less terrible. I feel like some workouts have gone well, but for some reason I'm having a hard time sticking that 5 minute-ish pace for several miles in a row, and I'm not sure what the issue is. Dissapointing. 

I'm not sure exactly, but approximately 6:47 pace coming back from west river road roundabout. 

6:43 pace, Como classic rain route. Just another day of one of the best weather months I remember in Minneapolis. Felt so lucky to run through the forresty area of Como park in the rain. 

Wow! Today I ran the last possible workout I could to compare my fitness this year to last spring. I've gotten positive signals thus far from my workouts, long runs, and easy days, but very negative signals from my 10K race and 10K pseudo-race, which unfortunately are probably better predictors of half marathon fitness than anything else. Anyway, I got a bad sleep last night but went for it anyway. Really nice sunny day outside, the workout was short enough that the temp wasn't an issue. 3 by mile at the fairgrounds with 80 seconds rest. 4:42, 4:37, 4:39. Sheesh! On mapmyrun, the distance is 1.00 miles even when you do it completely by hand and cut corners in line with reality. And, I know this is the same course I ran on 6/6/23 and averaged ~10 seconds slower. Hamstring felt tight during the last rep and afterwards, so I am hoping I can take care of it the next few days. 

Yuck, another bad sleep thanks to a super loud train that came through at 5 am. 6:44 pace coming back from east river flats and definitely slower than that (probably slower than 7 minute pace) going out, due to my hamstring. Not to be more negative, but I give the Gel Nimbus' a failing grade. Less than 400 miles in, they don't feel remotely like a max cushion shoe. At this point in their lifetime, the Hokas Clifton 7s were just getting started. And yet, they still have the problems of maximalist shoes in terms of their bulkiness. Too bad.  

Wow, surprisingly slow 7:05 pace on east river flats. That's way slower than I've been going recently. But my hamstring felt better so that's good. 

Nice and slow 6:28 pace today. I think my hamstring will feel better by next week. Today I finally did a long run out to Theodore Wirth park. Mpls really is an ideal spot for running. It was a great overcast morning and the park was super cool and bigger than I thought. In fact, after I came home and had breakfast we went out there again as a family, and I particularly enjoyed walking in the hills, which you don't get much of around here. Idk if I'll do it again. Like with lake Johanna, this route is best used during the summer when you aren't trying to go fast. There are a couple of less nice sections (including Hennepin, which I took out there to be more direct). The nicer parts are the park of course and the Boom/Nicollet island pieces. I did get really lucky once I got to the park as I followed my gut at crossroads and it turned out that I made the right choices. 

6:51 pace on east river road. Very tired, hopefully because of my fast yesterday. Very humid so I'm glad when the clouds came. I can still feel my hamstring and will try to be mature enough to postpone or cancel my workout this week if needed to allow it to heal. 

6:47 pace on como classic. Another hot, humid, tired day. I'm not sure why I felt so tired on my run. I haven't been sleeping well but I don't think that explains it all. I decided to push back my workout to Thursday, if I feel more energized and my hamstring feels completely better by tomorrow. 

6:42 pace, boom island. Much cooler day. Glad to see I ran a little faster, still felt somewhat tired. And the ache in my hamstring means it looks like I will have to cancel my workout for this week. It's weird because the pain isn't super strong, I don't really feel much until midway through the run. But, better to play it safe. Maybe I need to be more consistent with lunges and other related exercises in addition to my routine of heel drops and hip work, as this issue really should have been preventable. 

Just 6:48 pace (including a bit of Winchell trail) coming back from west river roundabout. My energy levels felt fine however by the latter half. Hamstring continues to be a dull ache. 

6:40 pace coming back from east river flats. Glad that I don't feel the fatigue much anymore, but I'm beginning to be concerned about my hamstring. Rather than feeling rested after a missed workout, right now I would say I feel a little flat. I need to get some fast work in so at least I'm sharp going into my race in two weeks. I'd be ok missing the workouts in terms of building fitness but at least that much I need to do. I might try to do something tomorrow during my long run.  

I was really spoiled today. A light rain when I started by run turned into an overcast morning, but the sky was blue by the time we went for a bike ride immediately after this, so pretty perfect all around I'd say. For the third legit long run in a row, I tried a new route. Lake Johanna, then Theodore Wirth, and now I went the way I had sworn off (the fastest way to get to east river, though I avoided passing the dump this time) so I could get there sooner and explore hidden falls. It was super cool down there, I got to run a little more than a mile on a bike path there before I turned around. 6:07 pace on the way out. 5:55 pace coming back. It didn't feel great but I was happy to get in my 5x3 min on, one minute off. Just needed to get the legs moving again. Did that in 5:25 average (of which 80% was hard), so probably around 5 minute pace on the hard, maybe a bit slower. That's ok.

6:38 pace on the way back from east river road, slower on the way out. I was pleasently surprised by how my leg felt, after it was pretty sore this morning and hurt more than I had expected yesterday. It has actually shifted more to my groin than my hamstring. I'm hoping this is the beginning of the end and I can do a light workout Thursday. My wife ran in her new Saucony Triumph 20s today and thought they were super bouncy- no surprise when she's been using Hoka Cliftons for a long time. 

6:41 pace coming back from Como classic. Took the rain route coming home as the ground had gotten surprisingly wet with this mornings shower. Leg feeling better. 

I unforunately missed an incredible opportunity to run on the bike path at Carver park reserve, because it started raining. Instead, we only got to run to the nature center and back, which was still fun, and made me wish we could have explored more. Pushing only one of my daughters is much easier than having both. Came home and finished mileage around the St Paul campus.

Track work. Muggy morning but that didn't affect me, nor did the wind. The track was a little slippery which could have done something (wondering if traction is a weakness of the Triumphs, as I don't recall slipping like this on a track before). Plan was to do 5x800 with 90 seconds rest in 30, 25, 20, 20, X. Ended up going 2:27, 2:24, 2:20, 2:17, 2:15. I would have liked that to have been easier or to have gone faster for the effort. Oh well. I don't plan to do anything else hard before the race, though hopefully I can stay fresh with some strides at least maybe. Grateful to do a legit hard workout after skipping last week due to injury. 

6:50 pace coming back from east river flats, probably slower going out. Tired from the workout presumably. 

This felt too hard for being 6:22 pace. I wouldn't say it was a new route, more of a modified one. I ran up to lake Johanna again, but this time I took a slight detour to hit Langton lake park and a greenway. Not a bad run, just felt tired. I left pretty early, like 6:45, but this time of year I could have left an hour earlier and it still would have been light out. 

6:49 pace on east river road. Not quite a deluge but some solid rain. Felt a little cramping in my upper gastroc area again. Could be related to my hamstring issue from earlier. I stretched it afterwards. Gotta take care of it because you really don't want to be worried about your health during a race. You want to be focused on the race. The forecast is calling for almost an inch of rain on Saturday in Duluth. Yikes. We had a weather miracle last year at that race so maybe we will have one again. 

Unique run for several reasons. My other shoes were still SOAKED from yesterday so I wore Triumphs and put both by the fan afterwards as these became soaked as well- from sweat. I had my wife ride my new bike while I pushed the stroller. It was like 70 degrees yesterday evening but already in the mid 70s this morning, with a dew point close to 70. Wind and clouds helped. I pushed the stroller and the girls had a great time. I ran 6:45 pace to keep it moving- the bike is so good that my wife was hardly sweaty when we got home, which is crazy. We ran to west river, then came back on east river and looped around the stadium. I was sopping wet, but other than that we had a good time, except my left gastroc which started feeling pretty tight only near the end. This was quite dissapointing with a race coming up. I bet it has to do with overcompensating during my hamstring issue. I can only hope and pray it will be ok by Saturday, and that I can still get in enough speed that I don't feel flat by then. 

Much cooler today. I notice my calve felt not quite like a typical overuse injury, but the type of thing that kind of comes and goes. Overall that is a good thing, but I need to work on getting better as I would bet that running 5 minute mile pace for a half marathon would be the exact type of thing that would make it come on bad, and that would not be good for me. In addition to exercises, I rolled out today and boy did that feel good / painful. I ran straight up Hendon to Como park, then to the other side of the lake. 6:42 pace. No strides or anything. 

Easy run towards boom island. Then a few hard one minute runs to get the legs moving again. 

Cloudy but no rain today! Getting to the station, driving to Duluth, running in Duluth, or walking around it. That is appreciated. I enjoyed my bus ride up here- Minnesota is a lot of trees, lakes, and fields, which I like a lot. I ran a better route this year on the lake that reminded me of a better version of what they had in Chicago. Legs felt fine. 

Another great day in Duluth! This is a fun experience I’ve been lucky to have the past couple of years. It’s good to see northern MN, be surrounded by other runners (albeit rich ones if they aren’t fast enough to get free stuff like me), and see old friends. The forecast called for lots of rain but we got another Bjorklund miracle and had a dry day yesterday and modest sprinkles during the half today (last year the smoke cleared out just in time). The rain started coming more later in the race. One thing I loved about last year was how helpful it was to run with other people and help push each other. I had talked with three guys I knew-Jack, Danny, and Tom, who all seemed to be about the same fitness as me and I thought I might have a good group. I did have a good group, though didn’t run with them much. We had a nice tail wind which was great. Perfect cloudy weather. I knew I was going to get a worse place this year due to all the guys around me, but I appreciated being able to run with them. 26th is actually better than the 30th I had estimated. Calve felt a little sore at a couple points but thankfully didn’t progress. Don’t have much to say about how the race went. Went in with low expectations and more relaxed than I usually am by a lot which usually bodes well. After some fast early miles I became just a tiny bit optimistic, and kind of like the UW 5K I ran, I got tired and worried I would fall apart a few times but was able to hang on and keep clicking the miles off somehow. I feel like if I don’t feel like that during a race I’m probably running too conservatively.  It’s really helpful when the course is just straight and you can just say “if I can just make it as far as I can see then I’ll be a lot closer to the next mile marker”. Mile 8/9 is a turning point when you know you’re getting close. This time I was more prepared for the long finish (into the wind, too!) 

Here were my splits: 4:58, 4:56, 4:56, 5:03, 5:06, 4:56, 5:07, 5:09, 5:00, 5:06, 5:07, 5:03, 5:36. The splits are very similar to last year, but I'll note that I ran miles 1-3 9 seconds faster than last year and the final 1.1 4 seconds faster. The middle was a wash. I got to 10K in 31:05, faster than I ran at Get in Gear! This was my fourth 1/2 and fourth time running 1:06. Idk if I’ll ever run 1:05 but I’d like to. 

I promised my daughter I would take her to my work, so my wife biked and we ran there. About 7:18 pace? Could have felt worse for post race and pushing a stroller. Of course I felt plenty sore. 

Kansas City. 7:12 pace on Ward parkway. Still sore as expected. The low this morning was 79 so I was expecting to die out there but it really wasn't that bad. Shade, wind, and a small layer of clouds may have helped, in addition to the fact that the AC is better where we are staying so I wonder if my body temp was cooler this morning. I can definitely say I enjoy running here more than Chicago, which was my last trip. So far I am a fan of KC. You can tell the climate is different based on the greenery. 

7:04 pace in KC. Cooler this morning. I am going to name KC "Statue City" for all the little statues you see around in neighborhoods. I like that a lot. What I didn't like was how awful the sidewalks were at handling a little bit of rain. There were huge puddles everywhere and the creek boardwalk I was going to do had mud on it. So about a mile into my run, I ditched my previous plan and was proud of how I was able to run around and figure things out. Saw some very nice neighborhoods. 

6:59 pace, mostly on Tomahawk road in Indian Hills and Prairie Village, Kansas. I neglected to say that the past three days I have run in two states each day (KS and MO each time of course) which may be a first. Saw some pretty cool things. The gardens and statues they have make you feel like you are in a sculpture garden even though it's really just a neighborhood. My race recovery hasn't been as linear as it could have been- even though I have run faster each day, I felt a little banged up today. 

7:08 pace, trolley trail. 

6:22 pace on west river. Minnehaha falls was more like Niagara after all this rain. Only took a couple side paths because of mud. 6:15 pace on way back. 

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. 

I don't plan to do that again. I wanted to go very light on my last effort before the race next week, so I decided to do 2x2 miles near race pace (5:35 pace, a little fast to account for the lack of hills). I should have know when I calculated that meant I needed to be hitting 84s that that is just too slow to run on the track. It just became kind of monotonous and makes you wonder if you can really hit that pace for ~105 laps. I did do a really crude job taking my heart rate, and was surprised it was as high as it was tbh, maybe 140 right after my first rep and 150+ after my second. I took a 90 second break in between them to switch directions and very quickly my pulse dropped down to 100. Anyway, I ran 11:03 and then 10:49 (very similar splits of just a bit fast until I ran a 68 last lap and really felt how slippery the rain made things). Still, it's always nice to go the track on a wet day and go for it.  

6:40 pace, west river road. Felt tired though. The heat wave is almost over. 

I had been looking forward to an MLR at Resevoir Woods (because it's that time of year in Minnesota when you can look forward to your daily run) but the kids were grumpy this morning so somehow we decided to do a bike/run together, which seemed like a bit of a sacrifice at first. It turned out to be great. I think I am getting better at pushing the stroller. The girls did great. It wasn't as hot as it had been previous days so it felt great outside, and we had a really nice time running to Como park, all the way around the lake, and then I dropped them off at the playground and ran 3 miles all around the trails. Then we went home. It was just a really nice day and fun to do something like that as a family. It was also our first saturday doing something like this so the family got to enjoy the quiet streets. Amazingly enough, according to mapmyrun I hit exactly 14 miles. That's impressive. 6:39 pace for the overall run. 

6:55 pace on a rain-soaked morning on east river flats. Felt a tad bit flat but mostly just wet! 

6:36 pace coming back from boom island. It was a great morning out for a run! Nice and sunny and cool today. 

6:48 pace on a route I haven't done in a long time- Minneapolis diagonal. I was trying to do something new with the fam for a bike / run and plus there is so much construction right now that not all routes are easily accessible with a stroller/bike. 

West river road, 3 strides at the end. 

Pre race

I could write an essay about this race- it was a marathon after all. I’ll try to keep it concise. I signed up for this race relatively last minute. It’s a really small but historic race in the north woods of Wisconsin near the Michigan border. The drive both directions was pretty breathtaking and a highlight of the trip. I was tempted on the way home to stop and go for a hike! The people were very nice (what would you expect) and it’ll be a good memory. 

I wasn’t expecting competition for the win, but I wanted to run sub-2:30 to maximize my prize money, and also get another marathon to build confidence for my next one after Akron, which was in some ways a disaster. This one didn’t go as well as I had hoped. Miles 1-10 mostly consisted of sight seeing and feeling overconfident in myself because the pace I wanted to keep (5:40s) felt easy. Miles 13-14 were a scare because I rapidly felt a decline in strength and worried I was headed overboard. That’s the thing about a marathon- it’s hard (at least on your second attempt) to know your limits.  I got into a rhythm again through mile 20. At that point, we turned around into the wind and on a hilly section and it started to feel bad. Based on how those last miles went, I can’t honestly say I left a whole lot in the tank. My calves were fine this time and I didn’t bonk the way I did last time, but my inner thighs started involuntarily seizing up and cramping. It got pretty painful by the end so I almost fell over after I stopped. 

Other notes: Weather was overcast, a cool ~52 degrees, and with a relatively large wind that was mostly at our back. Course was on the side of roads. 1100 feet elevation gain was not easy, but tbh I can run moderate hills at the beginning easily at sub-5:40. It’s the stuff at the end that kills. Took gels every 3 miles until mile 15, then took one more at 19. I developed a tummy ache and they started to taste gross but I think that had a much smaller effect on my pace than problems related to a lack of fuel, rather than too much. I was very fortunate to run the first 12 miles behind two relay teams where the guys did a surprisingly good job running the pace that I wanted and  doing so very consistently even across

multiple runners, rather than a hard first mile followed by a significant slowing. I felt super cold right after the race and I was shaking pretty bad all the way till I got in the shower and my body finally relaxed. I think there is a physiologic reason why your body struggles to stay warm after exerting itself like that. Somehow I lost my bib within 5 minutes of getting it, thankfully they took care of me. I think the marathon is too far a distance for me. I just feel like it’s a different sport from pure running (half marathon or shorter) where you don’t have to deal with this fueling issue. 

Splits- I didn’t get some of them because the aid station was right there so I had to focus on that. What you’ll notice is I definitely have the “two mile curse” after this and Akron: if I get a split at a mile, it’ll be fast, but if I take it at two miles, it will be surprisingly slow! 5:23, 5:40, 5:42, 5:29, 5:27, 11:29, 5:26, 11:34, 5:29, 11:59 (to 13.1 in 73:42), 5:02 (to 14), 5:21, 5:28, 5:27, 5:32, 11:17, 5:42, 5:35, 5:27, 5:44, 5:45, 5:57, 1:15. 

I supposedly ran 6:30 pace coming back from boom island? Seems hard to believe. There's no doubt that I felt better than I should have compared to last year, but my pessimistic prediction is that things will actually get worse over the next few days. 

7:03 pace, farmers fields. As predicted, I felt a little worse today. 

6:56 pace with the fam. Felt less fatigued, especially for having the stroller, but being with my family often distracts me from how I feel while running. We ran around Falcon Heights, the hard-surface version of farmers fields I would say. Between the fairgrounds being closed and all the construction, a lot of our potential routes are closed off. Hey, at least Cleveland ave is done, that took forever. 

6:56 pace coming back from east river flats on an overcast morning that never started raining. The pace was apparently slow (probably 7 minute pace overall) but I'm very pleased with how I felt in terms of recovering from my race. 

Tired legs today. You would think you'd feel a little better each day after a marathon, not a little worse! Oh well. 6:54 pace on a drizzly morning on east river flats.

Amazing overcast and a little rainy day to run to Reservoir Woods. I tried to explore it a bit but the trail supposedly on the north end was really overgrown. It's still one of my favorite spots I can run to though. 6:30 pace. I felt fine. 

6:52 pace, boom island. Smoke was better than last night thankfully. 

6:50 pace. With the fairgrounds blocked off, the Como route is a lot less enjoyable. Felt tired. Yesterday I made a big decision about my fall racing plans. What it means is that I have some important training on hills and soft surfaces at high speeds and in flats that needs to happen in the next few weeks. So I'm hoping my body can feel ready for that ASAP. 

6:40 pace on east river road, just me and the girls in the stroller. Tiring for sure. 

6:46 pace, east river flats. Nice to have really clean air again. Tired still. 

It would have been a really nice cloudy run on west river road if it weren't for two things. The first is that I got a bee sting early on. When I came home I found out my wife was stung too, which is quite the coincidence given that I haven't been stung since...almost exactly three years ago. I figured it must be a time of year thing and turns out yes they are more feisty at the end of the summer. More importantly, I felt some bad patellofemoral pain today. I'm not sure where it came from, though it may have started on a day I was pushing the stroller, which does cause me to alter my form (though I don't see how it would make things worse on my knees). For now, I'll avoid squats and hope that it goes away on its own! 6:45 pace. At least I didn't feel tired. 

It was great to be back on the Gateway again! I figure this will be the only time I get to enjoy that this summer. The last time I was here in May I rolled a long run record 5:35 pace. This time I ran 5:55 pace and it felt really easy. The reason why is my wife came with me on the bike. It was lots of fun. It's kind of cool that I can hold a conversation with ease at 6 minute mile pace. Still, we were more impressed with the athletic abilities of a large number of older folks who were killing it out there. There was a lady who was not young by any means who started where we did at Demontreville park and was continuing to run at around the 6 mile mark. We also saw my PhD advisor lol. Pretty warm out but the shade is always a huge help. Really glad we got to have that experience for the first time as I really love the gateway. My knee definitely felt better than it could have. I wonder if wearing my Sauconys more would help. 

6:52 pace on St. A parkway (surprised myself by doing that route). Very dissapointed to report that my knee pain was back today and bad as ever. It was a doozy of a day with a low of 75 degrees and exceptional humidity.

6:49 pace on my "hard surface" Farmers fields route. Last night was a major storm and it was still raining early this morning. Nice day for a run. My knee didn't hurt as early in the run or as much. Also, I did some exercises which may or may not help. Bummed that a workout is out of the question for tomorrow but grateful to be able to run at all. 

6:32 pace on the way back from east river flats on a misting morning that was in the low/mid 60s but felt super nice compared to previous days. The fast pace is due to my decision to run hard up the main hill on the way home, about 3 minutes. My knee felt better during that than it had before, so I decided to run another hard minute up onto the bridge. I wonder if this is one of this exceptionally rare injuries that do better (or at least no worse) by running hard on them. I rememeber one previous situation like that. We'll see. Time is of the essense if I want to train for Griak. I'm tired of my knee feeling like this. More exercises. 

6:37 pace, east river road. Ran past the stadium on the first day of football/fall sports season. Knee didn't feel amazing or terrible. 

Still knee pain. Bummer. We'll see if I end up doing a workout tomorrow. West river north. 

Morning run on west river road. The mileage is down in part because I don't need it- I've shifted my focus from a marathon to two races no longer than a 10K. Time to work on speed. Partway through, I ran 3x(3,2,1) with recovery equal to the length of the next rep. Including the final three minute jog, that made for a 36 minute workout that covered 6.25 miles, which is 5:45 pace. That's pretty good in my mind, it means if the hard stuff was 5 minute pace the easy would have had to been approximately 6:30. I think that the hard was faster than that because the easy had to have been slower. Overall the run was pretty chill but at the end once I started going slow my knees started aching again which created its own sort of fatigue. It weirds me out that running hard seems to be doable with this injury, but I'll take it. I need to start putting in some work to get in shape. 6:04 pace overall. 9 mile bike ride later in the morning (pulling a trailer). 

Cool morning for the first run of September. 6:48 pace on east river flats. Knee could have felt worse. 

6:51 pace, west river road north with the family. Knee felt ok. 

Short distance, I know. But good. I was very sleepy this morning but eventually got out the door. Windy for a late summer day. The whole UMN team was having practice but not doing a workout. Plan was to do 2xmile, 2x800, and 4x400. I ran the first mile in 4:37 after opening in 65 high and 2:14 (the fastest 800 I've run this year lol). The second mile was 4:46 and was really just recovering from the first. However, I don't totally regret it, as cross country races kind of start just like that. Then I put on my flats and ran 2:16 and 2:14 for 800. I had wanted to skip an 800 but decided to just skip a couple 400s which weren't as important for my fitness I thought. So I put on my spikes and ran those. After the first I thought "that was pretty fast, I bet I ran 64". Turns out I hit 62! Fastest 400 in a long time. I followed that by closing in a 60. Rest was about 5 minutes between sets (changing shoes), 3:45 between the miles and 2:00 between the other reps. Overall I'm happy. Nice to know I can still run some fast stuff and I am optimistic that both my knee and my achilles tendons will be ok as a result of today. 

6:51 pace, farmer's fields. Achilles tendon definitely felt tight today, I am hopeful that it is not past the point of no return and that it will feel better, not worse tomorrow. It is sobering that I only ran 1.5 miles in not supportive shoes on a flat (admittedly, hard surface and very fast) and that I feel like this; I will have to take advantage of hopefully at least two more opportunities to wear flats in the coming couple days. 

6:50 pace, boom island. Knee discomfort still there and unfortunately my achilles tendon remains feeling loose. 

6:22 pace, reservoir woods. I really wanted to do something like a fartlek but it never felt right on my achilles tendon. Besides that though it was a great run. Sunny and the first day of the fall under 50 degrees to start (although it warmed up a lot) made for a really enjoyable run in clean, crisp air. If I could just get myself a pair of Vaporflies with spikes I wouldn't have to deal with training my achilles like this, but I think that wearing spikes will be important on that course. 

7:06 pace, Como classic. Just went chill.

Apparently 7:10 pace? Felt faster. I just did Como classic yesterday and had a workout planned but ended up going with the whole family. I thought my achilles could use one extra day anyway so it's not a problem. 

Workout at farmers fields. Its funny how cross country and the marathon are similar in the sense that for both of them, the race pace you need to run isn't very fast, and it's easy to convince yourself it will be easy. However, the marathon fatigues you in a way no other distance does, and the soft surface and hills of XC really slow you down. I only ran on the grass actually for a few seconds but it felt more energy sapping for sure than the gravel. I did 2x(mile,1200,800) with 2-2:30 rest between reps and 4 minutes jogging recovery between sets. I ran (4:55, 3:40, 2:15) and (4:53, 3:40, 2:12). I knew in advance that the 1200s were a bit long and the 800s were short (those were actually ~7 seconds short of a half mile). Felt kind of banged up with my knee, achilles tendon, and what felt like really tight hamstrings, but my achilles tendons did ok and I'm grateful to have been able to get that workout in. 

6:53 pace, east river road. Although that was slow, I feel ready to do at least a small workout tomorrow in terms of energy but worry that my achilles is not quite there. It's a close call. 

Ran around the diagonal. Don't know my pace coming back. Body felt ok. I definitely made the right decision not to work out today. 

Warm morning by September standards. I ran around the stadium area where they were prepping for a football game. I had wanted to get one more workout in to at least become more accustomed to running fast, even if unfortunately the timing was off such that this had to be on the track as opposed to golf course like I would have liked. My Achilles felt barely well enough to do the little workout- just 4x1k with 60 seconds rest. I ran 2:59, 2:57, 2:57, 2:53. So, not great but I got the work done. 

6:51 pace, farmers fields. 

6:48 pace, west river road. I ran a hard minute or so at the end to wake up my (achy :() legs. 

6:55 pace, river flats. Tired of knee pain.

Today something that happened that only happens once every couple of years excluding races- I got passed by another runner.

Nice run to Como classic, knee hurt again.

Just under 7 minute pace, just me and the girls on east river road. I haven't lived here for that many years but it's interesting that we've had like nonstop summer weather all the way until now. Things will finally change next week. 

Abotu 6:09 pace overall. This was my longest point to point ever- from my apartment all the way out of the twin cities to Sunnybrook apple orchard. The conditions were great for a really fun run, but unfortunately I did not enjoy it as much as I could have, because ominous clouds moved in from the northwest, and eventually a drizzle came, followed by a rain. I think I was sort of following the course of the storm. This was concerning to me as the reason for the point to point was to meet up with my family to pick apples, and I was worried as I had no phone or anything. At its worst, I was in Oakdale and there were rivers of water on the ground, saturating rain from the sky, and even some hail that came right when I was least sheltered by trees. Thankfully, my family still came, and the rain died down and completely soon thereafter so we could enjoy ourselves. It was cool to run so many miles on the gateway. 

Estimated to have run this far with an old teammate on a cold fall morning. 

6:48 pace, farmers fields

6:52 pace coming back from east river flats