Ethan Cannon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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