Ethan Cannon

Around Como classic. I forgot that the fairgrounds closed beginning today. 

I was very glad to see the air had gotten a little better so I could do my workout today. I did something today that I have enjoyed doing before, which is doing some sort of interval over a planned route, but not the exact same one. For example, you could do mile repeats on the track and each rep would be identical. This time, I did a 1K route north on Cleveland starting at Larpenteur, then came back, then ran 1K south, then came back. So it felt like there were 4 unique paths I took on each rep, which made it much easier to stomach doing 10 of them than if they were say, all on the track. Another example of a time I did this would be my Ks on Juanipero in Medford. 10xK w/ 60 seconds rest except due to necessity after rep 5 (<4 minutes). Distances were likely 1-3 seconds short. 3:07, 3:04, 3:05, 3:04, 3:05, 3:01, 3:02, 3:04, 3:03, 3:01. 

Shoe thoughts: I am developing a lot of brand loyalty towards Saucony. However, I have gotten a little banged up while wearing my Triumphs (not necessarily cause and effect) and was ready to try something new...or old, as the Ride 10s were all-time favorites. As billed, the Ride 17s are a less cushy ride than the Triumphs. We will see how that turns out for my feet/knees. As I read somewhere though, I definitely can feel myself letting my feet down more lightly than I would otherwise, in part because of the loud slapping noise they make when you don't. So, I'm not blown away by them yet but feel like Saucony is doing its good Saucony stuff. 

6:58 pace. Enjoyed a nice overcast morning on east river flats. Not sure I love the firmness of the Rides. 

6:47 pace, west river north via stone arch. I surprised myself by doing this again, I guess I am getting caught up after both bridges were closed for months. Felt some knee pain in the patellar area. Remains to be seen whether that happened to co-occur with using the Rides or was caused by them. 

6:40 pace, steamy morning on east river road. Body felt a little better. 

Well, either I'm out of shape, or the humidity just does me in. We had a big storm roll through this morning that woke me up. It was 74 w/ 71 dewpoint when I left for my run. Initially felt fine, nice and cloudy and quiet out. But when I started by 10 mile tempo, I felt the heat, and ended up with squishy shoes. I ran 5:24ish pace overall, including just a hair slower on the way back, despite ending on a downhill (I started and finished at east river flats, and turned around at Minnehaha park). This was a good workout to do, especially without having done a 1/2 this year.