Ethan Cannon

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.