Category Archives: My Running

09082019 – Square Lake Tri

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Square Lake Triathlon… I competed in it a few years ago and was a little nervous to be coming back, mostly because of the swim I guess. My swim training wasn’t consistent nor very intense and I hadn’t swam the distance yet. I also didn’t do a lot of open water swimming and on top of all that, the swim was a self-seeded time trial start.  I know how to self-seed in a age group mass start (the back) but in a time trial start with a new swimmer entering the water every 3-5 seconds this seemed a little harder to figure out.

Race morning was cool with a chance of rain that actually held off until most athletes finished. Had it rained during the race, it would have precipitated during every one of my races this year! Because of the weather I gave the family a pass on spectating and drove over early on Sunday morning arriving in the dusky morning light, checking in and getting set up in transition. I was surprised at how many people were showing up relatively close to the actual start time.  Getting there when transition opened might have been a little overkill, but I got what I thought was a good spot in the transition area. And that helped with the nerves, but then I stood around for about an hour, going to the bathroom and doing some stretching before the pre-race meeting and lining up.  About 200 people participated in the event.  I self-seeded into the front half-ish of the mid-pack. That felt like a good place to be and I probably could have gone out earlier.

The swim was two left turns for 1/2 mile in the water.  My watch showed 1,300 yards so hopefully I didn’t swim an extra 500 trying to swim in straight lines! There were 3 buoys per side, but the middle one kept moving around and we were told not to sight off it. Kind of a waste.  With the self-seeding I was passing people the whole time and getting passed by people too, so really no idea where I was at in relation to anyone in my age group. I didn’t have any trouble with the swim, I just stuck to one sided breathing and kept in the rhythm as much as possible.  I almost missed the last buoy and corrected myself, though I think some people missed it and didn’t care.  I finished the swim in 19:12 for 49th place.

T1 was 2:32.  I wore my wetsuit which is a full body one.  The water temp wasn’t bad, but the air temp was in the lower 50′.  I packed a vest and arm sleeves to wear as I wasn’t sure how it would feel.  If it was 52 and rain the vest would have been important.  I opted for just the arm sleeves and they took a little bit to get onto my wet arms!  Though they would be valuable for the bike!

Leaving transition on the bike (and run) you go up a steep hill and a little hill while leaving the parking lot. I should have spent some more time looking at the map, the course was different than last time I rode and the pavement markings were for the old course.  They didn’t put any mile markers down as it had rained over night.  My bike computer still isn’t working and I only felt my watch buzz at the 5 mile mark.  The course was about 18 miles with a fair amount of hills.  My watch said 18.5 miles with 250 feet of elevation change.  The steep hill at the start and one other short steep one in the middle section of the course were the only steep ones of not, but both were quick.  Otherwise it was a rolling course. For the first 5 miles it was a fair amount of getting passed and passing others.  After that there wasn’t much traffic, but one guy and I went back and forth a few times before I finally dropped him. Of course many of the people passing me were riding aerobikes.  Most of the course had wide shoulders with wind coming from every direction! I felt good on the bike and was pushing pretty hard on the hills. I took a gel around mile 10 on the bike and overall was feeling good.  I got passed by some older people in the last 5 miles on their aerobikes (I got some of them back in the run!). The course is a lollipop.  I finished the bike in 1:04:24 for 70th place.  The steep downhill on wet pavement into transition wasn’t ideal, but it was fine.

T2 was 1:30 and this included a quick potty break.  My bladder was super full and it was important to get it out.

The run went up the same steep hill and turned left out of the parking lot (the bike had turned right).  I was feeling my harder bike pace, ok and lack of brick workouts as we did some rolling hills.  My first mile was 8:41 which was slower than I would have liked, but I was running a steady pace and passing other runners.  I’d say overall in the run only 3-4 people passed me.  We turned around at the 1.5 mile mark/aid station. I grabbed a quick drink of water and emptied the cup on the back of my head. I should have taken the arm warmers off as I was a little warm and slipped them half way down my arms. Mid-50’s for a run is ideal temps!  Mile 2 was 8:11.  Glad to see the pace dropping!  I ended up taking my arm sleeves off and running with them in my hands.  I kept moving and trying to speed up as I went. The nice thing about an out and back is that you know what to expect!  Push this uphill… I kept trying to pick up the pace and did mile 3 in 7:33. Yea, maybe I left a little in the tank! I finished in 24:49 officially which was 51st place.

I’m surprised that I placed higher in the swimming than the running! That’s crazy to me.  It is hard to compare to my last race at Square Lake because so much was different.  Overall, I felt happy with my day!

My total time was 1:52:56 which was good enough for 49th place!  And 6th out of 16 in my age group.  I will take it!

08272019 – Run

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A quick run this morning to start the day.  It was still dark outside at 5:30am which was a little bit of a surprise. I’ve enjoyed sleeping in for too long! I took a fairly random route that included the 45 North trails and running the boardwalk across Wirth Lake.  I stopped to take a picture of the sunrise and noticed a deer standing in the water! It was cool, just under 60 for the run.

4 miles in 42:52.

08182019 – Run & Swim

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Finishing up the Cuyuna solo weekend. I had planned to run and swim today, but was feeling nervous about the swim. I woke up and ran the Yawkey trails. They were a little wet and I thought they might be busy since the other big unit was closed for the races. I liked being able to run from the campsite and straight onto the trails. I ran the Man Cage, Manuel Drive, Tugger, and Trout, plus the access trail. This totaled 3.5 miles in 42 minutes. My legs were definitely tired from yesterday’s riding. It took a little bit for my legs to loosen up and then the hills. It was a cool morning so that felt great.

I got back to the campsite and packed up. I kept going back and forth about swimming. The water is cool and super deep (that’s a mental thing) and pretty much no one was around that would even noticed if I was struggling. I knew that I would be fin, but it’s a mental thing. I could swim across to the “beach” and decide to either swim back or walk the short little bit back barefoot. Or I could walk to the “beach” and swim back to the campground. So many options and things to think about.

I finally decided to just do it. When I got to the dock, someone was there and I jumped in. I started swimming and got about 1/2 way across and just felt weird. I know half way I could have just finished, but again mentally it felt better to just turn around and swim back. So I did. My watch said 270 yards in 5:16. Not really what I was hoping for but I’ll take it. The water is so clear and it was fun to see so far down in the water. A different time maybe I’ll plan to snorkel or something.

I almost decided to go for a ride, but decided not to do the Yawkey unit. I hung out for a little bit longer so I could refill the growler at Cuyuna Brewing and then headed home.

08012019 – Run & Swim

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I had hoped to go to the gym this morning, but wasn’t able to confirm that it would work until late last night and then the class was already full. I did wake up to check to see if it was full or not and I was still waitlisted. Then I laid in bed… and almost didn’t get up. But eventually I did with time to go for a run still. Nothing special, just the Wirth perimeter route that I do. It felt like it had been awhile since I was on the those trails. So it was nice to be “back home”. I didn’t see any wildlife and not really that many people either. It was relatively cool, but you could feel the humidity climbing. We’d had several cool days to spoil us too!

4.51 miles in 47:54.

When I got home I did some deadlifting. One set of 10 at 65#’s and then 2 sets of 10 at 135#. The first set of the heavier weights felt heavy, but the second set felt okay.

Then later in the afternoon we went to Webber pool. I was able to get some lap swimming in. Shortly after we arrived the lifeguards rescued someone and I guess at Webber they clear the pool for a few minutes when that happens. Well evidently, this person also vomited so the pool was closed for an hour which was unfortunate. The person was okay and even last year vomit in the pool would have closed it for the day.

So once the pool reopened there was about 15 minutes before the safety break started. Because they were using the smaller upper pool they were still going to have the break. I did 100 yards with bilateral breathing, 50 yards, and then I got into a rhythm of breathing every stroke and managed 550 yards in one go before the whistles blew for the safety break. I’m glad I was able to get into a longer swim without any problems, frustrated that I’m still struggling with breathing on the right side and alternating. Breathing every other stroke isn’t super fast! But I’ll take it.

07292019 – Yoga & Run & Bouldering

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The kids are at a different school for programming this week and it is really close to the bouldering gym so I decided to go there and climb a little before running.  When I got there a yoga class was getting ready to start so I decided to go ahead and join it.  It was a Vinyasa I class, this is their description of the class:

Vinyasa is the staple of the Minneapolis Bouldering Project yoga program. This movement based practice emphasizes intentional breathing, mindful transitions, postural alignment, and self-acceptance. Each class features a gentle integration, gradual warm-up, sequenced flows, and sun salutations. Practitioners can expect optional, judgement-free opportunities to explore arm-balances and inversions. The difficulty of the class increases with the level of Vinyasa (I, II or III), but each class features modifications and safe-space to make your practice exactly what YOU need it to be. A tranquil cool-down and closing savasana help integrate your yoga practice into life off the mat.

Its been awhile since I’ve done any real yoga or mobility and I’ve been stiff and sore, so this seemed like a good idea.  It was, I felt good afterwards, but it wasn’t an easy hour! I was sweating like crazy and had a few poses that I couldn’t get into or hold.  I should definitely do more yoga!  Or I guess at least do the mobility parts of the programmed workouts.

Afterwards I did a few climbing routes, I think 5 total.  Almost all of them were red which is one step up from yellow or the easiest.

Then I went for a run on the River.  This part of the river is very different from where I had been running earlier this summer.  I went North from Plymouth on the River and decided to cross on Broadway, I could maybe have gone to the Lowry bridge, but that isn’t quite as nice.  I crossed Broadway and was surprised that there wasn’t access to the new bike trail from Broadway. When I looked later, it was just a little bit North of Broadway.  I turned on the next street and headed South turned right and wound around until I got to the trail.  Then I followed the trail and then ran to the river’s edge and followed that and actually ran under the bridge. I hugged the river until I got to Nicollet Island then ran around Nicollet Island’s Southern end before getting onto the river trail on St. Anthony Main.  I crossed the Stone Arch Bridge and then followed the trail through the edge of downtown along the Mississippi River. I hit a little bit of dirt trails after the playground and finished up by going under Plymouth Ave.

The total was 4.82 miles in 42:50.