A Good Trail Run

A great week for working out.  After a hot few days, the temperatures dropped to fall levels!  It was amazing to wake up to 50 degree temps on a few mornings.   It was also the first week back with kids at school and that was a lot of work.  It was like 90 degrees in the building for the first 3 days.  This was not comfortable for anyone.  Fortunately, my office has air conditioning (not a lot, but it helps).  Going from that to wearing pants and long sleeves over the weekend was quite a change.

I ran three times this week.  Thursday was a cool run in the rain.  I almost didn’t go, but it felt great to run and to run in the rain felt even better.  It was kind of soothing and relaxing to go out and have no pressure and just enjoy the cooler air and sound and feeling of rain.

Friday I ran in my Vibram 5 Fingers.  I bought a pair on the scratch and dent rack at REI and this was my second time running in them.  I’m taking it very easy on the mileage and effort while wearing them.  It is quite a different experience. I read somewhere that you just need to run naturally and let your foot react to the difference when hitting the ground.  I’ve run to local parks and done most of the mileage on grass.  I haven’t noticed any major issues.  It is an odd feeling though to actually feel the rocks and bumps of the ground.

Saturday morning was the annual Finn Picnic for the MDRA Fall Marathon Training Group.  I showed up pulling my old-school Burley trailer with OJ in it and had a great time catching up with friends.  As a result, I found out about the Sunday morning run.  Most of my group of friends is tapering for the Moose Mountain Marathon next weekend, but a small group was going to help navigate the Trail Loppet course for a friend, so I joined them. It was a tough course with lots of up and down and some more technical stretches. It was a great time.  I love trail running.  It is hard, but so much fun to be weaving through the trees.

Wednesday, Christy and I went to Lake Nokomis so that I could do some swimming and then we relaxed on the beach afterwards.  It was a gorgeous evening and a fun way to relax mid-week.  I did 600 meters and felt pretty comfortable with it.  There was a very small amount of chop and people playing in the “lap swimming” part, otherwise excellent.

Sunday, I screwed up my attempt at 30 Days of Biking.  We were going to ride to a new church, but I didn’t get home in time from the run to do so.  Then we went and ran some errands and did work around the house.  I thought, “Oh I’ll do the little ride around the block thing.” Then we went to some friends for a bonfire and didn’t get home until after midnight.  Ooops.  I knew that weekends would be harder since I don’t commute on the weekends and also don’t want to ride in a training sense more than once a weekend.

Weekly Mileage:

Bike: 82.6 Miles

Run: 10.5 Miles

Swim: 600 meters

This week’s ONE POST becomes two:  A short story about my college running and a Step-by-step guide along the Minneapolis Downtown Riverfront.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *