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.
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.
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.
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.
The Caribou Rock Hiking trail starts just outside of the campground where we were staying. It was so close in fact that Hungry Jack Lodge & Campground put a little trail from the campground to the trailhead! I figured I wouldn’t make the full almost 3.5 miles to where the trail connects to the Border Route Trail, but I figured I would get closer than I did! I also had a time limit that ended my run earlier than I would have liked. On the off chance I made it to the Border Route trail I was hoping to do the short extension to see Rose Falls, which we would later come back to via canoe. Leaving the trailhead the trail is pretty easy to follow as it climbs to an overlook of West Bearskin Lake.
There is a nice overlook to see West Bearskin Lake, it would be a nice hike. The trail continues following between some lakes and pops out with this nice view of Moss Lake before turning inland. The trail has some steep drops and at one point I was running downhill through a bunch of brush and couldn’t really see the tread of the trail. Some parts were rocky, not quite Superior Hiking Trail rocky, but pretty close. And a few times you needed to hold on to climb down and back up! I crossed a stream on rocks and eventually ran through the portage between West Bearskin Lake and Duncan Lake.
I didn’t see any wildlife on the trail unfortunately. Shortly after crossing the portage and after climbing up a hill I got to an intersection without any signs. I was already past my turn around point time so I knew I shouldn’t really do any more. I went a short bit towards the left (which would have been towards the falls) and realized that I wasn’t actually going to make it. So I turned around – this was just over 2 miles in but definitely over 45 minutes.
The run back felt faster, I didn’t stop as much for pictures which helped. But I think knowing the landmarks helped too. Running 20 minute pace isn’t ideal, but it was a fun run!
4 miles in 1:17:58 with 1,200 feet elevation gain!
Moss Lake
Here are a few pictures of the trail!
After breakfast we got ready to go for our canoe ride. We were planning to go to Rose Falls and to see Canada! The 5 of us loaded up into the canoe and made our way out on Hungry Jack Lake. It was super easy to find the first portage and it was relatively short so we didn’t have any problems getting into West Bearskin Lake.
I should have taken a picture of the map as we had trouble finding the portage into Duncan Lake. We were actually really close at one point, but I thought we had missed it. We paddled along the shore and found a campsite and then ran into some people who were staying at Hungry Jack that we had met and they helped us get to the portage and gave us some pointers for the rest of our trip. The portage into Duncan Lake actually brought us officially into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. This was a little longer portage. Once we got into Duncan Lake it was easy to find the spot for Stairway Portage/Rose Falls.
I thought it might be fun to portage the canoe and paddle into Canada, but I’m glad we didn’t. It would have been a long portage with a ton of steps! It was a good little hike though and we had lunch next to the falls. After lunch we climbed the stairs down to Rose Lake and played along the edge and gazed at the far shore which was Canada. Rose Falls was pretty too. After playing around for awhile we climbed back up and over and headed home. The kids wanted to help paddle and they did all the way back.
We didn’t have any trouble finding the portages on the way back and had a nice calm paddle. It was a fun day on the water! I estimated we paddled about 8 miles for the day.
Entering the BWCA!
Top of Rose Falls
Rose Falls
Rose Lake looking at Canada