We Moved Indoors

Sunday we renewed our membership at the North St Paul Community Center (NSPCC). It has a very nice upper-level indoor track, 13.5 laps per mile, clockwise on odd days and counter-clockwise on even days. It's not as nice as running outdoors, but better than a treadmill. Plus there is a treadmill if necessary, and lots of other training equipment.

Thursday, December 17:

NSPCC indoor track once more. Good run today, six miles at a pace faster than 9-minute miles, today the place was cool upstairs, as it should be. No red face, no lightheadedness. I wore the Burn shoes.

Splits: 9:22, 8:47, 8:38, 8:42, 8:54, 8:56, total 53:18, pace 8:53.

Tuesday, December 15:

North St Paul Community Center indoor track again. This time I forgot my watch, and the second hand on both clock is broken, so there was really no way to time the laps accurately. Golly, I had to just run and wonder how I was doing :-)

That should be easier, I suppose, relieved of the yoke of the 40-second lap, 9-minute mile. And it felt that way at first. I set the pace according to breathing, keeping it at four footfalls per breath most of the way. The outdoor temperature was minus two, so the heating system in that place was working overtime, apparently not yet adjusted correctly for winter. The track was 80 degrees or more at one end and 65 at the other, my estimate. I ran 55 minutes, which should be at least 6 miles. No walking.

A little light-headed and red-faced (sez Sunshine) afterward, I suppose that was due to the fluctuating temperature. I hope it wasn’t in some way due to the Brooks Launch shoes - I wore my old Burns on Sunday, without those symptoms afterward. Unlikely.

Sunday, December 13:

North St Paul Community Center indoor track, 13.5 laps per mile. This was a tempo run, just under a race pace. Breathing was easy for the first mile or two, then settled down to four footfalls per breath for most of the rest, going to three footfalls in the last mile or so. A hard run for me, but good training.

Splits: 9:18, 8:46, 8:34, 8:38, 8:31, 8:49, total 52:35, pace 8:46.

Saturday, December 12:

St Croix Valley Runners, about five degrees above zero. We ran Wayne’s Route, a figure-8 course that goes around Lake McKusick. Six of us this morning. I ended up running by myself between three faster and two slower guys. I didn’t start my watch at the beginning of the run, apparently, so I don’t have the exact time for the five miles, but it was about 40 minutes. Not good, but OK for winter running.

My feet got really cold, though, not quite numb but almost. I don’t recall that from previous years. Same shoes & sox that I wear in the summer, as I’ve always done in the winter before. I wonder if my feet will get used to the cold, or will I have to come up with cold-weather footwear?


Taco salad, mostly organic.  I had seconds.