Tilda Tuesdays: The Minnehaha Dog Park and the Wiener Dog Races.

Happy Tuesday!

Tuesday is supposed to be the day of the week when we are the most productive in the office.  So...good job being so efficient friends! Now it's time for a little bit of cute dog distraction to break up all this productivity. It's time for Tilda Tuesday!

Today's post is about one of Tilda's favorite dog parks, the Minnehaha Dog Park.

We don't go to this dog park as frequently as the airport dog park, but when we do go, Matilda LOVES it.

She loves the sandy areas. She loves the wooded areas. She loves the beaches. She kinda loves the river, but not so much that we have to give her a bath afterwards.

Since it has been a really wet summer, we were worried that this park would be flooded, or at the very least, extremely muddy. Yet we went over Labor Day weekend, and it wasn't bad at all! We spent about an hour and a half letting Tilda run crazy at the park, before heading to..drumroll please....THE WIENER RACES at Lake Nokomis!!!

Oh my gosh, this was the cutest little event ever! It was organized by the SandCastle restaurant. I read about it on the Sidewalk Dog blog a few weeks ago, and pencilled it into our calendar.

The event featured a pretty short course for the races- actually, less than 50 yards...There was a woman calling out the "heats" and starting each one with a Ready, Set, Go!

 These dogs were IN IT TO WIN IT! 

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Spectators lined the course, of both the human and canine variety. 

The below picture is a wiener dog named Annabelle, who took home the big win in the finals. She didn't let anything distract her. This wiener is a winner!

And for your viewing enjoyment, here's a quick video of the races:

The wiener dog races at Lake Nokomis were such a cute event for dog lovers of all kinds. We will definitely be back next summer. Tilda seemed to enjoy it too, though I'm guessing she would have crushed those poor dogs in a race.

Matilda wants to know, when are the vizsla races??
I suppose she can have her moment of glory next year at the Fast & Furry 8k!

Weekly Recap: Luminous Yoga and Another Successful Capitol Run!

Another week has passed us by and fall has definitely arrived in Minneapolis. I am not quite ready to pull out my fall jacket. I'm going to resist as long as I can! The cooler temps have made running a bit more pleasurable though.

Speaking of running, here is how last week turned out in Fitness:

Monday: 10 miles with 7 hill repeats in the middle. I did this workout with the Calhoun Beach Running Club the day after the City of Lakes Half Marathon. My legs were definitely still tired from the race the day before but I have recently read a lot of articles about the benefit of training on tired legs, so maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all. I muscled through it, but took Tuesday off from running to recover.

Tuesday: No running. Took a 60-minute outdoor vinyasa class with Luminous Yoga at Lake Calhoun with my friend Vicki. It was lovely.

Wednesday: 5.5 miles with Matilda. It was windy, rainy, and surprisingly cold. I thought Tilda and I would do two lakes, but she didn't seem to be enjoying herself so I cut it short. In the evening, we had our last strength conditioning for runners class at the Calhoun Beach Club. Overall, I really enjoyed this class and I hope that it made me stronger! We'll see at the OBX marathon...

Thursday: 8.5 miles with my friend Meggan. She had mile repeats on her schedule, so we met in the morning to do the warmup together and then did our separate workouts. I had three 10-minute tempo intervals. I feel like I struggle to hit the same paces in the morning that I can easily hit after work, so I'm thinking I need to save the workouts for the evenings and only do easy runs in the early hours. What do you think? Is it easier for you to run hard in the morning or after work?

Friday: 45 minute "mini-barre" class at The Barre in Edina. This was a condensed version of their 60 minute class. I prefer the 60 minute class because you do a lot more arm work. The 45 minute class still does plenty of core/planks, quads and glute work, but I would rather get take the full 60 minutes of "lift, tone, burn!"

Saturday: 18 mile long run with the Calhoun Beach Running Club. Yesterday was the big "capitol run" for our club, where everyone runs from the club to the capitol along the Twin Cities Marathon course.

It is a great opportunity for people to get familiar with the TCM course, including the hills coming up from the river and the rolling hills on Summit Avenue. It was too early in my marathon training to do 22 miles, so we hopped in 4 miles into the route to join for the last 18 miles. It's a really fun morning run. I think we had 45-50 people participating! I have posted about this training run many times in the past (HERE, HERE, HERE).

For the past several summer capitol runs, I have had to run a modified route because my marathon is not the same day as the Twin Cities Marathon. The same was true this summer. I still enjoyed 18 miles of the route. I felt great.

We kept our average pace under 9's (I think around 8:50's).  I took two Hammer Gels and there were three organized support stops manned by volunteers from our club that had Powerade, water, and other snacks for us along the way.

Sunday:
Today, Dustin, Matilda, and I slept in and eventually went for an easy 5.5 mile run.

FYI, I found my response from Mr. Little Guy in the elf tree! I'll be posting about it Wednesday in my summer bucket list recap.

It was such a gorgeous day that we decided we needed to get more fresh air. Its weird- as a runner, I often don't "count" the time that I'm running as time outside...I always feel get a little FOMO (<- fear of missing out!) if I'm only outside when running and I want to do more and more on a beautiful day. I know that I'm getting plenty of fresh air when running, but for some reason, it doesn't always feel like it counts.

Anyways, after tooling around on our bikes for awhile, we made a pit stop at the Fulton brewery for a quick bite at the Tollfeson's Family Grill food truck.

Total: 5 days of running, 1 yoga class, 1 barre, 1 easy bike ride, and 1 strength day. I felt like this week was pretty well balanced!

Here's what is new in Fitness Fashion!
My running shoe of choice, the Brooks Ravennas just came out with a new ombre color scheme!

I LOVE it and ordered a pair right away. I won't need them right away, as I am already running in a new pair of Ravennas right now-

...but I do like to have another pair on hand so that I am always prepared. So I purchased this new pair in the awesome ombre hue and they will be next in line after my neon pair hits 500 miles...

Yes, I do diligently track the miles in my shoes. I figure it's the least I can do to prevent injury. In fact, after a longer run last week, my shins were hurting. I checked my mileage and realized my last pair had 570 miles on them. It was definitely time to recycle that pair and move on to my backup pair!

That's all from the Right Fits this week. I hope you had a great week- do anything fun in fitness or try anything new in fitness fashion?

Please sign up HERE for the next webinar with Minneapolis Running. We'll be talking Tips for Gear for First Time Marathoners. Would love to have you there!

Fitting Remarks: Marathon Fueling for First Timers

Hi all!

I've been working with Nathan Freeburg of Minneapolis Running on a weekly series of webinars for first time marathoners. You can watch the first one of this series below and you can sign up for the next one HERE 

It's more fun if you participate live as you can ask us questions directly while we're talking. Nathan has been running for twenty years and is very close to qualifying for Boston (sub 3:10 for him). He has a lot of knowledge to share!

I'm pulling from my experience with 16 marathons to hopefully offer some insights and tips to help you on your marathon journey.

Come join us next Thursday at 9 pm CST!




Nathan and I will be hosting three more of these live Google hangouts for the next three Thursday nights at 9:00 pm CST. The dates are September 18, 25 and October 2. You can join us live and ask questions, or watch the replay at your convenience.

Next Topic- September 18: Race Day Gear:
What will you race in? Do you have non-chafing, technical fabrics that you’ve tested during training? Also, It would seem fall marathons rarely have consistent weather. They can be hot, cold, rainy, windy, etc. We have a few tips to help you navigate the unpredictability of ever changing weather patterns.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Fit Tip Friday : Yoga Poses for Runners

I have a guest post for this week's installment of Fit Tip Friday! My friend/yoga instructor Meggan graciously agreed to share with you this post about Yoga for Runners! Thanks Meggan!

Happy National Yoga Month! I bet if you’re reading this, you’re probably a runner and maybe dabble in yoga or just don’t do yoga at all. BUT you know you should incorporate more yoga into your training but just don’t have time or don’t know what to do. Or you probably think, “I’m not flexible to do yoga or I’m not good at yoga.” So stop right there; let’s first  break down some myths of who can and cannot do yoga. 

Everyone can do yoga! I bet you thought, “I can’t run 20 minutes!” when you began to run. Now you’re running 5ks to 10ks to halfs or full marathons like that thought never entered your mind. Why not apply that same frame of mind to yoga? We all start somewhere whether that’s putting on shoes, cotton sweatpants and stepping out to jog one foot in front of the other. With yoga, it’s the same thing. You put on some comfortable clothes, go to a class or watch a video or listen to a podcast. You try it out, get a little curious and try some more. Now you’re going once, twice or even thrice a week! Maybe not thrice, but just giving it a shot once a week during your training is a great big step, even if for just 10 minutes. 

Runners, we’re a type-A bunch, aren’t we? Easily frustrated when we perceive we’re not “good” at something, think why do something if we’re terrible at it, and in yoga, not flexible to do it. Well what a bum way to go through life and not do something because you PERCEIVE you’re “bad” at something. I’m not the world’s best/fastest runner. I’m downright old and slow in my run group. BUT I have had great fun in becoming a runner, meeting wonderful friends and traveling to all sorts of places to run marathons or explore trails. The best thing about being type-A, you’re only going to want to learn more about yoga! And you'll benefit from the yin to the type -A yang through focusing on breath and mindfulness in action. 

Yoga has been around for ages, created for everyone. It doesn’t matter if you can reach your toes or not. There’s no judgment in yoga of what you can do or what thoughts enter in and out of your mind. Everyone, in a class, is bent, twisted and too focused on themselves to stare and judge you as you settle into a pose. As the phrase goes, “It’s not yoga perfect, it’s yoga practice.” Every race isn’t perfect either; it’s always practice for the next one even if you achieve your goal. That’s the beauty of being human, we’re always learning. 

Last spring I listed some yoga poses for after you finish running. They are listed below along with a few more. Of course, you know your body. The great benefit of the physical (asana) practice of yoga is that it helps build body awareness. If you feel any sort of pain or funny aches, back off the posture or stop doing it. 

1. Breath. All yoga begins with breath. I can’t tell you how much I focus on breathing in a race whether to occupy my mind or breathe through  a side stitch or keep in more useful positive thoughts. Anyways, sit up, kneel or lie on your back. Breathe in through your nose, filling up with air in all directions, through your rib cage, shoulders, belly, back. Exhale through your nose, letting your belly contract, rib cage knit together. Maybe put your hands on your stomach and watch your hands move apart as you fill up with air and come together as you contract. Breath is life. If you’re not breathing, you’ll probably stop running mid-race. Why not practice the mindfulness and calmness that cultivating a steady breath can bring?

2. Ragdoll pose. Step your feet hip-width distance apart. Roll on down over your legs. Belly can rest on your thighs. Keep a little bend in your knees. Shift forward in your feet as if your hips are almost over your ankles. You can rest your hands on the ground. Or you can interlace your arms. Feel your low back open and hamstrings begin to lengthen.

3. Downward facing dog. From a table top position, hands are shoulder width distance. Knees and feet are hip width distance apart. Tuck your toes under, lift hips high as heels reach low (no, heels don’t need to touch the ground). Put a slight bend in your knees. Reach your chest towards your thighs and relax your neck and head. Focus on your spine feeling long. Inhale hips high, exhale heels reach low. Peddle out your feet if you’d like. Breathe in and out through your nose. This stretches your calves, hamstrings, hands and arches. It even helps you relax.

4. Plank pose. From your downward facing dog, you can shift forward onto your hands, lower hips to neutral. Think reaching your chest forward so shoulders are over wrists. Now you’re like a board, a plank! You can always take forearm plank and stack shoulders over elbows. Or you can always step feet back from a table top position. Strengthen your core and glutes with planks as runners are known for weak butts, a root of some common runner aches or injuries. Planks can be done from the knees and on your side.

5. Standing Half Moon pose. Stand tall on your feet, legs together. Reach your arms up, interlace your fingers with your index fingers pointing up. Firm through your feet as you inhale, point and stretch straight up. Then exhale as you reach up and over to the side (as if you’re going over a big beach ball). Feel as if you’re between two panes of glass. Biceps by ears. If you feel your shoulder on top roll forward, gently roll it back. Feel side body stretch and and open chest. This feels great after all the hunching forward that happens when running or at a desk job. This pose expands your chest and shoulders, strengthens ankles and increases hip mobility. Do not do this if you have hip or back pain.

6. Supine Pigeon pose.  Lie on your back, knees bent. Stack right ankle over your left knee. Interlace fingers behind your left hamstring and pull knee towards your shoulder as you press your right knee forward. Keep both feet flexed to enhance the pose and stretch feeling. Switch ankles. This will open and relax your hips. Oh yeah!

7. Bridge pose. Lie on your back knees bent, hip width distance apart. Feel as if your finger tips can barely brush your heels. Press arms down, palms face down along the sides of your body. Press into your soles as you begin to tuck your pelvis and lift your hips and spine off the ground. Chest reaches towards your chin. Press firmly into your feet and arms/palms. This strengthens your back and glutes opens up your hip flexors and improves digestion.

8. Legs up the wall/Waterfall pose. Lie on your back and bring your legs up as if you’re in a “L-shape”. Feel free to scoot up to some wall space and put your legs right up against the wall for extra support. I seriously recommend this posture for after your long runs and that you stay in this one for five minutes. Close your eyes and breathe and relax. This is a gentle stretch that relieves the feeling of heavy legs. It also aids in regulating blood pressure.

9. Reclined Bound Angle pose. For a lay person, think butterfly position on your back. Lie on your back, soles of feet together, and knees open like a book. If you have knee issues, feel free to stack pillows under your knees to support them.If you feel any knee quirks or pain, stretch your legs out long and just lie on your back. This stretches the inner thighs and groin area and relieves anxiety.

I hope these poses help you as you continue to train or as you begin running. 

While you can read a bunch of articles on the internet on the physical benefits of yoga for runners, I can only tell you how my experience with yoga has helped me as a runner. Beyond the postures that aid in balancing out the pounding effects running has on my body, the emotional benefits of a physical practice help a lot too. By concentrating on my breath with movement, my mind peels away distraction to allow better introspection. I tend to have more patience with others and myself. I tend to feel more focused in the present moment of a race. I can adapt or shift my mindset without dwelling. I’m better tuned into my body and how it feels (and knowing when to seek professional advice for strange aches). As my body leaned out and became stronger, I felt that physical balance translate into a stronger spirit that I can take off the mat into races and other arenas of life. It’s not always easy, but neither is running, so all you can do is try and breathe.  

Meggan is a yoga instructor at the Calhoun Beach Club and is behind Outdoor Yoga at Lake of the Isles. She is going on her 10th marathon this fall despite thinking she’d only just do one. She is happy to answer any questions, or work with you, your run group or your friends. Feel free to contact Meggan at TheYogaGarage@gmail.com or find her on Facebook or Twitter.

Fits Do Race Reviews: The City of Lakes Half Marathon

This past Sunday, I ran the Jeff Winter City of Lakes half marathon. I believe this race was the original Minneapolis marathon (you can read about the history of the race HERE). Then it was changed to a 25k. This year was the first year that it was changed to a half marathon.

The course starts at Beard's Plaisance on Lake Harriet. It goes around Lake Harriet to Lake Calhoun back to Lake Harriet and back to Calhoun!

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I was a little worried about the monotony of running each lake twice, especially since I run these two lakes ALL. THE. TIME. (though I'm not complaining, I live where I live so I can run the lakes!)

However, I realized that its actually pretty rare that I race around these lakes. I found it to be a nice change because it was a race, if that makes sense.

It was also a huge bonus that a lot of our friends from the Calhoun Beach Running Club came out to cheer for the racers! Knowing where they would be after passing them the first time really gave me something to look forward to the second time around.

There were two support stops on the course that we hit twice, which I think was perfect for a somewhat cooler morning.

The finish line was right after the bandshell.

Everyone received a pint glass and a medal.

I haven't received a medal for a half in awhile and this one was pretty nice.

I took two Hammer Gels during this half marathon- one around mile 6 and one around mile 10. The support stops offered both Powerade and water, so I would drink water with my gels and Powerade the other times I passed the support stops.

I did try out a singlet that I might wear for the full marathon <- test out your marathon outfit before race day people!

No chafing with this tank, so that was a win. It's from Gear Running Store if you like it.

I'm so proud of Dustin who broke 1:30 at the race! He ran a 1:29:06 which is a 6:48 min/mile average! Yay for Dustin!

My performance...I ran 1:49:37. I had hoped to run closer to a 1:46-7, but it definitely did not happen. Sure it was a PR by about 15 seconds (got to update the PR page at least), but I didn't race smart at all. Based on my splits (below) I should have started more conservatively, as I clearly lost my speed in the last three miles.  I think I need to go out slower than I did- well, clearly I need to go out slower than I did, but I felt so great and the weather was cool...lesson learned. Start slow folks so you can finish strong!

Splits:
Mile 1: 8:00
Mile 2: 8:12
Mile 3: 8:04
Mile 4: 8:03
Mile 5: 8:02
Mile 6: 8:17
Mile 7: 8:09
Mile 8: 8:13
Mile 9: 8:20
Mile 10: 8:32
Mile 11: 8:40
Mile 12: 8:42
Mile 13: 8:49
Last 0.22 (on my Garmin): 7:41 min/mile pace

There were a lot of PR's on the course on Sunday. Congrats to all the runners out there, especially my CBRC friends (below) as well as Dustin's old boss Curt. Curt is training for his FIRST marathon and he passed me by in the last few miles for a great race! Nice work Curt. He will #crushit at his first marathon!

Tilda Tuesday: Woofstock 2014

Last week, Tilda Tuesday was a post to let you know about the upcoming Woofstock festival. The festival is now behind us, but I thought you might enjoy some pictures from that adorable event!

Woofstock was held in downtown Linden Hills at 43rd and Upton. That block was shut down to traffic for the day. All the local businesses are involved in the event, as well as a dozen different dog related business and charities there with booths set up.

We walked over right at 10 am when it started.

Here's a schedule of the events for your reference. I wish we could have gone later in the day to see the fashion show and the dog trick competition, but we only had so much time.

We met a couple of our friends there who have a rescue Chinese Crested (hairless) dog. She was so stylish in her classic toggle coat for playing in the bubbles!

There was a craft table set up on the store Heartfelt for people to make hats for their dogs.

Bubbly Paws was there with "Woof Wash" baths for non-profits. 

Pampered Pooch Playground was also there doing "tattoos" (i.e. a dog-safe washable spray paint with stencils.)

Here are some of the other dogs of Woofstock 2014:

 You could donate $1 to "rescue" a little puppy (I think this was for the Humane Society). Mason's rescued pup is resting in his pocket.

Iced teas, lemonades, and dog treats were for sale outside of Zumbro's- a Puppie Lover Pit Stop!

Matilda isn't the perfect festival dog. Vizslas are a little high strung for the over-stimulation of so many dogs and so many things going on. I ran her 5.5 miles beforehand, but she still had too much pent up energy.  Too much spunk and...well, she's naughty, and she jumped up on tables looking for treats (which most tables had treats...). The festival would be ideal for kids and families and well-behaved dogs. We still had a good time and it was so fun to see all the different dog breeds.  If you're in Minneapolis the first weekend of September and you love dogs, I definitely suggest swinging by Woofstock for some smiles and doggy love.

Weekly Recap: Two Races in a Week and a Run MSP Singlet

A really short weekly recap today for you guys...

I am so glad you enjoyed this morning's interview with Elizabeth Turner! I will pass along all your incredible feedback to her. She is definitely an inspiration. I loved her tips for staying mentally strong the most. I plan to try them out at the OBX marathon!

I just returned from a hill workout, which probably wasn't my smartest idea after doing a half marathon yesterday. Tomorrow will definitely a rest day from running.

Here's how things turned out last week in Fitness and Fitness Fashon:

Monday: MDRA Victory Labor Day 10k (warm-up approx. 2 miles for about 8 miles total)

Tuesday: Complete rest. I needed it!

Wednesday:  7 miles easy with Matilda, 1 hour strength conditioning class at the Calhoun Beach Club

Thursday:  Close to 9.5 miles…before work! I met two friends in the morning who were doing a tempo run, but I had 5-7 miles at marathon pace (8-10 miles total) on my schedule. I started with them, but then did my own thing. Even though we weren’t doing the same workout, having friends to meet before work really helped me get my butt out of bed!

Friday: C2 vinyasa yoga class at Corepower Yoga

Saturday: 5.5 mile run with Matilda before walking to Woofstock (pics to come on tomorrow’s Tilda Tuesday!)

Sunday: Yes two races in one week, yowsa! This time it was the City of Lakes Half Marathon. We did 1.5 miles to warm up and then walked the same route back home after the race (I couldn’t stomach running on the way home…I guess walking would have to do as my cooldown!) Total running distance- about 15 miles

Summary: 5 days of running, 1 complete rest day, 1 yoga, 1 strength

Here's what's happening in Fitness Fashion:

This Asics singlet from Gear Running Store is what's happening in fitness fashion! I wore it for the City of Lakes Half Marathon (race recap to come later this week) and I think it's my new favorite. Light-weight, no chafing. Simple logo in my favorite color- blue!

That's all for the week. Stop by tomorrow for Tilda Tuesday!