Notes
A few health updates:
Both my hamstrings have been a bit tight lately since I've been adding in a minimal amount of speed again.
And my right achilles seems to have taken a step back in recovery as well. I'm not sure if that is more from the marathon or because I just took a short break and now am getting back to training.
Today I thought I'd check out the "closed" gravel trail through Ames. I used to frequent it often when I worked in Ames as it is gravel and shaded. Bad news, it was closed even closer than before and I couldn't get by. The good news is that I couldn't get by because there was an actual work crew on it. I had been worried it was closed permanently as the trail is supposedly "unmaintained" by the city.
So after 30sec of indecision and 2 180degree turns, I headed towards the main streets of Ames. The sidewalk selection was slightly annoying but it was low enough traffic that I didn't mind. I thought my loop was accidentally getting too long, but in the end I got 7 which is what I was aiming for. 4 strides as I didn't want my hamstrings flaring up.