A Very Late September in Review

After a huge August of training, I never really posted about September. I posted EXTRA about August when I went into detail about my "Coach Jen" workouts for the month.

I wrote in detail about my hard training runs in September, and then the last few weeks of hard training before the TC 10 Mile, but I never did an official "September in Review" post. Here's what September looked like:

The purple early in the month is noting the left foot pain that showed up and then went away quickly. The red mid-month is the Square Lake Triathlon. And then the rest of the month was (easiler than normal) bike rides and HARD training runs for the TC 10 Mile on October 4th.

• SWIM: 11,563 yards (odd distance because of the open-water swim at the race)
• BIKE: 201.16 miles
• RUN: 93.58 miles
• TRAINER TIME: 1 hour and 35 mins (2 easy short trainer rides)
• STRENGTH TIME: 65 hours and 50 minutes

Only one thing is great there: my strength time is AMAZING. It's my 2nd biggest month EVER behind May of this year which was about an hour more (and April 2026 and August 2026 both had just over 60 hours as my 3rd and 4th biggest months in my lifetime, so I have at least 4 months of 2026 having my biggest strength training months!).

Everything else is just OK. Swimming happened when it happened. Biking was half of the previous month (but that month was HUGE), and running was just fine. (The running TOTAL was fine, but the workouts were HARD leading up to the TC 10 Mile.)

I've said this a lot, but October's "month in review" up shortly will look WILD and TINY as the TC 10 Mile started the month, then my vasectomy kept me from doing much, then a quick trip to the Faroe Islands mid-month, some odd hamstring pain out of nowhere, and finally a nasty HARD fall earlier this week that had me skip a run and ease back on the bike this week. I've purposely been ignoring what my totals are so far in October as to not get depressed by it.

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Friday Funny 2656: Poisoning Halloween Candy

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Friday Funny 2655: Halloween Funnies

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Friday Funny 2654: Fashion

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A SLIGHTLY More Normal Week

A “normal” week usually has about 20-22 hours of training, so last week’s 19+ was getting close to normal:

Monday didn’t have any leg exercises, which would have put me RIGHT into the normal range had I not been traveling and was actually able to do those. We were still in the Faroe Islands on Monday as we were stuck there an extra night because of high winds. (More on this trip within the next 2 weeks - it was AMAZING.)

Tuesday was a SLIGHTLY shorter upper body day as I was a little short on time. And a slightly shorter swim as I was trying out the pool for the first time after my vasectomy.

But Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were all very normal training days! Even a speed day on Friday! Saturday would have been normal too, except I was sort of running all over the place and only had a 90 minute window for my bike ride - I would have LOVED to go for about 2.5 hours, but alas.

My "weekly steps" were pretty nomal last week:

Bigger the week before because of Faroe Island hikes, and
small the week before that because of the vasectomy.


Intensity minutes were close to normal (average is 1535, and I was at 1349).


4 weeks of intensity minutes. TC 10 Mile week, then vasectomy,
then Faroe Island hikes, then this normal-ish week.


And for some reason, Garmin thinks I'm "productive" - only because I
haven't been doing much lately, so even this slightly below average
week seems like a lot compared to the last 3 weeks.

After my fall 2 days ago (still sore, but getting better daily!), our quick long weekend to the Faroe Islands, my vasectomy earlier this month, and the TC 10 Mile to start the month, October is going to be a WILD and SMALL looking training month when all is said and done!

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Hard Fall on a Run

After a handful of "normal / fast" runs after taking some time off because of my vasectomy, I ran into another hurdle yesterday.

I was finishing a pretty normal long run (but slower than usual as I feel like my speed is GONE) when I tripped on a section of sidewalk that I've ran past literally THOUSANDS of times. I tripped at the little "jog" in the line and then tried to keep running but had to stop:

I just caught a slight lip in the sidewalk. And I went down HARD on my right side. Like I felt my brain rattle around in my skull. I tried to keep running, but it was a bit of a limp, so I stopped to walk home. (Luckily, I was close.)

At home, I surveyed the damage. The side of my right palm was the sorest scrape:

Peeled a small chunk of skin off.


The side of my right knee.


This ankle wound was sore too.


I hit HARD on my hip, so I'm expecting this to bruise up!

That hip took a LOT of impact. It got more and more sore throughout the day.

And I was wearing long sleeves, so I found my elbow scrape when I went upstairs to shower:

My right hip is SORE. I'm writing this Monday evening (set to post Tuesday morning), and I'm hoping some pain killers and sleep medicine will help me get through the night. It just got worse and worse throuhgout the day yesterday: I could walk OK right after my run, but later I wasn't able to do stairs without major limps. Then stepping up a curb became hard.

I went for a mile walk while waiting for Henry to finish CC practice yesterday late afternoon... Normally, I walk a mile in 16-18 minutes, but I did this one in 26 minutes. I was HOBBLING. (Well, I was trying NOT to, but failing.)

We'll see if I can swim today. Or just how I'm moving in general! And if I can even try to run tomorrow! (I'm not holding my breath.)

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First "Normal / Fast" Runs Post-Race (and Post-Vasectomy)

I recently posted about how SLOW my first runs were after my vasectomy which was after a stretch of 7 days of TOTAL INACTIVITY. It felt ROUGH. I haven't had a week of nothingness like that in YEARS. (When I had my nerve pain foot injury in 2019, I still lifted weights, and I really can't recall the last time I did NOTHING for a week like I did a few weeks ago after my vasectomy.)

This past week, running and lifting started to feel more normal.

I had normal lifting routines on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Tuesday was a bit shorter than average, but otherwise normal. Core work and leg work are back as well.

As far as my running...

Monday was a shorter-than-normal long run, but it was my first taste of "speed" (just over 2 weeks after the TC 10 Mile and exactly 2 weeks after my vasectomy). My "normal" long runs are around 11+ miles with 2.5 miles easy, 6 miles faster, and then another 2.5+ miles easy as a cool-down. This one was just 8+ miles with 2 miles easy, 4 miles faster, and 2+ miles easy as a cool-down. And it was on the Faroe Islands east of Iceland where we had been for a few nights! (We were supposed to be home on Monday, but because of high winds, we were stuck there for another 24 hours.) My right hamstring felt 100% fine for my week off after my vasectomy, but then ached right away on my first easy run 2 weeks ago. It hasn't been great since. It was acting up on this run. And my "faster" miles were SLOOOOOOW! But I got through an run with some effort for the first time in 2+ weeks:

From Miðvágur to Sandavágur, looping around Sandavágur for my faster miles, and then back.


No, I didn't drop to 16 feet BELOW sea level in Sandavágur. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
But it WAS hilly.

Wednesday was my first run that felt NORMAL! I mentioned in a previous post how my first runs post-vasectomy were SLOW: my first run was a 8:32 pace, and I couldn't get my half-mile splits to drop below 4:00 which is NOT LIKE ME. But Wednesday felt very normal. I went back to compare it to another normal Wednesday run from last month, and it turns out they were the same pace:

But my heartrate was 6 beats higher this week
as I was working a BIT harder to keep up that pace.

And I actually did a speed workout on Friday! It wasn't a SUPER hard track workout, but my workout along River Road of 2x2 mile intervals. They were slow, but I was happy to be pushing. I noted that I did that workout twice leading up to the TC 10 Mile where I averaged 11:31 the first time I did it, and 11:36 the second time. This time I averaged 12:05 which marks the first time I was over 12:00 in a LONG time - my last time that slow may have been a stroller run when the boys were little! And I was dying: I usually negative split that workout, but it was a positive split this time as I ran 12:01 and 12:09:

Half-mile splits. Intervals ran out-and-back from SE to NW and back.


Pace and HR.

Oh, and look at my "floors" over the last 4 weeks that show an easy few days after the race, then a pretty normal week, and then a few days of EPIC HIKES in the Faroe Islands:

I'm still having an issue with my right hamstring. It hurts when sitting in the car and driving. It hurts to stretch it. It hurt pretty badly on that long run on Monday. I've been using a massage gun to help loosen it up. It didn't hurt any worse on my 2x2 mile intervals yesterday (actually felt better), so that's good! Just trying to figure out what it needs.

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