Outdoor Long Run and NASTY TOE!

>> Wednesday, February 04, 2026

We had a snowy December where I didn't do any long runs outside because of potential slippage. My last long run outside was before Thanksgiving!! But it was 16 degrees and calm on Monday morning, so I wanted to go out.

The only issue was that we just had 1-2 inches of snow, so I needed to find a clear route. I took what I learned on my 2 other outdoor runs last week and decided to run around the St. Thomas campus because they usually clear their sidewalks NICELY. And I'm also still fighting with this butt injury, so I didn't want to be 3 miles from home and realize I had to stop running. So laps around St. Thomas it was! I'd never be more than 1 mile from home, and I'd have decent footing.


Clear in spots, but a lot of this.


I could often run on the far edge and keep my footing a bit better.

I wiped out rounding a corner just after a 2 mile warm-up right as I was picking up the pace for 4-6 miles. But it wasn't hard. I tried to hit River Road, but it was snow-packed and slow. After a few laps around campus, I took off down Summit, but that was snow-packed and slow as well - I thought that because they were "fancy" homes that they'd take better care of their public sidewalks, but they didn't (they weren't bad, but my sidewalk was much clearer than any of those).

I finished 6 hard miles around campus before easing up for a 2 mile cool-down. Here's my route, and note that those numbers are all half-mile splits, so notice all the laps around St. Thomas:



See split #10 to the east down Summit Ave? That was me trying to break up the monotony of looping around campus, but I found some slower sidewalks as you can see in the middle of the "harder miles" in my pace chart:


The dip around 33 mins was heading off campus.

Then one of my toes started to ache more and more as the day went on. It was PERFECT when starting the run, but something about the slippage on the snow and all of the turning made a big blood blister develop underneath. It looked like this in the evening:



I sterilized a needle and poked it just after taking that photo. It didn't work at first, so I tried another poke 1/8" to the side, and it squirt lots of blood. My youngest watched in slight horror.

I might just hit the treadmill this morning for some easy miles on this sore toe!

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Week of Costa Rica Workouts

>> Monday, February 02, 2026

I've only posted a fun "jungle adventure" video so far from our Costa Rica trip that ended just over a week ago, but I'll have a few more videos and pics over the next few weeks. Here's a quick look at my training as I was there:



I "grayed out" the previous week except for Sunday as that was the morning we took off. I did nothing on Sunday the 18th.

• MON, 1/19: nothing. This is usually my long run day. But I was resting a glute issue that's still hanging around. I walked around a lot, but didn't do any workout (on purpose).

• TUES, 1/20: shorter upper body. My shoulder still isn't right from hurting it in December. I'm feeling pretty beat up with this sore glute and sore shoulder. Dang. So I did a shorter 5x upper body for everything by my shoulders (chest/back, lats, then biceps/triceps).

• WED, 1/21: treadmill test run. I was hoping to go about 5 miles, but I felt my glute get a little sore at about mile 4.7. So I stopped at mile 4.75, but I wasn't hurting - it was a good time to stop.

• THURS, 1/22: good upper body. This was my longest workout, and it was a nice one. I did 8x everything (and 8 minutes of some PT shoulder exercises) in 65 minutes. And then I hit the buffet for refueling:


High protein buffet post-workout: FOUR kinds of eggs (whites, scramble,
omelette, and on an open-faced English muffin sandwich).

Later in the day, I did some core as my wife did a little workout as well - we put the boys to bed because they were pooped, and then we went to the gym for a bit.

• FRI, 1/23: easy treadmill run. Nothing fancy. And my butt held up a bit longer this time! I went 5.5 miles. (Well, 8.8 km, which is JUST under 5.5 miles... I was counting 800 meters on the treadmill as a half mile). And I didn't stop because it hurt, but because I had gone far enough.


About to hit 8.8 km, and 22 "laps" on a track.
(I just stared at those dots doing laps around the track for 40 minutes.)


Afterwards, I did a cool-down walk towards the beach...


... and had this view as the beach was still in shadows. Life is rough.

This was all on a day that schools all across the Twin Cities were closed because it was too cold - it was something like 20 degrees below 0 with a windchill of around 40 below!

• SAT, 1/24: quicker upper body. After getting more comfortable with their machines, I did a shorter, HEAVIER workout of just 5x everything. But moved more weight.

• SUN, 1/25: core. Just some early morning core before heading home!

And my intensity and steps are "interesting" for the week. Here are screenshots from last night, showing a pretty normal/decent week back home last week, with Costa Rica being the 2nd week back (and an extra small week 3 weeks back from this butt injury that I'm still trying to work through). In Costa Rica, I completely skipped my long run on Monday to let my butt rest. And I didn't do any swimming or bike rides - just running, some strength work, and walking. My intensity minutes took a hit while in Costa Rica as I'd expect:


All small days.


A big drop between the injury 3 weeks ago and skipping runs in C.R. 2 weeks ago.


But my step count was right on par even though I skipped a 15,000 step run.

Lack of running that week, fewer official Garmin "walks" than normal, but having to walk around a big resort to get anywhere kept my steps high.

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Injured Running Routes Look Wild

>> Saturday, January 31, 2026

After a semi-successful pseudo-long run on the treadmill on Monday morning (9 miles instead of 11+ where I was ready to jump off if my butt got too sore), I was ready to head outside for a run on Wednesday. Only it was cold, icy, and I needed to find some clear sidewalks. So I just did some random loops along the University of St. Thomas because they take real nice care of their sidewalks:


1 degree with some breeze. Not the nicest.


Follow the half-mile splits: a real random loopy run.

Just past split #3 I was about 1.5 miles from home, but I was a mile or less at every other point in the run. If my sore glute flared up, I could turn and walk home at any point and not get more injured or freeze in those cold temps. I was hoping to make it 5 miles, and I got in 5.44.

It didn't feel perfect, but it didn't get "sore." I took that as a win! Especially 2 days after a long run test, and a day after a decent trainer ride.

And then I did pretty much the same run yesterday in similar weather (0 degrees and 12 mph wind yesterday, vs 1 degree and 9 mph wind on Wednesday).

Oh, and I have 2 possible theories for my sore butt. First I thought it could have been from so much treadmill time: just an overuse injury from the EXACT SAME foot strike on the treadmill. But more recently I wondered if it didn't flare up from going on walks when it's slippery outside and therefore walking more "stiff" and tense (with my butt a little flexed). So I'm trying to make sure I'm walking and running "naturally" and nice and loose.

Back with some Costa Rican workouts from 10 days ago shortly!...

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Friday Funny 2553: Relationships

>> Friday, January 30, 2026



Me proposing to my wife.







































More funnies posted all day long on SportsAndLaughs.tumblr.com. HAPPY WEEKEND!!

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Friday Funny 2552: Parenting Funnies










































Find more funny things on SportsAndLaughs.tumblr.com.

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