Steve in a Speedo?! Gross!

First Track Workout of 2026

>> Thursday, March 12, 2026

The day after my first "real" outdoor ride of 2026, I hit the track for the first time this calendar year as well. I wanted to do some sort of "mid-distance" intervals, so I figured I'd do 800s. Then on the way to the track, I decided I wanted to throw in some 400s as well. So I did an old favorite of 4 x (800 meters then 400 meters) with 2:00 rest between everything. The track was just started to get a little light on it when I showed up early:

Thanks to the daylight savings time change, this will be dark again for a while!

It had drizzled, but was not raining at the moment.

I just wanted to get in a hard effort. I was HOPING I'd start around 2:40 for the 800s and then descend them, but as the first track workout in maybe 4-5 months, I didn't know what to expect. The 400s were going to be a real crapshoot - no real goals for those.

The first 800 was solid with 400 splits of 1:20 and 1:19 equaling 2:40. Right on track. (Pun intended.) The next 2 800s were both 2:38, so I didn't know if I'd be able to drop any time on the final 800. Here's what I ran:

1:20 + 1:19 = 2:40.8
1:15.2
1:19 + 1:18 = 2:38.5
1:14.8
1:18 + 1:19 = 2:38.2
1:15.2
1:18 + 1:17 = 2:35.7
1:13.2

By the look of those splits, it seems like I could have gone harder in the 3rd 800 and 3rd 400, but was too scared. But it was a solid workout.

A brighter track when I finished (but more clouds as it was nearly raining).

Always puddles on the north end - I ran on the edge of lane 1 and 2 on that curve.

Turkeys on campus on my cooldown home.

Nothing unusual here.

I was aware of the long ride the day before when I was starting the workout, but then I forgot about it until the workout was over - it didn't stick in my head as an "excuse" to run slower. My legs got through 2 days of big workouts decently!

Semi-Wordless Wednesday: TC 10 Mile Bound!

>> Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Registration for the TC 10 Mile opened last week. In the past, if you were on a running team (as I've been for the last 10 years), you'd get early (and GUARANTEED) registration into the 10 Mile like a month before it opened to everyone else. That was different this year where it opened to everyone at 10 a.m. last week Tuesday. I went to register at 10:01, and saw this:

Their website crashed on my laptop...

... and crashed on my office computer. Just making sure it wasn't something on MY end.

After a few minutes, it finally worked, and then I joined the "waiting area" with an estimated 20 min wait:

A big "register now" button appeared after about 20 minutes, and I got fully registered!

First race of 2026 is on the books!

I just saw a post from TC in Motion within the last few days saying that the TC 10 Mile was 60% full. Use this link to register and I'll earn $5 in credit with TC in Motion!

First "Real" Outdoor Ride of 2026

>> Monday, March 09, 2026

Everything aligned that I was able to get out for a long ride on Thursday. OUTSIDE! It was 50 degrees and the trails were drying well. I figured I'd get my tri-bike off the trainer for the first time in months, and I was HOPING I wouldn't get a flat on the dirty, gritty roads and trails.

I didn't have any speed goals... I just went to "ride." I tried to keep it sort of "moderate" most of the time, and then I found myself trying to keep my average above 20 mph (so much for "no speed goals"). I went down the Greenway and took the curve at Hwy 169 (where it becomes the Cedar Lake Trail I think), and then finally turned around at mile 16. That would have been a 32 mile out-and-back ride, but I re-rode some of the drier sections of the trail another time to make it more like 37+ miles. I kept my overall avearge at 20.0 mph or above until about mile 34.

Here are some pics from my last few miles when I busted out my phone:

The construction at the Keniworth trail is coming along! Fresh trail!

Nice stretches of the trail were clear and dry like this!...

... but other parts were QUITE wet.

Heading up to one of the many puddles that stretched all the way across the trail.

I hit one icy patch around mile 15, but otherwise things were good. I finished with 37+ miles with a 19.6 mph average before rolling around the neighborhood for another mile:

10 mph breeze FROM THE EAST was a nasty slap on the way home!

5-mile splits. I re-rode the section by the #2 split to add in miles...

Out-and-back riding "back" to the red line, then turning back
to the blue line, and then finally heading for home.

I think this is showing the BONK that I felt. Yikes.

Covered in puddle water and grit back at home.

My birthday is coming up, and I'm hoping I can get out for 45 miles for my 45th birthday. I hope we have some decent weather that day, because it's easy to do 10 miles in cruddy weather, but much harder to go longer (right now, the forecast high is 45 degrees, and that's right on my personal cusp of outside vs inside riding). I won't start that one with any speed goals... just with the goal to survive and hit 45 miles!

February in Review: Light but Hard Running, Heavy Biking

>> Saturday, March 07, 2026

It was a pretty uneventful month, but here's how it stacked up:

• BIKE: 45.17 miles (all on old MTB)
• TRAINER: 18 hours and 20 minutes
• RUN: 91.56 miles
• STRENGTH / CORE: 47 hours and 38 mins

For it being a "short" month, those are OK numbers. Less than 100 running miles isn't stellar, but if the month had 2 more days at the end, it would have been nearly 103 miles (more normal). One nice thing here is that each Friday was a speed day... none of those workouts were GREAT, but at least I was trying to run hard. I did a treadmill 5K, 2x2 mile intervals along the river, treadmill 3x1 mile intervals, and a 3 mile tempo run outside.

The biking is big for me: that's nearly 22 hours in the saddle, which is solid for a short, winter month. That's averaging 5.5 hours/week, or 1 hr and 50 mins for 3 rides/week. And EACH WEEK had 3 normal days of biking! (Bike workouts on Tue, Thur, and Saturday, with a few extra rides in there.) I had a long trainer ride on the 10th, and then the 24th and the 26th both had outdoor mountain bike rides to START the workout, with then more done on the trainer on my tri bike immediately after - that was a fun way to get 2.5 hours in the saddle on each of those days!

The month started with a few treadmill runs, had some decent outside runs mid-month, and then I was back on the treadmill for 2 runs near the end of the month (12 total runs, 4 on the treadmill, 8 outside). Sidenote: I always run treadmill runs to the perfect TENTH of a mile, and I make sure outside runs go to a HUNDREDTH, so that I can take a quick glace and see what runs were on the treadmill. So my Monday long run on the 16th was outside because it was 11.59 miles, but I was inside on the 23rd because it was 10.9 miles.

So a decent month with some consistent workouts!