Steve in a Speedo?! Gross!

Semi-Wordless Wednesday: a Mystery Triathlon Bruise

>> Wednesday, September 23, 2026

The Square Lake Sprint Triathlon was 10 days ago, and 7 days ago this mystery bruise appeared on my inner thigh:

My only thought is that it HAD to be from the triathlon. The timing checks out. Maybe from getting my bike too aggressively and jamming the nose of my bike seat into my thigh? That's all I can think of.

A Week of Post-Triathlon TC 10 Mile Training: Good Runs, Crappy Everything Else

>> Monday, September 21, 2026

Eight days ago was the Square Lake Sprint Triathlon where I finished in 2nd overall. So at this point, I'm just happy to report that I had some solid runs after the race last week, and nothing "flared up" on this old body!

The week in general looked pretty not great... no long run Monday (because it was the day after the race), pretty normal strength and core all week (in the black), a decent swim (in blue), and 2 short rides (in green):

Just shy of 20 hours of training is a tiny week for me...
it feels bad saying that just 2 weeks before the TC 10 Mile.

"Intensity minutes" for the last year. Two smaller weeks back-to-back.
Small 2 weeks ago pre-race because of easy bike rides, and short last week
for the same reason (and a VERY short ride on Saturday as we were busy).

The good news for the week is that I had 2 solid runs! And then a decent long run already today to start the next week of training!

Wednesday is usually always an easy day, but as I did 2 years ago, I had a grassy fartlek run planned after the triathlon. (Two years ago, I used Coach Jen's old workouts from 2010 to have a fast TC 10 Mile. In 2010, I had a short duathlon 4 weeks before the TC 10 Mile, and in 2024, that also lined up PERFECTLY with the Square Lake Triathlon. So I've been looking back to what I did in 2024.) The grass was easier on my legs, and it was after a few days of rest. So I ran up and down the "middle" of Summit Ave, mainly from Cretin up to Snelling and back (and then did that again):

It was quite a bit darker than this - the phone camera lightened it up.

Lots of laps up and down Summit.

Efforts of 3, 2, 4, 1, 5, 3, and 2 minutes (with 50% each time as easy running after).

That ends up being 20 mins of hard running with 30 mins from starting that until after a final 1 min easy after the final effort. I went farther than the first time I did this workout in 2010, but about 0.05 miles less than when I did it 2 years ago (including both the efforts and the easy running). It appears that I was a BIT faster in the efforts this year, but I was a lot slower in the easy running this year, so that's how I lost 0.05 miles over those 30 minutes. Feeling OK about that. AND JUST HAPPY MY LEGS DIDN'T BREAK DOWN AFTER SOME EFFORT JUST A FEW DAYS POST-RACE!

Then Friday was a GREAT track workout! It was 4x1600 descending (getting faster with each) with 2:15 rest between, and I set a goal in my head of mid-5:30s, 5:30, mid-5:20s, and then sub-5:20 not knowing that those splits would be the best I've ever done this workout.

A dark track early in the morning! Some dark clouds drifting by...

... I was trying to beat the rain! It was only barely drizzling at this point.

Looking back (only AFTER doing this workout), I started a lot slower and then dropped down REALLY fast for the last one in 2010. And in 2024, I dropped nicely only to be gassed for the final interval and turn in a slower 5:30 for #4. This time, I kept the perfect descend:

2:48 + 2:47 = 5:36.4
2:45 + 2:45 = 5:30.0
2:42 + 2:41 = 5:24.0
2:39 + 2:39 = 5:19.3

I was DYING on that last one, but I got the descend! I averaged 5:32 in 2010 and then 5:32.5 in 2024, but I averaged 5:27.5 this time! It was a GREAT workout!!

Sweaty selfie post-workout.

A half-lap as warm-up, then 16 fast laps!

I beat the BAD rain! On my cool-down, things were damp, but it was still dry under trees.

Finally, it was time for a more "normal" long run eariler today. Because of the triathlon last week, it was my first "normal" long run in 3 weeks: I ran 2 miles easier, 1 mile "building," and then just tried to hit 5 miles hard before a few miles of cool-down. Not descending or anything, but just HARD miles in the middle. It was the same workout that I posted about at the end of this post that I did in late August. My training isn't lining up with coach's plan in 2010 like it did in 2024 (this year, there were only 3 weeks between the triathlon at the TC 10 Mile, not 4 weeks like there were in 2010 and 2024), so I've been doing an odd overlapping of workouts to make this all work. I didn't know if it was good or bad that I was repeating a workout that did NOT go well a few weeks back! I just went to make the most of it.

My warm-up was fine. My "building" mile felt a little slow (at 6:46). And then I started my fast miles FAST as it happened to line up right with a speedy young woman who was doing fartleks - I trailed a bit behind her for most of my first mile (which had half-mile splits of 2:57 and 2:57!). I was out to see if I could break 30:00 for these 5 miles, and I just pulled up short:

Half-mile splits: 2:57, 2:57, 2:56, 3:05, 3:07, 2:58, 3:02, 3:00, 2:58, 2:57 = 30:01

Mile splits of 5:55, 6:01, 6:05, 6:03, and 5:55

That was 1 second faster than in 2024, and 35 seconds slower than in 2010. But (maybe most importantly), it was 29 seconds faster than when I did it 3 weeks ago where I actually felt OK about that time. In this workout 3 weeks ago, I only had ONE half-mile split that was sub-3, and ZERO mile splits that were sub-6. Today, I had SIX half-mile splits that were sub-3, and TWO mile splits that were sub-6. Improvement!

Turkeys on my path during my cool-down this morning.

So I'm happy to be "on track" for this TC 10 Mile training! I still don't have a super specific goal... just trying to see how fast I can be after a few injuries this past winter and spring. And I'm happy I'm holding my own in these old "Coach Jen" workouts!

A Few Final Square Lake Triathlon Things...

>> Saturday, September 19, 2026

I was clear in my race report that I’d done this race 5 times in 6 years. The course hasn’t changed. I *know* this race. I know that you run out-and-back from transition on the far side of the road, and cyclist go out-and-back on the near side of the road. A volunteer as I was leaving transition yelled "Runners get to the far side of the road!" But I ran out and stayed on the wrong side for a few strides. The announcer over the mic said "Remember, runners, to get to the RIGHT side of the road" (trying to politely call me out without actually calling me out) and then it finally hit me and I moved over. D’oh. Oops.

I sheepishly chatted with both the announcer (Kyle) and the volunteer (Brittany) post-race and apologized for KNOWING the course but not remembering what to do. The volunteer in transition understood as she races too, and we joked about our brains not working as we are out there doing so much physically.

When I posted about the race on Instagram, she found me and commented:

In my race report, I noted being 70 seconds behind the winner, but didn’t mention any gap between me and 3rd overall. The female that I passed late in the bike was REALLY running strong and was the 3rd to the finish, but with the time trial start, she actually finished 4th overall as someone who started much later posted a better finishing time than her. But luckily, I had made a decent gap. Here are the top finishing times, and I’m in 2nd by 70 seconds, but then over 2 minutes ahead of 3rd, and about 3.5 minutes ahead of 4th:

I’m still not over that STRAIGHT swim that I did! It was a miracle! (And if you're wondering why I was ranked 6th in the swim but another part of my race report showed me ranked 7th, that's because someone who posted a better swim than me was an "aqua bike" participant, so they didn't factor into my 6th overall stat for the triathlon, but then it showed me listed as 7th fastest swim for the day.)

I didn't make a big deal of it, but I was quite happy with my 5K at the triathlon. I ran an 18:07 5K on a hilly course at the end of a triathlon, where less than 4 months ago, I ran an 18:01 open 5K on a flat flat course. I've gotten faster this summer! It's not too much to say that this hilly 18:07 was actually FASTER than my flat 18:01 earlier this year (not even considering the fact that I had swam and biked hard before the triathlon 5K):

194 feet of elevation in the most recent triathlon 5K...

... and only 18 feet in a 5K earlier this spring.

And I’m also still not quite over that if I had the same bike speed as 2 years ago that I could have easily won. That still stings.

And speaking of overall results, it was my 2nd best overall finishing time of the 5 times doing this race. Two years ago was 1:20:16 with my fastest run (by just a few seconds) and fastest bike (by over 2 minutes!), and this year was 1:22:38. Then 3 years ago, I finished in 1:23:50, and 4 and 5 years ago I finished in 1:26:something. (Race reports from 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and earlier this week in 2026.)