"Bean Boozled" While Camping with the Kids

I just got back from 4 nights at Lake Vermilion State Park with my boys, niece, and nephew. (Check out lots of recent posts on my Instagram.)

On one of our last nights there, we tried "Bean Boozled" where we didn't know if we were eating tasty or gross jelly beans:

youtu.be/EJF9LAJHqGM

(Click the link to watch a bigger version.)

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A Good Long Run (Resetting Post-Race)

I had a good long run this week, and it may be due to a phenomenon I wrote about a little in 2021 but even more back at the end of 2020.

I've posted about some crappy long runs lately, and I've just been feeling STUCK... like I could never get into the next gear, even though I thought I had another gear there!

Nearly 2 weeks ago was the Brian Kraft 5K, and I did about how I thought I would. I took it easy the rest of that week, and finally did a normal long run (with harder miles in the middle) a week after that race (so earlier this week). I started that run with heavy legs even though I didn't know why because I did no endurance workout the day before, I did a shorter/easier bike ride 2 days before, a run with just a little effort 3 days before, so my last REAL effort was a harder bike ride FOUR days before this run... I should have been fresh. But I powered through the heavy legs and ended up posting some decent splits. Here are my half-mile splits run harder in the middle of an 11.3 mile run:

3:14, 3:15, 3:08, 3:08, 3:03, 3:05, 3:06, 3:03, 3:09, 3:05, 3:01, 3:00

= 37:23 (6:13.83 / mile)

Mile splits of 6:30, 6:16, 6:09, 6:10, 6:15, and 6:01

That was my first time dropping below 6:20 pace for those "hard" miles in 4 weeks, and my fastest "hard" miles since running 6:12 pace in mid-February! That was 15 weeks ago... about 3.5 months of running slower than what I ran earlier this week! (Going back before that OK run 4 weeks ago, most of my "pace miles" were in the upper 6:teens and sometimes in the 6:20s.)

Again, as I posted about in 2021 and spelled out more back at the end of 2020, I think racing hard "resets" something in my body and mind. I don't know what percentage is PHYSICAL and what percentage is MENTAL, but it's some of BOTH. So that 5K last week helped to reset things, and then I had my fastest long run in 15 weeks.

Splits 5 - 17 were my faster miles. (Half mile splits.)


Heart rate shows that I ran harder from mile 2.5 to mile 8.5.

This phenomenon doesn't always happen, as here's a post from 2022 that shows me getting SLOWER during the first 2 long runs after a hard race. But it happens more often than it doesn't, and hopefully it's set me on a better track for my training.

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Back at the Gym!! In a Pool!!

I've been using the small weight room at the college where I currently teach once or twice a week for a few months (where I ran on the treadmill this winter), and I lift the other days at home. And through this past winter, I also regularly popped into the gym of a college where I used to teach to get in some weights as well.

But yesterday, the boys and I got a gym membership for the first time since Covid hit! And this morning, I went for my first pool swim since losing access at the U of M in mid-August last year.

Just after hopping out (after sharing a lane with that guy).


The pool complex from the walking track upstairs. It's GREAT that there's
an oval pool for the old folks to walk in to keep the lap pool more open!


1200 yards total. 200 easy, 200 hard, 200 easy, 200 hard,
4x75 kicking with a board, and 100 cooldown.

That was just a "testing the waters" sort of a swim. I need to see how my (still sore from an injury in Dec) shoulder will react to this. I didn't hurt anything WHILE swimming, so now it's about feeling it out for the rest of the day and tomorrow.

My wife has joked that it's "Swole Stenzel Summer" because the boys want to go and lift weights at the gym with me!! :) I'm looking forward to it!!

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I Ran! (Then Biked Hard, Then Ran Again!)

I took a week off from running after feeling some pain on April 1st and 3rd, and I tested it on Monday the 13th after 9 days off (wearing the "night splint" to bed every night too). I just looped around home because I didn't expect it to feel OK for long. So I never got more than a mile from home:

Numbers are half-mile splits.

My calf didn't hurt, but it started feeling a little tight around 1.5 - 2 miles into the run. I thought I'd be calling it quits around mile 2.5. But it got better and never hurt at all. I stopped after 4.75 miles just because I didn't want to overdo it. It felt OK the rest of the day and things felt promising!

Also, I ran into a turkey in our neighborhood just before mile 4:

I feel the big test for my leg came over the next 2 days...

The day after my first run, I was on my feet a lot for my classes. And went for a few random walks. And then I headed out for a short bike ride down the Greenway being it was over 60 degrees (on my "actual" bike and not just on my old cruddy mountain bike). Shortly after I started, I thought I'd maybe go hard for the first 15 miles or so (I didn't start thinking I'd do much effort, but OH WELL). So that's what I did: a 15 mile tempo ride with a long cool down at the end to get in 24+ miles. I averaged 21.2 mph for those first hard 15 miles, and you can see my speed and heart rate drop just after 42 minutes:

My left knee was a little sore, and my left calf felt a little tight, but nothing bad.

Finally, 2 days after my first run and a day after that bike ride, I went for another easy run. My calf felt the same: normal at first, a bit tight around mile 1.5, but then fine for the rest of it. And it was fine the rest of the day! So I'm not out of the woods just yet, but it's clearly on the upswing. I keep massaging it to loosen it up, and I'm still wearing that nasty "night splint" to bed to help keep my foot in a position that doesn't allow my calf to fully relax.

Feeling good about back-to-back-to-back days with a run, bike, and a run!

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Semi-Wordless Wednesday: TC 10 Mile Bound!

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!

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Rainforest Hike in Costa Rica!

We were all gone to Costa Rica last week! One of those days, we spent 11 hours out on a tour with Manny who showed us around the rainforest.

Below is a 1 minute video with some highlights from just that day. We saw 5 sloths (2-toed and 3-toed), a poisonous frog (a "blue jean frog" as it looks like it's in blue jeans), 5 waterfalls (swam in 2), crossed 2 slippery hanging bridges, and ended with a sauna and mud bath naturally heated by steam vents on the edge of a dormant volcano... before a delicious meal in a tiny restaurant:

Direct Link: youtube.com/shorts/8aSTfO0KFA4

Back with more shortly!

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Fast Treadmill Long Runs!

Every long run of December has been on the treadmill.

• Dec 1st and 8th: I posted about my first two noting that my first one was rough and the 2nd one was better. The 2nd one had "pace miles" in the middle that started at 9.1 mph and sped up every half mile (speeding up at 3 other random times as well) for the middle 6 miles in 36:55 (6:09.17 pace).

• Dec 15th: My 3rd long run had "pace miles" that didn't quite last for all 6 miles: I started faster at 9.3 mph but only lasted for 5.6 miles. It was 33:53 (6:03.04 pace).

That brings us to these last 2 long runs that ROCKED...

• Dec 22nd: Last week, I was feeling risky and thought I'd start faster again. I started the "pace miles" at 9.3 mph, and I upped the speed at 4 other times as well (mile 1, mile 3, mile 5, and another one near the end), so I ended at 10.8 mph. My half mile splits looked like this:

3:12, 3:11, 3:07, 3:04, 3:04, 3:00, 2:58, 2:56, 2:54, 2:52, 2:50, 2:46

= 35:59.8 (5:59.97/mile!)

I knew as I was speeding up that I could be close to averaging 6:00 for those miles, as I was at 10.0 mph right near the middle of those faster miles (meaning half would be slower than 6:00 pace and half would be faster). I was thrilled with that!

• Dec 29th: I was hoping this week's long run would be outside, but as the weekend approached, they were calling for 5+ inches of snow on Sunday night. So it looked like this hours before my long run:

Welp, back to the treadmill. (I love running outside when it's cold,
but if I try to run FAST on slick footing, I hurt my knee or heel.)

Because my previous speed workout was kind of a FAIL, I went even harder on this run. I started these last few long runs with "pace miles" starting at 9.3 mph, but this time I started at 9.4 mph. I thought I'd try to be just as fast as last week, because maybe I wouldn't speed up an "extra" time after a mile. But I still sped up those extra times! (At mile 1, mile 3, and mile 5.) So this one ended up being WELL under 6:00 pace!

3:11, 3:10, 3:04, 3:03, 3:01, 2:59, 2:57, 2:54, 2:52, 2:51, 2:49, 2:46

= 35:43 (5:57.17/mile!)

Because I started faster and kept it that way throughout, those splits are all 1-2 seconds faster than the corresponding splits from last week's workout (except for the last split because both workouts ended at 10.8 mph - I didn't speed up one last time with a few tenths left on this last run like I did last week).

So this recent workout was faster than my "new best treadmill long run ever" post from 10 months ago, and just a LITTLE slower than one that came a few weeks after that that I only mention at the top of this post where I ran 35:37 (5:56.17/mile) for my "pace miles." (In that workout, I did 9.4 mph up to 10.9 mph, and the 4 "extra" speed ups were all a bit sooner: 0.7 miles, 2.7 miles, 4.7 miles, and within the last half mile.)

I had the time on Monday (as neither the boys nor I had school), so I got in a bit longer of a run... I kept running on my cool down:

12.2 miles on the treadmill in 1:22:02 (6:43/mile). Lots of sweat drips.

Yes, treadmill runs are "easier" than outdoor runs, but again, I'm just happy to get in some hard running!

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Ten Runs in Nineteen Days!

... and I survived!!!

I run 3x a week RELIGIOUSLY. If I do too much, I get injured. I've kept this sort of training plan since Covid, and it's worked WELL for me. So I do a long run on Monday (with some hard effort in the middle), usually an easy run on Wednesday, and then a speed workout on Friday if I'm feeling good. That gives me 2 days to "rest" over the weekend before hitting it hard again on Monday (and if we have a lot of family things planned over the weekend, I don't have to worry about fitting in some run workouts as well - a good system!).

But the Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving threw a wrench into that plan. Would I run on Monday that week, then take 2 days off, then race on Thursday, then take THREE days off before my normal Monday run? That would be just 2 runs that week, and no real long run. For it being a short and causal race (that I was treating just like a tempo workout), that felt like too much down-time.

I explained it a little in this post, but I decided to do my long run a day early on the weekend before Thanksgiving. That way, I could run it pretty normally as it was 4 days pre-race with another easy run before the race as well. Then I felt good at the race and decided to do an easy run 2 days later on Saturday.

That all felt good, so then I hit last week very "normally" on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, doing some decent treadmill intervals on Friday.

SO I survived! I squeezed in an extra run (and a race), and got in 10 runs over 19 days!

Here's those 3 weeks of my training calendar with the "running days" highlighted in red: M, W, F as normal the first week, but then adding in a Sunday run so I could run Tu, Thur, and Sat the following week:

It's even 3 weeks with 3 long runs and 3 speed days! Whew! I made it!

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Turkey Trot Race Report: (ALMOST) a Family 5K!

Wednesday morning (the day before Thanksgiving), we woke up to the world covered in snow and ice for the first time this season:

Our road was ALL ice.


Side streets were just as bad.


Chipping ice off our sidewalk next to our house.

I was SO glad that happened TUESDAY night and not WEDNESDAY night just before the race! We were in for (and still are in) a cold spell, but an extra day to get sand and salt working was hopefully going to make the race course not so slick!! (Or my race plans would just go out the window and I'd just run to try not to get injured...)

Let's back up another few days. I've been mentioning how I want to be running more errands on my bike like I was 1-2 years ago, so after taking Henry to school for robotics earlier last week, I kept biking past his school to stop at packet pick-up on my bike:

My bike out front after picking up 3 race packets!

My wife worked on Thanksgiving (the life of someone in healthcare), so the boys and I got up after her and got ready to race.

Pre-race tradtional photo (at home because we were going to get to the race JUST before the start!).


Staying warm in the car before heading out to race.


After a jog to the start. A BIT worried about all the ice you see in the foreground!


Henry and I were ready to race!

Charlie was signed up to race too, but his cousin (who he was going to run with) backed out because it was cold (mid-20s), so he decided to just wait for us at the finishline. So Henry and I hung out for a few minutes, and then I worked my way a bit closer to the front.

Where I started. People packed in tighter in front of me
to put me about 10 rows back. Pretty ideal for me!


View behind me.

The race ending up starting 10 minutes late. We got to the race site hearing "We going to be starting a little late..." over the loudspeakers, and we were concerned we were going to freeze. But then we heard it was just going to be 10 minutes, and that was A-OK. After a little wait, we heard the gun and we were off!

Blurry cell phone shot about a 1/2 mile in!

I zipped past a woman running 15 minute miles who lined up DIRECTLY on the starting line of a race with 5000 people in it, and I collided a bit with another guy trying to get around her. But the roads were in decent shape as you can see from that photo above!! I wasn't worried about ice because it would make me "slow," but because it could make me "injured" - lots of slip tends to make my achilles flare up.

I took off pretty hot, and then knew I was easing up a bit. So when my first half mile was 2:53, I knew that if I held my current pace, that my next split would be a lot slower. So I sped up a BIT. I was mainly passing people, but I was also occasionally being passed - it was a very "random" start to a race. My opening 2:53 half mile was about perfect, and I was afraid that I'd end up having a few splits over 3:00 pre-race (based on slippage, cold weather that's harder to run in, and my general slow-down over the last 5 months). But I was happy to be running into the 9 mph wind with an opening mile like this:

• MILE 1: 5:44.2 (2:53 + 2:50)

We rounded 2 corners and started running along the river WITH the wind now. And I'd counted at one of the corners (just before the 1st mile marker) that I was in about 39th place at the time... I was going to try to work my way up.

Around the Hennepin Ave bridge, there was a big cheer zone with lots of turkeys:

My 2nd (and final) photo from during the race.

Notice I had runners close to me - I like a race like that! I had guys to work to "pick off."

The 2nd mile ended right before the climb up by the Guthrie, and I was THRILLED with my splits. Again, I was hoping to keep them all under 3:00 and I wasn't sure if that was realistic. But these were great:

• MILE 2: 5:41.5 (2:52 + 2:49)

I was still catching people. I was around 30th at this point, and there was a bit of a gap in front of me. I worked up those small hills by the Guthrie, and then pushed as we were now running back into the wind. I found another gear as I passed someone who looked about my age with about a half mile to go, and I kept pushing to the finish. I started this race at a nice pace, and I felt great building speed toward the finish! I moved up to 24th with a half-block to go, but then the last 2 people I had passed (both younger guys) passed me back before the line. It turns out one of them was the kid of a friend, and that friend got a photo of his son passing me seconds before the finish:

Me in pink, and friend's son in the gray shirt.

The friend's son ended up starting 0:02 in front of me but only finished 0:01 in front of me, so I technically beat him in the final results. I ended up 25th overall, and the 1st master!

• MILE 3: 5:38.2 (2:52 + 2:46)

• TO THE FINISH (0.13 miles): 0:37 (4:57 pace!)

I posted my splits online, and a running friend/coach said "Nice kick!" to which I replied with "I *may* have been sandbagging a little... 🤷🏼‍♂️😂" I definitely just raced this casually, turned in some decent splits, and then pushed hard to the line!!

OFFICIAL RESULTS:

Steve Stenzel
44, M, St. Paul

17:42
5:42 pace

25th out of 5330 overall
1st out of 222 in age group
1st master

[Garmin: 17:41.5 for 3.13 miles (5:40 pace)]

It wasn't one of my fastest 5Ks, but for hoping to break 18:00 and being concerned I'd have a few splits over 3:00, I was THRILLED with this! I had a 17:51 5K about 2.5 years ago, and that was my most recent "slower" 5K. Just before that, I ran a 17:39 indoors and was happy about that.

I raced through the finisher's chute, jumped the barricade at the side, found Charlie who was cheering for me, and we ran back to look for Henry. We found him coming through a few minutes later:

Go Henry!!


Just out of the chute, ready to head home for Thanksgiving dinner!

Henry hadn't ran much since the end of CC season a few weeks ago, so he knew he wasn't going to post an amazing time - nothing near his 19:09 or 19:10 like he got in his last 2 races of the season. So he finished in 21:13, which was good for 161th overall, and 12th out of 314 in the "male 10-14" age group!

Full course.


Close-up of the finish. Nice build over the last half mile
after getting up a few small hills to the right.


First skinny dip in speed is an icy turn, and then the
2nd dip is lost signal going under the big Hennepin Ave Bridge.

Again, notice that nice boost in speed in the final 3 minutes! And I was right about my start: I started fast, eased up, and then sped up a bit to keep my splits more even. But my heart rate in that graph is NOT right - I was NOT at 153 bpm max! I was well over that! My Garmin beeped during the race telling me I had a "+14 performance condition" which is INSANE. It's usually good when I have a "+4." On days after hard workouts, I might see "-1." But "+14" means it wasn't reading correctly - it saw I was moving very fast with a (falsely) super low heart rate.

I mentioned how I passed someone who could have been in my age group with about a half mile left... well it turns out that someone my exact age finished 0:07 behind me (5 spots), so that burst in speed gave me the age group win! And then the person who was 0:04 behind him was in the next age group up, so the top 3 masters were all within 11 seconds! In front of me, I had a 33 and 38-year-old, but everyone else was younger - the vast majority were in their 20s. I like feeling like a "faster" old guy at a race. ;)

And I passed both of those guys in the final mile or so, so that strong final kick moved me from 3rd master and 2nd in age group to 1st master and 1st in age group. Nice! Feeling good about that!

We all jogged back to the car, which was parked just 3 spots behind Mama's car who was downtown an hour before us for work:

Sarah's car on the right, and mine with the lights on 3 behind her!
(My barely-visible finger is pointing to my car.)






Henry had a huge age group! And notice the 2nd "peak" in
finish times: those were 55-59:59 finishers trying to break an hour.

We were actually in the driveway at home 40 minutes after the race started! We quickly stretched, showered, and got to Thanksgiving dinner with family:

Some "Tom & Jerry" on Charlie's upper lip.

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Semi-Wordless Wednesday: End-Of-Season CC Banquet

Henry had his cross country banquet a few weeks back. I posted this on Instagram afterwards:

Henry was voted one of the “most improved” by his teammates at his CC banquet earlier this week. He went from a 23 minute 5K in September to his last 2 races being 19:09 and 19:10 (finishing 2nd and 3rd in those races for his team). It was a fun wrap-up to a great season!

Here are 2 quick videos from the night: first, Henry getting his letter from his coach, and then a presentation from the seniors of every runner getting a crayon color that represents them somehow:


Direct link: youtube.com/shorts/IEkqKHVL034?feature=share

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Henry's BIG Cross Country PR!

A week ago, Henry had his conference cross country meet. It was a looping 1-mile course, so we got to see him 9 times during the 5K! Here is is running in 6th for his team near the end of the first loop:

He has always finished in 4th, 5th, or 6th (on varsity) for his team, but he started a bit harder at this meet, and then kept moving up. Here he is near the end of the 2nd loop, and he's IN FRONT OF 2 of his teammates that he'd never beaten before:

Henry, Holden, and Aldegundo!

Henry was in SECOND for his team!! I ran with him for a moment as he started the final loop telling him to keep up the pace:

Still moving up half-way into the final loop!

He ended up just 2 places behind 1st place for his team!! (He was 30th overall, and his teammate August was 28th.) He took over TWO MINUTES off his PR to finish in 19:10!! He had mile splits of 6:16, 6:24, 6:18, and 0:25 to the line.

My wife joked that if we hadn't been there to see him 9 times throughout the race that we would have thought he cut the course. But it was legit! (The course was maybe 20 seconds short overall, but still a major PR run!)

Congrats Henry! What a break-through race!!

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Another CC Meet for Henry!

Last week was Henry's 2nd high school cross country meet. He ran varsity again! Here's the start with a lot of bigger AAA schools:

Henry and a teammate shortly after the start.

The race was at Gale Woods Farm, and it was a long "out" section, 2 loops over the hills, and then "back" to the finish. Here he is running past us nearing the finish about to happily say "I'M NOT LAST!"

The finish is by that scoreboard to the far right.

He was the 5th and final scorer for his team! He ended up taking over a minute off his time compared to his first meet, finishing in 21:58. He was happy with that! He placed 141st out of 142 at this meet (which means last place was his teammate on their 6-person squad - they had a 7th who had to miss the race at the last minute). This week's meet is supposed to be a bit smaller, and he's excited for that. He also realized he could push harder in the middle miles, so we'll see if he can have the confidence to try that on race day. Nice work Henry!!

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Baby's First CC Meet!

Last week was Henry's first day of high school!!

The following day, he lined up for his first cross country meet! Because a few teammates were out, he was called up to run varsity. So coach told us pre-race that because of that, he was going to letter! His first day of high school, his first cross country meet, and lettering in his first sport all happened within 36 hours! (I had to explain to him what "lettering in a sport" meant. Ha!)

On the far right, doing some pre-race sprints with his teammates.


My wife and I both said that he's showing MY STRIDE in that photo! 100%!!


20 seconds after the mass start.

This race was at a big park, so the course didn't loop around multiple times - it was basically one big loop, so we could only see him again at the finish. We walked over to the finish and actually saw him coming in just in front of the 6th place runner for his team! Henry was 5th for his team, which meant he was the final "scoring" runner! Nice work Henry!!

Just passed his teammate, but couldn't catch the runner in front of him.






His coach (B-Dan) in the background giving final words of encouragement.


Post-race with the team (he's in there somewhere).

He finished 40th out of 70 overall, and ran a 23:02 5K on a hot and hilly day. He was content with that, and felt pretty good about his race! (And about his new spikes!)

We're curious what the season will hold for him because he ran relatively regularly over the summer (so he's "ahead of the curve" compared to many of his teammates and could fall behind after they start building more), but he also has never trained 5-6 days/week like he's been doing for the last 3 weeks (so he could really pick up some speed with some very regular coaching). Time will tell! Congrats on your first meet, Henry!!

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