Mile Repeats at the Track

I'm working my way back to normal speed work. I ran the TC 10 Mile in early October, and then took 3 weeks off from hard running. Then I ran some 2x2 mile intervals at the end of October, just over a week before the USATF MN CC Championship 8K race. Then I had another week off from hard running. And that brings us to the end of last week... it was time to push myself again!

I hit the track for a simple 3x1600 with 3:00 walking rest between. It was dark when I got there, and the sky was just starting to light up:

As common with this time of the year, I had no real goals - just to run hard. (Well, I was also trying to descend my times, but that's always a given.) My first one felt uneventful at 5:38. My second was a bit faster at 5:33 (with a nice 6 sec drop in time from my first 800 to my last 800), and I was appropriately hashed. So when I was starting my 3rd interval, I was hoping to keep my 800s under 2:45 so I could break 5:30. Here's what I ran:

2:50 + 2:47 = 5:38.1
2:49 + 2:43 = 5:33.5
2:46 + 2:39 = 5:26.6

The final 800s were 0:03, 0:06, and 0:07 faster than the opening 800s, and that felt good!

Sweaty selfie at 35 degrees after my final interval,
with the "vein of approval" out in my forehead.


Lots of laps, with 800 splits.


Normal pace chart, but a HR chart that is clearly off.
(I was NOT maxxing out with my HR in the 160s!)

Here's an interesting metric that I never look at: I noticed that my "running power" spiked at the start of each interval, and then along the homestretch which was into the wind. I had to look into how my Garmin figures power data, and it makes sense. So note the 5 tiny spikes in each interval (starting, and then into the wind on the homestretch 4 times):

I don't know how to "use" power data while running, so it's just ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And then on the cool-down home, I tripped and busted open my pinky fingernail. Oops. That was 3 days ago, and it's all healing fine. My pinky swelled up pretty badly that day, and my palm is still sore, but it could have been a lot worse!

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Official Photos from the TC 10 Mile

The TC 10 Mile was a few weeks ago, and here are some of the official photos from the race course. You won't see any photos of my wife running the marathon as her and I both agreed that her race photos looked ROUGH. Mine aren't horrible, but some of these sure aren't pretty...

A flash early on!




Eww... what's THAT face?...


... or THAT face?!?


I'm in the middle of the background, right under the "F" (just before the 1st mile marker).


In the middle of the background again, with Doron in the red shorts.


Doron with a smile, and me in the background.
He was CLOSE a lot of the day, but I couldn't reel him in.


Not a bad one of me. I think around the mile 2 marker.


Looking "worked" coming up from under the Lake/Marshall Bridge at mile 4.5.






A wider shot showing the bridge in the background.


Here start a lot of photos from somewhere on Summit Ave
(maybe around mile 7.5 or so).




On the right of that pack.





Looking a bit beat up. (Feeling that way too...)


Kari C was near me a lot, and I didn't realize it until seeing these photos!


Me and Kari again, just under 2 miles from the finish.


Now at mile 9.5! HURTING!




Flying!!...


... and then caught on the downstride looking crappy.


Down the hill past the Cathedral with about 0.35 miles left!




Kind of an epically-strange photo of me and the Cathedral.


Notice I'm right with this guy in red here...


... but a little closer to the finish and he's well ahead of me. I had no kick. I was fried.




Big hip drop about to hit the line.


Scowling at a fan. :)


And then LOTS of angles of me hitting the line. None are that pretty.




Hands on hips instantly. DONE.


A split-second after stopping the watch.


This one's not horrible.


I don't know why I posed with my hand on my hip. Oh well...

And there's that "vein of approval" in my forehead letting me know that I worked hard.

If you missed it, here's my race report, here's a post with some pretty TC 10 Mile sunrise pics pulled from Instagram, and here's some beat-up toes post-race.

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RACE REPORT: The 2023 Brian Kraft 5K

My boys and I were ready to race the Brian Kraft 5K yesterday morning! It was going to be their 2nd 5K after they did the Get in Gear 5K last month. Charlie joined me for my pre-race potty photo in our bathroom:

I'm on the can. He's just next to me smiling.


Brotherly love at the park next to Lake Nokomis.


A pic from Mama just 7 mins pre-race!

In that last photo, the starting line was just about a block behind us, so we all took off to get lined up. Charlie lined up with trainer Laurie from my running team as she was hoping for sub-30 and that was Charlie's "A" goal - he knew he'd let up if he needed to. Henry hopped in a bit in front of Charlie. And I headed up a bit closer to the start. DKT lined up next to me, and Brian D asked what I was hoping to run. "Hoping for 17:30 or so!" And then he smiled and kept walking farther back.

I got nervous as my Garmin had a lot of trouble finding a satellite (it's been doing that lately), but it finally beeped when everyone moved up about 30 secs pre-start. Whew. Time to focus and try to hit some 2:50 half-mile splits. Hopefully.

"ON YOUR MARKS......." **airhorn noises**

I got to the inside REALLY quick. I had no one trying to box me out, and I was lined up at about the PERFECT spot. That rarely happens to me. My start was beautiful.

I'm barely visible way back there. The kid with the hair (#7712) I barely passed in the last mile!


There's me in the orange and pink back there on the inside!


Look at the space I had on the inside! Nice!


Henry just a bit behind me!


Laurie and Charlie starting with a smile!

I was a LITTLE worried that I was starting a LITTLE too hard. I was working. I was really curious what my opening half mile split would be, and I was pretty happy to see it was 2:47! That means it was on the faster side, but not so fast that I was afraid of blowing up at this point. (I had noted in my pre-race post that 2:45 could be too fast, but 2:55 would be too slow.) I had built nearly a 0:05 "cushion" for my 5:40/mile goal by the first mile marker:

• MILE 1: 5:35.8 (2:47.2 + 2:48.6)

I was REALLY running good tangents here! I was right along the curb when we were curving left, and I'd cut a bit across the road when we had a few curves to the right. I was NOT happy to see my 3rd half-mile split of 2:55! I didn't realize I had slowed up that much, and I just gave back all that cushion. "Alright, you're half done and still RIGHT on track for your 'best possible' outcome, so go hard here and suffer to make it happen!" Yes, I was still right where I wanted to be based on my overall time, but it was a bummer knowing that my last split was so slow - that made me worried for the last half of this race.

It turns out that I ran my fastest split of the day as my next split as I wanted to build back that cushion! I ran past Mo and Gracia and gave her a cheer. (I passed Gracia at the Hot Dash 5K back in March, but it was much later in the race - I took this as a good sign that I was getting in front of her earlier!)

• MILE 2: 5:42.0 (2:55.2 + 2:46.8)

I also passed DKT in here, and I think that's the first time THAT'S happened in a race! But I was DESPERATELY waiting for my Garmin to beep indicating I was at mile 2.5. I was hurting. I had ran this race so well so far, but could I keep holding on to the pain? I was happy to see my mile 2 to 2.5 split was 2:47, but now I had NO IDEA what my final split would be. I was HASHED.

Pic from my wife around mile 2.9 or so.
Still running good lines along the curb!


Deep in hurt!


Gracia was just a few seconds behind me!

I hit mile 3 and actually glanced at my OVERALL time - my 5:40/mile goal would put me right at 17:00, but my Garmin beeped a little before the mile marker, so I was hoping to see 16:57 (or so) or better in order to finish sub-17:40. But I saw 16:53. I had an outside chance at sub-17:30 and was trying to get to the finish!!!

• MILE 3: 5:35.7 (2:47.2 + 2:48.5)

• FINAL 0.1 MILES: 0:35.7 (5:28 pace for 0.11 miles)

OFFICIAL RESULTS:

Steve Stenzel, 42, St. Paul, Male

17:29 chip time
17:32 gun time
5:38/mile pace
79% age graded results

88 out of 450 overall
85 out of 275 males
9 out of 55 in the M40-49 age group

Start-to-finish, I passed 18 runners and was passed by 4 runners.

[Garmin: 17:29.4 for 3.11 miles, or 5:37.43/mile pace]

I HIT MY SUB-17:40 GOAL!! I was actually just under 17:30!! I ran a (most likely short) 5K in under that time years ago, but otherwise I think I've only had TWO 5Ks faster than that in my life! (In 2010 and 2012!) This was the fastest I've covered this distance in a long time. I just hit this race so well and tried to hold on through that pain of the last mile. And my speed work has been on point lately.

I ran backwards along the course looking for my wife and Henry. Henry's goal time came and went. We spotted him coming, and he was HOT:

He went out hard, but then crashed in the last mile. Dang.

I was proud of him for shooting for his goal. He wasn't too bummed... just hot and miserable at the moment. He finished just 10 seconds slower than his first 5K with a time of 25:24. Then we saw Charlie coming in:

Go Charlie!


At the mile 3 marker!

He just missed his lofty goal of sub-30 with a 30:17 finish, which was still over 90 seconds faster than his first 5K!

Sweaty boys post-race!


A teammate selfie!


Treats from Mel-O-Glaze bakery for the ride home!

Back with more photos and post-race notes shortly!

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