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

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!

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Big Training Week Last Week

Here's what last week looked like:

The biggest number for that week was the 26.4 miles of running. A normal / good week for me is usually 23.x miles. I think I've only been at 25 miles or more twice this year, and once was last week. TC 10 Mile training is ramping up!!

In workouts that I've posted about, you can see my decent run of 2x10 minute efforts that was Monday, my OK speed workout up north that was Friday (and it was LONGER which really added to the week), and then just a basic hilly bike ride that was Saturday to cap off the decent week.

I missed / skipped Thursday's upper body workout because we were gone, and the hotel we stayed in just had a bike, elliptical, treadmill, and 3 sets of SUPER light weight dumbbells on the white plastic shelf under the broken TV:

Also my Wednesday and Friday "legs and core" workouts weren't as great as normal. It was a weird week. But I still got in about 21.5 hours of training (slightly below "average," but still not "bad"), and my run total was HIGH!

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Big Training Week!

Nothing seemed special about last week. The only different "X factor" was that my youngest was gone at camp up north, and apparently that freed up extra time. I didn't FEEL like I was having a big week, but it turns out that many workouts were just a bit longer, leading me to my biggest week of training since I started using this training log last year:

None of my indivdual numbers are amazing, except for having 16+ hours of strength time. That propelled me to over 24 hours of training last week (swim, bike, run, and strength).

Also, I guess 24+ miles of running is a bit on the high side. Monday's run was normal, but the other 2 were both just SLIGHTLY on the high side. I added in some running drills on Friday as well. And two of those runs (plus the drills) were good workouts from Coach Jen!!

Also, my last few weeks of "intensity minutes" have looked decent since the lower week of the Raspberry Run 1 Mile nearly 5 weeks ago:

That smaller 2nd week was missing some strength time because of family time.
1773 intensity minutes last week.

Hoping I survive a bigger running week this week!!

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Vacation Workouts (Including a GREAT Tempo Run)

I posted about a huge week in the saddle that happened last week (as we were in a rented cabin with family "up north"), and here are more details on that week:

• MON: long run. This was one of the 2 biggest "tests" for my vacation workouts: I had done a hilly run 5 days before that made my always injured calf unhappy, but then it held up 3 days before on a track workout. Things felt fine for this long run! It was on a super flat trail, and my speed was good: I did the middle "faster" 6 miles of this 12 mile run at 6:07.5 pace (as I posted about last weekend). Decent start to vacation workouts!

• TUES: long ride and good upper body. This is the first time this has happened during our "up north" trips, but I got to use the local YMCA up there because we are now members in the Twin Cities. So I actually had good upper body days on Tuesday and Thursday! And I took my son Henry along with my niece and nephew on Tuesday. And I wrote about the 46 mile ride in this post.

(Oh, and note the PURPLE on the screenshot of my week above. I was having a few calf twinges near the end of my ride, so I noted that. It ended up being nothing, but I cut the ride a little shorter than I wanted to just to make sure I didn't hurt something.)

• WED: easy run. I also got in some decent core and some PT leg exercises as well. Not as good as "normal," but NICE for being on vacation!

• THURS: interval ride and good upper body. Again, I posted about my bike workouts in this post. I stretched out a 4x5 mile interval workout to over 40 miles by just biking around town at the end.

• FRIDAY: descending tempo run. I was getting back on the TC 10 Mile training plan from Coach Jen from 2010 to see if I could survive a few more of her workouts. This one called for 4 descending miles (meaning they get faster as I go). I was aware that I did this workout in 2010 in 23:55 because I REALLY focused on the "descend" (6:22, 6:01, 5:54, and 5:38) and was not trained in knowing what sort of split I was running at any given moment. And I did it in 23:39 in 2024 with tighter splits (6:08, 5:59, 5:49, and 5:42). I went out planning to break 24:00, but knowing I couldn't hit 2024's times (I set 3 PRs that spring, and nearly set a PR at the TC 10 Mile that fall... my best running year ever!).

I felt like I was starting off strong, and sure enough, my first half mile was 2:53! I eased up a LITTLE to still try to break 6:00 for the first mile, and I did that with a 3:04. From that point onward, I sort of used my half-mile splits as a way to make sure I was speeding up over each mile - I was NOT trying to speed up each HALF mile. I was hashed at mile 3, but I kept up the perfect descend for all 4 tempo miles! Here were my splits:

Half-mile splits:
2:53, 3:04, 2:57, 2:56, 2:54, 2:57, 2:54, 2:51 = 23:30 (5:52.50 pace)

Mile splits:
5:58.5, 5:53.5, 5:51.3, 5:46.0

I was THRILLED with that! I'm not in better shape than in 2024... it's just that I ran this PERFECTLY and was also running on a super flat trail. Still, it was a boost in my mood!

Tempo from half-mile split #2, out to #6, and then back.


I don't believe that HR chart.

• SAT: moderate ride, and upper body at home. I got up early for a ride before we headed home. That was THREE rides of 40+ miles each for the week!! And then a slightly quicker upper body workout at home in the early evening.

• SUN: rest and core. Happy with a good week.

Steps were a bit lower than average (fewer walks, very few errands, etc.)...


... but intensity minutes were back up again!
(Like the big week of biking 3 weeks ago too!)


Intensity minutes have been all over the place this summer,
but the rides last week got me back on the higher side again.

So just over 21 hours of training while being away from home all week was GREAT!! I was not planning on getting in all that strength time, but it all worked out. (Not to mention how thrilled I was with getting in 130 miles in the saddle!) I had another "Coach Jen" long run the following day, and I'll be back with info on that in a few days. TC 10 Mile training is going as good as it can be right now!!

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Three Semi-Normal Weeks

The last 3 full weeks have been pretty normal after a more random June. Here's what they look like:

This calendar starts with a "weird" day as we were still in Portland for Henry's fencing tournament. (Here's a post about a tempo run on the treadmill at the hotel, and here's a bit about the long run that's on the 6th on the calendar above.) That first week was just missing some leg exercises on Monday as we were still out west. The rest of that week was pretty normal: I had 19 hours of training, but some good legs on Monday would have put me over 21 hours, which is a decent week.

The 2nd week was a bit easier on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday as I raced the Raspberry Run 1 Mile on Sunday (the RED on the calendar). So just an easier and shorter ride on Thursday, and NO ride on Saturday. So that week was 20.5 hours of training - a bit lower than a "good" week because of taking it easy leading up to the race.

And then last week (the 3rd week) was the best week. And that's even with skipping my long run (because it would have been the day after the race and I know I need to let my legs rest after that). So I started the week with an easy-ish post-race swim, and then had THREE GOOD BIKE RIDES as highlighted in my last post. That ended up being a week with 23.5 hours of training, which is one of my biggest this year - at quick glance, it was my 3rd biggest week all year, behind 2 other decent "bike weeks" in May and June (it's the bigger bike weeks that really help those totals).

The last 3 weeks of "intensity" minutes. Notice the slow climb
at the end of the middle week as I was resting up more for the race.


Again, the last 3 weeks were decent.

Oh, and in looking back through my Garmin app, I noticed my "floors" climbed (nothing I ever really look at) for the last 4 weeks, and you can REALLY TELL what 2 days we were hiking at Mount Rainier and then hiking up Multnomah Falls the following day:

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Big Bike Week!

Last week was a big week in the saddle, but it was a little more special than that. Here's a quick look at the week, with bike workouts in green:

It was an unusual week because the Raspberry Run 1 Mile was on Sunday the 19th (the day before that week started), so I didn't start last week with a long run. I rested my legs. So I just biked to the gym, went for a swim, and biked home (that's the 2 bike workouts on Monday, totaling less than 5 miles).

What makes last week's bike numbers special is that I biked 121.7 miles, but that included 3 SOLID and ACTUAL bike workouts! In the past, many of my big bike weeks have been a lot of errands and/or commuting on my bike. But this was actual rides. Tuesday's was a moderate ride being it was just 2 days post-race, Thursday's ride was 4x5 mile intervals, and Saturday's ride was a 25 mile tempo with extra at the end to get over 40 miles on the day.

For example, let's look at 2 big weeks from exactly 1 year ago: I had back-to-back weeks of 103 and 112 miles. That was 13 bike "workouts" over those 2 weeks, but only 4 of those were on my tri bike. And of those 4, only 2 were hard, 1 was "moderate," and 1 was easy. I had 2 hard and 1 moderate ride in 1 week last week, not over 2 weeks with lots of other easier rides. It's easy to stack up 100+ mile weeks when you're running errands on your bike, but not actually "working out." (Yes, there's a lot to be said for just "being fit" and using your bike... I'm not against that. I'm just noting that it *is* different when looking at total miles. Were the bike rides just getting around town? Or were they hard training workouts? Those 2 different kinds of miles feel different.)

TUESDAY I just biked moderately for about 35 miles:

I searched out some hills, but didn't ride hard.

THURSDAY I hit the Greenway for 4x5 mile intervals (on the stretch between split #4 and split #6 on this map):

And then a longer cooldown to splits #9 and #10 to get over 40 miles on the day.


Intervals highlighted in red.

Those intervals felt the best they have all year, and my 5-mile averages were 21.3 mph, 22.3 mph, 21.5 mph, and 22.9 mph. Nothing amazing, but I haven't had speeds quite that high this year.

SATURDAY I hit the Mendota Bridge detour to get to Big Rivers, and I did 25 miles hard at the start of a 41+ mile ride:

Hard through split #5, also hitting hills like 4 days prior.

This week will be smaller again, but then I hope to have another soild "saddle week" next week!

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Two Weeks of Training Around a Camping Trip

Here's the 2 weeks of training that contains the long weekend of staying up north with 4 kids:

We left mid-morning on Friday the 5th, and came back the evening of Tuesday the 9th.

The nice thing about those 2 weeks is I started swimming again, and even with some pool time (meaning something that takes away from my saddle time), I still got in 137+ miles of biking over those 2 weeks while being gone for a 5-day stretch. I can't complain about that!

What I could complain about is little strength time and leg exercise time. But I have no problem "throwing that away" for fun family trips!

My running was decent too: I had decent long runs on Mondays (posted about the first one here and then a long run on the trip here), normal easy runs on both Wednesdays, and track workouts both Fridays consisting of 800s and 400s.

I was (happily) shocked that the 2 full weeks around that trip still had 1500+ minutes of "intensity minutes!" That's sort of my number that says "this was a normal-ish week" but neither of those weeks were ACTUALLY normal. (1800 is a NICE week, and I've only been above 2000 a few times.)

The last 4 weeks (nevermind the small current week as I took this screenshot on Tuesday).


Here's the same chart with the 5 days of the trip circled. SMALL DAYS!


Those 2 very similar weeks just at 1500 minutes were the 2 weeks I'm talking about.

That means I still have a 9-week streak of 1500+ intensity minutes (or 17 out of the last 18 weeks, only dropping below 1500 when I had some calf pain and didn't run for a week in early April). But to be fair, some of these recent weeks have been "artificially" higher because I've been counting strenuous yard work as "cardio" on my Garmin and getting credit for those extra workouts.

Looking at those last 2 weeks, I have less than 600 "intensity minutes" over the 5 days of camping, which is very low - I skipped bike workouts and all weight lifting on that trip. And of those 599 intensity minutes, 155 of that was intervals on Friday morning before going on the trip, and nearly 200 minutes was a long run and cool-down walk on Monday. The rest was just hiking / walking at the 2 state parks with the 4 kids.

Oh, and funny side-note... which day in the past 30 days had the "hillier than normal" long run out in Lake Vermilion State Park? It's hard to tell...

(Hint: it's actually not hard to tell. ;)

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Two Big(ger) Weeks of Workouts

The last 2 full weeks have had some good workouts. They both saw a jump in steps...

... and a solid jump in "intensity minutes" as well:

1804 last week, and 2001 the week before that!
(This current week is only counting through yesterday: Mon, Tues, and Wed.)

Here's what those 2 weeks looked like in my training log:

Those look like "normal" training weeks! I mean, I'm still feeling slow as shown by my slowest 5K in years a few days ago, but the training weeks are starting to look like they should!! That calendar shows 24:39 of training 2 weeks ago, and 22:47 last week (taking it easier on Saturday and Sunday because of the 5K on Monday). 22-some hours has been a "good normal" week since using this training log since December, and the 24-some hours from 2 weeks ago is my biggest week this year!

That bigger week 2 weeks ago was capped with my first interval workout in nearly 2 months, and then my longest bike ride in 17 years (and my hilliest ride on record). That ride alone maybe gave me an extra hour of training time that week. Rides like that don't happen too often! That was 104.2 miles of riding 2 weeks ago, and that was just across 3 rides with one of those being on my mountain bike! May is shaping up to be a decent month in the saddle!

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Week in Review: Big Training Time Numbers, Missed (Outdoor) Bike Ride

Here's what last week's training looked like:

23 hours and 54 mins of overall training is the biggest since tracking my workouts on Final Surge (since November). My strength time might be a weekly PR at 14 hours and 47 mins, but that's partly due to doing some extra shoulder exercises for my PT. And 6 hours and 49 minutes of saddle time is the 2nd biggest in the last few months (just behind my birthday week 6 weeks ago where I got in some good rides and a long birthday spin totalling just over 7 hours - but that week had a bit less overall training time at 23:32 compared to 23:54 last week).

• MON: shorter long run and PT legs. I posted about this "long run test run" later last week. It went OK! Nothing fancy, but decent speed.

• TUES: good upper body, and moderate spin. Again, good upper body, but then just an easier spin in the afternoon after that "test" run the day before. I just did 75 mins with 2x10 min efforts:

• WED: easy run, and good PT legs and core. The 2 bike rides on Wednesday were just easy rides on my mountain bike taking Charlie to school and picking him up from baseball as I posted about on Monday. Otherwise, just a decent day of workouts.

• THURS: good upper body and long trainer ride. This bike workout started out more depressing as I had a specific window of time to get in a good outdoor ride, but it started raining. It was light at first, so I got all my outdoor gear on and got my bike hauled up from the basement, but it was just a bit too wet when I stepped out the door. Dang. But I turned that depressing lack-of-an-outdoor-ride around pretty quick because I cranked out a decent indoor workout. I never do 15 minutes efforts on the bike, but I did 4x15 min efforts as a longer trainer ride:

A good long trainer ride!

• FRI: easy run and good PT legs and core. I saw THREE turkeys in different spots around the neighborhood on this run! It's common to see a small flock, but usually down by the river. To spot 3 turkeys in 3 different areas is rare:

On Summit Ave.


On Fairview Ave.


On the Marshall Hill.


Looping run still sticking close-ish to home because of a sore calf.
Turkeys spotted at split 4, 6.5, and 9.

• SAT: long ride and good upper body. First a good upper body workout in the morning. And then I got out late afternoon on a nice ride. I had no goals - just to ride (that's rare!). I sort of kept it "moderate" most of the way through, but didn't push too hard. I did a basic 26 mile out-and-back route down Big Rivers, but I tacked on a lot of extras to end with 41 miles:

All 5 mile splits. Normally I turn around before split 3 to nearly hit 30 miles.


I found 2 nice new hills on a re-paved trail along Lone Oak Road.

41 miles with a 19.0 mph overall average is fine. Nothing amazing, but a good long(-ish for me) ride.

• SUN: core. Just a rest day with some walking, stretching, and core work.

My total training time looks good (and "normal"), but my individual workouts weren't anything special, especially my runs as I'm coming back from this calf injury. My strength time was great, and so was my saddle time. But I need to work on more SHORTER / HARDER bike workouts. My biking time is going to be "odd" for a few weeks as Charlie has baseball games and Henry has track meets on a lot of the days that I try to get in my rides. I'll make it work in whatever way I can!

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Re-Starting Running: A Decent Training Week

Two weeks ago, I didn't run at all, and all my bike rides were easy as I was tending to some calf pain.

Last week, I started testing things a little, and I noted that I had an easy run, a hard bike (but not long), and another easy run on 3 back-to-back-to-back days. It was starting to feel a LITTLE like normal, but there was no running intensity.

Here's what the week looked like:

That's just easy runs on Mon and Wed, and one that was a BIT more "moderate" on Friday.

Tuesday's ride was that nice, short tempo ride I posted about a few days ago, and then I rode easier on Thursday just to not over-do anything. But then Saturday's trainer ride was more intense: 5x10 min efforts for nearly 2 hours in the saddle. That was a nice way to end my training week!

And my strength time was great at 14 hours and 23 mins (maybe 2nd highest ever behind the previous week of 14:34), but that's partly due to doing more shoulder exercises from my PT. Still had some good lifting days in there!

"Intensity minutes" coming back up a bit...


... back over 1500 mins after last week's dip.


Productive to maintaining to recovery (as I was injured and not training)
back to maintaining and now productive again.


My "endurance score" leveled out when I was injured, but is starting upwards a bit again.

I'm going to try a little intensity today... We'll see how things hold up!

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