Running in Life's Slow Lane

Chasing nightfall into Ferrelview

From my hotel near the Kansas City airport it is approximately 4.5 miles (the long way) to reach the small village of Ferrelview, Missouri. As I was making up the 8 mile run that I did NOT do yesterday, I felt it would be an adventure to run the 4 miles towards Ferrelview and back to the hotel. On Google Earth this seemed like a fine idea. Unfortunately, Google Earth does not do the terrain justice and while watching dusk fall on the prairie was quite an enjoyable experience, pushing my body over the many steep hills was not.

8.02 mi in 01:44:45 @ 13:03/mi burning 768 calories w/ 141bpm HRavg

Markers ---
1.00 mi in 13:00 123 bpm
1.00 mi in 13:43 139 bpm - this mile sucks! with the hills
1.00 mi in 13:11 141 bpm
1.00 mi in 12:27 146 bpm
-- just short of Ferrelview I reach the turn around point
1.00 mi in 12:49 144 bpm
1.00 mi in 12:58 148 bpm
1.00 mi in 13:26 146 bpm - did I mention that his mile sucks?
1.00 mi in 12:54 149 bpm

Alright, first 8 miler of this training cycle done! Time to put some good calories into the engine and get to work.

Location: Kansas City, Missouri

I have not been doing a very good job of making sure that my running paces work my cardio system sufficiently soooo today my goal was to run 30 minutes at a pace that would get my heart rate at or above 70%. To hit this mark required me to average in a neighborhood of 150bpm.

3.05 mi in 35:04 @ 11:30/mi burning 385 calories w/ 149 bpm HRavg.

Markers ---
1.00 mi in 11:17 @ 141 bpm
1.00 mi in 11:29 @ 153 bpm
0.64 mi in 07:28 @ 155 bpm -- finished off 30 minutes!
0.41 mi in 04:50 @ 151 bpm -- slowed down to finish out 3 miles

Getting the heart rate up to the desired range was a bit of a challenge but I am healthier as a result. Right?

Location: Kansas City, Missouri

The weather forecast calls for tomorrow to be even colder here in Kansas City so I bit the bullet and did my longer 6 mile workout tonight. The training schedule called for the middle 4 miles to be near my lactate threshold pace which should be close to 11:34/mi.

6.00 mi in 01:11:52 @ 11:58/mi burning 721 calories w/ 149 bpm HRavg

Markers ---
1.00 mi in 12:18 139 bpm -- warm up
1.00 mi in 11:10 147 bpm -- starting tempo miles
1.00 mi in 11:28 158 bpm
1.00 mi in 11:31 157 bpm
1.00 mi in 11:31 157 bpm
1.00 mi in 13:51 141 bpm -- cool down

The weather during the run was 36*F, with windchill of 26*F, cloudy, dark and windy with NNW 18mph gusting to 36 mph.

Location: Kansas City, Missouri

I had planned to take today as a rest day knowing that yesterday's run had been quite tiring and that I have a 8 mile day planned for Saturday. However, after struggling with work related issues and an intermittent internet connection I decided a few miles would not hurt me. I was NOT brave enough to test the 28*F temperature outdoor and instead ran on a treadmill. I really hate running on a treadmill.

3.00 mi in 34:16 @ 11:25/mi

I am extrapolating the times based on the mph value given on the treadmill.

Markers ---
1.00 mi in 12:00
0.25 mi in 02:30 (10:00/mi pace)
0.25 mi in 03:00 (12:00/mi pace)
0.25 mi in 02:16 (09:04/mi pace)
0.25 mi in 03:00 (12:00/mi pace)
0.25 mi in 02:30 (10:00/mi pace)
0.75 mi in 09:00 (12:00/mi pace)

Location: Kansas City, Missouri

It was a gorgeous, if chilly, day to run a race in Leavenworth, Kansas and the course was quite demanding on my penguin-esque body but I made it all the way to the finish. Afterwards, the primary sponsor of the race, The High Noon Saloon, rewarded all the participants with a free beverage and a nice pint glass with the brewery's logo on the side.

Since today's race is replacing the 8 mile workout scheduled for tomorrow I made sure to run the warm up and cool down long enough to total the required distance once added to the race's 7.2 miles.

Totals ---
Warm up    : 0.54 mi in 07:06 @ 13:10/mi with 138 bpm HRavg
Race          : 7.13 mi in 01:21:53 @ 11:29/mi with 162 bpm HRavg
Cool down : 0.41 mi in 05:39 @ 13:52/mi with 148 bpm HRavg

The Race ---
1.00 mi in 11:36 150bpm
1.00 mi in 12:54 163bpm - Killer hill required me to walk a bit
1.00 mi in 11:40 167bpm
1.00 mi in 11:53 164bpm
1.00 mi in 10:52 164bpm
1.00 mi in 10:48 163bpm
1.00 mi in 11:03 167bpm
0.13 mi in 01:06 177bpm (08:41/mi)

I was 4/4 in my age group and 56/63 over all. I did manage to pass 3 people during the race.

Location: Leavenworth, Kansas