out and about!

rode out to the cemetery for the military honors on memorial day and then back home. rode around town delivering invitations with my daughter to her birthday party that evening. rode to the post office and bank today and up to the school. then after work i took the long way home and finished up with a ride to and from the library with my wife and daughter. lots of fun, relaxed miles! (9.99 miles @ 10.1mph)

early morning recovery

connect.garmin.com/activity/89204646

it was a much cooler 59 degrees when i got up this morning. the relative humidity was still high though, so i still got a bit sweaty. i took it easy after yesterday's interval insanity into the wind. i was sore and didn't feel much like pushing it anyway. i rode east three miles, turned around and came back to town. then i rode about a mile south, looped around bryana drive and came back to the highway. from there i rode west about four miles, turned around and came back to main street. my final leg was a two and a half mile jaunt north followed by a southbound trip back to the house. i finished with right at 20.10 miles. (20.10 miles @ 13.8mph)

3.10 miles in 27:45

connect.garmin.com/activity/89114076

ugh! it's hot and humid! it's windy! what was i thinking? i ran the "wipe out cancer" 5K route today just to see what it was like. i ran pretty nicely at the beginning. i was running easy and hitting the low 7s for pace. then i hit the wind and it was all down hill from there. i slowed to over 10:00 pace. it was awful. i wanted to give up, but i didn't. now i've got to cool down and get ready for my ems meeting. gatorade please!

interval insanity

connect.garmin.com/activity/89097008

who in their right mind goes out for a ride when the wind is blowing 20mph? who then proceeds to ride straight into the wind? who further turns their workout into an interval torture session? me! while my wife took a nap this afternoon, i went out and blew the lead out of my legs. i rode easy for a half mile and then hard for a half. did it ten times for a total of ten miles. i must say the hard efforts with the wind at my back were more fun than the hard efforts into the wind. ugh! those boogers were nasty! (10.03 miles @ 15.2mph)

a ride to remember

connect.garmin.com/activity/88967107

when i woke up just before 6:00 this morning, the sun was just peeking over the horizon. beautiful! the wind was up and around too. sustained winds today are supposed to be over 20mph by afternoon. that means the early rider gets the calm, relatively speaking.

i dressed and hit the road a few minutes after 6:00. my plan was to ride to harper and back, putting in around 30 miles. my plans changed, however. the wind which the weatherlab said was out of the southwest was more southeasterly, so i turned around in danville and rode back toward and on through argonia to the east.

just outside of town on this second leg, i was met with a beautiful sight - dozens of flags flying straight out at argonia's cemetery. wow! it's a great day to fly a flag!

i rode out to the conway springs road and turned back toward town. the wind had picked up some, but keeping it to my side made it bearable.

when i got back to town, i was just short of two hours, so i rode down main street, circled around bryana drive and then rode straight home. i finished with just over two hours. a beautiful ride to remember. (31.74 miles @ 15.8mph)

time trial

connect.garmin.com/activity/88476838

i rode 10 miles to get ready for my 10 mile time trial. i put a little effort into the ride, but didn't work too hard.

i warmed up for ten miles this morning, then hit the after burners in an attempt to move up in the standings for Bernard Y.'s 10-mile time trial challenge - http://www.dailymile.com/challenges/1777-10-mile-time-trial.

i set the cruise at about 22mph and kept it going. on most hills i was still above 20mph, though i dipped down to 18mph at least once. with two miles to go, i put everything i had into it and came out under 27 minutes. much better than my original 30 minute time. should move me up to second or third.after the time trial, i coasted for a quarter mile and then pedaled slowly for a mile and a half. (21.55 miles @ 17.0mph)

2.54 miles in 29:14

connect.garmin.com/activity/88367659

let this be a lesson for all of you. do not go running without proper fuel. i ate a little yogurt for breakfast and a few hours later thought i'd have enough energy to run with a 5K at noon with my wife. i was wrong. my wife ran more strongly than i did. i felt light-headed. it was awful. we both quit short of our goal while trying out the route for june 11th's race. bonk!

i'm back!

connect.garmin.com/activity/88287927

three weeks! that's how long it's been since i took my road bike out on the road. that's just wrong! i confess my sin and this morning i did something about it. i rode!

it was a cool 55 degrees when i left, with a strong southeast wind. now, remember, i'm a kansan, so when i say strong wind, it means something. i hardly even mention a wind under 10mph.

it was slow going on the way out. i crept along up the hills with the wind in my face at around 12mph. on the flats i occasionally got up to 15mph. at the turn around, my average was 13.9mph.

i love turning around on a windy day. the difference is amazing. i cruised up to over 20mph with little effort and spun my way home past the dead possum and the smear of guts i can only guess were once a deer. there wasn't enough left to tell.

i got back a few minutes before i had to go on call for ems. perfect! (20.08 @ 16.0mph)

6.20 miles in 51:36

connect.garmin.com/activity/88112691

i woke up with my alarm clock this morning. amazing! i don't remember the last time that happened. i'm such a lazy bum. i guess it was all the box hauling and lifting yesterday that did me in. speaking of which, i was really stiff and sore when i rolled off the side of the bed and knocked the stupid clock across the room. ugh!

i dressed to run and headed out. it was a perfect 47 degrees when i started running. i had little expectation for a good day. i didn't feel 100%, so i was just going to run a couple of miles and call it good.

my route evolved as i went. i was just going to run up and down the streets north and south over to main street and back, but when i got to that point, i kept going. then i was just going to go to the other side of town and cut back across vine. again...i kept going. then i was going to stop at five miles, but i kept going. i was too close to a 10K to stop and my time was pretty good.

so i did my first 10K in months on a whim and PR'ed. my best time before this was 52:57! woohoo!

3.10 miles in 25:19

connect.garmin.com/activity/87719698

after i walked my wife to work this morning, i took off on a run. the 99% relative humidity made the going a bit rough, but i somehow managed to make it through 5K. i ran my scottie dog route twice, adding a new twist to the tail which required me to run for a very short time on someone's private drive. shhhh! don't tell.

1.50 miles in 13:52

connect.garmin.com/activity/86795017

this morning's 99% relative humidity made 61 degrees feel downright oppressive. every breath was like taking in the ocean. ugh! i'm just glad this was an intentional recovery run. don't know what it would've been like to push it in this weather.

2.25 miles in 22:47

connect.garmin.com/activity/86646510

i knew i wanted to hit it hard today so i could build some strength and then recover tomorrow before my race on saturday. my plan: run quarter mile repeats at whatever pace my body could take.

i started out at the city park and ran my first quarter mile north toward the high school. i flew along hitting a max pace of 4:29/mile. i walked part of the way back and then ran a little until it was time for the second quarter mile. on my second quarter mile i hit 4:25/mile for a short time. i walked and then jogged back for my third. on my third i only got up to 4:36/mile pace toward the end of it. i was dying. i walked all the way back before starting my fourth repeat. during my fourth quater mile, i hit 4:33/mile. i turned around and walked all the way back before my fifth and final quarter. i ran it all out and hit 4:29/mile pace just before finishing out. i stopped my watch, bent over and somehow kept my cookies from spilling on the ground. when i'd recovered a bit, i walked back home and showered.

max heart rate:

quarter 1: 186
quarter 2: 179
quarter 3: 187
quarter 4: 184
quarter 5: 181

1.65 miles in 17:28

connect.garmin.com/activity/86595595

my wife and i got up for a run this morning. we walked to our normal starting place and then remembered that we wanted to run the course for saturday's fun run. so we ran back to the house, got the car and drove to the starting line.

we ran around the drive at the river park and up the sidewalk, turned around and ran back to the park, circling around the drive and back to the start/finish line. turns out the course is well short of two miles. in fact, it's shy by a few meters of a mile and a half. should make a sub-7 pace a little more managable.

5.00 miles in 41:37

connect.garmin.com/activity/86419867

i just wanted to get some miles in this morning. i had no special plan. i got up and ran three miles before breakfast and then ran another two after breakfast. there was no push to these miles at all. nice and easy was the rule.

5.00 miles in 44:26

connect.garmin.com/activity/86233700

my wife was out of bed before me this morning. when i walked into the bathroom she was getting ready to run. unbelievable! i got dressed to go with her. i wasn't going to miss this!

we ran a mile at 10:11, one of the fastest she's ever done! we stopped for a bit and walked and then ran a second mile at 10:43, still good for her. she pushed it hard at the end of the mile, we were running at 9:15 when we pulled up.

after walking home, i took off for another mile at an easy pace. i just wanted some mileage. i ran a 8:23 mile without a bit of problem and then went in to fix breakfast.

after breakfast, i walked my wife to work and then ran two more mile repeats. still trying to keep from going all out, i ran the first mile at 7:33 and the second at 7:28. feeling good about a sub-7:00 two miles saturday. that's my goal! i'm announcing it to make me work harder.

2.01 miles in 14:33

connect.garmin.com/activity/86087175

i'm running in a 2-mile race this saturday and decided i'd test the legs and lungs to see what they could do over that distance. i started out really fast, keeping my pace well under 7:00 pace for the first half mile or so. i let up just a little and just kept my flow going for the next half mile and ended up completing the first mile in 6:59.

i pressed on, dipping to the south. i kept up my effort, hoping for a second mile faster than the first. unfortunately, i just couldn't do it. despite a valiant attempt, i finished the second mile (+0.2) in 7:34, dragging my average speed down to 7:15.

i'm not complaining. last week i ran the same distance at 8700 feet and it took me 17:33. knocking three minutes off that makes me pretty happy. a little more speed work this week and i'll nail that 2-miler saturday.

1.50 miles in 11:26

connect.garmin.com/activity/85311124

i got back home after a few days in colorado and decided i needed to test out my legs on the familiar flat streets of argonia. i had just a little time in the morning, so i walked my wife to work and then ran from there. i pushed the pace a little, but not too much. i felt okay throughout, but not super strong. such is life. hopefully a little rest over the weekend will help.

3.10 miles in 30:59

i woke at 6:00, rested. the retreat here in the mountains has been good for me. thanks be to God for his many gifts!

i dressed and headed out for a run up the road. i ran at "joy" pace and kept my heartrate under control. no sense overdoing it at this altitude. i ran uphill for the first half of the run and then turned to head down. the downward slope made returning to the retreat center a pleasure.

when i got back to the complex, i ran up and down the hill behind the main building to finish off my 5K. then i quit, satisfied that i'd done what i could today.

2.50 miles in 24:29

snow! it's may 11 and i ran in a beautiful snow gently falling in the calm morning air. i ran down the highway a mile or so and then turned to come back up. less than a half mile into my return journey, my heart rate went a little bonkers, so i slowed down and walked a tenth or two and then resumed my run. i was almost back up to the conference center when a snow plow came over the rise. i had just passed a driveway, so i turned and ran back up and into it to avoid getting a slushy bath. i barely made it. i had a big grin on my face the rest of the way in. how often does something like that happen?

2.00 miles in 24:53

connect.garmin.com/activity/85299158

i got up early to go trail runing with some good friends. everyone showed up right on time, so we took off.

the air was crisp, the sky clear and bright, bright blue. beautiful hardly does the morning justice. we ran through the parking lot with mt. meeker looking down on us. when we reached the trail head, we headed up, single file - adam in the lead, me in the middle and donnie bringing up the rear.

our pace was pretty quick at the beginning, but we slowed often for patches of snow, jumbles of rock and the lick. we had to ford one or two streams.

less than a half mile into the woods, i could tell i wasn't going to be able to keep up with these guys. i had the sick feeling that comes just before a bonk, so i waved donnie through and slowed to a pace i could maintain. i ran until i hit a section of snow covered trail and decided i wasn't sure enough of the trail to go on. with the way i was feeling this was a good place to turn around anyway.

the trip down was a little crazy. trying to keep my footing was a full time task. somewhere along the way i did something weird to my back and it started spasming. i slowed to a walk and tried to get things back under control. i ran a little more, but when it really started hurting, i slowed again.

back in the parking lot i ran slowly around the loop i'd done last night. i looped around until i hit two miles before quitting.

i'm hoping my back with forgive me and straighten up so i can run again later. i don't want to sit around all week, doing nothing but eating.

2.01 miles in 17:33

i left wichita at 8:00 with a couple of friends i'd agreed to share a ride with to our pastors retreat in colorado. after ten and a half hours in a tiny car with just enough leg room and only a handful of stops, i was ready to move a little. i dumped my luggage in my room, dressed quickly and went out for a short run.

with the change in altitude i didn't want to push my distance or pace too much, so i just ran down the conference center drive to the highway, ran up to the second drive and circled back to the main entrance. a second lap got me close to tow miles, so i ran around teh parking lot to finish up.

everything felt pretty good considering the air at 9,000 feet is thinner than it is at 1,200.

4.03 miles in 33:03

connect.garmin.com/activity/84150283

"62 degrees. no wind. light shoes. amazing four miles. flying!" that's what i tweeted seconds after i got back from this run. i was in salina, ks, to watch my two older girls perform in the state speech and drama championships, so i took along the green swarm. they'd been begging for some new scenery. running the same streets over and over in argonia is dull for these adventure seekers.

after being awakened around 3:00 in the morning by the fire alarm in the hotel, i was surprisingly alert when i woke up around 5:30. i dressed quickly and headed to the lobby where i found a few fellow drama contest participants milling around the breakfast goodies. i put my garmin in the window to sync up with the sattelites while i talked with them. turns out the organizers of the entire tournament were staying at the same hotel. lack of sleep and that big of an undertaking are not a good combination. still they seemed happy enough.

after my garmin finally found the links it needed, i strapped it on and headed out the door. in my imaginations before hand, i was running all over salina checking out parks and waving at fellow runners. that was not the way things turned out. instead i did a straight out and back along one of the busiest streets in town. not that it was all that busy at 5:45.

the first thing i must say is this: salina's sidewalks are crazy! they're elevated a bit so there are huge dips at every driveway. when i hit the first ramp or two, i nearly fell over. i adjusted and was soon undulating with ease. my legs felt great. my lungs and heart were happy. i knocked off an 8:11 first mile. i wasn't trying to break any records, just enjoy the run. i ran out to just past the high school where the contest was to be held, a trip of just two miles, then circled around in a car lot and headed back toward the hotel.

up and down, up and down i went, floating along. i didn't stumble or trip once. when i came up behind a man walking on the sidewalk, i glanced down at my garmin. i was shocked. i'd been running easy, pretty much ignoring my garmin and i wasn't pushing it at all. my pace readout said 7:26! no way! "that's not my easy pace," i thought. i surged past the guy and kept going till i reached the hotel.

i walked around the parking lot a bit, cooling down and then went in, tweeted, grabbed a few breakfast items for my wife and i and went up to our room.

when i finally was able to look at my garmin info, i just shook my head. after a slightly slower second mile, all my splits for this run were negative. i ran 8:11, 8:22, 8:16, 7:59. makes me wonder what the next mile would've been if i'd had time to go on.

summer's back

connect.garmin.com/activity/83832348

much to this morning's brief winter's dismay, it was nearly 80 degrees at noon! i'd come in early to work so i'd have time to ride and ride i did. blue skies and sunshine made for a ride that was beautiful in every way! even the strong winds couldn't put a damper on my spirits as i sped along the highway! sweet cycling! (10.21 miles @ 17.9mph)

winter returns

connect.garmin.com/activity/83784320

are you kidding me? 41 degrees? it's may! it's supposed to be in the 50s and 60s early in the morning. grrrrr! my fingers got a bit cold (and painful) while riding this morning, but i didn't stop to change gloves when i rolled back through town. i refuse to accept the facts: it's winter again! no it's not! yes it is! NO IT'S NOT!!!! (26.90 miles @ 15.7mph)

buzzing around

enjoyed a few miles buzzing around town on errands and taking in the beautiful, sunny day. some of these miles were from previous days. (8.71 miles @ 11.1mph)

3.10 miles in 34:31

connect.garmin.com/activity/83350562

i was feeling better this evening when my wife came back from the kindergarten round up. she wanted to run, so i decided to give it a try with her. we ran around town this way and that and had to run around an extra block or two because of trains blocking our way back home. we ended up completing a 5K. i felt pretty good most of the time.

a breath of a breeze

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/82991002

i enjoyed a quick out and back this morning after waking up a little later than usual. there wasn't anything terribly remarkabout about the ride other than the almost complete absence of wind. i rode north into the breath of a breeze that was blowing and then enjoyed a nice cruise back. (14.97 miles @ 15.1mph)