A Passion for Running

I’m pretty sure July 2007 is going to be recorded as the hottest in the last 20 years. The last July I remember being this hot and humid was 1987 – the year of the Edmonton tornado. That tornado formed right over my head prior to touching down so I don’t mind saying that I get …a little nervous around this weather.

Anyway, with the head and humidity, it’s been tough slogging. I’m on vacation and have been running evenings to avoid the sun. For the most part, that strategy has worked but I had to miss my second run of the week on Saturday because of the combined effect of extreme heat, humidity and forest fire smoke making near impossible to breathe.

Last night was a very good run.

Time: 74 minutes
Distance: 9.04 miles
Pace: 8:10 min/mile
Avg HR: 154
Weather: 28C/82F but, with humidity “felt like” 33C/91F

I’m excited about that pace and heart rate given the temperature it was run in and am looking forward to seeing my paces at cooler temps. Looks like I’ll get my chance today since it’s a lot cooler today.

I was super fatigued on Tuesday. I did not feel good at all to run so I took the day off.

I was still feeling fatigue today so I started my run very gradually. It took a good 20 minutes to really get going but it turned out to be a very good run in mild heat (23C).

Time: 1:29:10
Miles: 11.15
Pace: 8:00 min/mile
Avg HR: 163 (today’s target was 165)

The miles and intensity are really adding up now and, knowing how things progressed prior to Red Deer Marathon, I’m excited about the next few weeks.

I ran at 8:30PM last night in the wildest rain+thunder and lighting storm of the year. I often found myself with little to no visibility with wind that often blew me right off the sidewalk – it was the most fun I’ve had running in a long time. WILD!

Andrew’s instructions were to run the first hour of the run between 150 and 160 heart beats per minute and the second half at 165 beats per minute. Here are the results.

First Hour:
Time: 59:28
Distance: 7.46
Pace: 7:58
Avg HR: 157

Second Hour:
Time: 59:46
Distance: 7.63
Pace: 7:50
Avg HR: 166

Overall:
Time: 1:59:14
Distance: 15.09
Pace: 7:54
Avg HR: 161

I’m stoked about this run.

Bald and Sweaty

Originally uploaded by Mark I

I shaved my head today. The wife and kids hate it. HATE. IT.

haha! But, it’s cooler and I feel good this way. Check my flickr page for a few more bald photos.

Today’s run was in 28C/82F and I felt a-ok. The heat hardly phased me at all. Of course, it wasn’t humid today so that explains part of it but I am definitely getting used to the heat.

Average HR = 154 (I’ll have to return to this post later with mileage, pace etc)

—–
Edit:

Miles : 9.12
Pace: 8:06 min/mile

That run turned out to be pretty outstanding. Low heart rate + very good pace in that heat = happy bald guy.

Time: 1:29:33
Distance: 10.92 miles
Pace: 8:12 min/mile
Weather: 23C/74F (warm) with head/crosswinds
Avg HR: 164 (target=165). 1st half @ 160. 2nd half @ 167.

A bit slow again today.
——–
Thursday Run

Distance: 8.0 miles
Time: 1:14:20
Pace: 9:16 min/mile
Avg HR: 154
Weather: 23C/73F but like 29/84 with the very humid conditions

sorry about the really boring posts latey. so busy.

Distance: 10.38 miles
Time: 1:28:41
Pace: 8:32 (kinda slow)
Average Heart Rate: 162
Temperature: 22C/72F

Time: 60:29
Distance: 6.53
Pace: 9:15 min/mile
Average Heart Rate: 152 (target was 145 to 155)
Weather: 25C/77F with a nice wind

another good run. heart rate very stable again. and I seem to be acclimating to the summer weather.

I was blessed with a much cooler day for my run today (even the weatherman was surprised).

And the heart rate based training (in the heat!) is obviously paying off because I was pleasantly surprised with today’s run.

Target Heart Rate: Up to 155
Average Heart Rate: 153
Distance: 10.7 miles
Time: 91:50
Pace: 8:35 min/mile

While I’m happy about the relatively low heart rate for that pace, I’m even more happy about how even it was throughout the run:

1st 30 minutes Avg HR: 150 (including the warmup mile)
2nd 30 minutes: Avg HR: 153
3rd 30 minutes Avg HR: 155

I ran all sections at a consistent pace so this shows that the old ticker is responding well to the training.

Feeling great!

I was alone with the kids until Sunday afternoon (wifey was away) so I had no choice but to run late in the afternoon.

It did not go well. It was super hot and super humid.

Pace was slow, heart rate was way too low, I was sluggish, and finally ended the run after 40 minutes (60 minutes were on the schedule) thinking, the way I was feeling, more harm than good was being done.

This is the first run I’ve cut short in quite some time. The positive is that I did not skip it entirely and have, for the most part, been toughing out this heat spell very well.

Time: 1:13:46 (ran in a one minute negative split between the 1st and 2nd half of the run)
Miles; 9.14
Pace: 8:04 min/mile
Average Heart Rate: Estimating about 161 but I’m tot sure because my HRM crapped out on me.
Weather: 27C/80F with no wind

I had to run in the morning today so I was very very sluggish. As happens with morning runs, my heart rate took a long time to get up to today’s target of 165 bpm. And it was damn hot.

All that aside, today’s was a really good run.