Strides: Warmer Temps Do Not Necessarily Mean Better Conditions

I love cold weather, and I really love running in cold weather. However, even I was ready for some above-freezing temperatures, primarily to melt off the snow and ice that have covered the Creek Turnpike Trail to some extent since Christmas Eve. In the last couple of days, we've finally seen these longed-for higher temperatures in Tulsa. The sustained "warmth" (temps in the 40's, that is) and the anticipated thawing of the Trail had me all excited about this morning's run.

I parked on Garnett, across the street from Grace Fellowship and headed west. I ran on the turnpike offramp for the length of the church property. It was well-cleared, but that is nothing new. It has been for some time now. Once the offramp ended, I caught the path itself.

It did not take me long to realize that there was black ice laced in random spots all along the path. At 5:30 in the morning, the thin sheets of ice were especially hard to see, and because moisture was creeping over the surface of the path all over the place, they were even harder to avoid.

Close to a mile in, after several slips, I decided to forgo the rest of the run for the day--not worth slipping and falling. I ended up with not quite 2 miles. Impressive, I know.

Activity

Route:	--	Elev. Avg:	0 ft
Location:	Broken Arrow, OK	Elev. Gain:	+0 ft
Date:	01/14/10	Up/Downhill:	[+0/-0]
Time:	05:35 AM	Difficulty:	0 / 5.0

Weather:	Overcast
	44 F temp; 70% humidity
	44 F heat index; winds S 6

Performance

Distance:	1.85 miles
Time:	0:16:16
Speed:	6.8 mph
Pace:	8' 48 /mi	Heart Rate:	154 bpm (Avg)
Calories:	212		180 bpm (Peak

Heart Rate Zones

Zone	Range (bpm)	Time In Zone		Distance In Zone
Zone 5	167 - 185	0h 06m	40%	0.78 mi
Zone 4	148 - 167	0h 05m	29%	0.56 mi
Zone 3	130 - 148	0h 04m	23%	0.42 mi
Zone 2	111 - 130	0h 02m	10%	0.16 mi
Zone 1	93 - 111	0h 00m	0%	0.00 mi
(none)	out of range	0h 00m	0%	0.01 mi