Run 595: The mysterious bladder

Run 595
Average pace: 5:41/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 12:34 pm
Distance: 5:04 km
Time: 28:38
Weather: Cloud, some sun
Temp: 17-19ºC
Humidity: 71%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 160
Weight: 161.4 pounds
Total distance to date: 4555 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone 8

I missed Thursday’s planned run due to a mysterious soreness in my abdomen that became more noticeable when walking or especially when walking quickly. I figured it would make for an unpleasant run. It diminished yesterday and today I felt it was worth risking.

My best guess (I’m not a doctor and I don’t play one on TV) is it’s my bladder acting up, possibly a minor infection caused by being a man of my age. My plan was to let it go a few days and see if it got worse, then make a trip to the clinic if it did. Since it didn’t get worse I went for a run instead.

And while I felt it in a distant sort of way it only happened briefly and ended up not being a factor at all.

The knees, though, were a bit creaky, possibly from the four days off, though they also didn’t seem to slow me down.

The forecast warned of possible thunderstorms and while it showered in the morning, the afternoon consisted on non-threatening cloud and occasional sun. The breeze was up, but the conditions were overall quite pleasant for running.

Despite being only a degree or two cooler than Monday, there were no topless runners today. The threat of rain did mean the balance between runners and walkers was much closer, though.

I got off to a zipper-than-expected start, my first km coming in at 5:28. As expected, this emptied most of the tank for the next few km, though I picked up to 5:38/km by the last km and finished overall at 5:41/km, two seconds better than Monday’s pace and the third consecutive run where my pace has improved. BPM was back down to 160 and other than the aforementioned knees, no real issues, though I felt I worked a bit harder at points today.

If I stay on schedule the next run will be on Tuesday, when the sun sets at 7:33 p.m. That’s still well after I would be done, but it’s getting close to where the gap is only about 30 minutes. Once again summer has gone by way too fast.

Leave a Comment