bear with me

Run 709: Unbearable 5K

Today’s run didn’t go at all as planned, but it almost didn’t happen at all, so in the end it went surprisingly well, all things considered.

First, the bug bites from Saturday (of which there were many–at least 18 on my right leg, eight on my left) were flaring up again this morning, all red and itchy as heck. So walking and running would make this even worse, probably, and for that reason I thought it might be nice to just spend the day in the bathtub instead.

But I did get changed and used cheap motivational tricks to get myself heading out.

Right around the 1 km mark of the walk, when I was traversing down the stairs into Lower Hume Park I suddenly remembered my pasties. My nipple guards. If I was doing a 10K and sweated copiously, there was a distinct possibility that both nipples would bleed like they were extras in a Saw outtake. Going back would mean adding 18+ minutes to the whole thing. I just kept heading to the lake, mulling a potential Plan B.

Potential Plan B’s:

  • Don’t run at all, just do an epic 18 km walk around the lake and back
  • Do a 5K run instead, so less overall sweating
  • Do a 10K and hope that the cooler temperatures would offset the humidity and result in less sweating

As it was, I ended up going with Plan C:

  • Do a crazy back-and-forth combo of main and side trails for a total of 5K after three different people warned me about a mother bear and two cubs “ten minutes” up the way I was heading

A man and a couple (walking in close proximity of each other) flagged me down as I set off clockwise down the Avalon Trail, where four fresh new culverts have been installed. As expected, the man warned me he had seen a mother bear and two cubs wander off the trail and into the woods about ten minutes back (roughly a km or about six minutes for me at normal running pace). He seemed somewhat confident that the bears would be gone if I continued on, but when it comes to a mother bear and the potential to see me as a threat to her cubs, then mauling me to death, I am good with giving the bears an extremely wide berth, and switched to counter-clockwise and made the call to do only 5K by looping around the side trail and out, which I did.

Because the run was relatively short, I had no issues and felt very springy, finishing with a pace of 5:57/km and a BPM of exactly 150 (it got as high as 157 on the last km as I stepped on the gas a little).

The hip didn’t actually make its presence known at all until I was walking back on the river trail, but it was no big deal. I ran a fair bit there, too, since I had energy to spare. Funny how 5K almost feels short now.

Overall, a decent, if shorter than expected, start to the week.

I look forward to the bears hibernating.

And here’s the map of my route (I have no idea why Apple uses a dark map, it looks terrible, but Apple gonna Apple). The leg on the right was my expected route, before I doubled back and did a couple loops over on the north side of the lake (oh, and so it doesn’t drive you crazy, the cut-off text says Warner Loat Park):

Stats:

Run 709
Average pace: 5:57/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (a little of every direction)
Start: 10:11 a.m.
Distance: 5.02 km
Time: 29:54
Weather: Sun with high cloud
Temp: 21-22ºC
Humidity: 67-54%
Wind: light
BPM: 150
Weight: 160.9
Total distance to date: 5202 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (310 km)

Run 699: A bear runs through it

This run was odd in a number of ways:

  • I don’t normally run on Sundays
  • I ran in the early afternoon when it was already Africa Hot™
  • The course I took was a never-before crazy quilt of a little of everything

To explain:

Nic and I may go birding tomorrow, which is normally a run day, so it occurred to me that when I went out for my walk today, I might do a run instead and get one in if I do miss yesterday.

I decided it might also be a good chance to test the “higher heat is better than higher humidity” theory. Verdict: Higher heat is better! My first km was a zippy 5:55/km. And the reason I flagged a bit after is more due to the circumstances than anything else. To explain even further:

I was a little over a km into the run when I saw a young couple with a kid in a stroller approaching me. I eyeballed the route to the right I would take to navigate around them, but then the guy gestured like he wanted to talk to me, which he did.

I had a sense of déjà vu.

Sure enough, it was the same subject the woman had warned me about last week:

Note: Not the actual bear or trail. BUT THEY COULD BE.

But even better, they reported not just a bear on the trail, but a mother bear and two cubs. You know how sensible mother bears can be when they think their cubs are threatened (do you see me getting gutted with one swipe of a claw? I do!. I nodded to them in appreciation for the info, said, “No thanks!” and immediately turned around.

My plan was to simply reverse course and run counter-clockwise. By the time I got to where the bears had been seen, they would be long gone, possibly sated by having gobbled up other joggers in the meantime. Or berries.

I made my way around and at the fork where the trail splits between main and the Spruce Loop, I chose the side trail, as I always do. As I approached the first corner I heard what sounded like barking up ahead (at this point I had turned the music off so I could hear my surroundings) and this seemed odd, because just past the trail here is a business park where you wouldn’t normally find dogs. It spooked me and I noped again, turning back and deciding to finish the run by doing a combo of:

  • Lake trail
  • Crossing Cariboo Raod
  • Running up Cariboo Place
  • Running the river trail until I hit 5K

Here’s what the route looks like from the Fitness app:

Yes, I do jog close to Costco.

In the end I did complete 5K, and it actually wasn’t that bad considering the heat. The volume of bear sightings is more concerning, though. I called this one in and am hoping they can capture and relocate the bears. I have no idea where they are coming from, since the lake is almost completely surrounded by two highways. Maybe they are driving in by van. For future runs, I am going to invest in a clip-on bell, so I can jingle all the way and alert the wildlife to my presence long before they see me. I may also look into bear spray, though I don’t like to imagine scenarios where I would feel it necessary to use it.

As for the run itself, no issues despite the heat. This coming week should be more like normal summer weather, so as long as it stays bear-free, I expect it to be generally more pleasant.

Stats:

Run 699
Average pace: 6:14/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW) and Brunette River Trail
Start: 1:11 p.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 31:21
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 32ºC
Humidity: 42%
Wind: light
BPM: 150
Weight: 163.8
Total distance to date: 5120 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (228 km)

Run 537: A bear-able run

Run 537
Average pace: 5:41/km
Location: Brunette Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 11:29 am
Distance: 8.04 km
Time: 45:47
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 20-22ºC
Humidity: 33%
Wind: light
BPM: 157
Weight: 155.2 pounds
Total distance to date: 4182 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone

On Friday afternoon as I was madly strolling to the SkyTrain station after work I noticed a sudden tweaking sensation in one of the muscles in my upper left leg, a little above the knee. This is one of the muscles that comes alive when I’m doing my lunch power walks but not one I notice as much when running.

The tweaking turned to actual pain when I made my way down the stairs into the station. Each time I stepped down I felt it sing a little. This seemed ominous.

Going down the stairs into the condo complex later was not as bad but it was clear a muscle was very stiff/sore in my upper left leg. I chilled out for the night and planned on a regular–if less intense–run today.

The muscle was still stiff but I headed out and my walk to the lake, deliberately slower, went without incident. I started the run, promising myself to a) keep the pace slower and b) stop if the leg started to hurt.

For the first 5K things went okay. The muscle was stiff but tolerable. By the time I was in the second half of the run the stiffness was getting worse and it was getting more difficult to maintain pace. At the 7K mark I figured if the stiffness stayed where it was I would finish, otherwise I’d stop early.

Alas, the stiffness continued to get worse so I stopped just after the 8K mark and walked out. I then walked up the the Production Way SkyTrain station to save myself about 3 km on walking back home, the better to rest.

The muscle stayed fairly stiff through the rest of the day.

This morning (note that while the date for this post is Saturday the 16th I am writing the entry on Sunday the 17th) I can still feel the muscle but the stiffness is pretty much gone when just casually walking around the condo. I’ll be heading out soon to do some errands, so I’ll see what it feels like when walking close to a normal pace. I’m hopeful that as I’m in my two-days-off period from running that it will recover enough to at least allow for short runs and that it isn’t hurt more seriously.

It would be the height of irony if an injury from walking ended my running early for the year. It would also suck corn dogs.

As for the actual run itself, conditions were nice–pleasantly warm, with low humidity. Energy-wise, the slower pace kept me feeling comfortable and the area around the 5K marker (still missing) wasn’t closed off. They had added a layer of finer gravel on top of the other new gravel and steamrolled it, making the surface much nice for walking and running. I expect they will finish the entire stretch over the coming weeks.

When I came into this stretch I noticed two people stopping to talk to a runner ahead of me. I had no idea what they were saying but the runner jogged back toward me and signaled to get my attention. She informed me that there was a bear up ahead. If you’re going to see bears on the trail, this is probably the best place, because being next to the fields gives you lots of room to steer a wide path around said bear.

I’d had this happen before but never seen the alleged bear. Today was different.

Strolling causally maybe 50 m up the trail from me there was indeed a black bear. I scooted out onto the field (a soccer game or other ball-oriented game was taking place just a short distance up the same field) and made sure I had enough space between me and the bear to insure that the bear didn’t think I was running away from it (which would be bad). The bear didn’t seem to notice, though. It just kept walking slowly along the trail, keeping to itself.

I saw a few people taking pictures, of course. I paused briefly before ducking out of sight around the corner, to assess the bear’s trajectory. I felt I’d be safe for the rest of the run. I hoped it wouldn’t eat all of the soccer players.

Did I run farther to create more distance between myself and the bear? It occurred to me to do this, actually, but no, I just ran as far as I could comfortably manage.

My pace was a slothful 5:41/km, which was expected given the bear hijinks and the stiff leg. To illustrate how cautiously I started, my first km was 5:43/km. My fastest came during the 6 km mark and it was still only 5:31/km.

Overall, a weird and eventful run. I’m hoping that the stiff muscle in the left leg is only just that–stiff, not actually pulled. I’ve applied some stinky Rub-A535 to it this morning and will see how it holds up when I’m out and aboot today.

You vs. a black bear: the infographic

The CBC News website ran a story on how to survive a black bear encounter (not to be confused with an encounter with Bear) due to a number of unusual bear goings-on of late. They included an infographic that I find strangely adorable and am reproducing here:

Bear Survival Guide

I like the idea of singing, clapping and whistling while hiking, to both ward off bears and convince other hikers that you are a lunatic. Also, the last image suggests using karate on the bear, which would be pretty cool.

[spoiler title=”And now the absolute best cover of Bear: The Novel” icon=”plus-square-1″]Bear[/spoiler]