detour

Run 707: Horse poop detour

Today was one of those days when there just wasn’t a good time to run.

But I ran anyway, opting for an early morning start with the moderate temp/high humidity combo, since it was expected to get as high as 33C later in the afternoon.

In the end, the humidity, which started at 71% (!) defeated me and I only did 5K instead of a planned 10K, but at least I did a run. Plus, I did some decent interval running on the rest of the way around the lake.

Other than the copious sweating, the other notable part of the run was the start of culvert work along the Avalon Trail, which resulted in a detour along a horsie trail that ultimately connects to the Freeway Trail, then finally back to the main lake loop. It was longer than expected, at around 2.6 km, but it was kind of neat being on a new trail and much of the horse trail is, uh, rustic? Less groomed? And also covered in lots of horse poop. I encountered no actual horses, though. When it connected to the Freeway Trail, I thought I only had a short way to go before being able to get back on the main trail, but it went on much longer than I remembered. And this trail has no tree canopy at all, so the sun was blazing away on me the whole time (not forgetting that 71% humidity, too).

I actually posted fairly good times for the first three km, but by the fourth I could feel myself flagging and the thought of running the sixth km on the long, exposed Cottonwood Trail made me opt for the 5K. This actually worked well, since I was able to stop/start as I saw fit, making for a more pleasant finish to the lake part of the outing.

Weirdly, no dog issues today! And I saw the spitfire. She seemed to be suffering a bit from the heat/humidity combo, a bit. As we all are.

Oddly, my hip/left leg felt sore after the run, and not so much during. Not terribly or anything, but there it was as a reminder. If I could clone my right leg and copy it over to the left side, that would be spiffy. Short of that, I’ll just keep monitoring the left leg, I suppose.

The high is “only” supposed to be 24C on Friday, so a full 10K should be a lot more doable then. We’ll see.

Here’s a post-run shot of the trail around the athletic fields, showing one of the sections especially prone to flooding. You can see the fresh gravel used to level out the surface on the left (and how much was needed). The whole thing still looks unfinished to me, and would definitely still flood, so I’m hoping this is just the first part of a full resurfacing. This is also where the geese like to sit sometimes, for some reason. They were over on the shady bits of the field this morning, though.

Happy trails…until it rains (or someone runs the sprinklers).

Stats:

Run 707
Average pace: 6:06/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 9:39 a.m.
Distance: 5.02 km
Time: 30:40
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 22-24ºC
Humidity: 71%
Wind: nil to light
BPM: 154
Weight: 160.6
Total distance to date: 5187 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (295 km)

The many joggers everywhere run

Average pace: 4:35/km <– personal record (for runs over 10K)

Location: Burnaby Lake
Distance: 11.49 km
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 16-17ºC
Wind: light to nil
Calories burned: 779
Total distance to date: 1829 km

Ran Piper Mill trail, Conifer and Spruce Loops.

Success!

It’s pretty rare for me to do runs on consecutive days as I like the day off to rest and recover but given my short, botched run yesterday I was determined to get in a proper run today.

Conditions were in stark contrast, as if two entirely different seasons had bumped up against each other. Yesterday the air was thick and warm, with the temperature soaring to an unseasonably high 30ºC. Today it felt more like an early fall day, with the sky cloudy and threatening showers and temperatures only into the mid-teens for the morning.

I headed off with a simple plan:

  1. Ride the SkyTrain to Production Way/University station.
  2. Walk to Burnaby Lake from there.
  3. Reverse the process to complete the run!

It took approximately 22 minutes to get to the lake vs. 38 minutes if I had walked the whole way. Definitely faster but not remarkably so. Although the morning sky was gray it did not rain, which was nice. The cooler temperature was ideal for running and I sprang off to a zippy start, noting a Running Room sign placed beside the trail. Apparently there was an event taking place. This turned out to be the Rhythm of Life run sponsored by the Burnaby Hospital. It had begun an hour before I started my run, at 8:30 a.m.

The first tangible sign of the run (apart from the Running Room signs) came around the 2K mark when I arrived at Piper Spit. There was a water station there replete with cups of water. Tantalizing as they were, I was not a participant and went on by. By now I was starting to encounter some of the official entrants, with their numbers pinned to their shirts. Many looked pretty casual and some walked rather than ran. The walkers in particular tended to cluster in groups that hogged the entire width of the trail, which was a minor irritant. I also saw very little of the usual runners etiquette–the waves, the nods, things like that.

As I got to the athletic fields it became clear that the eun was primarily moving clockwise– opposite to me. It was a little awkward having so many joggers constantly streaming toward me but also kind of fun, too. Less fun was a wobbly cyclist on one of the boardwalks. Boo to you, cyclist, I say!

I knew my initial pace was decent and kept pushing to maintain a good pace. The only bit of discomfort was a little soreness around my right ankle, which I believe is a remnant from running on the rail ties. It was slight and didn’t slow me down.

By the end I came in with a best-for-over-10K average of 4:35/km and a bunch of new personal records:

  • Fastest 1K: 4:19
  • Fastest 5K: 22:29
  • Fastest 10K: 45:44
  • Fastest mile: 7:01

While I wish the total round trip time for the run had been shorter I am very pleased with the performance on the run itself. I am not keen on running three days in a row so my next run will likely be on Tuesday.

Chart (records are in pink)

Date Average Pace
September 9 4:35 (11K)
September 8 4:33 (5K)
September 5 4:40 (5K)
September 3 4:39 (11K)
September 1 4:43 (17K)

The Inception run

Average pace: 4:33/km

Location: Brunette river trail, Lower Hume Park
Distance: 5.32 km
Weather: Sun, high cloud
Temp: 20-22ºC
Wind: light to nil
Calories burned: 361
Total distance to date: 1817 km

This morning’s run sucked.

After having a convenient detour pointed out to me by Jeff, I headed out at 9 a.m. It was already 20º C so I knew an afternoon run would have been all kinds of Africa hot, possibly for the last time this summer. My plan was to run Brunette river trail to the fenced-off bridge, take the trail up to the train tracks then cross over all three sets to the other side, where a (unknown to me) trail continues on, following a road that loops back to Cariboo Road. This would add some distance to my run but would otherwise be no big thing. Best of all: no running on railroad ties.

The first sign of trouble was a construction guy standing at the entrance to the river trail. I asked him if I’d be able to get to the bridge. He said a flatbed truck with trailer would be arriving shortly and backing down the trail (!) but other than that I was good to go to the bridge.

It turned out I misunderstood him. He was explaining that the overpass that is part of the Highway 1 expansion would be as far as I could get and it is some ways before the bridge. Indeed, as I approached it I could see the mega-crane truck positioned squarely across the trail and further fencing insuring there would be no passage. My detour route was blocked by another detour.

There is an access road that leads north off the trail a few hundred meters back from the overpass so I ran back and climbed up it. The rail tracks were here but to their left was a nice flat area suitable for running. Some construction equipment was off to the side. I could see the overpass in the distance and as I got closer it became obvious that the construction around and on it would block any attempts to get through. It makes sense that they wouldn’t want Joe Pedestrian waltzing (or jogging) through, so I turned back and simply headed off the trail, passing the flatbed truck and construction guy on the way out. The slow speed of the truck at least saved me from another mega dust cloud.

I stopped the run at Lower Hume Park, covering 5.32 km. My pace was a zippy 4:33/km but a 5K run seems kind of short these days so I didn’t really revel in it. The pool at the main Hume Park was already drained, which looked odd on a day when it would have been packed, another reminder that summer is winding down.

My new new detour plan that I’m going to try out tomorrow morning is to take the SkyTrain to either Production Way or Sperling, walk to the lake, run the loop then head back to the SkyTrain station. I’ll be timing the route to see how well it will work with the fading light of early evening. Now I just have to hope they don’t suddenly decide to take the entire SkyTrain offline tomorrow for maintenance or something.

Chart

Date Average Pace
September 8 4:33 (5K)
September 5 4:40 (5K)
September 3 4:39 (11K)
September 1 4:43 (17K)

The decidely average end of the month run

Average pace: 4:57/km

Location: Burnaby Lake, CCW
Distance: 11.57 km
Weather: Cloudy, some sun
Temp: 22ºC
Wind: light to moderate
Calories burned: 820
Total distance to date: 1636 km

Three things conspired against me on today’s run to bring my time down to a respectable but unspectacular average pace of 4:57/km:

  1. I’m pretty sure I started too fast and burned a lot of my energy in the first half of the run, which moved along nicely.
  2. Yesterday’s hike, though only a few hours, was still a decent workout for the legs with lots of tricky climbing and that brought down my energy level.
  3. I got a cramp/ache in my gut around the 6 km mark and it persisted for several km after that. This shows up as a noticeable drop in my pace sooner than that usually happens.

Overall the run was decent enough and while it was warm, most of the run was under cloudy conditions so it was not overly so.

The branches were still on the trail so it seems park workers have not been out since Friday. Someone had shoved them over enough to clear a small strip of trail to bypass them. Nothing else notable was seen on the run. The knee seems fine now and my shins are good, too. The calves were a bit sore after, a byproduct of putting them to the test on the hike but the soreness did not persist.

I had hoped for a better performance after Friday’s zippy run but I suppose it wasn’t a bad effort, everything considered. I wrapped up my July runs with only two above the five minute pace and both were deliberate after the knee incident. More in my July runs update, coming soon™.

Chart

Date Average Pace
July 30 4:57
July 27 4:47
July 25 5:04
July 23 5:07
July 18 4:55
July 16 4:55
July 13 4:59
July 11 4:55
July 9 4:54
July 6 4:58
July 4 4:54
July 2 4:47