he’s got (wet) legs

Run 567
Average pace: 5:51/km

Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 11:40 am
Distance: 10.05 km
Time: 58:51
Weather: Rain
Temp: 5ºC
Humidity: 91%
Wind: light
BPM: 168
Weight: 163.4 pounds
Total distance to date: 4415 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone 8

I was bad and did not run during the week, so this was my first run since last weekend’s 10K. The good news is I’m still in decent enough shape to continue running 10Ks.

I dressed today expecting rain: two layers on top, nipples secured and shorts instead of running pants as the temperature was hovering around 5-6ºC.

Surprisingly, the walk to the lake was dry, though the sky looked somewhat ominous (the forecast called for winds up to 70+ km/h in the afternoon as a storm over Vancouver Island made its way east, but I was confident I’d be finished my run before it hit).

Also surprisingly I didn’t have to immediately relieve myself upon arrival at the lake. I set my music, started off…and the first few drops of rain began to fall. I pressed on, unconcerned. Within a few km it was a downpour and remained as such for the rest of the run. It was fine, really, though running in the rain is not my favorite thing.

The only issue was the condition of the trail. I’d noted on the river trail that the river was perhaps the highest I’ve ever seen it. It looked almost menacing. At the lake the trail had a lot of water on it. In the areas resurfaced over the past few years it wasn’t too bad but elsewhere there were plenty of trails-spanning puddles and mini-lakes. It felt more like a technical run, often having to carefully choose the rout forward. Or maybe it was more like a jumping puzzle in a video game. It kind of sucked in the same way that most of those do, too.

My pace still ended up slightly faster than last weekend, 5:51/km vs. 5:53/km and the iPhone 8 still seems to be messing up distance, though this week it was maybe a touch better. Still not sure what’s up with that. My BPM was also up (possibly due to the effort needed to maintain pace while navigating the puddles) but still below the 170 threshold at 168.

My knee didn’t bother me, possibly because my legs were sort of red and numb by about the mid-point of the run. The knee still didn’t hurt after I got home and thawed, so it seems the lack of running and walking in general may have given it some time to heal. Oddly, it got a bit creaky when I was slumping in a chair at home, but I shouldn’t have been doing that, so I consider the knee just acting as an EWS.

Overall, I am content with how the run went. Conditions were not nice, but I pressed on and got through without any problems.

Run 555
Average pace: 5:40/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 12:06 pm
Distance: 10.03 km
Time: 56:53
Weather: Showers
Temp: 5ºC
Humidity: 93%
Wind: light
BPM: 169
Weight: 160 pounds
Total distance to date: 4320 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone

It was another day of The Rains and my dedication to fitness was put to the test when I opened the front door of the condo and was greeted by a downpour.

Given that it was only 5ºC I wore two layers up top (a long-sleeve t-shirt and short sleeve) and that worked well. I wore shorts and my (sexy) legs were also fine. My upper body was a bit cool heading back after the run but that was due more to the sweat cooling and turning clammy, combined with a breeze that was picking up. And the fact that the rain never actually stopped.

So it was a soggy run and the trail at the lake was in full Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde form, the good doctor being the parts that have been resurfaced over the last few years (generally fine) vs. the other parts still untouched, which includes all three side trails and the Cottonwood trail. These combine to form close to half my route and they were filled with trail-spanning puddles that forced me to skirt along the edges.

On the plus side, the recent work at the sports field is mostly working, with no flooding there and only a thin layer of run-off pouring in from the edge of field at the point where the trail bends 90 degrees to the west. A little shoring up there would fix that. The sports fields themselves appeared to be a swampy mess, though the poopmonsters seemed fine with that.

Given the weather there were few people out–a few dedicated dog walkers, a couple of the “I love walking in the rain!” types and some fellow joggers, all of whom were dressed much more conservatively than me. One of those was wearing a jaunty blue jacket that served as a kind of beacon. I spied him ahead of me about two km in and by the 5K mark he had what appeared to be an insurmountable lead. That was fine, I was in steady-as-she-goes mode, seeking only to go through at a comfortable pace. Somewhere around the 7K mark he either stopped briefly or slowed because the gap began to close. I could see I was gaining ground and entertained the possibility and eventually the necessity of passing him.

As with a car passing another on the road, to pass a fellow runner you must accelerate and then remain at the accelerated pace until you have sufficient space between you and the other runner. When I look at the splits for the run this acceleration doesn’t seem to really be apparent, which may explain why I caught up to begin with–he was slowing and I wasn’t. The little bit of gas was probably responsible for my slightly-improved pace of 5:40/km vs. 5:42/km the previous week. One downside was my BPM was back up, but I believe this was due to the pace difference and mire importantly, the much lower temperature. It doesn’t feel like I’m working hard, but my body clearly is.

Also, the nipple guards (band-aids) got their first real test today and actually worked amazingly well. The nipples (why is nipples such a funny word?) experienced no chafing and even more, did not get cold at all, which never happens during a rainy run. It was a surprising delight when I got home. And who doesn’t like being delighted by their nipples?

The unofficial achievement was marking the first time in several years that I have run at least once every month. This year the first two months of runs were done on a treadmill due to The Snows, but I nonetheless got the runs in. Today’s run officially caps out a full 12 months of running. Yay.

Overall, another decent effort. I look forward to perhaps staying dry, hopefully, next time.

Run 551
Average pace: 5:26/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 11:14 pm
Distance: 10.04 km
Time: 54:36
Weather: Cloudy, light showers
Temp: 9-10ºC
Humidity: 78%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 174
Weight: 156.9 pounds
Total distance to date: 4285 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone

There was a threat of rain in the forecast today but at least the temperature was back to seasonal, hovering around 10ºC. I wore a long-sleeved t-shirt and shorts and was fine for the run.

The rain held off for about the first half but light showers persisted through the second half. Fortunately they were genuinely light, so I never felt I was getting drenched. The showers turned heavier for the walk home, which had two consequences I will get to shortly.

I was a tad concerned about the run because I missed both of my usual weekday runs but in the end my pace was the same–5:26/km–and the overall length of the run was nearly identical, with today’s being three seconds faster–again, that’s over a stretch of 10.04 km–than last Saturday’s. A little weird.

BPM is still higher than I’d like at 174, possibly a combination of being off form and the cooler temperatures. Or something.

Generally I felt fine, though the upper left leg started stiffening up in the last few km. It felt fine after.

There were more people out than expected (looked like something was happening at the rowing pavilion. Rowing, perhaps.) and this led to several traffic jams where I had to actually jog in place before I could get through.

I also had two near-collisions with other runners, which is pretty rare. The first came when I make a sharp left coming off the narrow feeder trail near the sports fields. A runner came up on my blind side and was dressed darkly. I scooted around him and all was well. The second runner was being naughty by cutting a corner, putting him in my direct path. He dodged out of the way on that one.

The trail was actually in good shape, the park workers having removed the five billion leaves that had been piled up all over.

On the walk home the rain picked up and this had a couple of undesirable side effects. The first was the return of the chafing on my ever-so-sensitive nipples. While they didn’t gush blood they got as close as possible and are still feeling unhappy now. Stupid nipples. If rain looks possible next time I will dutifully wear my nipple guards. As soon as I invent them.

The other consequence was tracking the 4 km walk home. I actually thought about locking the face of my Apple Watch, as it tends to get squirrelly and do its own thing when it gets wet. Sure enough, after 2.87 km (when I was walking along North Road) it managed to shut the walk activity off and change my default watch face. It then restarted the walk somehow for about five more minutes, stopping for good midway through Hume Park, so it got most of the walk recorded. Next time I’ll lock.

Overall, the pace of the run was better than expected, though the various complications were annoying. I give it three out of five chintzy jogging trophies.

Run 549
Average pace: 5:23/km
Location: Langara Trail
Start: 12:32 pm
Distance: 2.62 km
Time: 14:10
Weather: Heavy rain
Temp: 5ºC
Humidity: 96%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 160
Weight: 158.4 pounds
Total distance to date: 4265 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone

With a cold front and rain in the forecast I was a bit wary about today’s run. Indeed, by the time noon rolled around it was raining heavily and the temperature had gone from 8ºC down to 5ºC. This was my first big test running around the golf course–would I let bad weather scare me off?

The answer is both yes and no.

No, in that I did indeed go out and run.

Yes, in that I only ran one loop, about 2.62 km, before abandoning the run. Why did I do that?

I am used to running in the rain. I am used to running in the cold. I am used to running around puddles and occasionally through them.

What I am not used to is doing all of these things with each condition turned up to a ridiculous degree.

It was raining so hard at times that it felt like hail. The low temperature felt even cooler because of the heavy rain assault. Adding to this was the extremely poor condition of the trail. On the east and west sides it slopes, so during rainfall you get run-off streaming down the trail. (more on the steeper west side). The volume of rain water was so heavy, though, that the bulk of the west side of the trail, spanning a length of about eight blocks, was more akin to a shallow river than a trail. At points it was so wide it was unavoidable. Puddles of water were pooling so wide and deep that they were merging together to form virtual ponds along long stretches of the trail, with no room to bypass them.

For a few moments it was almost fun to just surrender and start dashing straight through these monster puddles. But after nearly 15 minutes of the relentless storm assault I was drenched, cold and in no mood to continue.

I was actually boggled at how poorly the trail handled the rain. It’s simply not fit for use when precipitation turns heavy. I imagine all the patch work done on the gully carved down the center by previous rainfalls has been washed away.

Anyway, it sucked. It was the coldest and wettest run I’ve done since…I can’t even remember. Bleah.

I’m actually halfway considering getting some road runners (beep beep) and planning an alternate route on the sidewalks for days like these. Maybe, maybe.

Run 545
Average pace: 5:27/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:38 am
Distance: 10.04 km
Time: 54:44
Weather: Rain, rain showers
Temp: 7ºC
Humidity: 94%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 163
Weight: 156.3 pounds
Total distance to date: 4242 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone

It only got up to a chilly 7ºC on today’s run (the normal high for today is 14ºC) but I actually only felt a bit cold when walking back after the run, when my body cooled off and suddenly it really felt like 7ºC. I wore my long-sleeved t-shirt and do not regret doing so.

Today was one of those tricky days, motivation-wise. I’d miss running during the week for various reasons, so I knew I’d be off my form (I once read that more than three days off will see some deterioration in form, however minor), plus it was raining steadily even before I headed out.

But head out I did, confident, at least, that there wouldn’t be too many people out on the trail on such a dreary, cold day. There were still more than expected–but most were runners, with a few scattered dog walkers and a couple of those “I love walks in the rain” types. And no cyclists, so that was nice.

I felt fine throughout the run, with the left leg holding up well, with only an echo if the stiffness I’d experienced recently. I wasn’t exactly a blur of speed to start but by around the 4K mark I began to pick up the pace and the last few km, when the rain started to at least ease up a little (but not entirely stop) I significantly improved on things. Maybe I was just eager to get home and get dry.

The trail was a mess of puddles so I was constantly running along the edges and switching from one side to another. At the sports field the usual floody spot was flooded. I tried skirting it on the left but the narrow lumpy, grass-covered hump you have to traverse looked a bit more questionable than usual, so I backed out and went around. The field, of course, was completely saturated, so my feet got thoroughly soaked, no different than going straight through the puddle, really, just less splashing.

The resurfaced part of this stretch is holding up so far. Water pooling up at the edge of the field is not yet high enough to start lapping over onto the trail. Right around the corner, the last part that borders the fields, there is a large swath that has flooded, with water carving through the fresh gravel, forming a semi-hazardous uneven surface. A strip along the left was still bare, so I was able to get by without taking another plunge.

There were new signs all over the place but not telling people to GET OUT. Instead, these were warning that from October 2017 to February 2018 a project to replace the bridge at Still Creek would be underway. It’s the largest bridge on the trail and there is no detour route that can be used, so it would seem that running a full loop would not be an option for some time–except the sign says that the period of no access should only be three weeks. I’m curious to see if the new bridge closely matches the current one.

The bridge at Deer Lake Brook still seems more rickety and in need of replacement, but I’m not a bridgeologist, so what do I know? It actually felt a little more stable today, possibly because I ran over it slower, to avoid slipping.

Overall, a perfectly decent run in less than decent weather. I don’t miss the heat, but I can’t say I’m overly fond of running in the rain, either.

Run 472
Average pace: 5:28/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Distance: 5:04 km
Time: 27:34
Weather: Light rain
Temp: 10ºC
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 173
Stride: n/a
Weight: 158.4 pounds
Total distance to date: 3750 km
Devices/apps: Apple Watch and iPhone 6

Apparently the appropriate headgear for rain is a baseball cap based on what I saw on today’s run. A few people had hoods but most were relying on droopy, soggy ball caps to keep their heads…um…wet.

I headed out in the early afternoon, waiting for the rain to stop and finally realized that wasn’t going to happen. Ironically when I headed out, it did stop (until I got to the lake).

Given the erratic behavior of the watch in the rain, I chose to lock it this time after starting the run and it worked. Hooray.

Save for a few seconds and a strangely higher BPM (I’m wondering how accurate it is or how out of shape I am), the run was nearly identical to last Sunday, with an overall pace of 5:28/km and the same pattern as last week–faster first km, a retreat in the second, then faster from there up until the end. I avoided running along the athletic fields because the trail was muddy and filled with puddles a-plenty, meaning the area around the field would have been a complete swamp.

I saw a few other runners but most of the others out were the ball cap-wearing people, soaking up the rain. One guy headed out with his dog just before I started and a) had his dog off-leash b) had one of those ball sticks used to throw balls for dogs to chase (which he did) and c) was often seen jogging to catch up to his dog, which was always running ahead of him.

Idiot (the guy, not the dog).

The trail was sparsely populated overall, though, which was nice, and my dexterous ducking of puddles kept me from getting completely mud-splattered. But not entirely (this is post-run, when I was sitting on the SkyTrain, not sitting on the toilet):

Amazingly there was almost no color bleeding from the shoes. I guess it’s all leeched out by now, so that’s good. Or at least better than before.

This week I may start running during lunch or on a treadmill after work. Somewhere I’ll be running, anyway. In theory.

Run 463
Average pace: 5:18/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Distance: 5:04 km
Time: 26:46
Weather: Rain showers
Temp: 14ºC
Wind: light to nil
BPM: 164
Stride: n/a
Weight: 155.7 pounds
Total distance to date: 3695 km
Devices/apps: Apple Watch and iPhone 6

Concerned (obsessed?) that I wouldn’t hit my step/activity goals on this soggy day (I am leaving soon to see a movie with a friend, which involves a lot of sitting, as you might imagine) I pondered what to do? Go for a walk? In a downpour? Not likely.

Go for a run? In a downpour?

I waited till noon and the torrential rain eased up to light showers, I donned my running clothes and headed out for a wacky, unplanned 5K. The temperature was a full ten degrees cooler than Thursday evening–14ºC–but would be fine for a run.

Literally as I moved out from under cover of the building entrance the light rain mist turned back into a downpour. I thought about going back in and waiting more but in the span of a few moments I was already soaked, so I just kept heading out.

The start of the run was a comedy of errors as my wet fingertip formed a perfect barrier against the face of my Apple watch, causing erratic or non-responsive behavior. I used Siri where I could, then dried my finger as best as I was able (it’s trickier than it sounds when you’re in the rain and already drenched) and finally began my run.

Apparently my body reacted to the rain with some form of shock because the first two km were very slow, both coming in at 5:35/km. The last three were much faster (coincidentally it stopped raining by the end) and my overall pace ended at 5:18/km, only slightly slower than Thursday.

I can’t blame others for impeding my progress in the first few km. As the title of the post alludes to, I did not see a single person on the run, the first time that has happened in quite a long time. People really don’t want to spend an early weekend afternoon slopping about in the rain by the river.

Speaking of slopping, my newer Hoka Speedgoats produced this effect on my socks:

As for the run, I felt fine, though the first few km did feel like I was putting in more effort, perhaps because I just wasn’t mentally prepared for doing something as zany as a spontaneous run in the rain. The run ended in another comedy of errors, with the watch only tracking the first 36 seconds of my walk back before abruptly shutting off tracking without warning. My only thought is somehow the sleeve of my shirt somehow triggered it or it’s not as water-resistant as Apple claims. Not terribly impressed, either way.

The Series 2 Apple Watch, which came out yesterday, happens to be fully waterproof. Hmm.