The very slow possibly tired very bad run

Run 363
Average pace: 5:38/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Ran Spruce and Conifer Loops and Piper Mill Trail
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 28:19
Weather: Partly sunny
Temp: 18-22ºC
Wind: moderate with occasional gusts
Calories burned: 366
Total distance to date: 3024
Device used: iPhone 5c

For today’s run I wore my Brooks Cascadia 9’s since they would offer a little more support in case my left foot started crying early. It did start wailing but was nice enough to wait until after the run.

Way back three days ago I said this:

The bad parts resulted in a sluggish pace of 5:15/km, a big drop from last week’s under-5 minute triumph. Improving on this during the weekend shouldn’t be too challenging but you never know.

As it turns out, not only did I not meet this supposedly not-too-challenging challenge, I didn’t even meet it in the first km of today’s run when my pace was already a lolwut pace of 5:20/km.

The one bright spot came at the 4K mark when my pace improved by 9% to 5:21/km. This occurred on the Cottonwood Trail, a stretch that is straight for the better part of a km. That may not seem like an improvement but my pace for the third km was 5:54/km. I undid the improvement by wrapping up with a “please let it end” pace of 5:41/km.

So why was today’s run so terrible? I didn’t experience any cramps but I think I ate and drank too much before heading out and the threat of cramps probably acted as an inhibitor. But I was slow right from the start. I wasn’t feeling especially tired, though my previous night’s sleep was a bit restless. It was as if the totality of the week just left me without gas.

Strangely, this horrible turn has me eager to go on Tuesday. I’ll be back on the river trail and racing against the setting sun and probably getting soaked to the butt if the forecast is accurate, but I’m anxious to get back on track while I still have some time to run after work before the winter dark descends.

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