View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: Even cooler, but sunny and calm.
I talked myself out of doing a short loop at the lake and doing a full loop instead, though still only 5K for the running part.
It was the chilliest run of fall yet, starting at 6°C and rising only one degree by the end. I wore two layers, but swapped out my regular t-shirt for a long-sleeved one. In the end I think I was a bit overdressed–not for the walk to the lake, but for the actual run and then the walk back. Noted for next time. The humidity was high and didn’t budge during the run, which may have also factored in.
Bonus: you don’t have to wait for the water in the fountain to get cold. The fountains are still working.
At the end of the first km, I felt comfy, but my Performance Condition was a mere -1. Also, my pace was 6:05/km. I was running in grandpa mode–and continued to do so for the next two km. Technically it may have been the next three because the watch reported the 4th km as 5:59/km but the post-report rounded it up to 6:00/km. I did some math, which is probably dangerous for me when running, and figured if I put on the gas for the final km, I might manage to still get an overall pace under six minutes–and I did!
I came in at 5:38/km for the last lap, which gave me an overall average of 5:58/km.
I didn’t have any issues at all during the run, so I can’t explain the slow start, other than it was cold and maybe it just took me some time to literally warm up. The run was fine otherwise.
For some reason, nearly every dog owner had their dog (or multiple dogs) off-leash today, which is unusual for Burnaby Lake. Boo to them, I say. The owners, not the dogs, who were relatively well-behaved.
Also, post-run I saw two Douglass squirrels chirping at each, and saw some Steller’s Jays and a nuthatch bouncing about grabbing seed. In all, a good start to the week.
Chirping squirrel #1Chirping squirrel #2
Stats:
Run 1,082 Average pace: 5:58/km Training status: Maintaining Performance Condition: -1 Location: Burnaby Lake (CW) Start: 9:55 a.m. Distance: 5.03 km Time: 30:02 Weather: Mostly sunny Temp: 6–7°C Humidity: 88% Wind: low BPM: 147 Weight: 171.4 pounds Total distance to date: 7,210 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Scarpa Golden Gate ATR 2 (190/387/577)
Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) Weather: Sunny, 11–14°C
A spooky Halloween day of birding! Except it wasn’t spooky, it was sunny and pleasant.
Reifel Bird Sanctuary
Ducks in a pond.
We started at Reifel, where the entrance pond had some Mallards and two small groups of Northern Shovellers doing that weird spiral thing they do, following each other in a tight circle to stir up the muck and enjoy the mucky spoils.
The various ponds were a bounty of colours, ranging from green to very green, brown, kind of yellow and in a few cases, blue! None of the waterfowl seemed to mind, even the very green water.
In the very green water of the London Slough, we noticed a duck with odd black and white colouring. A volunteer suggested it might be a hybrid consisting of part Swedish Blue, a domestic duck, and part Mallard, because Mallards will mate with anything. How it arrived at Reifel is unknown, perhaps a secret portal.
After getting shots of the interloper, we headed up the first trail and a family ahead of us had bird seed, which brought out approximately five million chickadees, plus two Red-breasted Nuthatches. The chickadees were darting past so close we could feel them whipping by. I had met my chickadee quota in the first ten minutes.
In one of the inner ponds, we saw our first Ring-necked Ducks of the season, woo. We still have yet to see any Scaups or Buffleheads, though.
I had a Canada Goose hiss hello at me. I assume they hiss to say hello. It didn’t do anything else. Speaking of geese, we saw flocks of Canada geese flying in formation multiple times–some of them migrating through rather than staying put year-round as most here do. We also saw flocks of Cackling geese and finally, a cacophony of honking informed us that the Snow geese had arrived, landing in their usual spot west of the sanctuary. So many geese, so much pooping potential. We never saw any up close, but that is normal for Reifel.
Along the same Outer Dyke Trail where we saw the Snow geese we also saw a number of herons, both in the marshland and flying overhead. One flew fairly low just over us and let out one of its loud croaks as it passed over. Legit, the only time a bird at Reifel has actually startled me. And especially Nic.
We also saw a solitary Greater Yellowlegs in one of the ponds not far from the viewing platform and lo, it caught a fish! But not just any fish, a stickleback. They are small, but have spiny fins, which make them a bit of a project to consume whole. The Yellowlegs worked on one for a fair bit, but finally got its prickly meal down. This is why I prefer ordering out.
I was a little disappointed with my shots, but I got some good ones here, too.
Tlahutum Regional Park
A serene Coquitlam River.
The community garden did not yield many birds overall, so we made do with a whole lotta crows.
The clear sky yielded some nice scenery shots and we saw a decent variety of birds in the Big Pond™, including a heron doing an excellent statue impression. Also, some kid on a bike with fat wheels rode past us like a million times.
There really wasn’t much else to see here this time, not even a rogue vole. But perhaps next time!
Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake
Looking east from the pier, with clouds refusing to cross a line.
Yes, people were feeding the birds. The blackbirds were appreciative, as always.
The water level of the lake was up, which meant the landmass was smaller and the shorebirds moved over to the west side of the pier, against the light and farther away, not making for the best shots. Boo.
Instead, we got seagulls grabbing golf balls on the other side, along with a variety of coots pulling up green slimy stuff they love scarfing down, and a lot of Mallards. As previously noted, Mallards will mate with anything, but especially like mating with other Mallards. There were also geese, Wood Ducks and a few others around, but not in great numbers. And still no new migrants here, either.
I wonder if the (reduced) feeding will change their habits over time and ultimately cause many to abandon Piper Spit for other areas of the lake. I guess we’ll see.
In all, the weather was faboo, and I did get a few nice shots, even if my miss (and in many cases, literally a shot with no bird in it) ratio was a lot higher than normal.
The Shots
All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto. Some landscape shots captured with a Samsung Galaxy S26.
Last night at 2 a.m. a lot of clocks turned back one hour, going from Daylight Saving Time back to Standard Time. But here in BC, the outgoing NDP government changed that back in March, stating that as of this November–which begins today–the province would switch to permanent DST, or what we would call simply, Pacific Time.
This gave an eight month heads-up to various applications, hardware, and other devices to adopt the change so there would be no shenanigans come November 1st.
But there are shenanigans.
From my own experience:
My Garmin Forerunner 265 got it right, but still shows the sun rising and setting for Standard Time.
My old Echo Show 5 got it right.
My partner’s identical old Echo 5 rolled back an hour for some reason.
Our microwave and countertop convection oven got it right because they are not connected to the internet, so the lack of change suited them just fine.
Windows 11 happily rolled the time back an hour. I was wondering if Microsoft might have done some update for this, but I guess they have other priorities, like throwing money into the AI furnace.
I haven’t tried either Linux install I have running right now (Mint and CachyOS and yes, I know, I really ought to pick one and stick to it and maybe one day I will. Further posts on this to come).
So, a mixed bag, but better than expected, because I would not have been surprised if every clock, digital or otherwise, had rolled back an hour, thinking nothing had changed.
EDIT, the next day: This is why gauging weight loss on a month per month basis can be tricky. If October had been just one day longer, I would have only been up 0.3 pounds for the month (a rounding error) because I dropped 1.2 pounds overnight (not a rounding error). The overall trend for the year is still minimal weight loss/gain.
It’s not as bad as it looks!
Body fat is down, muscle mass is up, and BMI is only up marginally.
Still, I did go up and I did not eat nearly as well as I should have this past month. It’s been hard, really. I know I can do it, but food is one of the few go-to comforts I have. If only I had an insatiable appetite for celery sticks or something.
But as always, I strive to do better.
Stats:
January 1, 2026: 169.4 pounds
Current: 172.6 pounds Year to date: Up 3.2 pounds
October 1: 171.1 pounds October 31: 172.6 pounds (up 1.5 pounds)
Body fat: October 1: 26.1% October 31: 25.8% (down 0.3%)
Skeletal muscle mass: October 1: 30.0 kg October 31: 30.2 kg (up 0.2 kg)
View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: Blue sky to start, gray sky to end.
Conditions today were a bit warmer and less humid than Wednesday. The net effect was not much difference–the real change was post-run when it started to shower and got a bit chilly. The run started out sunny and got increasingly cloudy, but remained nice ‘n dry.
I started out at the dam today, in order to reduce the overall length of the walk back home. The only downside: fewer photos of Still Creek after the run. Worth the trade.
Starting out, I felt a bit sluggish but my pace was actually 5:51/km, and my performance condition was +4, both pretty good! However, I still dipped to 5:58/km for the second lap. Undeterred, but with a pleading bladder, I hit the 2K mark then diverted to the closed-for-the-season Nature House and its washrooms, because the Jiffy John® by my usual starting spot was being serviced. I stopped long enough to hydrate (a drink from the fountain) and, uh, dehydrate (by using the loo). This allowed my heart rate to drop to 116 or so, which somehow allowed me to get a pace of 5:39/km for lap 3. Yowza,
I finished with 5:46/5:44 for the 4th and 5th lap, and an overall pace of 5:48/km, with a BPM of 148. This is my best pace, post-surgery, so yay for that.
October is also the first month where my average pace dropped below 6:00 minutes, to 5:54.
My left knee felt a little hinky for a few minutes, like everything wasn’t quite locked in, but it sorted itself out. I’ll probably have the knee looked at eventually. The knee did not slow me down, obviously, and near the 4K mark I spotted a runner ahead of me. For a few moments I couldn’t tell if they were approaching or moving away, then they started getting closer–but it was because I was catching up, ho ho! I wondered if I might eventually pass then before finishing the run and very nearly did–but the guy stopped his run and started walking back toward me just moments before I would have passed. He looked like he was about 40 years younger. We gave each other a little jogger’s nod as we passed, me running and him walking.
The trail was relatively quiet, otherwise.
And it was a nice way to end the week.
Looking up the trail near the dam, pre-run.
Stats:
Run 1,081 Average pace: 5:48/km Training status: Maintaining Performance Condition: +4 Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 11:17 a.m. Distance: 5.03 km Time: 29:09 Weather: Cloudy, some sun Temp: 9–11°C Humidity: 79–72% Wind: low BPM: 148 Weight: 172.5 pounds Total distance to date: 7,205 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Scarpa Golden Gate ATR 2 (185/374/559)
I opted for a short loop at the lake today, figuring I’d start the week (I missed Monday’s run due to flu-like side effects from my vaccinations the day before) with less walking.
I ended coming in slightly faster than Friday’s run, with a slightly higher BPM of 149 (but only peaking at 153) and didn’t experience any issues.
Unlike Friday’s run, there were few others on the trail and most of the people I saw were fellow joggers. It was my first single digit temperature run of the fall, peaking at a mere 8°C. I still almost felt overdressed in two (light) layers because it was extremely humid. But generally,conditions were fine. It didn’t feel cold at all, really, likely because there was no breeze.
I had to dodge a few puddles because of earlier showers, but it remained cloudy only for the run. It showered a bit on the walk home, but by the time I entered the complex the sun was poking out. Typical mid-fall weather changing its mind every few minutes.
The river seemed unusually busy and while it’s unrelated to the run, I couldn’t help notice the Mallards, Hooded Mergansers, Great Blue Herons and some very old salmon all swimming or stalking about.
In all, a decent midweek effort.
Brunette River, post-run.
Stats:
Run 1,080 Average pace: 5:53/km Training status: Maintaining Performance Condition: 0 Location: Burnaby Lake (CW, short loop) Start: 10:38 a.m. Distance: 5.03 km Time: 29:36 Weather: Cloudy Temp: 7–8°C Humidity: 94–90% Wind: low BPM: 149 Weight: 171.5 pounds Total distance to date: 7,200 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Scarpa Golden Gate ATR 2 (180/361/541)
View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: Sunny, calm, and cool.
I missed Wednesday’s run due to assorted shenanigans, but did a full loop around the lake today. By coincidence, conditions were nearly identical to Monday, with cool temperatures, plenty of sun and no wind.
After finishing the first km at a pace of exactly 6:00/km, my Performance Condition (PC) rating came up and was +6, which is quite high. I think my watch was happy I was running slower, because I always run faster than it wants. I also discovered that the PC gets tracked throughout the run, so you can check it out after:
From +6 to -1 in 30 minutes (-1 is still considered baseline).
Unsurprisingly, as you run, the PC declines. The last bit shown above is -1, which is still considered baseline. At that point I was also running faster (5th km pace was 5:47), so it makes sense. I dug into the stats a little more and found my best pace during the run was 4:46/km, which is a speed I probably last hit consistently over a decade ago. I suspect this happened when going down the hill after the Cottonwood Trail. I get going fast enough to usually apply the brakes a little. But it’s nice I can still hit those speeds, even if only for a few moments.
This run, the right foot behaved, but the left foot felt a bit off to start. It eventually sorted itself out and I’m pretty sure the issue was caused by poor posture when sitting in the chair I’m typing at right now! I will monitor my posture (and feet) moving forward.
As for the people: I headed out an hour late, which may have been why the number of people was higher, but the sheer volume took me by surprise. The trail, at multiple points, was fairly clogged, with at least one school group and several other large groups strolling about, appreciating the sunny fall weather. No incidents, but there was some dexterous moves involved in navigating around. And at the end there was also a horse. But it was a very nice horse. And it was hung like itself. I couldn’t help but look. It was hard not to look (no pun intended).
Anyway, it was a fine end to the week.
The lake, post-run, looking more lake-like with the lily pads in retreat.
Stats:
Run 1,079 Average pace: 5:54/km Training status: Maintaining Performance Condition: +6 (!) Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 10:57 a.m. Distance: 5.03 km Time: 29:41 Weather: Sunny Temp: 11–12°C Humidity: 74–72% Wind: low BPM: 147 Weight: 172.7 pounds Total distance to date: 7,195 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Scarpa Golden Gate ATR 2 (175/353/528)
