View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: Warm and dry. The air, that is.
Or something like that.
First, I’ve decided to add the Performance Condition stat to each run, because I love stats. Garmin explains it here:
For a real-time assessment of your current ability to perform, look at your performance condition. During the first 6 to 20 minutes of your run, this metric analyzes pace, heart rate and HRV. The resulting number is a real-time assessment of the deviation from your baseline VO2 max, with each point on the scale representing about 1% of your VO2 max. The higher the number, the higher you can expect to perform.
Today, mine was +1, which is a bit better than neutral, but considering conditions, pretty good!
Speaking of conditions, I got a late morning start, and it was already 25C at the start of the run and 26 by the end, with humidity down to around 40%, which is definitely dry mouth territory. I hydrated at the fountain before the run, but even for 2.5 km, it might have been nice to have a water bottle or something with me.
The heat also made me alter my planned short loop. Originally I was going to take the side loops, then come back on the main trail before diverting back onto the Spruce Loop to finish. Instead, I simply reversed course and went back on the side loops, because they are mostly under the shade of second growth forest, where the main trail is a lot more exposed. This was a good call.
I experienced one issue–some cramping in my chest (not the surgery side) around the 1 km mark. I believe this is because, strangely, I was actually pushing a bit. I eased up a little, and it was fine after that. While I did flag a bit in the second km, I made up for it and finished with an average pace eight seconds faster than Monday, despite the higher temperature, at 6:18/km. Still overreaching, but I think it’s going to keep saying that until I’m in better shape.
Overall, better than expected, given conditions. I am pleased. Friday is looking to be cooler, which will be nice.
View just west of the dam, post-run.
Stats:
Run 1,045 Average pace: 6:18/km Training status: Overreaching Performance Condition: +1 Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW, short loop) Start: 11:20 a.m. Distance: 2.51 km Time: 15:48 Weather: Sunny Temp: 25–26°C Humidity: 40–39% Wind: light BPM: 152 Weight: 170.4 pounds Total distance to date: 7,035 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Scarpa Golden Gate ATR 2 (15/33/48)
As he noted, it’s kind of like those Garfield Minus Garfield comics, where Jon ends up looking crazy. Except in this case, it makes the comic funnier. Or at least weirder.
Where: Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam) Weather: Mostly cloudy, 21°C
I guess my Forerunner 265 wasn’t lying when it said take a rest day, because I was so pooped in the morning that I skipped Reifel and Boundary Bay. Nic swung by after, and we spent some quality time in the community garden at Tlahutum.
Tlahutum Regional Park
For the first part of the outing, we hit the trails, and it was mostly Song Sparrows and the occasional crow, but we did see a young, scowly Great Blue Heron sitting atop one of the bird boxes near the big pond. The big pond itself was looking a bit green, and seemed to be bird-free. On the way back, we spotted a small group of what were probably young Rough-winged Swallows hanging out in a few trees south of the trail, their extra-big mouths still not quite assuming adult form. One adult, and likely a parent, was sitting among them.
Weirdly, we saw a couple of Barn Swallows just standing on the trail. Maybe they do it sometimes just to see what it feels like.
After tantalizing glimpses of a Common Yellowthroat in the tall grass (Nic saw it and got some OK photos, I did not see it at all), we moved onto the community garden and zigzagged through it. The plots here are in full bloom, with flowers and veggies in abundance, meaning pollinators were also around.
But not just pollinators. There were quite a few birds buzzing about, many of them young and scruffy-looking. House Finches were racing about in small groups pretty much the entire time we were there. I managed a few decent photos when they deigned to sit still for more than a moment.
Overall, the gardens proved to be relaxing, with the clouds providing relief from the sun, but still high enough to provide decent light most of the time. My watch would have approved.
The Shots
All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto unless otherwise noted.
Some of these are more interesting than “great” shots. Also, dragonfly sex. You’ve been warned.
Baby duck flapping its winglets.
Song Sparrow in the grass, looking for bugs and such.
A Song sparrow perched in a tree.
When a mommy dragonfly and a daddy dragonfly love each other very much…
American crow on a steel railing.
A barn swallow takes off as a guy in jeans approaches. It's kind of arsty?
Broody young Great Blue Heron.
Heron pondering, perhaps.
Fixed wing bird, species Lufthansa 747.
Northern Flicker in the garden.
Flicker looking back.
Coquitlam River.
Hello kitty!
An Anna's Hummingbird engaged in a staring contest with the camera.
The biggest, tallest sunflower I could find.
A Spotted Towhee, moments before it pooped, as one does.
House Finch in the garden.
House Finch perched, with a young robin in the background.
An immature American Robin hanging out.
Some kind of fly thingie.
A young Rough-winged Swallow looking out.
Two Rough-winged Swallows reacting to the arrival of a third.
Brunette River, pre-run: Calm, and not that humid.
Well. It’s not just a deep subject.
My plan today was to scale back my effort because my runs are consistently being declared as Overreaching, even though I’m just doing what my watch tell me to do (more or less).
I headed out relatively early, at 9:30 a.m., to beat the heat, and tracked my 1.5 km walk to the river trail. The watch declared this as Unproductive. It’s literally a 15-minute walk. I harumped to myself, then decided to forgo the planned 5K in lieu of a gentler 2.5K.
But the 2.5K was declared Overreaching like most of my post-surgery exercise. Well.
The other stats were also not great. Just before the 1K mark the performance rating popped up: -3. Not good! My BPM was higher despite today’s run being shorter, cooler and after two days of not-running: 152. I was also two seconds slower on average at 6:26/km, though that was in part due to me trying to “run gently”. I also had a few issues with phlegm, which I now associate in my mind with the river trail, though it wasn’t as bad as before. I took my li’l water bottle with me, though didn’t drink from it until post-run.
It occurs to me when I run at the lake, I get a drink from the fountain before heading off, which may help.
I didn’t experience any particular issues, other than the phlegm, the only real highlight. As I type this a little over 45 minutes after getting home, it feels like I’ve hardly exercised at all.
My next run will be 2.5K to keep my OCD in check, but I think after that I’m just going to do whatever feels right to my body, rather than strictly follow the dictates of the watch. I won’t be a slave to technology!
Now to jog around the condo for 20 minutes to feel like I’ve done a workout.
The river, post-run: Increasingly shallow as we head deeper into summer.
Stats:
Run 1,044 Average pace: 6:26/km Training status: Overreaching Location: Brunette River Trail Start: 9:45 a.m. Distance: 5.03 km Time: 16:08 Weather: Sunny Temp: 18–19°C Humidity: 51–52% Wind: light BPM: 152 Weight: 171.6 pounds Total distance to date: 7,032.5 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Scarpa Golden Gate ATR 2 (12.5/25/37.5)
My watch said I overdid it, all but calling me dumb.
So today I am mostly taking it easy, but here are a few more shots of Still Creek I took yesterday after overdoing it. Conveniently, my run ends right about where Still Creek is at its most photogenic.
All shot on my not-decrepit Samsung Galaxy S26.
Still Creek, from the footbridge.Creek under a cloudy sky.Pacific coastal mountains looming in the background.Not Still Creek! This is the lake and the rowing pavilion, where something fancy was happening.
View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run. Cloudy and humid again.
I headed out a bit later than usual, under cloudy skies and pretty much no wind at all (which would have actually been nice later in the run).
I was somewhat surprised when my 4 km walk to the lake was categorized by my Garmin Forerunner as “unproductive”, which a site describes thusly:
Load is elevated, but VO2 max is flat or declining. Consistent with accumulated fatigue or insufficient recovery between sessions.
It’s been three days since I ran, so I’m assuming I was sufficiently recovered, and I’m just generally flabby and soft. I know this will eventually improve.
I opted to go clockwise and wanted to do my first full 5K since the surgery in May. I started out at a moderate pace of 6:17/km, then got maybe a bit too casual after that, slipping to 6:31/km. Yoinks. I actually did not feel bad, though it was humid, and I was all sweaty ‘n such. I picked up the pace for the third and fourth km, and slipped only a tad for the final stretch, during which I had to leap over four (!) large puddles on the very floody part of the trail past the rowing pavilion.
Speaking of rowing, they were having some kind of event and there were tents and people and lots of skiffs or whatever they can their boats. I also, for the first time ever, jogged past a line of porta-potties.
My overall pace was 6:24/km, which is four seconds slower than Tuesday’s run, but it was also my first 5K, so the pace seems reasonable. If I hadn’t slacked so much during the second km, it’s possible my pace would have beaten Tuesday’s. Regardless, it’s fine. I am still out of shape and performance will improve.
The right shin was very slightly tender to start, but settled down fairly quickly and did not impact my pace. Once home, it seems like I might have a Baker’s cysts behind my right knee, which would be weird given how little I’ve run since the surgery. I’ll wait and see if it still seems to be there later. It did not have any impact on my run (the knee and leg both felt fine, apart from the initial tenderness in the shin).
I also saw a turtle. Neat! But it was an invasive Red-Eared Slider, which normally live in the U.S. southeast. They have taken residence at Burnaby Lake mostly through people abandoning them as pets here. Boo for the people doing that. They generally aren’t doing damage or anything, though apparently the young might gobble up some of the food local species might eat. The native Western Painted Turtles don’t mind, though, because they apparently hang out together.
A rare case where I paused the run to take a photo.
I also saw two topless joggers, one of which inevitably was wearing a heart rate monitor. The topless joggers love showing those off.
In all, I’m glad I got the 5K in and I am hoping the runs going forward are uneventful, apart from maybe seeing more topless runners. Or turtles. But not topless turtles.
Still Creek, post-run, looking especially still.
Stats:
Run 1,043 Average pace: 6:24/km Training status: Overreaching Location: Burnaby Lake (CW) Start: 12:01 p.m. Distance: 5.03 km Time: 32:10 Weather: Cloudy Temp: 20–21°C Humidity: 67–63% Wind: light BPM: 149 Weight: 169.8 pounds Total distance to date: 7,030 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Scarpa Golden Gate ATR 2 (10/20/30)
Two words you don’t want associated with a run, yet here we are!
I opted to run the river trail today, after missing yesterday due to strata hijinks (and stupidly hot weather) in order to get a run in before it could get too hot (the high today is supposed to be 26C, and I am missing six weeks of acclimating to the temperatures getting warmer).
There was the smell of smoke near the start of the river trail, but I don’t think it was wildfire smoke, as it seemed to diminish as I got farther down the trail.
The run started decently, or so I thought, then about halfway through the first km, I cleared my throat a bit too aggressively, which managed to apparently move phlegm into my gag reflex zone. I coughed violently three times, thought about pausing, but kept on and made a note to not aggressively clear my throat for the remainder of the run. As I neared the 1K mark, I thought to check my current stats and noticed the watch face was showing the time with a green play button superimposed over it. This is not normal. I checked, and it seemed that I had queued up the run, but someone either didn’t start it, or started it and somehow immediately paused it.
What this meant is I’d run a km and the watch hadn’t tracked any of it. I pondered what to do and just started the “official” run there, adding another 2.5 km. The good news is I had no trouble doing 3.5 km, so I’m probably ready to tackle a 5K next, assuming it’s not Africa hot or something.
This is not to say I was fast or that the run was fun (in a bun, or otherwise). I was slow, and my BPM was all the way up to 158 because of the relative heat. But I got through and a slightly stronger breeze actually felt nice.
The river, post-run.
Stats:
Run 1,042 Average pace: 6:20/km Training status: Overreaching Location: Brunette River Trail Start: 10:20 a.m. Distance: 2.51 km Time: 15:51 Weather: Mostly sunny Temp: 20–21°C Humidity: 52–48% Wind: light to moderate BPM: 158 Weight: 168.8 pounds Total distance to date: 7,025 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Scarpa Golden Gate ATR 2 (5/12/17)
Where: Blakeburn Lagoons Park (Port Coquitlam), Blackie Spit (Surrey), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) Weather: Mostly sunny, 17–20°C
In which I wore sunblock and did not get roasted.
Blakeburn Lagoons Park
One of the lagoons, framed by wildflowers.
We returned to Blakeburn to take in the baby Grebes again and this time we arrived in the morning, which was apparently nap time, because all the waterfowl, Mallards, and Grebes alike, were mostly dozing. But after a short time they started stirring and soon enough the Grebelings began chasing a parent, desperate for food. We observed one getting a big ol’ fishy from the parent and watched as it horked it down in about three gulps.
We also saw a heron–but not a green one, just the great blue kind. It flew right past in front of us. I got a blurry action shot.
Elsewhere around the lagoon, we spied a Northern Flicker, a robin hanging out by a sewer grate and lots of pollinators. It was unofficial Pollinator Day.
At the second lagoon, we heard invisible frogs and once more saw a single American Coot, probably the same one we saw last week. It did a weird kind of coot bobbing thing a few times but mostly ate copious amounts of greenery, which at times looked more like something it was throwing up rather than nomming on.
In all, a nice beginning and I think I got better shots of the grebes this time, so woo for that.
Blackie Spit
A boat plies through the narrow band of water off Blackie Spit.
We then spent 10 hours travelling south to Blackie Spit, thanks to Google Maps directing us to busy highway intersections without traffic lights and asking us to then turn left. Once there, we heard but didn’t see (or did we?) Savannah Sparrows, but we did get shots of a House Finch impersonating one. There were also a lot of sand wasps here, furiously digging burrows as they do.
We hoped for a repeat of seeing a California Scrub Jay after a guy on a scooter advised us of some in the area, but alas, we didn’t see any. We saw lots of pollinators again, though.
The tide was extremely low, which in itself made for some interesting scenery shots.
When we left, I marvelled at how my skin had not turned crimson.
Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake
A goose-rich view of Piper Spit.
We rounded out the day at Piper Spit, where the level of the lake was almost as high as the piles of seeds from all the criminal bird feeders. When not telling girls destined to be sociopaths not to kick at pigeons, we saw pigeons, blackbirds, and a Song Sparrow that kind of looked like it had exploded, but didn’t seem to mind. The ducks were mostly avoiding the pier and hanging out in Eagle Creek.
There were a lot of Canada Geese around and some of the babbies have become sullen teens with mostly adult colours and bad attitudes.
When we left, after silently cursing the people with seed, I was just grateful karma didn’t put us behind a 150-car train before we could head out.
But the weather was nice!
In all, a fine day with maybe a bit too much travelling (but no U-turns), but redeemed by all those grebes.
The Shots
All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto unless otherwise noted.
Despite appearance, this American Coot is eating, not barfing.
This is the coot just being a coot.
Bumblebee doing some upside down pollinating.
Mallard appearing to rest her head on a lily pad.
Northern Flicker on the path.
Parent and a slightly clingy youngster who maybe wants food RIGHT NOW.
Parent and child on the move.
Pied-billed Grebe family portrait.
A young Pied-billed Grebe gulping down a fish brought by the parent on the left.
A young grebe yawning or, likelier, demanding food.
Grebe, some day to fly.
Nothing yummier than slimy greens, straight from the pond.
A Hover Fly on a flower, pretending to be a bee.
A ladybug on a leaf.
A grasshopper of some sort, between hops.
House Finch in a tree.
Decrepit pier over absent water.
A boat traverses a narrow strip of water during low tide.
Red-winged Blackbird voicing opinions.
A Cackling Goose. Like a Canada Goose but smaller and less horrible.
Female Brown-headed Cowbird looking off quizzically.
A cowbird after having a bath.
A Song Sparrow with tufted feathers that looks like they exploded or something. The sparrow seemed unperturbed.
A gull and a goose walk into a bar...
Sand wasp on a tansy.
Terrifying close up of a sand wasp.
A Rock Pigeon on full alert.
Snoozing Mallard with some of his shiny green still intact.
Male Wood duck in shadow, still handsome.
Eastern Kingfisher, chilling out between diving attacks on possible prey.
