An early afternoon run today with the temperature rising from 15C-17C, breezy and about an equal mix of sun and cloud. It had showered hard in the morning so this was the first run in a long time where I had to navigate around puddles.
It was not a very good run, alas, plagued by a number of issues:
- rust from five days off
- when the sun came out it felt very humid and muggy
- my left leg was clearly bothering me partway through
- a persistent cramp in my stomach in the second half of the run
That said, I finished at a pace midway between my two previous runs, clocking in at 5:27/km with a total time of 55:03. I ran a little farther than intended because the glare on my iPod was so bright at the end I could not read the display. It also seemed that clicking the menu button did not, in fact, present me with a menu the first few times I tried it. I suspect Apple wants me to upgrade to the shiny new nano that just came out. Total distance ended up being 10.08 km.
The midway point of the run was ‘highlighted’ by a muscle car revving its engine as it went down nearby Glen, causing a car alarm (apparently on the ‘go off if songbirds are present’ setting) to start wailing and it was that car alarm. You know the one, the worst car alarm ever, the one that has four different alarms, each one annoying in its own way. Fortunately the owner turned it off in short order. Or maybe it was an act of God. Either way I was glad.
There was not much else noteworthy on the run. I found a burst of speed for the 7-8 km stretch but the cramps and general soreness prevented me from maintaining that to the finish. I iced the left calf for about 50 minutes afterward and will see how it feels in a few days. The way things have been going I suspect I will be taking another forced break from running. I may look into some kind of cheap physiotherapy, if such a thing exists.
Chart (red denotes running in especially warm conditions, green denotes cramps during run):
| km | Sept 20 | Sept 15 | Sept 13 | Sept 6 | Sept 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 km | 5:02 | 5:05 | 5:00 | 4:56 | 4:54 |
| 2 km | 5:07 | 5:08 | 5:05 | 5:03 | 4:58 |
| 3 km | 5:11 | 5:12 | 5:09 | 5:07 | 5:03 |
| 4 km | 5:15 | 5:15 | 5:14 | 5:11 | 5:08 |
| 5 km | 5:18 | 5:17 | 5:18 | 5:14 | 5:13 |
| 6 km | 5:21 | 5:18 | 5:21 | 5:16 | 5:16 |
| 7 km | 5:23 | 5:19 | 5:24 | 5:18 | 5:19 |
| 8 km | 5:24 | 5:21 | 5:26 | 5:20 | 5:23 |
| 9 km | 5:26 | 5:23 | 5:28 | 5:21 | 5:26 |
| 10 km | 5:27 | 5:23 | 5:29 | 5:21 | 5:27 |
