For the fourth time in a row, I felt little motivation to go out and run, but I ran anyway. I copied last Monday by doing the river trail again, with the plan to be done and back by noon. Mission accomplished!
There is a rare fog advisory in effect today and remembering my last experience in the fog, I wanted to be prepared. As it turned out, I was over-prepared:
- I ran on the river trail, rather than at the lake, thinking it would be less misty at the river. It turned out to be not foggy at all.
- I wore my running pants because it was only 4C, and I expected it to be very humid and damp (chilly). The pants were unnecessary. I’m not saying I should have run pants-less, but shorts would have been fine.
- I also wore my running jacket (the one for cold/wind, not the one for rain) and it kept me nice and comfy walking to the river trail, but it was actually a little too warm for the run itself. Noted for future reference. I think my double layer approach would have sufficed.
As for the run, I started strong and wavered a bit in the second km, but mostly kept my form. I didn’t have any weird spikes in my BPM, keeping to a range of 153-161 with an average of 153.
A young guy dressed in bright green shorts and almost-matching cap went jogging by me as I was heading back on the final stretch. He seemed way too happy. No one is that happy when jogging. He was obviously moving at a faster pace and I expected him to catch up and pace me if he also looped back.
He did loop back, and he did catch up–but then he never passed me. Instead, he hung back at a respectful distance, using me as a kind of pace car. Before realizing he was doing this, I deliberately slowed my pace, hoping he would pass, but he didn’t, so I resumed my normal gait. When I reached the gate near North Road and turned around, he did not follow, so I assumed he either ran beyond the trail or was taking a break. Shortly after I finished my run, he showed up and ran by, still looking happy as the proverbial clam.
The happy runner, snapped as he ran by me post-run:
Overall, this was a decent start to the week, with a decent result–5:42/km–and no issues to report. Wednesday is looking like it might be the coldest run of the fall yet, but still sunny. We shall see!
Stats:
Run 832 Average pace: 5:42/km Training status: Productive Location: Brunette River trail Start: 10:47 a.m. Distance: 5:03 km Time: 28:42 Weather: Low cloud and fog Temp: 4-5ºC Humidity: 92-90% Wind: light BPM: 153 Weight: 169.5 Total distance to date: 6050 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: HOKA Speedgoat 5 (185/343/528 km)
