Whoops, I somehow didn’t run all week and after eight days of non-running, my Training Status per my Garmin Forerunner regressed thus:
- Maintaining
- Recovery
- Detraining (!)
Way to make me feel like a lazy slob, watch. I corrected this by going out on a rare weekend run and despite possible showers in the forecast, it remained dry and unusually mild once again. How mild? The Apple weather app is showing this currently:
This breaks the record for high temperature on this day, too.
So I headed out with just a single layer up top, which was perfectly fine. At first, I was going to just run the river trail and call it good, but after I got there, a woman with a rather large dog a short distance ahead of me stopped and took her dog off its leash. Bad dog owner! She then used one of those throwing stick things to toss a ball down the trail for her jumbo-sized dog to fetch, repeatedly. I fumed about this for a bit, then changed my mind and decided to run at the lake after all. So thanks, bad dog owner, for making me get even more exercise than I planned!
As the weather seemed to be holding at cloudy, I also decided to not do a short loop and did a full trip around the lake. My 5K pace was very similar to my last run at 5:48/km, though my BPM was higher at 157, not surprising given the eight days off. I am also feeling a bit stiffer than I normally would post-run, but nothing a good day of rest won’t fix.
Pleasantly, the trail was not that busy. Maybe the clouds–which did look a bit threatening–scared a lot of people off. Many people were bundled up, which would normally make sense. I mean, December 30th is very much winter, after all, but 11C is the kind of high temperature we’d normally get in March. You really don’t need gloves and a parka when it’s 11C.
Also, as a change of pace, I skipped the Spruce and Conifer Loops, after starting my run by the fountain near the dam. This meant that I was about 0.22 km short of the 2 km mark when I passed the 2K marker. I did not like this. I closed the gap a bit by taking the Piper Mill Trail, but I normally hit the markers pretty much right-on or even slightly ahead by taking the side trails, so I’ll probably go back to them next time. Still, it was nice for a change of pace.
In terms of issues, none really. The left hip was a bit crankier because of the time off, but didn’t factor in much. The left knee is a bit stiff, but more in the not-running-for-8-days way, not because of knee issues in general.
Anyway, it was nice to get out and get back on track. That will be a wrap for my runs in 2023, a year of ups and downs, for sure.
Stats:
Run 842 Average pace: 5:48/km Training status: Recovery Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 10:43 a.m. Distance: 5:03 km Time: 29:13 Weather: Cloudy Temp: 11ºC Humidity: 88% Wind: light BPM: 157 Weight: 171.1 Total distance to date: 6100 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: HOKA Speedgoat 5 (235/441/676 km)
