The weather was pleasant today, so I headed out for a nice trail run. I briefly contemplated doing the “easy” route of running the river trail, but ended up going to the lake, running the 5K, then walking the rest of the way around and back. I am at 26,188 steps as I type this.
My calves will voice their concerns later.
I filled my water bottle and almost took it, but humidity was still around 68%, which is a fair bit higher than the last run, so I risked going no-water and it was fine.
I started right at the 0K marker and when I hit 1K, I was a bit surprised that my pace was a rather languid 5:59/km. On the other hand, I can’t say I felt like I was pushing at all, so this wasn’t alarming or anything.
At the end of the second km, my pace was now 6:07/km. This was alarming, so I picked up the pace a little, but was still focusing more on being like a buffalo: slower, steady, and less like a gazelle: faster, nimble. My pace improved to 6:04, but I knew it was unlikely I’d come in under the six-minute mark.
I finished with a pace of 6:01/km. and you know what? It’s fine. I felt good, I wasn’t gasping for breath, my BPM was 152. I’ll get faster again as I get in better shape (and losing a few pounds might help, too).
I also discovered, when looking over my stats on the Garmin Connect site, that the voice that announces my pace every km does not round up or down, but the site does. Here is a chart where:
- Pace = Pace as reported on Garmin Connect
- Pace During Run = Pace as reported during the actual run
- Exact Pace = Pace without any rounding of numbers
| Lap | Pace | Pace During Run | Exact Pace |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6:00 | 5:59 | 6:00 |
| 2 | 6:08 | 6:07 | 6:07.7 |
| 3 | 6:04 | 6:04 | 6.04 |
| 4 | 6:04 | 6:03 | 6:03.9 |
| 5 | 5:53 | 5:53 | 5:53.4 |
The differences are slight, but can have a psychological effect. For example, while the Garmin Connect site reports the same pace for laps 3 and 4, the watch reported lap 4 as slightly faster, which proved encouraging and inspired me to push a bit more for a faster finish.
It was again strangely busy on the trail for a weekday morning. I either need to start earlier, or maybe people are just getting out a lot whenever it isn’t raining. A lot of dogs at the lake were off-leash, which is unusual and bad, though the dogs were at least well-behaved.
Oh, and post-run, I spotted multiple murders (or whatever you call them) of goslings. The poopmonsters have been busy! Good for them, I say. You can’t spend all your time honking, hissing and going berserk.
Stats:
Run 919
Average pace: 6:01/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 11:01 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 30:18
Weather: Mostly sunny
Temp: 13-14°C
Humidity: 68-66%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 152
Weight: 173.2
Total distance to date: 6,430 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: ASICS Trabuco Terra 2 (25/28/53)
Music: Blondie, Eat to the Beat
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