Distance: 10.02 km
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 17ºC
Wind: light with occasional gusts
Calories burned: 701
Average pace: 5:06/km
Total distance to date: 911 km
After three fast runs at Burnaby Lake I returned to the familiar stomping grounds of China Creek park for today’s run. With the temperature in the early evening hovering around 17ºC and the sky overcast, there was no chance of overheating. As is usually the case in summer (technically it is summer, despite the weather) there were dual baseball games in session. Ominously as I started the run the very first ball struck landed close to the trail. Fortunately that would be the only one.
I started out strong but was curious to see if my improved pace was the change of scenery or if I was really just running faster. Due to possibly sleeping funny last night my left leg felt a bit janky in a few spots it normally doesn’t, around the hip and upper thigh but it was very minor. My calves and shins both felt it during much of the run but it was more ‘yep, those are my muscles getting worked out’ than ‘OMG the flesh is tearing from the bone and I shall soon crumple in a heap’. I was walking fine after the run so I’m hoping I am still working the legs hard without actually injuring them.
I felt stronger in the second half of the run, with my stamina holding up nicely and that’s reflected in the times as I only lost five seconds between 5 and 10 km. In the end I matched my best pace to date at 5:06/km — 11 full seconds than my previous best at China Creek. I am tentatively ready to say my overall pace has just plain improved, though maybe the runs at Burnaby Lake provided incentive/inspiration to pick up the pace.
There was a guy doing a pretty intense workout that showed up about halfway through my run. His face reminded me of a young Clark Kent and he had man boobs that looked like they had been sculpted from granite. I was a little jealous.
Irony: ball players sitting around and smoking after their game has ended.
Chart (blue indicates the run was done clockwise; purple = Burnaby Lake):
| km | Jul 20 | Jul 17 | Jul 14 | Jul 11 | Jul 9 | Jul 6 | Jul 4 | Jul 1 | Jun 28 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 km | 4:53 | 4:56 | 4:45 | 4:54 | 4:58 | 5:08 | 4:58 | 5:04 | 4:58 |
| 2 km | 4:56 | 4:54 | 4:47 | 4:56 | 4:58 | 5:11 | 5:02 | 5:06 | 5:03 |
| 3 km | 4:58 | 4:56 | 4:51 | 4:58 | 5:03 | 5:14 | 5:08 | 5:07 | 5:05 |
| 4 km | 5:00 | 4:58 | 4:54 | 5:01 | 5:07 | 5:17 | 5:12 | 5:09 | 5:08 |
| 5 km | 5:01 | 5:00 | 4:54 | 5:03 | 5:10 | 5:20 | 5:14 | 5:11 | 5:11 |
| 6 km | 5:02 | 5:02 | 4:59 | 5:03 | 5:12 | 5:22 | 5:15 | 5:12 | 5:13 |
| 7 km | 5:03 | 5:04 | 5:00 | 5:04 | 5:15 | 5:25 | 5:17 | 5:14 | 5:15 |
| 8 km | 5:05 | 5:06 | 5:02 | 5:06 | 5:17 | 5:27 | 5:19 | 5:16 | 5:16 |
| 9 km | 5:06 | 5:08 | 5:04 | 5:08 | 5:19 | 5:30 | 5:21 | 5:17 | 5:18 |
| 10 km | 5:06 | 5:09 | 5:06 | 5:10 | 5:20 | 5:31 | 5:21 | 5:17 | 5:19 |
| 11 km | — | 5:10 | 5:01 | 4:59 | — | — | — | 5:19 | — |
