Run 957: Beating the heat and bears

Not literally beating bears, of course.

I had a few goals today:

• Avoid bears
• Beat the heat

I achieved both of these things by:

• Running on the river trail instead of at the lake
• Starting my run just before 9 a.m., almost two hours earlier than on Friday

Now, I have seen a bear on the river trail, but the trail is wide and open, with excellent sight lines, all of which is the opposite of the loop around the lake, so if you see a bear, it will likely be way up ahead and not when you suddenly confront it coming around a tight, narrow corner. As it turned out, I saw no bears, only one dog (on leash, yay) and a few cyclists, so it was pretty quiet overall.

It was 21C, which is pretty warm for 9 a.m. but not bad overall. Humidity was a sticky 78% and didn’t drop much, so sweating was copious and constant.

That said, the right shin, still a bit tender, is definitely starting to feel better, so I believe it’s officially on the mend. Because I always find a way to complicate things, last night I managed to pull at least one ab muscle, so I got to run with a mild ache on my right side. I don’t think it had much effect, other than just annoying me.

The switch to the river trail seemed to give me a little more pep, as I came in with a fairly zippy pace of 5:39/km, my first under 5:40 in a good while. Something that helped: Most of the trail was in the shade, with only one small section getting direct sunlight. Nice.

In all, a fine start to the week.

Stats:

Run 957
Average pace: 5:39/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Brunette River Trail
Start: 8:57 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 28:29
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 21°C
Humidity: 78-76%
Wind: light
BPM: 151
Weight: 165.7
Total distance to date: 6,615 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: ASICS Trabuco Terra 2 (210/463/673)

Music: Pop Stuff (playlist)