It’s late and I am beat, so a short summary today.
I opted to run on Sunday because tomorrow’s weather looks worse and I’m going to have my hands full of icky strata stuff.
It was very mild again today, and I ran in a t-shirt and shorts. Despite some wind, it was perfectly fine. I did a 2.5K run again, partly because I was pressed for time. It also went fine and I very slightly improved my pace. I also did not have nearly as dramatic a fall-off from the first to second km. My stamina is improving slightly!
There were a lot of people out and aboot thanks to the weather, but no problems encountered with humans or non-humans.
In all, a good continuation of my road back to actual regular fitness.
Reflecting pond with train on the river trail, post-run.
Stats:
Run 913 Average pace: 5:55/km Training status: Productive Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW, short loop) Start: 3:12 p.m. Distance: 2.50 km Time: 14:51 Weather: Cloudy, some sun Temp: 16°C Humidity: 45% Wind: light to moderate BPM: 150 Weight: 171.6 Total distance to date: 6,407.5 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Saucony Switchback (these are old shoes and will be replaced soon™)
View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: More green, plus extremely mild.
This was both unplanned and unexpected.
After missing a week of runs due to waiting for deliveries and other nonsense, then missing another week with no real good excuses, I found myself staring at record-breaking temperatures today and decided it was the perfect time to jump back in.
I donned a single layer–my long-sleeved short–and headed out. It turned out I would have been fine in just a t-shirt (well, and shorts–I don’t want to get arrested while jogging). The temperature was 16C when I started–tying a record set in 2019, then rose to 17C by the end, before maxing out at 19C later in the day.
It was partly sunny and really, quite pleasant, more reminiscent of mid-May than March. Such is climate change.
I didn’t have any goals, other than completing the run, but I secretly hoped I could stay under the six-minute mark. And I did, by the smallest possible margin, with a pace of 5:59/km. I was 5:45 for the first km, which I clearly could not sustain, as the second km was 6:09. Oof. Other than feeling myself get slow, I had no issues.
Tomorrow looks to be similar, weather-wise, and I’m tempted to go out again, but my Garmin watch told me my recovery time is delayed by about 800 hours due to all the activity. As I type this, I am at 33,659 steps, which is rather a lot. So maybe I’ll just go for a stroll instead.
In all, it was again nice to get out. I swear I’ll make this a regular habit again!
A stinky sign of spring: The return of skunk cabbage.
Stats:
Run 912 Average pace: 5:59/km Training status: Productive Location: Burnaby Lake (CW, short loop) Start: 1:50 p.m. Distance: 2.50 km Time: 14:58 Weather: Partly sunny Temp: 16-17°C Humidity: 77% Wind: light to moderate BPM: 152 Weight: 169.2 Total distance to date: 6,405 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Saucony Switchback (these are old shoes and will be replaced soon™)
Due to another late start (my bad) I changed my plans from a 5K short loop at the lake to a 2.5K tun on the river trail. In the end, I think it may have been better to do another mini run. This means that come Monday, I’ll do another 2.5K to round up to a nice 5 km and satisfy my OCD, then do a full 5K next Wednesday.
On the plus side, I slightly improved on this Wednesday’s run by coming in at a pace of 5:52/km, even more impressive when you consider the second km dropped to 6:05/km. I benefitted by both putting on the gas and having a more favourable slight downhill slope for the last 500 m.
Other than again feeling the lack of stamina, I experienced no issues. I saw Green Shorts again, though once more he was sans green shorts. He did have a yellow cap, though. There was another beardy guy with glasses, but not the same one as Wednesday, wearing a red long-sleeved shirt that looked identical to mine, but he was also wearing black running pants, which I won’t wear again until next fall. I mean, I’ll be wearing my own, not wearing his. Anyway, I passed him as I was heading downhill to the overpass, which meant he was heading uphill. And he was sprinting. It hurt just to watch him.
Which reminds me, the suggested workout today was three sets of 15-minute sprints. I’m pretty sure I would have ended up curled into a ball on the trail somewhere between the second and third set if I had sprinted.
That said, this marks the first time I’ve done three runs in a week since November, a feat worth noting and celebrating!
The newly fallen tree seems to be causing the river to split briefly. Previously fallen tree in the background.
Stats:
Run 911 Average pace: 5:52/km Training status: Productive Location: Brunette River Trail Start: 2:12 p.m. Distance: 2.50 km Time: 14:41 Weather: Partly sunny Temp: 8-9°C Humidity: 72% Wind: light to moderate BPM: 148 Weight: 170.3 Total distance to date: 6,402.5 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Saucony Switchback (these are old shoes and will be replaced soon™)
The conditions today were similar to Monday, except it was pleasantly sunny, which was nice.
I opted to go to the lake and run clockwise and didn’t do a precise short loop, instead running about 2 km before doubling back and wrapping up another 2.5K outing. I’m planning on another full 5K run on Friday.
Overall, the run went well. I improved my pace by a nice nine seconds and came in under the six-minute mark for the first time since resuming runs. I didn’t experience any issues, though stamina is still way below normal. I managed to push a bit toward the end to keep the pace up, though.
I’m not sure if it was the allegedly great sleep I got last night (I say alleged because smartwatches are not generally regarded for tracking sleep super accurately), the sun or alignment of the planets, but I managed a BPM of 145, which is unusually low, but in a good way. I also managed to boost up my max heart rate, which is also good.
So, overall, good!
And I hit a milestone of 6,400 km officially tracked since 2009. I’ve run more since I didn’t track early on, but it’s still a nice number. It would get me from my home to this spot in the Atlantic Ocean, per Google Maps:
And a more down-to-earth image of the trail, post-run:
Sun-dappled trail, post-run.
Stats:
Run 910 Average pace: 5:54/km Training status: Productive Location: Burnaby Lake (CW, short loop) Start: 2:15 p.m. Distance: 2.50 km Time: 14:45 Weather: Sunny Temp: 10°C Humidity: 64% Wind: light BPM: 145 Weight: 170.8 Total distance to date: 6,400 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Saucony Switchback (these are old shoes and will be replaced soon™)
The recommended run from my Garmin Forerunner 255 was a 33-minute jog at a pace of 8:46/km. This is equivalent to either an extremely brisk walk or a very slow run. It’s kind of an awkward pace to set. Since I wasn’t feeling extra zesty, I opted to do a shorter 2.5K run and try, more or less, to maintain my usual jogging pace.
Compared to last time, I was a speeding bullet: My pace was 6:03/km vs. 6:21 on the previous run, but I did only run half as much, and the river trail is an easier run than the lake.
I still acutely feel the lack of stamina, but it will get better. At least my training status went from Unproductive to Productive. Yay.
Conditions were fine–I wore one layer, a long-sleeved shirt and the sprinkles stayed away until after the run was over and didn’t amount to much, anyway. And I held up better than the tree that collapsed since my last run (photo below). It keeled over into the river just downstream from another one, though the new tree is not quite as bridge-like, since a good part of it is laying right in the river. I’m curious if they’ll leave it as is (probably–the parks people tend to let nature do its thing).
One other fun note: I went past the end gate and actually ran past the section of sidewalk I tripped on in December. I had to prove I wasn’t cursed. Or if I am, it’s not specifically related to tripping on sidewalks.
Anyway, it was nice to be running again, and I know I’ll start feeling less like I have the world’s tiniest lungs soon enough.
New ex-tree on the river, with other ex-tree behind it.
Stats:
Run 909 Average pace: 6:03/km Training status: Productive Location: Brunette River Trail Start: 3:06 Distance: 2.50 km Time: 15:08 Weather: Cloudy Temp: 11°C Humidity: 76% Wind: light BPM: 150 Weight: 170.3 Total distance to date: 6,397.5 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Saucony Switchback (these are old shoes and will be replaced soon™)
View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: high cloud and extremely mild.
I finarly did it.
For the first time since December 2, 2024 (!) I ran a full 5 km.
I did it by starting at a deliberately slow pace, where my first km was a sloth-like 6:10/km (I am confident I would have been under 6:00 if I’d run at my regular pace). I felt this was vital to having enough gas to finish the run and I think I was right, as my pace fell off for every kim, until the last, where I managed to go fast enough to…match my 4K speed.
The overall pace of 6:21/km will improve in time, but the important thing is I know I can do it.
It also helped that it was super mild, with it rising to 14C by the end of the run, literally twice the usual high temperature for the day. I wore one layer, and it was my long-sleeved short. For the run, a regular tee would have been fine, but the wind picked up a little on the way back and the long sleeves came in handy then.
Likely due to the very mild temperature and no real chance of rain, the trail was moderately busy and I passed multiple other joggers, dog walkers and such. There were no issues anywhere along the router and the trail was in good shape, though I could see signs of recently felled trees in several locations.
As for the littering: a Pepsi paper cup left on the trail near the Jiffy John™. This irked me, because this is right near the parking lot, which has a garbage can. It annoyed me enough that I picked up the cup and disposed of it. To do so, I had to first move an empty pop can from the lid of the garbage can. Seriously, how can you bring a can to the garbage and not put it in? Could the person not prefer the bear-proof handle? Maybe it was a bear carrying the can.
The rickety bridge: The bridge over Deer Lake Brook has been in bad shape since I started running here in 2011. It has not improved with age. Although a few planks and one set of stairs have recently been replaced, the bridge as a whole feels exactly the way it looks when you jog across it. You start thinking things like, “How could is the water underneath it?” The good news is it’s getting replaced, per this sign:
At 14C it was not very icy. I wouldn’t trust 20 people on the bridge, though, no matter what the CAUTION sign says.
The bad news is the first boardwalk on the same trail has had signs saying “plans for repairs are underway” for more than two years now. Maybe three, actually.
I didn’t experience any issues during the run, likely thanks to my slovenly pace, but as I sit here typing these words, I’m at 30,000+ steps and my legs are starting to feel a wee bit stiff. I suspect tomorrow will be a Rest Day.
Still, it was great to finally get back out and do a “real” run again.
Still Creek, post-run: Still very still, still very creek.
Stats:
Run 908 Average pace: 6:21/km Training status: Overreaching Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 1:12 p.m. Distance: 5:02 km Time: 31:55 Weather: Cloudy, intermittent sun Temp: 13-14°C Humidity: 62% Wind: light BPM: 152 Weight: 171.4 Total distance to date: 6,395.0 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Saucony Switchback (these are old shoes and will be replaced soon™)
More specifically, my Forerunner declared today a rest day, but I defied it and did a treadmill workout, though at an overall slower pace, going from a speed of 6.5 for the first half+, then a mix between 5 and 6 for the rest. At the end of the workout, the watch declared I was Overreaching, which it hasn’t claimed in quite a long time. So that’s something!
Curiously, both the BPM and calorie burn were higher than the previous and presumably harder workout.
Stats:
Speed: 5.0-6.5 (6.5) Incline: 1 (1)
Pace: 9:12/km (8:47/km) Time: 27:42 (26:32) Distance: 3.02 km (3.02 km) Calories burned: 269 (243) BPM: 128 (121)
Parenthetical numbers are from the previous treadmill workout.
After my Rest Day™ yesterday, I felt compelled to do some exercise today. While I don’t mind running in the rain (I don’t like it, either), today it is more monsoon than light drizzle, so to the treadmill it was!
I opted to mostly walk, but after hitting 3 km, I ran until I hit the 30-minute mark, which gave me a total distance of 3.46 km. Exciting stats below!
Speed: 6.5-9.0 (6.5-9.0) Incline: 1 (1)
Pace: 8:36 (8:36/km) Time: 30:00 (26:05) Distance: 3.46 km (3.03 km) Calories burned: 262 (273) BPM: 121 (130)
Parenthetical numbers are from the previous treadmill workout.
View from the dam, pre-run. Light showers and gloomy. But mild!
Today, I finally decided it was time to go outside, not to just touch trees, but to also run amongst them, so I got dressed1Not to imply I sometimes go out naked or anything. and headed to Burnaby Lake, with vague plans, dependent on the weather and how I felt.
In the end, I did another mini 2.5 km run to round out the last one, which featured the trip on the sidewalk. Today, there was no tripping and no running on sidewalks. Instead, I did a loop around the side trails and, unlike the previous run, I didn’t have to stop to take a break mid-way through.
I was slower, though, but given that it’s been 50 days since my last run outside, that’s to be expected. Everything went relatively fine, other than the obvious lack of stamina.
I wore my old Saucony Switchback shoes, since the Speedgoat 6’s are now falling apart and full of holes. They were ultimately a disappointment and I’m looking for new shoes that will not feature “goat” in the name.
Overall, this was a good return. The weather was mild at 9C, but two layers seemed right, given the intermittent light rain and wind on the walk to and from the lake (the lake trail was not breezy). I’ll go for another run on Friday and see if I can manage an actual 5K then.
An inquisitve goose, post-run. Should I honk? Hiss? Poop?
Stats:
Run 907 Average pace: 6:15/km Training status: Maintaining Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 11:23 a.m. Distance: 2.50 km Time: 15:39 Weather: Overcast, light showers Temp: 9°C Humidity: 82% Wind: light BPM: 150 Weight: 170.1 Total distance to date: 6,390.0 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Saucony Switchback (n/a)
I didn’t do a workout yesterday, on my usual workout day and felt bad, so I did a workout today. Problem solved!
I started today’s workout at a speed of 6.5, but curiously, my times were lagging behind the speed the treadmill was set to. This annoyed me, so at roughly the 2.25 km mark, I cranked it up to 9 and jogged for the remainder. Jogging still feels much harder than it should, stamina-wise.
However, I managed to get through 3 km and called it good.
I am now thinking I may try regular runs again next week.
Stats:
Speed: 6.5-9.0 (6.0-6.5) Incline: 1 (1)
Pace: 8:36 (9:35/km) Time: 26:05 (30:01) Distance: 3.03 km (3.13 km) Calories burned: 273 (271) BPM: 130 (137)
Parenthetical numbers are from the previous treadmill run.
My wee 2.5K run on Wednesday proved one thing: Taking 37 days off is an excellent way to reduce your stamina to nothing.
Today, I mulled how much I wanted to do that and settled on doing a 30-minute brisk walk on the treadmill instead. I may resume actual running next week, but my priority for the moment is just regular exercise and improving my stamina.
I think I actually sweated more today, too. And as always, the weather was mild and pleasant indoors.
I started at a more leisurely pace f 6.0 then ramped up to 6.5 for the majority of the workout, hence the more leisurely pace as noted below. BPM was up, though, because I remain soft and flabby. This should improve over the next few weeks. Excelsior!
Stats:
Speed: 6.0-6.5 (6.7-8.0) Incline: 1 (1)
Pace: 9:35 (7:26/km) Time: 30:01 (15:04) Distance: 3.13 km (2.03 km) Calories burned: 271 (159) BPM: 137 (127)
Parenthetical numbers are from the previous treadmill run.
