Exercise

Treadmill run: 10 months later

Yes, for the first time since January, I did an actual run on the treadmill.

I couldn’t recall the settings I used last time, so I just winged it. I knew to set the Incline to 1, which simulates the wind resistance you get when running outdoors. This is somewhat ironic, because the reason I’m running on the treadmill instead of outside on the trail is due to persistent high winds from the BOMB CYCLONE that came in over the area last night. The wind itself is not the issue, it’s more all the flying debris it creates, which I witnessed in one of the many recent windstorms and found somewhat terrifying.

I started the treadmill at a moderate walking pace (5), then switched to 9, which is apparently 6:40/km. At this point I had to run to avoid falling off the treadmill. As incentive, it works well. I completed 5K and curiously, the first lap nearly matched the stated pace, coming in at 6:38/km, which is really slow for me as a run pace. But every lap after that was more akin to my usual pace of late, ranging from 5:30 to 5:41. My BPM averaged 148, which is a bit lower than normal, but still close to normal.

I am satisfied with this, even though I still dislike running on a treadmill. Instead of scenery, I get this for 30 minutes:

Trees, river and wildlife provided by my fertile imagination.
Speed: 9.0 (8.7)
Incline: 1 (1)

Pace: 5:47/km (5:35/km)
Time: 29:08 (28:07)
Distance: 5.03 km (5.03 km)
Calories burned: 355 (348)

Parenthetical numbers are from the previous treadmill run on January 18, 2024.

Run 902: The fountain of climate change

View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run. Cold and calm.

How has it been eight days since I last ran? Things have happened! But I’ve still done bits of running here and there, so it hasn’t been all lounging around and eating bacon.

The fountain by the dam is still open, which surprised me. I don’t think it’s ever been left open this late into November before, though I could be misremembering. To be fair, while it’s been cool during the day, we haven’t had temperatures drop below freezing overnight.

Today I headed out reasonably early and the temperature was a lot more brisk than the last time, sitting at 5C. Thankfully, there was little wind, so two layers were fine.

I opted to do a short CCW loop and experienced no issues. There were a surprising number of people out walking, including a walking group I thought I would cleverly avoid by taking the side trails.

They took the side trails.

But I managed to slip by everyone, including a pair of other joggers, woo (they were not jogging fast).

My pace dropped incrementally by four seconds until the fourth km, when I picked up the pace as I passed everyone. The cold didn’t seem to affect my speed, but my BPM ticked up a bit to 153, which is not unexpected.

The sun poked out a bit on the walk home. At the same time it started to sprinkle. As I neared home it changed to hail. I jogged to the building entrance to get under cover. Hail is one of my top worst running conditions.

Overall, a good start to what otherwise appears to be a cold and wet week.

Brunette River, post-run, looking unusually bright for a mid-November day.

Stats:

Run 902
Average pace: 5:34/km
Training status: Maintaining
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW, short loop)
Start: 10:04 a.m.
Distance: 5.04 km
Time: 28:01
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 5°C
Humidity: 86-83%
Wind: light
BPM: 153
Weight: 168.0
Total distance to date: 6,360 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: HOKA Speedgoat 6 (150/277/427)

Treadmill workout: I am the Night

Today the weather was very wet. I still went for a walk about an hour before sunset, which is to say 3:30, but by mid-evening I was still some 1500 or so steps short of my 10,000-step goal. I contemplated, not liking any of the options and kind of wishing I was on a tropical beach somewhere working on a nice tan. Since I am not magic, I went on the treadmill instead, figuring a 15-minute workout would net me the required steps.

It did! Even though I am very bad at math, it pushed me to 10,811 steps. The lateness of the workout also meant I got a new badge:

Stats:

Speed: 6.0-6.5
Incline: 1

Pace: 9:05/km (8:54/km)
Time: 15:00 (20:00)
Distance: 1.65 km (2.25 km)
Calories burned: 145 (185)
BPM: 119 (125)

Walk 127 and 128: Working through the laziness

Brunetter River, on the first leg: Remebering what blue sky looks like.

Yesterday was a run day, but I didn’t run, because the weather was poop. Not literal poop, though these days I don’t entirely rule out that possibility.

I contemplated doing a workout on the treadmill, but instead I just lazed around, stuffed my face, and finally barely hit my 10,000-step goal around 9:30 p.m.

I resolved to do better today and planned a walk to at least the end of the river trail and back. I ended up going to the lake and split the walk in two, which turned out to be handy, as each leg was quite different.

The first walk was brisk, with an overall pace of just under nine minutes per km. I felt perky, but had to use the loo when I got to the lake, so I declared the first walk done at 4.02 km.

After sipping some water at the fountain by the dam (still nort packed up for the winter yet, to my surprise[though it has been pretty mild[), I started off again, but upon reaching the river trail, I found myself wanting to run and I ran most of the way back from there, coming in with what amounts to a very slow running pace of 6:50/km. I had one km of pure running that was 5:44/km–not bad for a non-run!

Overall, with the mild conditions, gentle breeze and patchy blue sky, it was nice to get out and get some exercise in. Even the river was less stinky than it has been lately.

Tomorrow, I should do a proper run.

About 2.5 km upstream from the above shot: Two gates open at the dam as the Brunette begins its journey east. Fish ladder on the left.

Stats:

Walk 127
Average pace: 8:57/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Distance: 4.02 km
Time: 35:58
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 10°C
Humidity: 84%
Wind: low
BPM: 116
Weight: 167.3 pounds
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255
Total distance to date: 922.91 km

And:

Walk 128
Average pace: 6:50/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Distance: 4.03 km
Time: 27:32
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 11°C
Humidity: 82%
Wind: low
BPM: 133
Weight: 167.3 pounds
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255
Total distance to date: 922.91 km

Run 901: My way or the freeway (trail)

View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run. Apparently the calm before the storm.

The 10-day forecast can be surmised as: rain, with additional rain.

However, today–Sunday–we have a window of a few hours when it’s both mild and dry. I seized upon it and ran today, putting up with the extra people, their dogs and such in order to avoid getting drenched.

To further the goal of avoiding all other people and their pets, I ran clockwise, and chose to take the Freeway Trail, running on it until I got to the 2.7 km mark, where I turned back onto the main loop around the lake. This added variety, but also slowed me down a bit as the freeway trail has more hills than the lake loop and also I just seem to run slower on it. Maybe the nearby din of the highway traffic slightly unnerves me or something.

That said, I still had a very good overall pace of 5:34/km, and experienced no issues, other than having to pause for a few moments to step over a fallen tree on the final km. I would have taken a picture, but it was too far to go back post-run, and I was also paranoid about the weather ganging up on me.

The dogs on the trail were well-behaved, but the Weekend People™ had pretty much all dogs off-leash on the still-stinky river trail. Still, no incidents of note, just disapproving glances (from me).

Overall, a good way to end or start the week, depending on your perspective.

Brunette River, post-run. Colours above, stinky fish below.

Stats:

Run 901
Average pace: 5:34/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW, short loop)
Start: 11:49 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 27:58
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 12-13°C
Humidity: 80%
Wind: light
BPM: 151
Weight: 167.4
Total distance to date: 6,355 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: HOKA Speedgoat 6 (145/269/414)

Run 900: 900 runs later and I am still bad at math

View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run. A brighter and milder day.

My only real goal today was to run and get back home before The Rains started. On that count, success!

As for the math, I decided to start my route at the dam, skip the side trails, then turn onto the Piper Mill Trail on my return and take the other side trails on my way back, finishing the run exactly where I started.

Except when I got to that point, I was at 4.7 km. I kept going, over the dam, past the fountain, past the 0K marker and finally hit 5K right by the Jiffy John™, which would have been convenient if I had to use the loo, but I did not.

I didn’t have as much gas in the tank for the final km, but if I had, this would have been my fastest 5K with the Garmin watch. I still had a strong pace of 5:32/km, only two seconds short of my best.

The weather was milder and the two layers were unnecessary, but I wanted to be on the safe side in case the rain moved in earlier than forecast. Somewhat unusually for a weekday, there were a fair number of people out walking, which led to a couple of bottlenecks. When you consider the overall loop is 10.3 km, any bottleneck is kind of weird. But no issues were had in navigation. All dogs were behaved.

The only incident I had was a mild bit of pain in one shin briefly along the Piper Mill Trail. It went away, and it feels fine now, so I think it’s just body weirdness.

Overall, a solid run to end the week. Now I eat gallons of ice cream! I kid, I kid. They’ll be litres, not gallons.

View from the turtle nesting area, post-run. As always, no turtles.
Note: 900 runs are official, but also inaccurate, as I didn't track my runs in the early days. I don't think I missed too many, though, so this should be reasonably close.

Stats:

Run 900
Average pace: 5:32/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW, short loop)
Start: 10:59 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 27:51
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 12°C
Humidity: 81-79%
Wind: light
BPM: 151
Weight: 166.6
Total distance to date: 6,350 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: HOKA Speedgoat 6 (140/261/401)

Run 899: Cloudy with a chance of debris

View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run. Not shown: All the tree debris.

After calling off Monday’s run due to Xtreme Wind™, I headed out today under a cloudy sky, but no discernible breeze.

I opted to start by the dam for as an old-time throwback to how I used to begin my runs. It was 7C, but my two layers kept me warm.

I surprised myself with an unusually brisk first km, coming in at 5:24/km. That slipped all the way to 5:39/km by the next lap, but I improved my pace after, including a record for the Garmin watch with fastest 1K to date–5:18/km, which is how I finished.

I pushed a bit at the end, but not excessively, and I did pause the run to take a few shots of a fallen tree (photo below), but I don’t think that gave me an appreciable boost.

No issues–either with my body or with dogs/other people/trees occurred, so the run went well, apart from the nice pace.

The most notable thing, other than my zippy performance, was the state of the trail a few days after the storm. I could see a few spots where smaller trees had been cleared, plus a lot of debris still on the trail in places (the Cottonwood Trail was especially bad). Sections of the trail, especially earlier on, had been badly scoured and will need to be repaired, though the uneven bits were at least easy to avoid.

In all, a good run, a reminder that nature isn’t to be messed with, and a refreshing break from The Rains.

Ex-tree near the 4K mark, with jaunty cone placement.

Stats:

Run 899
Average pace: 5:31/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:00 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 27:46
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 7-8°C
Humidity: 83-79%
Wind: light
BPM: 151
Weight: 166.3
Total distance to date: 6,345 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: HOKA Speedgoat 6 (135/257/392)

Walk 126: The wind beneath my everything

Brunette River: Very high. The sky is blue, but the wind was ripping.

Today was supposed to be a run day. I waited as a few morning showers passed, with the promise of better weather later. The better weather emerged, with actual sunshine. Yay! I changed and headed out.

As I headed out, I realized the high winds of the previous night’s storm were still rather high. I secured my cap and continued off to the lake, observing the ground for debris to see if I might need to reconsider.

I spied one large-ish branch down in Hume Park (photo below). This raised an eyebrow. I pressed on.

I could not avoid being in the shot. Enjoy! Also, this was tiny compared to other tree parts I saw later.

At Lower Hume, a very large tree was laying across the roadway. I opted not to take a photo because of the three workers already doing their part to remove it. I wish I had because by the time I returned, they had already cleared almost all of it away. It was, as mentioned, a very large tree. This caused both eyebrows to raise up.

When I got to the river trail, it was not as festooned with debris as expected. I cautiously started down and as I neared a bend by The Old Tree Bridge (years ago a giant tree fell across the river and was so tall it formed a bridge across the river that remains to this day. It’s not a very good bridge, as the other side is just a sheer wall you can’t climb up or anything), I heard a loud crack, then another. I stopped and looked about. I couldn’t see the source and continued on.

But I thought I recognized the sound–wood breaking or snapping.

I got to where one of the famously leaning trees was famously leaning, but now also swaying ominously. I pondered questions like, If it started to fall, how much time would I have to react and get out of the way? Do you feel lucky, punk? And others.

At this point, I felt the health benefits of not getting clobbered by a tree outweighed the health benefits of a run, so I turned back. A few minutes later I heard more cracks, looked to my left, and watched as several large branches snapped off another very large tree and tumbled to the ground. I kind of jogged out the rest of the way, so I did get a run of sorts after all.

I will try again Wednesday, when the risk of being bonked by nature should hopefully be lower.

Stats:

Walk 126
Average pace: 8:51/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Distance: 4.71 km
Time: 41:39
Weather: Sun
Temp: 11°C (feels like 5C)
Humidity: 70%
Wind: high to extreme
BPM: 110
Weight: 167.7 pounds
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255
Total distance to date: 922.91 km

Treadmill workout: Déjà vu all over again

Much like the last time I was on the treadmill, I found myself mid-evening with only 8,000+ steps and pondered what to do:

  • A walk around the neighbourhood in the dark (but no rain)?
  • A jaunt on the treadmill?

In the end, the treadmill won out, so I did a compact 20-minute workout and got my steps in. My streak continues, plus I got some actual exercise.

Stats:

Speed: 6.5-6.7
Incline: 1

Pace: 8:54/km (8:45/km)
Time: 20:00 (26:25)
Distance: 2.25 km (3.02 km)
Calories burned: 185 (299)
BPM: 125 (138)

Run 898: Cool, with a chance of falling trees

View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: Calm, cool and relatively dry.

I skipped running on Friday, not because I was lazy, but because I was tired of running in the rain. I ran in the rain on Monday and Wednesday and did not want to run in the rain again yesterday. And it rained pretty much the entire day.

But with birding called off this weekend and the weather looking somewhat dry, at least for the morning and early afternoon, I opted to run today.

Success! It did not rain during the run. It sprinkled a little on the walk back, but even that was minimal.

I wore two layers, which proved handy, as it was only 8C for most of the run, my first single digit outing of the fall. Hello November!

Despite several dogs being off-leash, there were no issues, either with the dogs or with my body. I had my usual dip in the middle, but finished strong and, curiously, with the exact same time as the previous run, 28:21 minutes. I don’t know if I could ever pull that off again. My average was somehow a second faster, though, probably due to the magical world of rounding numbers.

The river remains pretty stinky with dead salmon. I repeat, this is probably the worst mating/reproductive system in the world, with the possible exception of the male praying mantis getting his head torn off and eaten by the female after they do the dirty.

Despite the odour, it was a good outing and a nice (and mercifully dry) end to the week.

View from Cariboo Dam, looking east, with bonus heron keeping vigil over the returning salmon.

Stats:

Run 898
Average pace: 5:38/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW, short loop)
Start: 1:03 p.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 28:21
Weather: Overcast
Temp: 8-9°C
Humidity: 90%
Wind: light
BPM: 151
Weight: 167.1
Total distance to date: 6,340 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: HOKA Speedgoat 6 (130/244/374)

Run 897: Full house

View from Cariboo Dam pre-run: Light rain amid gray skies.

Although the stats make today’s run look very similar to Monday’s, there are a few key differences:

  • I ran at the lake, not the river trail, which is a tougher course, so having a slightly better pace means I actually did more than a little better.
  • It showered lightly today, Monday was a constant downpour.
  • I actually got warm enough today that I took the jacket off halfway through the run (it came in handy on the walk back when the rain picked up, though).

I was hoping to beat the rain today, but alas, did not. Because it started right as I stepped outside, I came back in and switched from two layers to one layer + jacket. I need a lighter jacket for running that can still hold up to rain, though. As noted above, I doffed it partway through the run.

As for the run, the full house is in reference to my lap times:

  1. 5:41
  2. 5:41
  3. 5:36
  4. 5:36
  5. 5:36

I can’t remember the last time when I had so many laps match up like that. Kind of weird and random. The overall pace of 5:39/km was nice, as was the 150 BPM. I had no issues, though I admit I kept looking at my watch for the last km, so I may have been pushing a bit to maintain that 5:36 pace for three consecutive km.

The rain wasn’t too bad, though it’s always preferable to have no rain. As expected with this weather, the trail was pretty lightly populated.

Overall, a decent effort. I’m hoping that Friday’s run will be drier, but the current forecast makes that seem…unlikely. We’ll see!

Looking down on Stoney Creek, post-run. A few ex-salmon can be seen.

Stats:

Run 897
Average pace: 5:39/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW, short loop)
Start: 10:58 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 28:21
Weather: Rain showers
Temp: 10°C (feels like 7)
Humidity: 74%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 150
Weight: 167.1
Total distance to date: 6,335 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: HOKA Speedgoat 6 (125/236/361)

Run 896: The two-step rule

Post-run: Some of the water that didn’t fall on me. Note the tease of blue sky in the background.

I hemmed, I hawed, I waited for too long to go for my run and when I did, I got what I deserved, as the sky darkened, the opened up.

It not only rained the entire time, it was a hard, steady rain. To further rub it in, the sky was clearing and brightening to the west and was clearly advancing, promising at least some run with no rain.

This did not happen.

It kept raining until and after I got home.

I wore two layers (smart) and got thoroughly drenched, but the run went well otherwise, slowing toward the third km, then picking up to finish. My overall pace was 5:40/km, with a BPM of 150, so very much typical, despite the yuck-o conditions.

The two-step rule is something I invented today: If a puddle requires two or more steps to get through, I will go around it. If it only requires one step, I’ll go through it. This rule was made after I realized there were too many puddles to avoid all of them. In fact, near the end of the run, several were so large I couldn’t even invoke the two-step rule.

On the walk back, a van hit a puddle on North Road and got me even more wet along my left side. I mean, I hardly noticed at that point, but it was a fitting end to the whole soggy affair.

Hopefully the next run will be drier.

Stats:

Run 896
Average pace: 5:40/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Brunette River Trail
Start: 3:51 p.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 28:32
Weather: Rain
Temp: 11°C
Humidity: 84%
Wind: light
BPM: 150
Weight: 167.2
Total distance to date: 6,335 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: HOKA Speedgoat 6 (120/228/348)