Run 330
Average pace: 5:07/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Ran Spruce and Conifer Loops and Piper Mill Trail
Distance: 5.04 km
Weather: Sunny, hot
Temp: 30ºC
Wind: nil to light
Calories burned: 388
Total distance to date: 2783
Tonight’s run was basically a repeat of Tuesday, with the pace being an entire second faster at 5:07/km. The differences:
I ran counter-clockwise, so no stinky skunk cabbage. This was GOOD.
It was several degrees warmer at 30ºC. This was BAD.
It was less humid, which meant my throat and mouth were parched less than 1 KM in. This was BAD.
I felt less creaky starting out. This was GOOD.
The right shoelace came untied at .65 km in. This was VERY ANNOYING.
Overall I can say I was glad to get this one over with. At least if it’s still hot on the weekend I have a chance to choose a time when it is slightly less hot to run.
Run 329
Average pace: 5:08/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Distance: 5.03 km
Weather: Sunny, humid, stinky
Temp: 29-27ºC
Wind: nil to light
Calories burned: 388
Total distance to date: 2778
And creaky, too!
This is our first week of genuine summer weather and even though I headed out tonight after dinner it was still a positively balmy 29ºC.
I started the run by not choosing wisely…on the router to take. I went clockwise and this put the sun at an awkward angle for much of the run, where it was coming in from the side, making it hard to avoid (it was lower in the sky, so beaming straight toward my face). The usual counter-clockwise route would have been more shielded from the sun. Alas.
The start of the run my whole lower body felt weirdly creaky, like my legs needed to be oiled or something. Even my usually solid knees were feeling rusty. It sorted itself after the first km but it was not an encouraging start.
I maintained pace as best I could and though it was not a blazing pace, it stayed fairly steady. I even managed to hit my peak (4:50/km) right at the end. I was probably hallucinating a giant lake of cool water ahead of me. My average was 5:08/km, slow for a 5K but not too bad for the conditions.
The conditions were as follows: very war, very humid (the not-dry mouth is always a good indicator) and very stinky. It seems the rains of not-too-long ago, combined with the heat ‘n humidity, brought out the full piquant aroma of the skunk cabbage along the trail. And there is a lot of it. The second boardwalk (as you move clockwise) is pretty much lined with it on both sides and the stink was almost enough to induce a gag reflex. A plant that truly lives up to its name.
This was the first run using fancy Dr. Scholl’s inserts, which offer bonus gel cushioning on the heel ad ball of the feet. The inserts felt fine but when my left foot started feeling sore shortly after the run they didn’t seem to make much difference. A longer run may be a better test, though I think the issue is the gel does not come up close enough to adequately cover the affected part of my stupid dumb foot.
Overall, not a horrible run, not a terrible run, just kind of blah. One bonus is the hip didn’t seem to factor in at all. Yay.
Run 328
Average pace: 5:13/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Ran Spruce and Conifer Loops and Piper Mill Trail
Distance: 10.03 km
Weather: Partly sunny, humid
Temp: 20-22ºC
Wind: nil to light
Calories burned: 772
Total distance to date: 2773
Last July we officially went the entire month without any precipitation. This year we have gone several days without any actual sunshine.
Today was looking to be another one of those days and I held off on my run, waiting for the showers to stop. While I’m fine with getting caught in the rain mid-jog, it’s still difficult to motivate myself to get started when I know I’ll be soaked before I even start my run.
Around 2 p.m. I decided to head out regardless of the weather and it had mercy on me, as the showers stopped and remained stopped for the rest of the day. It was even occasionally sunny at the lake, not to mention humid as all get-out. To give an idea of how humidity affects you, I was sweating more today with the temperature ranging from 20-22ºC than I did when the temperature was 28-33ºC.
I had probably slept funny and could feel my right hip a bit before heading out and my left foot, though not actually hurting, was also there, so to speak. These things did not fill me with confidence. Indeed, the first km my whole body felt janky and I thought I’d run only 5K. I pressed on and found my pace and decided I’d at least match the 6K of my previous effort.
In the end I managed to get in 10K, not quite a full loop around the lake. My left foot started hurting at the 10K mark and the shoelace on my right shoe came untied at the same time. It seemed as close to a sign to stop as I was going to get. I credit the lace for coming loose but not actually coming fully untied for two entire kilometers, at least.
My overall pace was slower primarily due to the humidity but I’m mostly fine with it, as it’s miles ahead of my last 10K+ run (average pace 5:35/km on a 10K run on June 25) and about the same as my last more reasonable 10K+ effort (5:12/km on an 11K run on June 15; it was also much cooler on that run).
I should have fancy new inserts ready for my shoes by my next run. We’ll see if they make me run not unlike greased lightning, should greased lightning suddenly acquire feet and legs and anything else that might be needed to allow it to run.
Run 327
Average pace: 4:57/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Distance: 6.03 km
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 21-23ºC
Wind: light
Calories burned: 464
Total distance to date: 2763
Just kidding about the sexier part.
My plan tonight was to run clockwise to Still Creek, about 6 km in total and to beat the pace of my previous Africa hot run.
And I succeeded!
In a strange way I think I almost felt warmer on this run than the previous because the sun was lower but it was quite tolerable and not at all humid.
In fact, the most remarkable thing about the run was how unremarkable it was. Everything felt decent and my pace was very steady. As expected with the cooler temperature, my time improved and even though I stretched a little to 6 km, I still posted a 4:57/km average, my second best run of the year.
Although I’m only two runs in, July is looking pretty decent so far. Here’s to it continuing to remain so.
Run 326
Average pace: 5:03/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Ran Spruce and Conifer Loops and Piper Mill Trail
Distance: 5.05 km
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 28-33ºC
Wind: light
Calories burned: 388
Total distance to date: 2757
I kept expecting the forecast to change for today but it never did. It turned out to be hot, just as predicted, with the temperature at 28ºC at the start of the run and rising to 33ºC by the end. Africa hot indeed.
I wore my Adidas Energy Boost shoes again and with my feet and other body parts all feeling fine heading out it would be a good test to see if the new shoes really were the, uh, smoking gun responsible for my two terribad runs in June.
Despite the high temperature it was not too humid so the heat was merely hot and not actually oppressive. I didn’t even sweat that much.
I ran counter-clockwise as that route offers more shade and felt quite decent to start. By the end I was definitely feeling the heat (ho ho) but I still managed to pick the pace up a touch to finish at 5K. I prepared for a possible 10K but suspected I would cut it short to be on the safe side.
My average pace was a perfectly cromulent 5:03/km, so the hot weather did have an effect but not a dramatic one. The left foot behaved almost identically to the previous run, feeling fine for the running part and getting sore after about 3 km of walking afterward. A five minute rest “recharged” it for the remaining walk to the SkyTrain station.
Overall I’m pleased at how the run went. The Brooks shoes are looking more like the culprit behind my slow runs so I will stick to the Adidas for now. Eventually I hope to go back to my nearly-new minimalist shoes again. The light weight is nice (though the Adidas are fairly lightweight for a “regular” shoe).
Now I just need to figure out how to make my left foot behave itself for a longer run and I’ll be set.
Run 325
Average pace: 4:58/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Distance: 5.06 km
Weather: Sunny, some cloud
Temp: 18-20ºC
Wind: light
Calories burned: 389
Total distance to date: 2752
My run schedule was out of whack this week as much as my runs, so in order to space out the remaining runs I would need to run on Friday. Running on Friday takes a lot of motivation as the end of the work week is when you’re thinking about relaxing, not jogging hither and yon. Couple this with my last two runs being terrible and I opted to skip the run, explaining it to myself as a precautionary step, needed because I was obviously in need of extra rest and recovery.
Yes.
Today–Sunday–I headed out for my usual run and while I originally planned on doing a full loop around the lake, I again felt it would be wiser to go a bit conservative, so I need up doing a 5K to round out the month.
My last change before heading out was to strap the Nike+ sensor back to my Adidas Energy Boost shoes, to see if reverting back might make a difference.
Heading out, two things were in my favor: the left foot was feeling fine, and the weather was not as warm, with the temperature around 18ºC. The sky was mostly cloudy but the sun managed to beam through gaps in the cloud cover enough to make it sunny for about two-thirds of the run. It never felt uncomfortable, however. I didn’t even sweat much.
How did the run go?
Let me explain by saying this: when I started jogging I did not feel the hip at all. It didn’t last as I did feel it a little after maybe 20 seconds or so, but those initial moments of the run felt downright magical compared to the last two months.
It was quickly (ho ho) obvious my pace was much improved and I finished both strongly and with my second fastest run if the year, breaking the 5:00/km barrier with an average pace of 4:58/km, only two seconds shy of my fastest pace.
The left foot did start feeling sore after about three km of walking post-run but I stopped for a few minutes at Piper Spit to watch the ducks and geese and a few pigeons pretending to be waterfowl. That was enough time for the foot to recover enough to get to the SkyTrain station without unsightly limping or collapsing.
Overall I was quite pleased by the return to form. I’m going to stick with the Adidas shoes for Tuesday’s run. It will be interesting to see how that goes, as the current forecast is calling for Africa hot weather.
Run 324
Average pace: 5:32/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Ran Spruce and Conifer Loops and Piper Mill Trail
Distance: 10.07 km
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 20-24ºC, felt like 26ºC
Wind: nil to light
Calories burned: 774
Total distance to date: 2747
This was a weirdly disappointing run.
First the good news: my left foot was reasonably behaved. I didn’t feel anything until the 5K mark and it wasn’t until 7K that it began to hurt. It leveled out quickly and was tolerable for the rest of the run.
Despite an unusually early start at 9 a.m. it was already quite warm–20ºC and rising rapidly to 24ºC during the run, and feeling warmer due to that good ol’ humidity. This had an impact on my time, as did my general approach of taking it slower so my foot and stamina would both hold up. I could have gone a full 11K and only stopped because I knew my time would be awful and I didn’t want to drag my average down any further.
The last run, a 5K, had me plodding along at a glacier-like pace of 5:32/km. This is terrible. I figured even doubling the distance today I would still come in faster.
I was incorrect.
My pace was worse, at 5:35/km. To put it in perspective, the last full 11K I ran my pace was 5:12/km. Today my pace for just the first km was 5:17/km.
With today’s run feeling much better overall but the time being even worse I am wondering if the new Brooks shoes are causing issues with the Nike+ sensor. Especially today it seems difficult to believe I could be loping along so slowly.
As a test I am putting the sensor back on the Adidas Untying Boost™ shoes for my next run to see what happens. I’m looking forward to being able to ditch the sensor altogether, possibly in the fall once all these crazy new smart watches have come out. It looks like between Google, Apple and everyone else there will be about a billion of them.
The one other good part of the run: I actually walked back instead of taking the SkyTrain. I sat on a bench and gave my left foot a five minute rest and managed to walk back without any great discomfort.
Run 323
Average pace: 5:32/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Distance: 5.09 km
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 24-26ºC, felt like 27ºC
Wind: light
Calories burned: 392
Total distance to date: 2737
Yesterday I compared two different pairs of trail runners, the Saucony Peregrine 4 and the Brooks Cascadia 9.
The Peregrines were lighter and more flexible, with the upper more reminiscent of some of the minimalist shoes I’ve used. It also has very pronounced teeth-like knobs ringing the sole. The Brooks is stiffer and heavier but overall I preferred the fit and feel and felt the sole would work better on the tamer trails I run on.
Today I wore the Brooks for my weekly Sunday run. I had a few concerns going in. While new shoes often result in a faster run the first time out (giddy with excitement, perhaps) the weather was looking quite warm and humid today. That would slow me down. The hip was producing a strange twinge of pain for about the first 30 seconds of the walk to the lake before disappearing, meaning it was probably going to be a bit sore. Finally and most ominously, my left foot was sore even before I left.
The new shoes provided ample cushioning so the walk to the lake seemed uneventful and for a pleasant change I didn’t need to use the port-o-potty as soon as I got there.
I made what in retrospect a tactical error by choosing to run clockwise. This is the “easy” way but the southern side of the lake is also a lot more exposed to the sun. I should have stuck to CCW. But in the end it may not have mattered because my left foot started hurting noticeably right away and got bad enough that I knew I wasn’t doing a full run. I managed 5K before calling it quits. I even took the unusual step (ho ho) of sitting on a handy bench by the athletic field for about five minutes to let the foot recover a little.
I walked out of the park and caught the SkyTrain home from Production way station. Once home and with the shoes off, I tried flexing the foot and it hurt so much I ended up taking a Tylenol.
I don’t believe the new shoes made matters worse, as my right foot still felt comfy and fine after the run and the walk. I have no idea why the left foot was especially bad but I think I’m going to get it checked out by a foot doctor and look into extra padding for it for runs in the meantime.
I was hoping to come in around my last 11K pace of 5:12/km but instead finished with an abysmal pace of 5:32/km–for a mere 5K. That’s 36 seconds slower than my last run! The first km I came in at 5:21/km, which is Granny slow, so the run was doomed from the start.
It’s hard to imagine how the next run could be worse. Perhaps a giant sinkhole could open up on the trail in front of me or a crazed bear could come bursting from the bush, with an even more crazed raccoon riding on its back. Or my left foot could hurt even more.
My plan is to stick to the new shoes and see how they fare in the second outing. As I said, the right foot was fine and I felt no discomfort/tightness or anything caused by the shoes themselves.
Here’s hoping the next run is better. It would be difficult for it to be worse.
Run 322
Average pace: 4:56/km(best to date for 2014)
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Ran Spruce and Conifer Loops and Piper Mill Trail
Distance: 5.04 km
Weather: Overcast, some light rain
Temp: 20ºC
Wind: light
Calories burned: 388
Total distance to date: 2732
Tonight’s run was basically a repeat of Tuesday’s but in the opposite direction. The sky was overcast, with no promise of sun whatsoever, but it was mild so it was actually pretty nice for running, apart from being humid.
Try as they might, the clouds produced little more than a few drops, so I emerged dry, with only the faint lingering scent of cigarette smoke clinging to me. I sniffed it about 3 km into the run and I’d say it was probably 200-300 meters before I finally caught up to the smoker (he was not jogging). With virtually no wind, I was impressed how far the obnoxious odor carried.
The run started surprisingly well, with the hip feeling close to normal. Then it kind of popped and felt more abnormal but not too bad and became a non-issue once I’d warmed up.
I felt the first km went quite well and this prompted me to push fairly hard in the final km, to see if I could crack the 5:00 minute mark for only the second time this year. I actually felt a little nauseous the last few hundred meters but kept going and was rewarded doubly: the last km was my fastest at 4:50/km. The last km being the fastest is very rare. And my overall pace was 4:56/km, a solid three seconds better than my best pace for the year.
Woot, I say.
With this, I have completed a week where each run was faster. Going back four runs, my average pace improved a zany 31 seconds per km, from 5:27 to 4:56.
I feel I’ve earned my two days of rest before Sunday’s follow-up.
Run 321
Average pace: 5:00/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Distance: 5.03 km
Weather: Sunny, somewhat humid
Temp: 20ºC
Wind: moderate to gusting
Calories burned: 388
Total distance to date: 2727
A shorter run tonight and with the hip not being sore exactly but feeling a bit more noticeable after a pair of longer runs, I didn’t plan on pushing too hard. Toward the end of the run I thought I had a good pace going so I pushed anyway and finished at an even 5:00/km–one second off my best pace of the year. If it wasn’t for the mysterious sag at 3.5 km…
Although it was warmer and a bit humid the later time kept the run comfortable. A breeze strong enough to make me tug my cap down tighter helped, too.
Overall this was a better-than-expected run and a nice continuation of the improved time from the previous run. Excelsior!
Run 320
Average pace: 5:12/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Ran Spruce and Conifer Loops and Piper Mill Trail
Distance: 11.04 km
Weather: Cloudy with heavy rain
Temp: 17ºC
Wind: light to moderate
Calories burned: 849
Total distance to date: 2722
My goals today were:
run a full loop around the lake
beat the slug-like pace of the previous run while also avoiding actual slugs
As I head off to the lake I noted the sky to the south looked mostly friendly, while the sky to the north looked dark and ominous, with a curtain of rain already falling over Burnaby Mountain. I was unsure which side would win this North vs. South scenario but had not prepared for rain.
You can probably guess how this ends up.
I tried applying a little more gas this time and the hip was again mostly fine, only making its presence felt when the other parts of my legs quieted down, as if they had all agreed that balance was essential:
Hip: I’m feeling pretty good now. Someone want to take over?
Left thigh muscle: I’m on it. It’s only been a few km, I can start throbbing for awhile.
Hip: Sounds good. How about you, Left Foot Pad?
Left Foot Pad: I’m lined up to start hurting around the 8K mark.
Hip: Excellent. We’re set.
I knew my pace would generally be slower since my body is still not tuned for longer runs quite yet but could feel I was ahead of the last run’s languid saunter.
Everything was fine and just as I hit 4K mark the first few drops of rain began to fell. These few drops turned into a torrential downpour that lasted the next four km. For the final three km it eased off into light showers. I was left suitably drenched.
It didn’t affect the run, though. Except for a dip as I neared the 10K mark I stayed on a fairly even pace and finished at 5:12/km, a whopping 15 second improvement over the previous run. I also didn’t step on any slugs to my knowledge. Mission accomplished.
As a final note, the number of puddles I dodged was approximately ten million.
Run 319
Average pace: 5:27/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Ran Spruce and Conifer Loops and Piper Mill Trail
Distance: 11.03 km
Weather: Partly sunny
Temp: 22-23ºC, humid (felt like 25ºC)
Wind: moderate to breezy
Calories burned: 849
Total distance to date: 2711
Despite the title of this blog post I am not pregnant.
To my knowledge.
Instead, I woke up and felt strangely nauseated. I called in sick, slept in a little and when I got up the nausea had passed so I had breakfast and it seemed to stay down okay. I planned for a rare weekday afternoon run because running when it’s warmer is still preferable to not having a big chunk of my evening eaten up by a run.
I planned on doing a full loop around the lake and set out on a deliberately slower pace to better accommodate the goal. My first km reflected this, coming in at a poky 5:10/km. The hip was no big thing but the thigh muscles hurt both on the walk to the lake and for a good part of the run. It wasn’t until well past the halfway point that they finally went from aching to feeling warmed up. By then the left foot was starting to act up, though it stayed tolerable for the entire run, only getting notably sore on the walk back to the Production Way SkyTrain station.
The weather was a mix of sun and high cloud, was warm (and felt warmer) and was humid. Despite this the slower pace kept things tolerable and I completed a full loop, coming in at 11.03 km, though my average pace was a not-exactly-lightning-quick 5:27/km.
Another complication during the run was a few times when I felt like my gorge was rising–my gag reflex almost but not quite kicked in on several occasions. This is a rather unpleasant sensation when running. By the time I got to the SkyTrain my stomach was cramping up. I think this may be related to the Chinese food I had for dinner last night. Maybe MSG doesn’t agree with me or something.
When I got home my appetite was suitably curbed and I ate an uncharacteristically light post-run meal.
I’ll try to do another full loop on the next run. It will be interesting to see how they compare. The current forecast is suggesting cooler temperatures and a good chance of rain, so better but wetter conditions.
