Outdoor runs

The rush hour run

Average pace: 5:16/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Ran Piper Mill Trail, Conifer and Spruce Loops
Distance: 11.32 km
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 19-24ºC
Wind: light
Calories burned: 818
Total distance to date: 2438 km

I pretty much hated everything about today’s run.

After a week of cooler, cloudy weather with showers tossed in, the weather strangely turned summer-like for the long weekend. I decided to head out relatively early to beat the heat.

The temperature matched my last run a week ago (more on that gap later), starting at 19ºC and rising to 24ºC. You notice that kind of rise. It also started out and stayed humid, which was the real problem. I started out not exactly fast but moving along crisply and felt light on my feet–a good thing. It was pleasant. As the temperature rose the effect of the humidity also rose and I began to flag.

I picked up the pace by the end but it was too late. I braced myself for the overall average: 5:16/km, a full four seconds slower than my last run. Bleah.

I’m going out again in two days and plan on breaking in my new MY110s (2013 edition). They’re a full size bigger than my last pair (9s instead of 8s) and I’m hoping the extra roominess will make my toes happier.

The gap in the run doesn’t have a good reason to go with it like “I was abducted by aliens and only just returned to the planet” or “I was rescuing orphans caught in a typhoon”. I was just indolent and unmotivated. This summer has been hard for running (I’ll expand on that later in a separate post).

The rush hour part was due to the number of people on the trail, quite a few more than I’ve seen recently. I chalk this up to it being a sunny Saturday and will probably stick to Sundays in the future, although as we enter Fall and the weather changes crowds of people on the trail probably won’t be a problem.

The actual run went okay for the most part. My left foot began to feel a bit sore toward the end and once more I skipped the walk back. This concerns me but it’s not affecting the runs yet. Bollocks was about the same as always, needing some time to warm up and then fine until my pace flagged. When my stride becomes more plodding the tendon definitely feels it a lot more. It doesn’t feel like it’s ever slowing me down but I do wonder. I haven’t been able to break five minutes on a 10K+ run in quite awhile and did it regularly last year so obviously something has changed.

Anyway, none of the geese chased or bit me so there’s that.

The eight days later run

Average pace: 5:12/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Ran Piper Mill Trail, Conifer and Spruce Loops
Distance: 11.16 km
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 19-24ºC
Wind: light
Calories burned: 806
Total distance to date: 2427 km

After last Sunday’s 3 hour 15 km hike at Brothers Creek I found my lower back suddenly hurting the next morning. Because of this I skipped my Tuesday run. By Thursday I was planning to resume regular runs but instead found I had a huge honking blister on my right foot. Running on that did not seem wise.

And so I ended up waiting a full eight days before running again. With the long layoff my only goal was to best my previous pace. To give myself a minor edge I set out earlier in the morning and started the actual run at Burnaby Lake at 10:13 a.m. This had a couple of nice effects. It started out cooler (though you can see above that the temperature climbed predictably rapidly by late morning) but because it was also clear the humidity was also down to a reasonable level. These things, coupled with a light breeze helped make this the most comfortable run in some time.

My time did improve, though not as much as I’d liked. I came in at 5:12/km, two seconds better than the previous run but I also ran 11K+ rather than the 10K of the last run. My left foot began to feel a bit sore toward the end–not enough to slow me down but earlier than it usually would. I wonder if the lack of runs had an effect there.

On the one hand I was hoping for better but overall I’m not too disappointed. I will likely be doing a few 5K runs before tackling another long one on the weekend. For those I’m hoping to at least get under 5K again.

The return to humidity run

Average pace: 5:14/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Ran Piper Mill Trail and Conifer Loops
Distance: 10.03 km
Weather: Cloudy, a few sprinkles, humid
Temp: 22-25ºC (felt like 24-26)
Wind: nil to light
Calories burned: 725
Total distance to date: 2415 km

I was bad this week. I kept putting off runs after work due to lack of motivation and a few days of distinctly un-summerlike weather. And so it was that five days passed after my quite decent previous run.

I set out today a few minutes past noon with the temperature already climbing above the average but with the sky overcast and threatening showers. The tone was set a mere two blocks out as I started to sweat from the humid conditions.

Along the river trail I noted two changes. The tipped-over port-0-potty has been removed, likely until next summer (if it returns at all) and a crew had been by to fill the majority of potholes, no small task since there are approximately five million of them. This time they put a little more effort into the job as they used a crushed gravel mix that had a cement-like solidity. Each hole was filled to just overflowing then tamped down firmly. This compares to the previous job, where loose gravel was poured into the holes to less than full, so that any vehicle that passed over a pothole would shoot the loose gravel out from under its tires.

I started out the run trying to repeat last time with a brisk initial pace and was mostly successful, coming in at 4:39/km vs. 4:37/km five days prior. That two second difference became three on the second km. Not great and a sure sign this run would be slower but if I could keep it up for just a few more km…but the bottom fell out on the third km. Last Sunday I was at 14:21 but today I was a pokey 14:32, 11 seconds off. And I had eight km to go. Blargh.

The rest of the run was a variety show of weather–mostly clouds but occasional sun, a few sprinkles, no wind for the most part but an occasional breeze, including an especially welcome one that came just before I reached the Deer Lake Brook bridge. By this point my head and body both felt like they were starting to overheat from a combination of the rising temperature, high humidity and still air. I contemplated ending the run earlier about four times.

In the end I pushed on to the 10K mark and stopped there, walking the last km, mostly along the Avalon Trail. I knew my time would be mediocre at best and feared that adding another km would make it that much worse (it probably wouldn’t have but tell that to a heat-addled brain 10 km in).

My average pace ended up at 5:14/km, not quite the disaster of my 5:19/km pace a week and a half ago but still a letdown from last Sunday.

My next run will probably be a 5K in a few days.

The left foot behaved, though it started getting a little sore on the walk back. Bollocks* started stiff, loosened up, then started to mildly ache again for the last few km, possibly due to my sluggish pace, which seems to be harder on it. I don’t think it affected my time.

* my new official term for my right Achilles tendon until I come up with something better

The return to form run

Average pace: 5:03/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Ran Piper Mill Trail and Conifer Loops
Distance: 11.06 km
Weather: Sunny, somewhat humid
Temp: 21-24ºC
Wind: nil to light
Calories burned: 799
Total distance to date: 2405 km

This morning I was greeted by the shocking sight of rain showers. Normally rain showers rate very low on the shocking scale in the Metro Vancouver area but given that we had no rain at all in July and August thus far has been rather dry, I was surprised to see a fairly heavy shower merrily showering away until about 11 a.m. I pondered the pros and cons of running when the sun returned. On the plus side, cooler temperatures. On the con, higher humidity.

I wanted to at least “finish” yesterday’s run so off I went around 1 p.m.

(I forgot to mention that yesterday was the first run where the fire hazard signs had gone back up at the entrances to the trails. It is somewhat ironic that the next day I see the sign is after it had rained.)

The sun made quick work of any rain that hadn’t already soaked into the ground, so there was nary a puddle to be seen, apart from the top of the dam, whose uneven concrete serves to collect and retain water much like one would expect a dam to do. Even that had mostly dried up by the end of the run.

As I had to make use of the port-a-potty before heading out I opted to run clockwise, my less-preferred direction for assorted reasons. Given that two of the three previous runs were dismal and the other being salvaged through the expedient of ending it prematurely I did not have high hopes. I set off.

Immediately I felt different. I made a spontaneous decision to try a rare balls-out approach and deliberately run faster for as far as I could, hoping I could bank enough steam to get to the end without a total second-half collapse.

Surprisingly, it worked!

I was confident my 1K time was pretty good and when I hit the 4K mark shortly after starting along the second boardwalk I was suitably encouraged. This meant I’d covered over a third of the run without my pace appreciably falling off.

I thought that with the rain in the morning the shaded areas may feel cooler than they might otherwise and that the air in general would be fresher, despite the higher humidity (68-73%) and this was indeed the case. For once the humidity didn’t make the run feel like a slog. That, combined with a modest rise in temperature allowed me to keep the energy level higher until about the last km where the run finally started to catch up to me.

But it wasn’t enough to drag down my overall pace appreciably, which was my best in quite awhile–5:03/km. That’s a full 16 seconds better than my last 11K run. It was, as they say, just what the doctor ordered, at least in terms of encouragement.

The only down note was my right tendon began to feel sore for the last few km. Not enough to slow me down but a sign that the total distance over the last two days was probably more than it was able to comfortably manage. It’ll get a couple of days to rest so should hopefully be good by the next run.

The hopefully not de-motivational half-run

Average pace: 5:01/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Ran Piper Mill Trail and Conifer Loops
Distance: 5.5 km
Weather: Sunny, humid
Temp: 22-23ºC
Wind: light
Calories burned: 399
Total distance to date: 2394 km

I was not looking forward to today’s run after the last two dismal outings but off I went just before noon under cloudy skies. It was still humid despite not being as warm and even before leaving the river trail I had started to sweat. This did not fill me with confidence.

I started out and hit all the early points where I wanted to (the most obvious one is hitting the 2K mark before reaching the bridge over Eagle Creek near Piper Spit) but around 4 km in I was feeling tired and the motivation to continue was waning. It didn’t help that the sun had come out, which made it hotter but did nothing to alleviate the humidity.

I made a vow to keep on and do the full run if I hit the 5K mark before or as I was crossing the bridge at Still Creek, the unofficial halfway point. I trod across the bridge and my iPod continued to pipe music into my ears but the Nike announcer lady remained silent. She then announced the 5K mark about three seconds after I had crossed the bridge, presenting me with a conundrum. Since I was so close, should I muster on and see if I could improve on my miserable pace from Tuesday or pack it in, settle for at least having a decent pace now and try to follow-up again tomorrow?

Feeling a smidgen of guilt over quitting, I pressed on for another half km, through the exposed section along the athletic fields, reaching the shaded area at the east end. And it was there that I decided to bail. The rest of the run along the southern side of the lake is generally more challenging with lots of small hills, twists and several areas where you are fully exposed to the elements and I feared the worst.

In the end I managed 5.5 km and an average pace of 5:01/km. Though that’s a full 17 seconds better than Tuesday’s run, it’s only six seconds better than my pace at the 5K mark on Tuesday (5:10 vs. 5:16). Given that the back half of the run is slower, I was probably heading to an overall pace of around 5:14/km. Better than Tuesday but still pretty mediocre. So on the one hand, I feel wimpy having ended the run early, but on the other I’m glad that I get at least a minor psychological boost by finishing with a pace that at least hints at being able to get under five minutes again.

I tentatively plan on doing another run tomorrow, length to be determined.

UPDATE: It’s Sunday morning around 11 a.m. and it is actually showering. How weird. I’m undecided on whether I am willing to run in the rain or not. There’s a novelty aspect to it after such a long dry spell but at the same time it’s running in the rain which is overall kind of yucky.

The Return to Africa hot run

Average pace: 5:19/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Ran Piper Mill Trail and Conifer Loops
Distance: 11.41 km
Weather: Sunny, Africa hot
Temp: 23-27ºC
Wind: light
Calories burned: 825
Total distance to date: 2389 km

Blergh.

For some reason runs always seem to go worse when I run clockwise around the lake. But I get ahead of myself.

I was curious how today’s run would go because I was heading out around the same time of day but with a few differences: it was much warmer (bad) but there was a breeze (good), it wasn’t as humid (good) but it was sunny instead of cloudy (bad).

It was my second run in three days after a slothful five days off.

I started out about four seconds off my previous pace, slipped a little further and ended with a time of 5:19/km, pretty lousy after getting as low as 5:07 previously. On a positive note my feet were both fine, though the left one was a tad sore on the walk back (not enough to slow me down, though).

On the negative…this was a very dry run. I felt parched and with the breeze I had a definite case of desert mouth. The temperature rose rapidly from 23 to 27ºC, the kind of change that is noticeable and not in a good way. Worse, though, the lingering effects of either a nascent head cold or some fun new allergy meant I had a pressure headache before heading out. I dealt with this by taking two Advil. The headache went away but at around the 5 km mark I felt very odd, a mix of light-headed and weak. I was passing by the athletic field at the time and wanted to just lay down on the nice soft grass for awhile. Instead I mustered on, got past the wooziness and even managed a slight uptick in my pace after bottoming out at the 10K mark.

Barring actual injury, I’m all but guaranteed to do better on the next 10K+ run.

On the run itself there were two things of note. The first was a rare triple rule violation. Seeing people walk their dogs without leashing them is pretty common. Seeing people riding bikes on the trail is (thankfully) less common. Today I saw a mother and her son both riding their bikes, with an unleashed dog in tow. Good job, I say!

We met up at the dam as I ended my run, dehydrated and cranky. I still managed to sound fairly polite as I said to her, “Actually, bikes aren’t allowed on the trail.” She didn’t seem to hear and hoisted her bike up and over the stairs on the dam, rolling it to the other side. By coincidence I was going the same way to get a long drink from the faucet nearby. I watched as she walked her bike down the path past me. I kept drinking. She waited for her son to catch up. Then she waited some more for no apparent reason. I finally got my fill of liquid nirvana and headed off. I’m sure she hopped back on the bike as soon as I was out of view. All I can hope is that she skidded out on some horse poop on the Avalon trail and landed face-first into it.

The other odd sight was a man jogging ahead of me. Occasionally I see people running with  smartphones strapped to their arms. This guy was like that except instead of a smartphone it was a tablet, either a 7 or 8 inch Samsung tablet. It looked huge and uncomfortable. The guy had his tablet arm raised straight up, as if hailing a cab. With his free hand he seemed to be making some adjustments and was not having much luck. As I caught up he got things settled and resumed a regular running pace. Or as regular a running pace as you can manage with a freaking tablet strapped to your arm. It was weird.

The Return from Lethargy run

Average pace: 5:13/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Ran Piper Mill Trail and Conifer Loops
Distance: 11.02 km
Weather: Cloudy, humid
Temp: 18-19ºC
Wind: none to light
Calories burned: 798
Total distance to date: 2377 km

For reasons I can’t entirely explain I got really lazy after the last run and kept putting off the next, to the point where I’d gone the entire work week without running at all, five days in total.

Come Saturday morning I rectified this by heading out shortly after 11 a.m., weighing on whether conditions and the time-off would favor or hinder me.

Weather-wise, a low pressure system finally bumped up against the high pressure ridge and dropped the temperature down from an average of about 25ºC down to 18ºC. The cooler temperature should definitely work in my favor. Also in the plus column would be the cloudy sky, with nary a bit of sun to beat down on me. On the negative side there was no wind at all and humidity was high — 75%.

As it turned out, that humidity and still air took its toll, making the last few km of the run in particular a real slog. The first part my right Achilles tendon felt very stiff and sore as it worked out its kinks and it really didn’t start to feel okay until the last few km, when I had no energy left to run. 😛

In the end I matched my previous pace exactly, coming in again at 5:13/km. I suppose holding steady under the conditions could be considered a quasi-victory of sorts.

The trail showed little sign of the few showers we’d seen after the month-long dry spell, though the work on the trail along the athletic field is now complete. The fencing is still gone (permanently?) and the freshly gravel-covered section is now at least twice as wide as it was before right up to the corner where it abruptly shrinks back to its original width. The gravel has been pressed nice and firm, so it’s already fine for running on.

I plan on taking a more normal two days off before the next run. Hopefully the conditions will be decent and the foot will be flexible enough to not give me much trouble.

The back to back run with bonus sore Achilles tendon

Average pace: 5:13/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Ran Piper Mill Trail and Conifer Loops
Distance: 11.15 km
Weather: Sunny, humid
Temp: 26-22ºC
Wind: light to moderate
Calories burned: 806
Total distance to date: 2366 km

The portable toilet that was kindly placed near the end of the Brunette River trail for public use was tipped over backward. This is a heavy thing with a fairly solid foundation (to keep it stable) so the vandals were dedicated, if nothing else. And nothing else would definitely be the case. Jerks.

I was curious how the run today would go, only 24 or so hours after the previous 11K. Conditions were very similar but because I started later in the afternoon, the temperature actually went down instead of up, which should have helped to maintain a better pace.

Note I say “should have”.

As I started off, again running counter-clockwise, I debated over whether I wanted to do the optional loops or settle for a 10K+ run instead. At the last moment I maintained my course and stayed off Spruce Loop, the first of the three loops. I instantly regretted my move, especially as Sundays have more traffic on the regular part of the trail, so when the trail forked again, I headed down the Conifer Loop. As it hooks back slightly before reaching the point where it and the Spruce Loop intersect, the total distance probably ended up nearly the same.

The run seemed to go fairly well and in fact my energy level seemed improved over yesterday and my pace more consistent. I was hoping to either tie my pace or improve on it slightly but when I reached the end and got the time I was surprised that my pace was four seconds slower than yesterday–5:13/km. How could this happen? I cried out to the heavens but they did not reply.

Instead, I uploaded the data to the Nike+ site when I got home and found the answer in the splits. My first km was a staggering nine seconds slower. Looking back, my right Achilles tendon (which I should really give a short, snappy nickname like Bollocks) was very stiff, having scant hours to recover from the prior run. It took a few km before it limbered up and a little longer than that to really feel close to normal again. It definitely hindered my pace in the early going.

I was right about my energy level being better, though. In the first four km of yesterday’s run I added 11 seconds to my pace, whereas today I only added 8. I also dropped 10 seconds in the last few km yesterday and dropped 18 today, a significant improvement. It wasn’t enough to overcome the sluggish start, though. Alas.

Still, I’m pleased and the left foot actually felt good enough to allow me to walk all the way home with no discomfort. Woot.

A decent run with bonus new mulch and crazy person

Average pace: 5:09/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Ran Piper Mill Trail, Conifer and Spruce Loops
Distance: 11.1 km
Weather: Sunny, humid
Temp: 21-25ºC
Wind: light to moderate
Calories burned: 802
Total distance to date: 2355 km

The crazy person was not actually on the run and I have no actual evidence that he was crazy except that he was sitting in the shadows under the Highway 1 overpass along the Brunette River trail, wearing a white suit jacket and as I walked by on the other side of the trail, completely unaware he was there he called out to me and started talking about some question or something and how I shouldn’t answer now but later and so on and so forth and it really sounded like was saying, “I am mentally unstable, keep away and avoid direct eye contact.”

I opted to take the SkyTrain on the return trip because I was feeling like my left foot might act up so I don’t know if he was still there an hour and a half later. Probably not, though it was certainly cooler in the shade, especially for those wearing white suit jackets.

It was warm and breezy and a bit humid but all of these things seemed to cancel each other out, so conditions ended up being not bad overall, though the rising temperature is probably what slowed me down the last few km. I had been naughty and not run for four full days so I was unsure if the extra rest would result in me being faster or perhaps slightly less tuned and slower. As it turned out, my pace was exactly the same as the last run–5:09/km.

One noticeable change on the trail was the fence along the athletic field has been removed and the section of trail beside it has been temporarily roped off, forcing one to jog on the field itself. As it’s well-watered, it actually has a nice springy feel to it. At the end where it reconnects to the trail they have for some reason spread a swath of mulch (right on the corner of the field). I don’t know if this is intended as a new part of the path or what, but a liberal spread of fresh mulch on top of springy grass is not the most stable surface to run on. Fortunately it only amounts to a few seconds of running.

Apart from the flagging around the 8-9 km mark, I maintained a decent pace and probably would have bested Monday if I had been more consistent. I’m still pleased overall.

The left foot was signalling a certain displeasure as I started walking back so I chose to take the SkyTrain home.

The mid-July better run

Average pace: 5:09/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Ran Piper Mill Trail, Conifer and Spruce Loops
Distance: 11.04 km
Weather: Sunny, humid
Temp: 25-26ºC (felt like 26-28ºC)
Wind: light to moderate
Calories burned: 797
Total distance to date: 2344 km

Today’s run was a little less humid and not quite as warm and the breeze was a bit breezier. The combination meant I finished with a pace of 5:09/km, 12 seconds better than my last run and nearly catching up to my previous 5:07 pace.

I ran counter-clockwise and am thinking this is easier when conditions are more Xtreme™ because the north side of the lake is more shaded. This means I can establish a decent pace by the time I hit the hotter, more exposed south side of the lake. When I do it in reverse it feels like my energy reserve gets exhausted before I can hit my stride and the back half of the run tends to fizzle out.

Or something like that.

The left foot behaved for the run and started feeling sore on the walk back but not nearly to the degree of Saturday’s run, so a definite improvement there. Overall I’m pleased to see that the horrible run on Saturday was probably just an anomaly.

Africa hot meets Vancouver humidity

Average pace: 5:21/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Ran Piper Mill Trail, Conifer and Spruce Loops
Distance: 11.2 km
Weather: Sunny, humid
Temp: 26ºC
Wind: light to moderate
Calories burned: 810
Total distance to date: 2333 km

It was 26ºC when I headed out for today’s run around 1 p.m. but the weather site ominously listed it as feeling like 28. It also noted 57% humidity. I also had a strange bad feeling about my left foot.

All of these bad feelings made no difference as I started out. Despite having to come to a dead stop on the Avalon Trail to let a car pass (first time ever) and eating its dust for the next ten seconds, the first km was quite brisk, so brisk that the second km looked plodding in comparison (a whopping 10% drop in pace). The worst was yet to come, though. The high humidity sapped away my energy and before long what looked like plodding was actual plodding.

On the plus side, I did improve my pace marginally or hold steady at the 7, 10 and 11K marks and my right tendon behaved itself, making its presence known in a very mild way for the last few km. The left foot did the same and didn’t affect the run. It did start to hurt on the walk back along the river trail and began to plainly hurt as I continued up Fader Street, a few blocks from home. This is the first time the foot has really hurt in awhile so while I’m relieved it didn’t start till after the run it’s still a disappointment.

The horrible, sloggy pace of 5:21/km (14 seconds off the last 11K run) was also disappointing but July has been a strange month, weather-wise, with a combination of both higher-than-average temperatures and on many days much higher than normal humidity to go with it. The combo is not conducive to a good run. In fact at this point I can safely say that I’d have preferred it to be several degrees hotter if the humidity was similarly lower.

While it’s nice to not have my mouth parched dry on a summer run, running through what feels like warm molasses is not better.

I may run again tomorrow, either early or late and see how it compares. Or maybe just take a cold shower.

 

The two-wheeled distraction run

Average pace: 4:53/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Distance: 5.02 km
Weather: Sunny, humid
Temp: 27ºC
Wind: light
Calories burned: 363
Total distance to date: 2322 km

Same run as on Tuesday but with the bonus of being two seconds slower on average. Woo. The reason? Not because it was sunny (it was probably ever-so-slightly cooler) but because it was much more humid. I now refer to humidity as the energy vampire.

I also had unexpected accompaniment for the first km or so as my partner Jeff was coming back on the river trail from his bike ride. He swung around and rode alongside me, which made me want to run faster to show off, be faster than the bike and generally be stupid and macho. I probably would have thrown up at some point but he sensed I was distracted and headed off home. After a midpoint sag my pace jumped up and down but despite pushing hard at the end I could not match my previous pace.

The feet were okay, so I’ll chalk this up as a victory all the same.