Exercise

Distance: 4.82 km
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 21-23ºC
Wind: light
Average pace: 5:27/km

What better way to show how delightfully absurd our weather has been than to note that the temperature for today’s run was more than double that of the run on Thursday.

I was originally going to run on Saturday but I could feel that ominous ting in my left shin (and my right to a lesser extent) after Thursday’s outing, the kind of ting that usually sees me update five weeks later to note that I haven’t been running and instead have been nursing a shin splint or rickets or something.

With three days off and a warm ol’ sun out for a change, I was concerned about how the legs would hold up and whether my pace might suffer, even if the legs were fine. I could feel both shins as I started out — not in a painful way, more of a sore/still not 100% tuned up-way. That feeling subsided as I kept running, though curiously my left knee (which may be somewhat arthritic now) seemed to bother me more). About 15 minutes in the warmth of the sun felt less like a melodic Beach Boys song and more just hot. Complicating matters further were a gaggle of kids from an elementary school running practice relays. Today was a clockwise run so I was running against them and it’s amazing how many did not understand the idea of left/right when it came to passing by each other. Fortunately no collisions were had.

I stopped the run early at the 26 minute mark (I meant to go a full 5K at least but guessed slightly off) because I was too hot, the kids were bugging me and I was unsure about the legs. I think they’re okay. I will poke and prod tonight and see how they feel after.

The one good note is that my pace did not suffer as much as I thought it would. My opening km came in at a decent 5:05 and my overall pace of 5:27/km was actually a bit faster than my previous (but longer) run. This suggests that the legs are probably holding up, as my past experience has been that a significant drop in pace is one of the sure signs that you done hurt somethin’.

We shall see for certain on Wednesday!

Chart (blue indicates the run was done clockwise):

Distance: 7.34 km
Weather: Steady rain
Temp: 10ºC (!)
Wind: n/a

In 19 days it is officially summer. Today I ran in a steady rain with the temperature at noon hovering a smidgen above 10ºC. This after Environment Canada announced their summer forecast predicting drier and hotter-than-normal conditions for BC. LIARS.

While the puddles expanded on each lap, my run went well, with the first km coming in at a brisk 5:00/km and my overall pace 5:28, three seconds faster than the prior 40 minute run. A few other joggers showed up right near the end but I mostly had the park to myself. The guy I think of as Kung Fu Master, the one who spends his time balancing on the fence tops in and around the park, was there doing his thing and for the first 10 minutes or so a kid about 14 years old, bedecked in rain gear, stood statue-like in the rain watching KFM carefully balancing himself. He was utterly transfixed. At some point he probably realized he was also getting soaked to the butt and moved on.

I had a momentary scare when my foot slipped in the muck on the terrible southeast corner of the trail and my ankle twisted inward but recovered quickly without further incident. About midway through I did have an ULI — Untied Lace Incident. I paused to tie the lace back up and was good after that. A minor cramp showed up with a few minutes left but dissipated quickly. As is usually the case in a rain-filled run, I couldn’t get the iPod to stop due to it being slick with precipitation and ran farther than intended. It’s not a bad thing, just annoying when technology tells you, ‘No.’

At least you don’t notice the sweat in a torrential downpour. Yeah.

Chart (blue indicates the run was done clockwise):

Okay, I was actually just running clockwise, which is opposite the way I usually run. Or no longer the opposite now, as I’m alternating direction on each run.

Distance: 7.28 km
Weather: Hazy sun, sunny
Temp: 16ºC
Wind: light

This week I’ve shifted my run days from Monday/Wednesday/Friday to Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday. One reason is just to deviate from routine for a change, the other was to give me an extra day of rest in preparation for a 40-minute run today. Dun dun dun!

I did about as well I had hoped for — my pace up to the 5K mark was nearly identical to previous runs at 5:25/km while I slowed down to 5.31/km overall, not bad for the additional 2.28 km added to the run. My legs were a little tired for that extra part of the run but felt fine afterward. I think I’ll maintain the 40 minute runs this week and consider bumping up to the full 10K next week.

For a change of pace I was not congratulated at the end by the Nike+ program for completing another 500 km. I was disappointed. I’ll never reach 2,000,000 km this way! I’m pretty much used to running clockwise now, though I think I still prefer the usual counter-clockwise. The trail was in decent shape after a light shower earlier in the afternoon.

Chart (blue indicates the run was done clockwise):

Sunny
Temp: 13-15ºC
Wind: W 15 km/h

Still unseasonably cool but with the sun out it was more than warm enough out for today’s catch-up run. Despite it being sunny and the last week of May I still saw some guy at the park wearing a heavy black winter jacket. Dude, it’s 13, not -13! As is typical of Vancouver, another guy was sitting at the edge of the field, tanning his shirtless and incredibly pale upper body.

The opening km of today’s run was slower (5:07/km) than the previous (5:01/km) but the end result was the same – 5:24/km, although the Nike+ site decided to round up the result yet again (to 5:25). I’m sticking to 5:24, dangit. And Joan Benoit Samuelson congratulated me for completing another 500 km, the fourth time she has done so in the last five runs. By the end of next month I figure I will have run enough to have circumnavigated the globe. Thanks, Joan!

The last couple of km I was beginning to feel a little tired but was actually maintaining a slightly better pace than the previous run. I seem to have reached a peak with the 5K runs, though, and will have to consciously push harder to improve my times or contemplate switching to 8 or 10K runs. I’ll make a decision by Monday.

Chart (blue indicates the run was done clockwise):

My shin was tinging a bit (tinging is the best word I can think of to describe it) after Monday’s run so I decided to give it an extra day to evaluate before running again. It turned out to be a good decision not because of a potential injury but because the weather yesterday sucked corn dogs, with the official weather recording 9.7 mm of rain. It dried out sufficiently that the trail today was dry and in about as good a shape as it gets these days.

I’m going to try to use a standard format for the weather. I’ll see if I can stick to it. Thus:

Cloudy with some sun
Temp: 11-14ºC
Wind: light

I ran clockwise and was pleased that Monday’s performance did not appear to be a fluke, as my legs and stamina both held up. I shaved a few seconds off the first km, coming in at a fairly zippy 5:01/km and also knocked two seconds off my previous average pace, dropping to 5:24/km from 5:26. The legs feel fine now, so I should be in good shape going forward. If my times remain where they are or improve, I’ll start giving thought to ramping back up to full 10K runs again.

Chart (blue indicates the run was done clockwise):

I was not looking forward to the run today because I’d made essentially zero progress in the last few and was concerned about having another sluggish jog.

The weather was mild, 15ºC, a light breeze and cloudy. Because of Important stuff, like watching cartoon movies. I ran in the morning instead of the afternoon, but was back to the usual direction, counter-clockwise.

I knew based on where I had completed the last run that this one was going to be a nice improvement. Boosting that, my legs did not feel like lead at all and I managed to push — a little — during the last km. My breathing settled earlier, I had a better start, it was an all-around much-improved run.

The overall pace of 5:26/km easily beat my previous of 5:37/km and a good part of that came in a much faster opening km of 5:03 vs. 5:15 previously.

My next run I’ll be running clockwise (backwards) again, so it’ll be interesting to see how my times compare. I suspect they will be worse but we shall see.

Chart (blue indicates the run was done clockwise):

Today’s run was on the warmest day of the year yet, with temperatures around 20ºC in the shade and probably a few degrees warmer in the sun. There was little in the way of breeze, which was nice after the last gust-o-rama.

After hurting my left shin a few times I had theorized that I was perhaps making injury more likely to happen by always running on the same path and in the same direction, which would lead me to favoring the same side (and leg) over time. Today I began the nutty process of testing this theory by running clockwise around the path at China Creek park and it felt genuinely weird for the first few laps. Oddly, despite the beautiful conditions, I did not encounter any other joggers, though there were numerous people out tanning, throwing Frisbees, kicking soccer balls and otherwise exercising or hanging out.

Speaking of encounters, I came across that weird bubble phenomenon where people outdoors think of themselves as being the only person out there and thus pay absolutely no attention to anything around them. In this case it was a little girl who was part of a larger class out exercising. She walked onto the trail directly in my path. I had enough time to put a hand on her shoulder and stop the inevitable collision.

The run itself went perhaps marginally better than I had hoped. I figured the combination of it feeling warmer than usual and running in the opposite direction would lead to a slower run but I maintained a 5:37/km pace. Stamina was an issue early on but fine for the latter part. The lead legs kicked in midway through, though. I tried pushing a bit in the last km or so but my legs were less than willing to agree with my brain’s clever plan to improve my overall time. At least I’m not getting slower.

Except for my starting km. I’m not sure why my time is so slow there, unless it’s a subconscious effort to not burn out early or something.

The fear of burning came at the end of the run when I looked at my arms and they were red. I thought I had managed the neat trick of burning them on one of the few sunny days we’ve actually had this spring, but they were simply flushed and have resumed their normal pale appearance.

Chart (purple indicates the run was done clockwise)

Ran my first full 5K since January 25th and oddly enough my pace was exactly the same as that day – 5:37/km.

The weather was actually spring-like with the temperature around 17ºC. It was a bit breezy, however, with The Weather Network reporting winds up to 20 km/h. I most noticed this when running the northern part of the trail and the wind was blowing against me. It’s mostly a psychological thing, though at the end of the run the wind was strong enough to blow the water coming out of the fountain back onto my hand. It also leaves your mouth parched like nobody’s business. The sun, though pleasant, was not hot enough to be uncomfortable. It was nice ducking into the shade of the trees lining the trail, too. And speaking of the trail, the few dry days have managed to make it much easier to run on, although it’s still bumpy in spots.

This was also the first official day of the year for Extremely Pale Shirtless Guy Tanning at China Creek.

For the run itself, I felt slow. My opening km was 5:13 vs. the 5:04 in January but the pace in the second half settled down instead of continuing to fall off a cliff. Despite the slowness I didn’t encounter any problems.

Handy comparison chart: