Exercise

My first run since our latest (and hopefully final) snow of the season, and a few general observations:

• Mild! It was 9C, the warmest it’s been all year. It was nice. EDIT: I thought about this later and remembered we had some record high temperatures in January. I checked and on my January 13th run it was 10C (at 9:00 in the morning). So I actually had to wait almost two months for it to get nearly that warm again.
• Late! I didn’t actually start the run until 1:41 p.m., the latest in quite a while. I was just busy in the morning, and jogging when it would be milder in the afternoon had a certain appeal.
• Destruction! See below.

There was still some snow on the trail, as the photo below illustrates, with probably more being on the side trail and the south shore, but not enough to make the run unnavigable or anything, just a tad annoying in certain spots. It did help keep me from running too fast early on, though. The snow was both compacted, yet somewhat squishy, so there was no way to get a good grip on it.

I dressed in two layers and think I may have been fine in a long-sleeved t-shirt. Because of the week off, I chose on-the-fly to just do a 5K, and given the greater snow on the south side of the lake, I’m okay with that. I’ll do 10K next time, assuming we don’t have a blizzard in the interim.

As for destruction…yes! The heavy snow brought down more trees and branches, several of which were still down on the trail today, which is a little odd, given the snow happened last week. Multiple branches on the first boardwalk effectively made it one-lane in places, and a number of trees are leaning precariously over the trail, dangling their branches directly at head level, forcing you to bob around them. I mean, it keeps you focused, because you really don’t want to stab yourself in the face with a branch at a running pace.

I had no issues, other than the right ankle feeling a little creaky. Nothing serious, just kinks being worked out after the week-long layoff (the treadmill doesn’t really count).

In all, a decent run on an iffy trail. I’ll be glad when the weather is better, the trail is tidier, and I can focus just on running, not being stabbed by nature.

Stats:

Run 760
Average pace: 5:51/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 1:41 p.m.
Distance: 5:03 km
Time: 29:28
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 9ºC
Humidity: 57%
Wind: low
BPM: 151
Weight: 163.7
Total distance to date: 5650 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (322 km)

Winter is back and blasting us with The Cold™ again, but no snow so far (they saw it may be coming, boo).

After a lazy week in which I did a treadmill workout on Monday and nothing at all on Wednesday, I set out to get back into the routine and did a full 10K this morning.

And it went fairly well!

It was sub-zero the entire time, and I wore my running pants and three layers up top. Two layers may have sufficed, but the walk to and from the lake would definitely have been chillier. It was slightly breezy in New West, but there was really no wind at all at the lake itself. My hands warmed up faster than expected.

I set out to run at a modest pace and kept to that. The Garmin Forerunner did not freak out on my heart rate this time. It claims a peak of 169, but that happened near the end when I was accelerating to pass another runner, and it quickly fell back after I resumed my normal pace. My overall pace was 154 BPM, a bit on the higher side, but understandable given the cold.

The weird thing is it didn’t feel as horrible as last Friday’s run. That one sucked corn dogs.

I didn’t have any notable issues here, and it was nice having the phone in the front pocket, where I could easily change music volume if needed (I did do that once). My laces came loose and I had to retie at Eagle Creek (near Piper Spit) but no interruptions otherwise.

Overall, it was nice to be back out. Here’s hoping I’m not facing snow drifts on Monday.

Stats:

Run 759
Average pace: 5:53/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:45 a.m.
Distance: 10:03 km
Time: 59:03
Weather: Sunny
Temp: -3 to -1ºC
Humidity: 38%
Wind: low
BPM: 154
Weight: 162.2
Total distance to date: 5645 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (317 km)

This morning I contemplated what to do today, run-wise, after the technical SNAFU that was Wednesday’s run, everything from just taking a break, to doing a normal 10K, to a 5K to using the Apple Watch instead.

In the end, I opted to take it easier by running a 5K and used the Apple Watch only, to see how it would compare to the Garmin, particularly in terms of heart rate.

My average BPM was 150, which is the exact target I try to hit, so that was nice. The run doesn’t show any weird spikes or dips in heart rate, also nice.

It felt very cold and clammy and took me awhile to warm up. That said, my pace was fairly brisk and consistent throughout. It was kind of a weird run. I did not feel zippy at all, despite what the numbers say (average pace of 5:38/km) At the same time, I also did not feel slow, per se, just…cold and blah. I mixed things up a wee bit, post-run, by diverting onto the Freeway Trail. It’s not especially scenic in the summer and it’s really not scenic at all in the winter, but at least it was a change of pace. And I had the entire trail to myself for the entire 2 km.

At least the sun came out after the run, and I got a few nice shots of the lake.

And proved that my heart is normal, but my Garmin Forerunner, at least on Wednesday, was not.

It was also interesting to do a run with the Apple Watch after using the Garmin for a few months. If I ignore the erratic heart rate monitoring on Wednesday, I’d have to say the Garmin is a better experience almost completely across the board for running:

• The Memory-In-Pixel display of the Garmin may not be great indoors, but outdoors, even on gloomy days, it’s very readable, much more than the Apple Watch’s AMOLED display (which is great indoors)
• Speaking of readable, all the stats on the Garmin are rendered in bigger, thicker fonts, so at-a-glance info is much easier to parse vs. the Apple Watch’s thin, uniform fonts.
• The Apple Watch still keeps up interval info for an irritatingly long time
• The vibration feedback is about 1,000 times more prominent on the Garmin compared to the delicate haptic caress of the Apple Watch (and I have the haptics cranked up to full).
• The Apple Watch does always show the time, which is handy
• Accessing music is also much easier on the Apple Watch
• Pausing/unpausing a workout is simpler on the Garmin
• The post-workout info is a lot more detailed on the Garmin

Man, my hands are still cold as I type this. I’m glad my running for the week is done. I’m going to go give my hands a nice hot shower.

Bonus shot of the lake, post-run:

Stats:

Run 758
Average pace: 5:38/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 12:05 p.m.
Distance: 5.04 km
Time: 28:22
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 5ºC
Humidity: 87%
Wind: low
BPM: 150
Weight: 162.2
Total distance to date: 5635 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (307 km)

With bonus bladder hijinks!

It was cooler today, so I wore my windbreaker. In retrospect, I think two layers would have been sufficient, as there was little wind.

I started a little later, but was otherwise planning a pretty ordinary run. I made a tactical error before heading out by drinking way too much soda (aided by not heading out until later), which meant my teeny-tiny bladder sought relief three times before I started my run and twice during the run. It was kind of ridiculous.

What was also kind of ridiculous is the heart rate reported by my Garmin Forerunner 255, which has generally been pretty accurate. All started well, with my first km being 5:45/km and my second slowing a bit to 5:51/km. I was planning on a fairly mellow run today and wasn’t even going to really check on my BPM much at all and so far, all seemed to be proceeding normally.

After the third km dinged, I saw my pace was 5:39/km, which is faster than intended. I checked my heart rate and noticed as I pulled the sleeve of the jacket back that the last digit was an 8. Could my BPM be 148? That would be too low, given the speed and cold. 158? A little high, but quite plausible, given conditions. But no, it was 168, which is, as scientists say, way too high.

I then deliberately slowed my pace but my BPM stayed stubbornly high. I later paused the workout for Bladder Crisis #1. This brought my BPM down to 136. But it started climbing higher again, even as my reported pace was perfectly average. It peaked at 175. I then not only paused the run, I came to a full stop and waited 10-15 seconds. I checked the heart rate on my Apple Watch, on my right wrist. It reported 136. That seemed about right. The Forerunner reported 153, which would be accurate if I was actually running and not standing still. At this point (roughly halfway through the run), I took the Forerunner off, wiped the bottom of the watch to maybe help the sensors, and wiped down my left wrist for good measure. When I resumed running, the Forerunner now went in a new direction: opposite! It now claimed my heart rate was 80, which is basically impossible if I’m even just walking at a brisk pace. Over the course of a few km, it barely got up to 100 BPM.

With about 3.5 km to go, I decided to track the rest of the run on both devices. The Apple Watch ended up reporting an overall average BPM of 148. This seemed about right. The Forerunner was still under-reporting my heart rate. After nearly two km, it was reporting around 100 BPM, which is silly. It kept creeping up a tiny bit. Finally, with a little under 2 km to go, I paused for Bladder Crisis #2. After resuming the run, the Forerunner suddenly seemed to recognize my actual heart rate again and reported an average of 152 or so for the remainder of the run.

I have no idea why any of this happened. I do know that the Apple Watch seemed to be reporting a heart rate that was in range of what I was expecting, meaning the Garmin watch was not reporting an anomalous heart, but an anomalous reading. It got very weird when it went super-low. By my estimate, it was off by about 50 BPM at that point.

If I figure out what caused this, I’ll report back. Note that the walks both before and after the run reported perfectly normal heart rates, so this seemed to be specific to the run for some reason.

as for the actual run itself? It was fine. No issues, and the cold was not a problem. I’m undecided on whether all the pausing helps or hurts my overall pace. On the one hand, it gives me a chance to rest, presumably providing more energy than I’d have otherwise. On the other hand, it takes me a little time to get back up to speed, cancelling out at least some of that extra energy advantage. Overall, it probably makes little difference.

As for my real heart rate, I would guess somewhere between 149-152 BPM overall. 137 would be seriously impressive at this stage of my running career.

Stats:

Run 757
Average pace: 5:49/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 11:29 a.m.
Distance: 10.03 km
Time: 58:18
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 3-4ºC
Humidity: 79%
Wind: low
BPM: "137" (see text for why this is in quotation marks)
Weight: 162.9
Total distance to date: 5630 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (302 km)

There is a high wind warning in effect today, though the wind isn’t supposed to really pick up until the afternoon. Still, I thought it might be a bit breezy this morning and as I moved toward the southern side of the lake I did encounter a little wind, but not much. It was almost kind of nice at that point.

My goal for Monday was to ease into the week, try to stay around 150 BPM and just take whatever time I got, as long as it was under 6:00/km.

I accomplished this and gave myself a make-believe pat on the back!

In fact, I was only slightly slower than Friday, at 5:48/km, and my average BPM was down to 149. I didn’t have any issues, save having to suddenly use the loo just past the 8K mark. Because it was later in the morning, there were more people out and a few were semi-oblivious to my presence, but calamities were avoided.

In all, a nice intro to the week.

Stats:

Run 756
Average pace: 5:48/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:49 a.m.
Distance: 10.03 km
Time: 58:13
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 6-7ºC
Humidity: 84%
Wind: low to moderate
BPM: 149
Weight: 162.7
Total distance to date: 5620 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (292 km)

I was expecting a low-key run this morning, with middling to average performance, mainly due to the last few days being stressful, this morning being very stressful, and getting up two hours earlier than normal (at 5 a.m.), ergo not getting enough sleep.

In fact, even though I wore the Garmin Forerunner to bed, it didn’t record any sleep data, like it was telling me I literally didn’t sleep long enough for it to count.

There was also a 50% chance of precipitation, but I gambled and wore my windbreaker with one layer. It actually started clearing up as I ran, so I won, woo.

I headed out earlier than ever, about 10 minutes before sunrise (it’s already light at that time) and started the run at 8:20 a.m., opting for counter-clockwise. For most of the first half, I just kept a steady pace and did not check my BPM.

At the 1K mark, a shoelace came untied, which was odd, but that was the only real issue. Unlike Wednesday, there was pretty much no wind at all, and by the 4th km, I was warm enough that I actually took off my jacket and tied it around my waist. I didn’t put it on until I was about 2 km away from home, when I finally had cooled down enough to start feeling the morning chill again.

I almost stopped to take a photo from the bridge at Still Creek, as the sun and clouds were reflecting in a postcard-perfect way, but decided to just keep on going.

In the end I surprised myself by nailing my target BPM of 150, and hitting an average pace of 5:46/km, which is not as blazing fast as Wednesday, but still quite zippy–and fast enough to earn the fastest 1K award.

Other than the conditions being mild (no hands tucked in the sleeves) and just generally getting in better shape, I have no explanation for the improved performance, but I think these two things are the major factors. Both are good and nice!

Beating potential rain is also a nice bonus.

We’ll see what Monday brings.

Stats:

Run 755
Average pace: 5:46/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 8:20 a.m.
Distance: 10.04 km
Time: 57:52
Weather: Partly sunny
Temp: 5-6ºC
Humidity: 83%
Wind: low
BPM: 150
Weight: 162.7
Total distance to date: 5610 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (282 km)