Exercise

Another run in The Rains, though it eased up to more of a sprinkle for the last two km, at least.

It was also a bit chillier at 6C, but I found I didn’t need to tuck my hands in at the start to keep them warm.

As for puddles, they were legion. The trail around the athletic fields was a series of equally bad choices. I went onto the field but it was so sodden it made no difference. My feet got wet.

I once again chose to keep a more moderate pace and finished slightly faster than Friday, but without the silly turboboost at the end, because this time no one passed me. In fact, I didn’t see anyone else out running, just a few people walking, some with dogs, some without. The trail was the lightest I’ve seen in some time, which is not surprising given how poopy the weather was.

In the final km, the left hip said hi, but that was all. The shins also seemed to hold up fine when I was dishing out the most punishment when going up or downhill. My pace varied quite a bit. My start was a bit sluggish, as I felt tired after a lousy night of sleep, with the second km coming in at 6:04/km, but by the Cottonwood Trail I had both eased my pace and cruised to a pace of 5:46/km. I ended with 5:55/km, which is perfectly fine. BPM ticked up slightly to 153, also fine.

I also figured out what the cryptic 4.02 alerts are, as they do indeed come up at the 4 and 8K marks. Why, you might ask? Isn’t 4K kind of random? It is! Until you convert to imperial, where it comes out as 2.5 miles, which may be one of the standard intervals. Why it would get converted to metric and shown to me when I’m running 5 or 10K runs, I don’t know, but at least I know what it is now. Maybe I can turn it off.

Overall, a perfectly cromulent run. I am hoping the next one will be a bit drier, but…

Stats:

Run 745
Average pace: 5:55/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 9:51 a.m.
Distance: 10.04 km
Time: 59:25
Weather: Rain
Temp: 6ºC
Humidity: 97%
Wind: low
BPM: 153
Weight: 163.4
Total distance to date: 5520 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (192 km)

I dressed for rain (rain jacket) and that came in handy, as after some intermittent showers for the first four km, The Rains descended, and it poured for the rest of the run, and rained on the walk home. It’s raining now as I type this. But it was also super mild at 10C, which is well above normal.

Today I had only one goal. Well, two goals:

• Avoid big puddles
• Run at a slower pace, trying to stick closer to 150 BPM

On the first part, this became trickier as the run progressed and when I got to the athletic fields I cut a wide berth around the floody parts of the trail, successfully keeping my feet relatively dry.

On the latter, I came pretty close, with a pace of 152 BPM. I did go a bit faster in the latter half and again in the last km, but there were other times when I let my pace drop as low as 147.

The shins again felt a little tender to start, but held up fine. I think as long as I avoid excessive turbo mode, I’ll be good. Plus, I now have at least two days of recovery (one day less than my Garmin Forerunner recommends).

As for the giants, there was one. At about 3 km remaining, I suddenly had someone whiz by me, a man dressed in black shorts, short and cap. Not the ghost of Johnny Cash, but a runner probably less than half my age and probably about 12 feet tall. He was moving pretty good on those freakishly long legs. I thought of playing catch-up, but there was no way it was going to happen unless I magically transferred into my 30-year-old body and let’s face it, 30-year-old me was actually in worse shape than the current version of me. I ended up having him pass me again, but in the opposite direction–on the river trail. I’m going to imagine he just ran full speed for the entire day, doing a few dozen loops around the lake and general area.

And then it happened again! A young couple with good hips passed me on the final km, on the Conifer Loop. They didn’t seem as fast as the hill giant, so I did make an attempt to keep pace, but a few things occurred to me:

• This was not keeping my BPM down. In fact, it climbed to 160.
• I was nearly at the end of a 10K run. I’m pretty sure they were not.
• We’ll see if they’re still doing this when they’re 58!

So as much as it pains me to have other, faster runners go by me, I let them go. I still ended with a pace of 5:57/km, which is fine for what I was setting out to do, and conditions were not great, so overall I’m pretty satisfied with the results.

Also, a lot more people than expected were out walking in pretty awful weather, including a pair of women who each had a pair of walking sticks and remained unmoved when I called out, “Behind you!” as I approached them. I ended up running off the trail to get around them. I have no idea how they could not have heard me. Maybe I am being deafist, though. Perhaps they literally could not hear! I still shot them a dirty look from further up, as I rounded a corner. I’ll assume their eyesight is as good as their hearing.

Also of note, this was my earliest run in a long time, perhaps ever! I headed out early for a coupler of reasons:

• Vain hope to beat the rain. This only semi-worked.
• I was up early due to noisy neighbours, so why not turn lemon into lemonade? Or something like that.

I was back by 10:30, which is earlier than I head out on some days. I actually was outside before the sun was even up (if you could have seen the sun). It was kind of neat!

Stats:

Run 744
Average pace: 5:57/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 8:44 a.m.
Distance: 10.04 km
Time: 59:43
Weather: Rain
Temp: 10ºC
Humidity: 94%
Wind: low
BPM: 152
Weight: 163.4
Total distance to date: 5510 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (182 km)

For the first time in so long I can’t remember, I decided to bypass all three side trails:

• Spruce Loop
• Conifer Loop
• Piper Mill Trail

This meant I’d do a “shorter” run and also hit my milestones much closer to the trail markers. In fact, I passed the 7K marker at the exact moment I hit 7 km. It felt weird!

The most notable thing about today’s run (other than lucking out and missing the rain entirely, which started about 15 minutes after I got back home), is speed. The side trails are a lot twistier, narrower and hillier than the main trail and perhaps because of this, I did the opposite of what I intended and instead of starting the week with a modest outing, I went all hells bells and by the third km I was feeling tired, which is something that, if it happens, doesn’t occur until maybe the 7th km or so. I confirmed by BPM were high, made an effort to slow on the Cottonwood Trail and managed to bring my BPM down without my pace falling down as well.

I still ended up setting Garmin records for faster 1K, 5K and 10K, plus had my best 10K pace since 2017 at 5:45/km. No real issues during the run, unlike the hip warning of Friday. This time, the watch only suggested 72 hours to recover, instead of 96!

It was cool and, in fact, it felt clammy enough leaving the building that I came back and swapped my dual layers for the long-sleeved shirt and running jacket. It was fine. It felt colder on the way to the river than at the river or lake, as a bit of breeze was blowing. The lake was as calm as ever.

Overall, an unintentionally good start to the week. For Wednesday, I plan on actually easing up for real and will resume running the side trails.

Stats:

Run 742
Average pace: 5:45/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 9:43 a.m.
Distance: 10.03 km
Time: 58:53
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 6-7ºC
Humidity: 72%
Wind: low
BPM: 155
Weight: 162.6
Total distance to date: 5495 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (167 km)

My goal today was to actually make myself slow down and run at a more moderate pace. On Wednesday, my Garmin Forerunner told me I needed 96 hours of recovery time from my run, and I was all, “You’re not my mom!” but still, I thought it wise to pull back. And when I saw my BPM briefly spike around 170 at the 4K mark, I put on the brakes, then kept a steady, slower pace going forward (my overall BPM was 154, which is fine). My overall pace was still 5:56/km, which is perfectly cromulent.

I didn’t experience any issues until the last km, when my trick hip made a brief appearance. I suspect this has to do with how I sometimes sit at my computer desk and will make adjustments. It didn’t have any effect overall on the run, other than as a tiny red flag.

Weather-wise, I was hoping to beat the rain and mostly did. It showered a little, but for probably less than 10 minutes overall. I wore the two layers/shorts combo and again this was fine. It was much milder today–already 8C when I started, and the difference in temperature was noticeable.

Altogether, a nice conclusion for the week.

Stats:

Run 741
Average pace: 5:56/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 10:05 a.m.
Distance: 10.03 km
Time: 58:53
Weather: Cloudy, intermittent showers
Temp: 8-9ºC
Humidity: 87%
Wind: low
BPM: 154
Weight: 163.2
Total distance to date: 5485 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (157 km)

With the weather being sunny (woo), I set out to do my first 10K in a few weeks. While there was a bit of a chilly breeze on the walk to the lake, it was quiet once I got there.

For clothing, I wore shorts and two layers up top. This was sufficient.

I set out and, just to be different, opted to skip the first two side trails, the Spruce and Conifer Loops. Before I made it to the 1K marker, I passed four other runners, which may be the densest ratio of other joggers I’ve ever seen (extrapolate that over my run and that would have been 40 other runners). None of them were running together, making it even weirder.

This wasn’t the only people-based weirdness, though. On at least three occasions I had two people walking ahead of me who were utterly unaware of my approach–even after I warned them verbally. Multiple times.

“Behind you!” No reaction.

“Behind you!” Still no reaction. Getting very close now.

“Excuse me!” No reaction.

“Coming through!” At this point I have to actually put on the brakes to avoid collision–this particular incident was on one of the boardwalks and there is literally no room to run around. The guy on the left fairly leapt out of his skin at my last warning and practically hopped out of the way. his friend said something funny, but I couldn’t make it out.

This happened several other times, where repeated warnings produced no reaction at all. I’m not sure how some people–especially when they’re with someone else, so clearly not lost in their own thoughts–can become so utterly oblivious to their environment when walking outdoors. What if I had been a hungry bear? A hungry jogging bear.

As for the parts where I was able to run without having to duck around others, it went well. No issues at all, and though I never felt tired, the last few km I could already feel my leg muscles reminding me that’s what a 10K run feels like.

I intended to make this an easy, mellow kind-of run, but instead just ran like I normally do and ended with a pace of 5:46/km, which is my fastest 10K in quite a long time. The Garmin app bestowed me with badges for fastest 1K, 5K and 10K. I like badges.

Post-workout, the Forerunner advised 96 hours to recover, which is twice as long as I would normally wait for my next run. I’ll mull its advice.

Overall, a good run and a nice return to 10K.

Stats:

Run 740
Average pace: 5:46/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:02 a.m.
Distance: 10.03 km
Time: 57:51
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 4-6ºC
Humidity: 79%
Wind: low
BPM: 154
Weight: 165.5
Total distance to date: 5475 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (147 km)

The forecast said it would rain today. It was accurate!

I dressed in my long-sleeve shirt, light rain jacket and shorts. This proved fine. It was around 4C to start but warmed up a few degrees over the course of the run. I never felt cold, really. I did get wet. Very wet.

It poured for the entire walk to the lake and all of my 5K run. Funnily enough, the rain stopped almost exactly when I finished the run, as if the rain was synced to it. Showers returned on and off later, but still, I found the timing amusing.

Which means I didn’t mind running in the rain too much. It wasn’t windy, which helped with visibility (less rain on the glasses) and the jacket held up well, keeping me dry on the inside. I did not see another jogger on my entire loop around the lake.

While I feel I could have done 10K, I held to 5K to avoid overexerting myself. I did run most of the second half of the loop after, anyway. When I started the workout on my Forerunner watch, it actually said REST and told me to take it easy, why are you running, are you crazy? I clicked it away, assuring it I knew what I was doing, mostly.

Other than having to dodge a lot of debris again (including another new ex-tree_, I had no issues on the run and my energy level was improved over Wednesday. Other than the rain, it was actually pretty nice!

Back to 10Ks and probably more rain next week. As long as it’s not snow…

Stats:

Run 739
Average pace: 5:50/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 10:00 a.m.
Distance: 5.04 km
Time: 29:23
Weather: Rain
Temp: 4-7ºC
Humidity: 98%
Wind: low
BPM: 155
Weight: 165.5
Total distance to date: 5465 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (137 km)

For the first time in 16 days, I ran outside. Woo!

And an interesting run it was.

I originally planned to do a 5K on the river trail, if enough snow had melted. Indeed, that was the case, but with some snow still on the trail, I thought I might continue to the lake, to see if it might be better there. Initially it seemed to be the case, so I headed out for a 5K, with the possibility of doing more, if I felt perky enough.

I did not feel perky enough. But after clocking in a respectable 5K, I found that after around half a km of walking, I got my second wind and ended up running most of the rest of the way around the lake.

My initial blog entry for this run was going to be “Picking my steps” because the first half of the run I encountered some stretches of trail that still had enough snow to require caution, or to find a nice clear rut left by one of the putt-putt cars the parks workers use to get around. But as I continued to run, “Trail of destruction” felt like a much better fit.

Conditions were decent–cloudy and around 5C, with little to no wind. I wore two layers and running pants, but shorts and even one layer would have been fine. As mentioned, snow in some spots meant I had to be careful at times, but it didn’t affect my pace that much, really.

But I have never, in over ten years of running at Burnaby Lake, seen so much destruction in the form of downed trees, branches, bushes and other debris littering the trails. Even a lot of stuff that hadn’t collapsed was now leaning precariously over the trail, often right at eye level.

Several large trees that have been leaning over the trail for years are leaning more prominently now, and I suspect they won’t last much longer. A lot of this will be cleaned up soon, no doubt, but at the same time, we’re not even two weeks into winter, so there may be a lot more havoc to come.

Still, it was nice to finally get back out again. Friday is looking soggy so boo on that, but I’ll head out, anyway, probably doing a full 10K this time.

Stats:

Run 738
Average pace: 5:55/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 9:34 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 29:45
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 5ºC
Humidity: 98%
Wind: low
BPM: 155
Weight: 164.1
Total distance to date: 5460 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (132 km)