Yes, I just plain forgot to record this workout from last night. Maybe I worked it right out of my brain. Fortunately, the Workout app remembers.
I used a speed of 6.3 and kept going until I hit both Exercise and Speed goals, watching inspirational and/or silly videos. I got kind of wrapped up in them.
Fortunately, I still remembered not to touch the handgrips, thus avoiding getting zapped repeatedly.
After two weeks, the snow has finally retreated enough that I can run on the trails again. Yay.
I could definitely feel the two weeks of not-running, though. Not as yay.
But I made it without any issues, so here’s a list of conditions and observations:
It was foggy. Ack. Unlike the November fog run, it was lighter this time, so my glasses didn’t become coated. It just lent a somewhat spooky ambience to the run.
I started out slow and never really got faster, but stayed fairly steady. I only had one km under the 6:00/km mark (the fourth, on the Cottonwood Trail)
The trail was mostly clear, though some snow persisted on parts that get less sun. I was able to navigate these without issue.
I started to feel a bit tired between the 6’7 km mark, but maintained pace and a steady BPM of 151 overall, which is good considering the cold.
Speaking of cold, I wore two layers up top and that was fine. My hands never really warmed up, though. I blame the fog, somehow.
A few dog owners had their dogs off-leash, but fortunately no problems arose because of this. The fog began to lift slowly over the course of the run, but it wasn’t until the walk back that the sun actually broke through. This probably worked to my advantage, since it kept the sun from “strobing” through the naked trees on the run.
Overall, it was nice to get back out, but I definitely felt missing those five runs that got called due to snow. Here’s hoping no more snow this year (or next year, while I’m at it).
The view from the bridge at Deer Lake Brook. There’s a lake in there, trust me!
Stats:
Run 737Average pace: 6:05/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 9:57 a.m.
Distance: 10.04 km
Time: 61:06
Weather: Foggy
Temp: 2-4ºC
Humidity: 91%
Wind: nil
BPM: 151
Weight: 162.8
Total distance to date: 5455 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (127 km)
I did a 30-minute workout today and bumped the speed back up to 6.5, leaving the incline at 0. I had to put in a wee bit more effort, but that was good. Even better, I made sure not to touch the metal on the handgrips, so I did the entire workout without getting zapped. Woo. Upping the speed resulted in an average pace that was a whopping 43 seconds faster (from 9:49/km to 9:06/km). Despite that, I actually only burned 23 more calories. But 23 very intense calories.
(Okay, a tiny bit as an experiment as I mentioned in the prior post).
Basically, I walked to the lake and back, as if I were doing a run, but without the running part. This was done to:
Assess how viable running would be on the trail (not very)
Get out for some fresh air
Burn a few calories instead of sitting on my butt eating crackers
The main thing here is that once I got onto the river trail (which is to say, once I was off nicely shovelled sidewalks), my pace slowed a fair bit over my usual walking pace. It wasn’t super slippery, but it was enough that I couldn’t walk at my usual breakneck (for walking) pace. The first walk, my left big toe got cold for some weird reason. It was fine on the way back.
Stats:
Walk 92Average pace: 10:04/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Distance: 4.08 km
Time: 41:02
Weather: Overcast
Temp: 2 °C
Humidity: 93%
Wind: light to nil
BPM: 108
Weight: 161.8 pounds
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255
Total distance to date: 690.18 km
Walk 93Average pace: 10:17/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Distance: 4.33 km
Time: 44:32
Weather: Overcast
Temp: 5 °C
Humidity: 91%
Wind: light to nil
BPM: 181
Weight: 161.8 pounds
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255
Total distance to date: 694.51 km
The view along the way (the debris is from a now ex-tree that fell over):
This morning, I donned my running clothes and headed out to Burnaby Lake, though I didn’t actually intend to run. I did want to see how much snow was still on the trail, to get a sense of how long I might need to wait until running becomes viable again.
Technically, I did run a little, as a test, about 20 meters or so. The trail is certainly walkable, but for running, the compact snow is that yucky combination of uneven and slippery. I could run, but only very slowly, in order to maintain my footing.
Conveniently, I got a newsletter from Running Room today with tips for running in the winter, which included wearing something like these to keep from landing on your face:
On the one hand, if I was faced with a a long layoff from running due to snow, this might be tempting, though I can’t imagine it makes for a very pleasurable running experience. On the other hand, based on my assessment today and assuming we don’t get a pile of new snow, I am assuming I’ll be able to run possibly by this Monday (five days from now). That means I will miss one more run and a total of five runs (two last week, three this week). This makes me sad, but at least it won’t be the multiple months of the 2016-17 snowpocalypse.
This is what the trail looked like near the Avalon parking lot. The snow looks shallow, but that’s mainly due to it being compacted. The darker bits are slippery.
There’s a tiny chance that if we get a lot of rain tomorrow (Thursday) a run could be viable on Friday, but I am not expecting this. What I might do in lieu of a run is walk to Piper Spit (weather permitting–the last time I tried this, it started snowing hard) and shoot birbs with my camera. I saw a heron at the lake today, but with my stinky phone camera, the best I could do was this cropped image (which isn’t too bad, I suppose; it definitely captures the overall gray/blue quality of the day):
The filter in our humidifier is not working optimally, so the humidity has been lower than we’d like (we’re replacing the filter soon). What this means is that the place is generally drier than it would normally be, and since it’s been quite cold and dry outside…twice, while on the treadmill for today’s workout, I got a nice static shock. Except not really nice.
The workout was the same speed/incline as yesterday, but only 30 minutes long (I walked to the store earlier in the day, so had less ground to make up). Somehow I managed to walk slower. How is that even possible? Science!
I missed runs on Wednesday and Friday due to all that dang snow and, as they say on the interweb, had a sad.
Today I was feeling lazy, but mid-afternoon I got on the treadmill, queued up some YouTube videos and did a not-overly strenuous walk until I hit my Exercise and Move goals.
It was kind of casual, but like I said, it was a lazy day.
Here is a depiction of how I felt, in convenient cat form:
I did a quick survey outside after yesterday’s big dump o’ snow and determined that going for a run today would result in hijinks of an unmerry sort, with slipping and falling and such. By my estimate, there was about two times as much snow on the ground to make jogging viable. I was sad.
Afterwards, I hit the treadmill just long enough to complete my activity rings.
And now, that cat on ice. Yes, the classic, perhaps my favorite gif ever.
Another weirdly calm morning at Burnaby Lake. View from the Cariboo Dam.
Today’s run was going to be chilly, with the temperature only 1ºC at the start, and 3ºC by the end, a difference I did not notice!
I dressed thus:
Three top layers: sleeveless base, long-sleeved shirt, running jacket
Running pants
In the end I feel I could have worn two layers up top and shorts might have been okay. The only problem is the 4 km walk to the lake before. Near-freezing temperatures on my bare legs that long would probably lead to a lot longer warm-up period during the run, and it’s not like I was sweating a lot or something.
It was sunny and once again, the lack of any sort of wind was conspicuous and weird. In anticipation of getting that flickering effect from the sun shining through the now naked trees on the Cottonwood Trail, I opted to stick to a counterclockwise route. I did encounter some strobing on the south shore, but it was a lot more intermittent. There was frost in some shaded areas of the trail, but it wasn’t that bad as far as being slippery goes. Even the boardwalks were decent.
A bigger hazard may have been the Slightly Dim People out walking. Because it was sunny, there were more people out, which is fine, because it still wasn’t exactly crowded. I don’t know if the cold makes it harder to hear, but virtually no one heard me approaching from behind and most people were walking in pairs and hogging the trail, as people do. This didn’t lead to any situations, I just noticed everyone seemed a bit more oblivious today. Maybe it’s a Monday thing.
Unlike Friday, I had no weird heart rate spikes. At around the 7.5 km mark my BPM went up to 157 but it didn’t stay there and within a minute was back to the 150 range, which actually turned out to be my overall average. Nice!
As an experiment, I wore my Apple Watch on my right wrist, but locked the display so it wouldn’t record official workouts. I was hoping it would only track my move stats (steps) as these mysteriously don’t carry over from the Garmin watch, leaving a massive gap in my step total (on a lake run I usually put in about 20,000 steps). I was skeptical, but it actually worked. The Fitness app has my exercise accounted for by the Garmin watch, while the steps were tracked by the Apple Watch. I’m not sure if I want to wear two watches for every workout, but at least I know it does what I hope it would.
This was a solid start to the week, but there are portents of snow in the forecast. We’ll see what happens on Wednesday.
Stats:
Run 736Average pace: 5:47/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:50 a.m.
Distance: 10.04 km
Time: 58:08
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 1-3ºC
Humidity: 56%
Wind: light to nil
BPM: 150
Weight: 161.5
Total distance to date: 5445 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (117 km)
It was déjà vu in reverse as I matched Wednesday’s pace of 5:49/km, but running counter-clockwise. This was my second workout with the Forerunner 255, and it worked fine. I adjusted the stats it shows while running to include average pace and active heart rate, which are both useful for me.
The addition of the heart rate allowed me to observe an odd spike where it jumped from an average of around 150 to 171. It then dropped to 165 or so and after a few minutes (and with me only easing up slightly on my pace) it jumped back down to the 150 range. The section where it spiked was near the first boardwalk and I was not running fast, so unsure if this was a glitch with the watch or my heart. I will monitor, obviously! My overall BPM was 152, which is perfectly normal.
Other than the mystery spike, the run actually went well, no other issues. It was raining before I headed out but looked to be easing up, so I went with:
Running jacket with long-sleeved shirt
Shorts
This turned out to be more than I needed, as it was fairly mild and even though I felt AN ACTUAL SLIGHT BREEZE several times, it wasn’t really cold, so a long-sleeved shirt probably would have sufficed.
It’s rather amazing that I completed three runs in the third week of November and did not experience any rain.
The trail did require some minor puddle jumping here and there, and I got my feet briefly tangled up in a few twigs and debris from the rainstorm, but overall it was in pretty decent condition.
Overall, a solid effort and a nice way to end the week.
The view from the dam looking down the river, two gates open after the storm:
Stats:
Run 735Average pace: 5:49/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:43 a.m.
Distance: 10.04 km
Time: 58:22
Weather: Overcast
Temp: 8ºC
Humidity: 86%
Wind: light
BPM: 152
Weight: 161.1
Total distance to date: 5435 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (107 km)
Yes, I’m updating this list mere weeks later because I finally ran in a new weather condition: fog. Let’s see where it ranks!
Reminder: This list is ranked from best to worst conditions. Really, only the top three are what I’d consider ideal for running.
Overcast and light breeze. This is actually ideal conditions. It is usually never too cold or warm when the weather is like this. Temperature-wise, we’re looking at around 15C.
Moderate wind. Moderate wind is fine. I have a cap that stays in place now.
Warm sun. Warm is no big thing. I’m talking about 20ºC or thereabouts.
Light rain. You might think light rain would be nice, but it really isn’t. You still get soaked, and in the summer there’s no real way to dress for it. And it still feels cold(ish), even in mid-July.
Snow. I’ve only run in light snow a few times, and it was fun. Light snow is shallow and fluffy, so it’s easy to move through. I’m thinking a foot of snow would probably be less so.
Cold rain. Cold rain means cold hands and if you wear gloves they need to be waterproof. Cold rain is never fun. WARNING: Click the footnote for nipple content 1Plus my nipples are weirdly sensitive to the cold now and cold rain is like torturing them. Poor little nipples. UPDATE FOR 2022: It turns out the nipples are more sensitive to moisture more than the cold, as The Nipple Issue™ returned in Summer 2022..
Hard rain. This has the potential to wreak havoc with any non-waterproof items you may be carrying, and it’s hard to see if you wear glasses. I wear glasses.
Extreme cold. I’ve run in sub-freezing conditions and been fine. I’m thinking Arctic tundra-type cold here.
Heavy wind. The resistance means you work a lot harder to achieve the same result, and my cap has to be on tight enough to cut off circulation, so it doesn’t fly away. This is pretty rare where I run, though. And I don’t run during actual windstorms due to the very real danger of flying (tree) debris.
Hot sun. When it’s hot, my body feels like a furnace, and I’m left parched as all get-out. Dry mouth and lips are yucky. By hot, I mean high 20s and up. While it still gets hot in the summer, a new contender has arrived to usurp it. Keep reading!
Fog. *NEW* Running in fog is fun in terms of the spooky and quiet atmosphere it produces. Unfortunately, it also means the fog itself–a low-hanging mist–adheres to my glasses, making it seem about five times foggier than it is and, thus, much harder to see where I’m going. This is not particularly good when running.
Hard rain and heavy wind. Likeliest weather to make me wonder to myself, ‘What was I thinking?’ when running.
Hot sun and heavy wind. Or “What would it be like to do a run on a windy day in the Sahara?” Heat dries you out, the wind makes it harder to run and dries you out even more. Bleah. This combination is, however, pretty rare.
Hail. Getting pelted by little ice rocks is unpleasant. I’ve been caught in hail twice and did not like it either time. Still, twice since 2009 is not bad.
Cyclists. I have grown to loathe anyone on a bicycle, especially since the area where I run most frequently–Burnaby Lake–forbids bicycles, but cyclists show up anyway, sometimes in packs. They tend to be either little kids who will wobble suddenly and unpredictably in front of you, or jerks who power through as fast as they can pedal, oblivious to the presence or safety of others.
Dogs. See here. I’ve had a dog knock me down while running. The weather has never done this.
Tree roots. See here. I’ve only tripped and fallen over a tree root while jogging at full speed once, but once was enough. Fortunately, the resurfacing of the trails at Burnaby Lake means almost all exposed roots are now gone.
Hot sun/heat and high humidity. *NEW* This is my other new entry for 2022. See how Hot sun is way up there at #10? The heat/high humidity combo is so much lower because IT IS TERRIBLE. While I don’t suffer from a parched mouth in this weather, the combo of 30C+ weather and extremely high humidity in the summer of 2022 made running a horrible slog, no matter what the time of day. It was only just less horrible, depending. And it happened for nearly the entire summer, earning its hallowed spot here.
Also known as the 1984 run, not because it had an Orwellian feel to it, but because the music was David Gilmour’s About Face and Hall and Oates Big Bam Boom, a pair of albums from 1984. If only I’d had a sweatband and legwarmers with me.
As it was, I wore two layers up top (long and short-sleeve shirt) and shorts, and they were fine for the conditions. It was actually pretty mild and again, virtually no wind at all.
Today was the first day I wore my shiny new Garmin Forerunner 255 running watch. It’s been quite awhile since I wore something other than my Apple Watch for a run, but after the recent glitches and with it not monitoring my heart rate for multiple kilometres, I decided it was time to try something else.
I set up the watch in the morning, connected it to Apple Health and my iPhone so the data from the runs would show up as activity. I set a few preferences, then off I went, tracking my usual walks to and from the lake and the 10K around it. I was originally going to just do a 5K at the river, but talked myself into going for the full deal. Probably residual guilt over all those Pringle pizza-flavoured chips I ate yesterday.
Happily, the watch worked exactly as expected, no hiccups or weirdness. The run synced quickly to the Garmin Connect app on the phone and better yet, I can view the copious details on the Garmin Connect website. Finally, a map that isn’t stupidly small and dark!
The embed doesn’t seem to work in WordPress, so it only shows as a link for now, but I’ll see what I can do.
The only odd part is the BPM was 150–which is good–but my pace was 5:49/km–which is also good!–but normally my BPM would be higher at that pace. We’ll see if it levels out over a few runs. It was milder today, so that may have helped, too.
As for the suicidal squirrel, I’ve noticed that the Piper Mill Trail seems to be a popular hangout for squirrels, and today I counted at least four of them. One, a small red squirrel, decided to panic as I approached (the squirrels at the lake tend to be skittish) but instead of diving into the brush, it dove…directly into my path. Thanks to some fancy footwork, I managed to avoid tripping on it. Silly squirrel. That would have been embarrassing, though.
“How did you hurt yourself running?”
“A squirrel.”
“I see.”
The run itself felt good again, no issues at all, other than the two boardwalks being a bit slippery. There was a woman curbing her German Shepherd just past the bridge at Deer Lake Brook, and the dog was sitting obediently beside her, but he had an eye on me. She pulled on the dog slightly as if to draw him closer to her. I knew what was coming. As I ran by, the dog immediately lunged toward me and I deked successfully, keeping myself out of the WSZ (Wet Snout Zone). No other snout incidents occurred.
Overall, another solid effort and I got 11 badges and apparently ascended to Badge Level 2 on Gsrmin Connect. Go me!
View from the dam:
Stats:
Run 734Average pace: 5:49/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 1:08 p.m.
Distance: 10.04 km
Time: 58:26
Weather: Overcast
Temp: 9ºC
Humidity: 93%
Wind: light to nil
BPM: 150
Weight: 161.0
Total distance to date: 5425 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (97 km)
