Today was chilly! It was actually freezing when I headed out, but was a balmy 2C when I started (and ended) my run. I opted to wear three layers up top (jacket, long sleeve and sleeveless shirts) and shorts. This proved fine and I didn’t feel I was overdressed once I warmed up. The extra layer was especially nice for the walk to and from the lake.
The trail was a mix of dry, wet and frosty, but because there’s been no rain for a few days, there was no ice buildup. I did approach stairs with caution. The new grid mesh on top of the dam prevented any ice capades there. Sadly, the fountain has been locked up until spring. No post-run sips until March or something.
I chose to run at a deliberate pace to keep the BPM down, and it sort of worked. My overall BPM was higher than Monday at 155, but only slightly. My overall pace was slower, naturally, at 6:05/km, but I’m fine with that. I experienced no issues during the run, though I think the general cold was starting to tucker me out by the final km. There was no big final push here, just a steady roll to the end.
Overall, I’m happy with the result.
I’m less pleased that the watch once again failed to track my BPM for an entire km, though. /me scowls at Apple Watch.
Stats:
Run 730Average pace: 6:05/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:24 a.m.
Distance: 10.03 km
Time: 61:05
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 2ºC
Humidity: 69%
Wind: light
BPM: 155
Weight: 159.4
Total distance to date: 5385 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (62 km)
We had a big storm on Friday, with torrential rains, high winds and all the fun things you associate with big storms. While one now ex-tree on the Avalon Trail had already been cut up, the trail was still littered with twigs, smaller branches and other bits of debris. I wonder how terrifying it would be to run in the middle of a storm like that?
Today, I opted to run clockwise (the “easy” route) for my first Pacific Standard Time (boo) run of the season. It was my coldest run of the year at 4C and I opted to wear my windbreaker running jacket and a long-sleeved short underneath. I still wore shorts. And it was fine. I probably could have opted to wear a shirt underneath, which would have made it easier to check the watch.
I actually had no issues during the run, other than having to take an unplanned loo break at around the 3 km mark. I kept my hands tucked into the sleeves of my jacket until around the 4K mark, then they were sufficiently warmed up for the rest of the run. My pace was better than expected, though overall BPM was higher, too, at 153. Not surprising, given the much cooler conditions.
Still, better than doing the same in the rain!
Special bonus: At 4C, I barely generate any sweat. I didn’t even realize this until I got home.
A shot showing the relative calm at the lake (no wind is nice, too):
Stats:
Run 729Average pace: 5:52/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 11:31 a.m.
Distance: 10.04 km
Time: 58:57
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 4ºC
Humidity: 63%
Wind: light
BPM: 153
Weight: 159.9
Total distance to date: 5375 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (52 km)
Due to climate change and certain incidents, I feel it’s time to update the list again. Here are the best/worst running conditions. Unlike the previous entries, I’ve numbered them from best to worst, to keep things more positive or something. For the record, only the top three are really what I’d call “good” running conditions.
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. Plus 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!
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. This is the new entry for 2022 (the tree root happened in 2016, but the previous version of the list was written pre-root). 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, I ate a bag of kettle chips and felt guilty enough that going on the treadmill was inevitable.
I even tried something different–actual running! For one km, at least. I set the speed to 9 (pace of 6:40/km, which is well below my normal running pace) and the incline to 1 (to simulate wind resistance) and my shins almost immediately began to hurt. Was it the speed? The incline? Both? The phase of the moon? I bumped the speed up to 9.5 at one point, bringing it closer to my regular running pace, but it still felt uncomfortable, so then I walked with the speed set to 6.5 or 6.6 for the rest. Overall, a weird and not particularly pleasant experience.
I’m just going to have to get used to running in the rain again. Though today was not actually a run day.
I was running (ho ho) behind schedule today, so opted to cheat a bit and do a 5K at the river instead of a 10K at the lake. I may do another 5K tomorrow at the river to make up for the loss of the 10K if I’m feeling spicy.
With the walk to the river trail and back coming in around 4 km, this was almost exactly a half-10K, but faster.
I dressed in two layers, which felt right given the temperature was around 8C. Arctic air is supposed to be coming in next week. Good news–my old running jacket (which works well as a windbreaker, not so much for keeping me dry in the rain) still fits!
I made an effort to not push, given that it was cold, and a light breeze was blowing, but because the river trail is so wide and flat I couldn’t help but put in a better pace, overall at 5:41/km, with a best of 5:33/km on the fourth km. I had no issues, not even the one unleashed dog I saw (curse the owner). 5K runs feel weird now. I felt like I was really just getting warmed up when it was over. I guess in a way that’s good. It means I’m indecent shape or something.
Plus, it was sunny, so I got a chance to work on my mid-fall tan, woo!
Stats:
Run 728Average pace: 5:41/km
Location: Brunette River Trail
Start: 12:59 p.m.
Distance: 5.04 km
Time: 28:38
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 8ºC
Humidity: 69%
Wind: light
BPM: 152
Weight: 159.3
Total distance to date: 5365 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (42 km)
I really wanted to get out and go for a walk, but the entire day was an extended torrential downpour, the kind that gets through everything and you end up soaked no matter what.
So I stayed inside and hit the treadmill mid-evening to complete my activity rings. Even though it wasn’t exactly a day bursting with activity, I still felt kind of tired and after trying a speed of 6.5 for a bit, set it back to 6. It was a very blah way to end the weekend, but I did sweat a little!
Weirdly, I started today’s run exactly one hour earlier than Wednesday’s. This wasn’t planned, it’s just weird.
We are between storm systems now (one yesterday, one slated to arrive tomorrow night) but I wasn’t taking any chances and headed out early, while the skies still looked benign. The storms have brought warmer, moister air, which would be my bane in the summer. Now, though, it meant it was a balmy 10C and I was fine wearing only one layer up top. There was also little wind, which helped, too.
I ran counterclockwise and could definitely feel the wee bit of extra effort needed on the second half, but I kept a steady pace and emerged with a perfectly cromulent pace of 5:54/km. Even better, my average BPM was a mere 149. Woo.
I had a few technical glitches with the Watch, because I always have technical glitches with the Watch now. It updated to watchOS 9.1 last night and remember the old days when updates meant new features and bug fixes, not new features and new bugs?
Glitch 1: I try to transfer an album from the phone to the watch before heading out. I get a spinning circle. The transfer never starts. I try twice, same thing. I give up and go for the run.
Glitch 2: Just before starting the run, I always get prompted on which AirPods to connect. I tap the ones that are currently stuck in my ears, then…nothing. After a few moments, I hear a sad little bonk sound. I navigate back to the main watch face, pull down the notifications and see one reporting that it could not find my AirPods, what’s happening, where are they?! I go back to the music app, tap play and the music starts without issue.
Glitch 3: I need to pause the run. I also pause the music playing from the watch by clicking the play/pause control on one of the AirPod buds. When I’m ready to resume, I click the AirPod again to unpause and it resumes playing music…from the iPhone. This happened twice. I had to unpause the music on the watch directly to get it to resume playing. To be fair, this glitch predates watchOS 9.1. Maybe Apple considers it a feature.
Glitches aside, the run was fine. The only issues were not related to my body falling apart. I had to pause the run twice:
One time was to retie my right shoelace. It was a bit too tight and was just annoying enough that I had to do something.
The other times was 1.23 km into the run, on the Conifer Loop, when I encountered this:
I clambered through on the far left.
Yesterday’s deluge managed to fell these once mighty trees, who apparently made a death pact together. But it was also a murder-suicide, because the upper tree in the shot landed on a tree on the opposite side of the trail, uprooting it and knocking it down, too. They will probably be cut up later today, more food for the forest.
Now I wonder which tree is next with tomorrow’s storm.
Stats:
Run 727Average pace: 5:54/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:27 a.m.
Distance: 10.04 km
Time: 59:02
Weather: Sun and cloud
Temp: 10ºC
Humidity: 85%
Wind: light
BPM: 149
Weight: 159.2
Total distance to date: 5360 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (37 km)
Tonight was a short slapdash effort to simply complete my activity rings before midnight, when I turn into a pumpkin that goes to bed and does not work on activity rings in any way.
I had legit reasons for not going out, too, but they shan’t be discussed on a blog (don’t worry, it’s nothing scandalous).
I started out at a speed of 6.0, but that ended up feeling pokey, so I switched to 6.5, which actually felt a bit too fast for my current energy level. I persevered till both Exercise and Move rings were complete, though. Also, I watched a Tech Chap video, and he’s easy on (my) eyes, so that helped. I’ll spend the rest of the evening talking in a faux British accent.
I felt hesitant about today’s run and even thought about skipping it, or fudging it somehow. Instead, I got dressed and headed out, opting to go clockwise around the lake. While I didn’t plan specifically to do a full 10K, I was fairly confident it wouldn’t be an issue–and it wasn’t!
At first I wasn’t going to look at the watch at all and just do the run by feel, but I couldn’t help peeking when the alerts popped up, though I didn’t check BPM until the run was over. I never pushed and I never felt fatigued, so that was nice.
In the end, I tied my best 10K pace of the year at 5:49/km, and had a nice BPM of 151. However, the watch failed to record my heart rate for the entire second km for ?reasons?
The minor cheating:
I paused at the bridge over Deer Lake Brook to take two photos of the lake. This is really mild cheating, as I was probably stopped for less than 30 seconds before continuing.
My total distance to date would have been 5349, but I rounded it up to make it 5350, thinking that since I always round down, I must have at least an extra km to spare. Don’t tell anyone I did this!
The weather was similar to Monday, though it started slightly cooler, and this time the forecast indicated it would be cloudy, but dry, with rain coming later in the afternoon. Every time I manage to dodge the rain going forward, I will consider myself lucky!
Although I’m annoyed by the ongoing watch glitches, I am pleased with this run. I didn’t push, yet had a good pace and felt good, too.
That photo of the lake mentioned above:
Stats:
Run 726Average pace: 5:49/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 11:27 a.m.
Distance: 10.06 km
Time: 58:26
Weather: Cloudy, some sun
Temp: 8-9ºC
Humidity: 74%
Wind: light
BPM: 151
Weight: 160.2
Total distance to date: 5350 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (27 km)
Today the rain got real, and I contemplated going for a walk, getting utterly drenched, then turned to the treadmill, which stood inside the perfectly dry condo, and did a workout on it, instead.
I bumped the speed back up to 6.5 (it was 6.0 for the previous workout) and managed to avoid flying off, even without holding onto the grips. The workout went fine. I went a bit past 30 minutes, completing my exercise goal, coming close to the move goal, and, most importantly, letting the current YouTube video playing on the iPad finish.
I split the difference between a 5K and 10K today, running 7K and cleverly thinking I’d get my total distance stat to something nice and even. But I misremembered and should have run 8K for that, so now it is listed as 5339 km and it makes my OCD twitch a bit.
That said, the run itself went fine overall. I felt good and could have gone the full 10K without any issue. It was considerably cooler at 9C, but I wore two layers up top and never felt cold. My pace stayed fairly steady, too, with only a slight dip midway through. My BPM was a little higher than the norm, but I chalk that up to not having run this much in a few weeks, plus the significantly lower temperature. It was still fine, though.
I only saw two other people running.
The weather had called for showers and while it did rain before I headed out, it changed to intermittent spitting on the way to the lake, then stopped entirely, making for a pleasantly dry run, save for a bit of puddle navigation.
There were a few small technical hiccups:
At about the 3 km mark I felt what seemed to be a piece of gravel slipping into my right shoe. After a few more steps it slipped under my heel and began boring into it with each step. I paused the run to remove it. My glasses steamed up, which I found mildly amusing. No further gravel made its way in, but I’ll keep an eye on the new Peregrine 12s to see that they aren’t like the old Brooks Cascadia Scoopers1not the actual name but it could have been! I used to run with, that seemed specifically designed to scoop gravel off the trail and deposit it into your shoes.
Before leaving home, I always check the AirPods to make sure both buds are fully charged. There is an issue where sometimes, for reasons Apple has never explained nor remedied, one of the buds will fail to charge, so it will sit snug in the charging case and deplete itself. This morning I did not check the AirPods before leaving. You can guess what happened next. It took about 10 minutes to get the right bud back up to 55%, which was enough to last the run and the walk home. While the glitch is Apple’s fault, I should have known better than to invoke it by not checking first.
Between the 6 and 7K mark I went to check my heart rate and saw instead the little spinning circles that means, “Heart rate? What is this heart rate thing? Are you sure there is a heart here?” I hit pause and just as I did I could see the BPM kick in. I unpaused, and it was 168, which is basically impossible. But I just ignored it as the anomaly it was and hoped it would correct itself, but it shows the 7th km as 165, which still seems way too high for how fast I was running. I really don’t want to get a new watch, but I’m not sure if I trust this one anymore.
Despite the glitches, it was nice to get out and aboot again. We’ll see how the weather is on Wednesday, as we’re now in “the weather can change multiple times a day” part of the year.
After last night’s rain, the dam was releasing a lot more water than it has of late:
Stats:
Run 725Average pace: 5:54/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 11:41 a.m.
Distance: 7.04 km
Time: 41:37
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 9ºC
Humidity: 92%
Wind: light to nil
BPM: 155
Weight: 159.9
Total distance to date: 5339 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (17 km)
Technically, I have been running, but in 2 km bursts as part of my walks. This afternoon, under smokey skies, I headed out to the lake for my first full run since the one where my legs felt really sore and weird afterwards.
My legs felt fine after today’s run, woo. I only did 5K, as per my plan, to ease myself back into the proverbial running pool. Despite the smoke, conditions were actually decent, with mild temperatures and few people on the trail. I felt fine and the new shoes held up nicely. I noticed my BPM was lower than usual, but didn’t want to push it, as clearly my body was not ready to fully commit to regular run mode yet.
I did a loop back, running around 2.8 km, then turning back, skipping the Piper Mill Trail on the return trip. This saved me having to walk an additional 5 km around the lake, which I felt was fair. I’ll go all hardcore again soon™.
For Friday, I am undecided on whether to commit to 10K or do another 5K. The weather should actually be different–the forecast calls for a chance of showers and a high of a mere 13C. Brr!
Also, I saw a very chill snake after the run, laying near the EXTREME FIRE DANGER sign. Snakes tend to be very chill or freak out as soon as you start getting near.
Stats:
Run 724Average pace: 5:58/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW and CW)
Start: 1:32 p.m.
Distance: 5.04 km
Time: 30:06
Weather: Sunny/smokey
Temp: 17ºC
Humidity: 68%
Wind: light
BPM: 146
Weight: 160.2
Total distance to date: 5332 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (10 km)
