Exercise

I set off today planning a more casual sort of run to end a week that has seen me feeling pretty tired and droopy. I ended up doing better than expected.

The weather was nice–16C and sunny, but with enough canopy that I was still in the shade for much of the run. Humidity was high, so I did sweat more than I’d have preferred, but it, uh, clears the pores or something.

Fridays are usually the busiest in terms of other people being out and aboot, I assume because more people take Friday off to get a coveted three-day weekend. Today the number of people was even higher than that would account for–then I remembered that today is the first statutory holiday for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (spoiler: this is definitely not one of those “feel good” official holidays). Lots of people were wearing orange t-shirts–and so was I1 In my case, it was a coincidence, since my usual running shirt is orange.

Most people were pretty good, but a few fell into that “OMG a jogger, what do I do? WHAT DO I DO?!” category. We all got through unscathed.

At one point after exiting the Cottonwood Trail, I just stayed on the left side of the trail, there were so many packing it. Kind of weird, though the sunny conditions at this late time of the month probably brought out even more.

My left hip signalled a bit of displeasure partway through, but was not too bad. I felt a bit creaky, but turned in a good pace despite that. Run smarter, not harder, or something. It also helped that I encountered no park workers, vehicles, construction or other detours/obstacles, just lots and lots of people. Dodging a guy is one thing, dodging a giant mowing machine of death is another.

Here’s a photo from atop the dam shortly before I started the run.

Stats:

Run 721
Average pace: 5:53/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 10:38 a.m.
Distance: 10.06 km
Time: 59:10
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 16ºC
Humidity: 76%
Wind: light
BPM: 152
Weight: 157.0
Total distance to date: 5307 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (415 km)

Today’s run was sponsored by Meh. Or maybe Metamucil.

I headed out early to beat the relative heat, with the forecast calling for a record-breaking 28C today. It was 15C when I headed off, 17C at the start of the run and 20C by the end, so temperature-wise it was fine. There was intermittent sun and high cloud, which was also fine. I sweated a bit, but not excessively. Fine.

Not fine:

• Heart rate monitor issues at the start again. I paused the run 17 seconds in to run the heart rate app. It took a rather long time to find a heartbeat, but once it did, it seemed fine at first, then the heart rate did that weird “to the moon” thing, so I pulled back hard on my pace to get it down into a normal range, then increased my tempo to my usual running pace, after which the BPM behaved normally, pretty much for the rest of the run. No idea what is happening here, other than the hardware may be bugging out after three years.
• Also during the first km, my right ankle was cranky. I have no ideas why. It went away. I have no idea why.
• Around the 4K mark, the skin under the watch was so itchy I paused the run, took off the watch, saw that there was a red spot, scratched it, broke the skin, then wondered if the heart rate sensor would be more or less accurate if my blood was on it. Also, I adjusted the watch to fit a tiny bit more snug and the itching stopped.
• Around the 5K mark I had to use the loo, with no loo in sight. This meant the second half of the run was me asking myself repeatedly, “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”
• The 7 km segment was unusually slow. I have no idea why.

Overall, I am nonplussed. It wasn’t a bad workout per se, but it just felt very blah. Maybe it’s just Monday. At least the bear signs are gone now. That means no more bears, right?

Oh, and completing the run did give me this:

Stats:

Run 719
Average pace: 6:00/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 9:50 a.m.
Distance: 10.06 km
Time: 60:21
Weather: Sun and high cloud
Temp: 17-20ºC
Humidity: 75%
Wind: light
BPM: 149
Weight: 158.4
Total distance to date: 5292 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (400 km)

Conditions were quite different for today’s run. It was an unseasonably cool 15C (which is actually aces for running) and cloudy, with no real chance of the sun coming out. Wind was light. In all, very nice conditions, if the rain held off.

The rain held off. It actually started to shower about half an hour after I got back.

I was determined to do two things today:

• Run to a BPM of 150
• Make sure my heart rate was being tracked from the start of the run

On the former, I averaged 151, which is pretty close. But there is an asterisk to go alongside that, in part because I found it strangely challenging to maintain 150 in the first half of the run, and then there was the start, which ties into the second thing. To better insure tracking of my heart rate right from the get-go, I ran the heart rate app, got my heart rate, then started the run. This initially seemed to work.

Later, when I checked during the first km, the BPM was grayed out at the last reported rate and the little heart symbol was spinning. I stopped, did the routine with the heart rate app and resumed my run. As I hit the 2K mark I saw it had stopped again, so did all the steps yet again and just as the day before, it finally seemed to lock in and was fine after that.

But it now reports a BPM of 109 for the first km, which is too low. I mean, I did pause during that time, which would have lowered the overall rate, but I think it’s just missing a lot of data. I don’t know if the watch is going hinky (it’s three years old) or if it’s watchOS 9 shenanigans, since I updated it a few weeks ago. Blergh. I don’t really want to get a new watch, especially as I consider a Garmin for running. Blergh, I say.

As for the run, I actually sweated more despite the cooler temperatures, due to the high humidity, but it still felt quite comfortable. I wore my long-sleeved shirt, too, which is a tad warmer than my usual t-shirts. I felt pretty comfortable throughout and was thinking how I haven’t mentioned the left hip lately. I did feel it a bit toward the end, but more in a “Remember this old war wound?” way, not actively hurting. It’s fine now.

I ended with a pace of 5:49/km, which is much better than I expected for the given BPM (even if it may not be entirely accurate), so I am pleased with this workout. I’m also happy to have done all three runs this week. Go me!

I checked the heels of my Brooks again. I may need a new watch and new shoes soon. The heels are worn to the point that I probably shouldn’t use them much longer. The 390 km below is strictly for runs, but they probably have a few more hundred km from walking.

Stats:

Run 718
Average pace: 5:49/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 11:04 a.m.
Distance: 10.06 km
Time: 58:32
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 15ºC
Humidity: 85%
Wind: light
BPM: 151
Weight: 159
Total distance to date: 5282 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (390 km)

I looked at the soles of my shoes before heading out. I think I need new shoes. Time to read a billion reviews, then buy something on sale and regret it later!

This was an odd and unsatisfying run. My goal was to run at a pace of 150 BPM, so I expected a slower time. My first km, during which I did my best not to run fast at all, came in at 5:35/km, which is pretty zippy. Annoyingly, the Apple Watch did not show my heart rate during this first km, a problem that seems to be happening more often lately (possibly a bug with the watchOS 9 update?). It didn’t silently record it, either–there is no data in the summary of the run. As I started the second km, I could see the heart symbol spinning, trying to determine heart rate, but it was still getting nothing. I was pretty sure my heart was still beating.

I then paused the workout and opened the heart rate app. This app does a single thing: it shows your heart rate (weird, I know). After a few moments, it said my BPM was 148, which seemed about right. I then went back to the workout app and sure enough, this managed to get the heart rate showing in my workout. I resumed running.

Then something strange happened. Even though I was maintaining a moderate pace, my BPM kept going up. It went from 148 to 151 to 158, then 161 and at this point I started mildly freaking out, because there is no way my heart should have suddenly started beating that much harder. I slowed my pace even more and eventually saw the BPM drop down to around 153 and settle. I have no idea if this was actually happening (as it’s never happened before, that I’ve noticed) or if the watch was just glitching out. You can see the spike here:

It was also much windier than normal so for the first half of the run, I was running into the wind, which slowed me down a little. Temperature and humidity were fine–21C and 46%–and there was only a modest increase in sweating. But I did feel kind of blah. There were also more people on the trail than expected for the middle of the week, though it is admittedly a gorgeous day for the last day of summer.

I suppose I can’t complain too much. I did finish with a pace under 6:00/km despite things. Friday is looking cooler and a bit soggy, which is perhaps appropriate for the first run of fall. We’ll see how it goes.

Stats:

Run 717
Average pace: 5:58/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 11451 a.m.
Distance: 10.03 km
Time: 59:55
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 21ºC
Humidity: 46%
Wind: moderate
BPM: 152
Weight: 160.3
Total distance to date: 5272 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (380 km)

Today is my birthday, and Mother Nature gave me the gift of nice weather for my run. Thank you, Mom!

Although the temperature rose rapidly this morning from 10C to 18C, it stabilized for the run and remained 18C throughout. Sweating was minimal.

I was hoping the bridge construction on the trails would be complete and set off counter-clockwise, only to encounter…no detours. Yay! I originally planned on a more mellow run but my first km came in at 5:50/km and I just went with it, tying my Friday (and year’s best) pace of 5:48/km. My BPM was down slightly to 153. I suspect I could get nearly the same results with less effort (ie. a lower BPM). If conditions are similar on Wednesday, I shall try this!

Today is kind of a weird day, because it’s a quasi-stat holiday with the Queen’s funeral and government workers off. There were a lot more people on the trail than usual, including multiple families. Most people were good about making room, save for one family who clearly saw me, stopped, then just stood there, arrayed in a way that made it difficult for me to get by. People are weird (and sometimes strangely dumb).

I also saw the spitfire. I am amazed at how often we choose to run opposite directions and pass each other. It’s like we somehow know.

The ex-tree was on the Piper Mill Trail, neatly fallen across the width of the trail. Fortunately, it wasn’t a monster sequoia, so I was able to easily hop over it.

I did sweat a little, but mostly around the forehead. It’s so weird to come home and my t-shirt is dry. Dry!

Overall, this was a nice start to the week and a solid nearly-end-of-summer run.

Stats:

Run 716
Average pace: 5:48/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:51 a.m.
Distance: 10.06 km
Time: 58:20
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 18ºC
Humidity: 59%
Wind: light
BPM: 153
Weight: 160.2
Total distance to date: 5262 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (370 km)

Today is September 16, which means we are one day past the replacement of the foot bridges at Burnaby Lake, so I should have been able to run a full loop. However, I noted that the first six days of the scheduled work saw no evidence at all of any work, equipment or anything else that could be considered work-related in this matter. Therefore, I was prepared to see detours still in place today.

I still held out some optimism as I headed out, so chose counter-clockwise, hoping I might be able to do a full loop. Alas, no. The main and side trails were both blocked off, leaving only the Spruce Loop open on the north side. I could have done 10K there, but would have had to circle the Spruce Loop about 15 times. Which would have been interesting. And dumb.

(In reference to the title of the post, I’m unsure why they are working on both the side and main trails simultaneously, because they could easily keep the loop open by working on one, then the other. It’s not like they are replacing a dozen bridges that will take months to do. Also, the detour signs are placed where the main and side trails intersect, so a lot of people will walk the 500 m or so and then realize they have to turn around. If there was a sign at the dam saying the loop was closed, people could choose which way to go accordingly.)

I backtracked and went clockwise, choosing my turnaround point where the trail intersects with the path to the Glencarin parking lot, just west of the rickety old bridge over Deer Lake Brook, a distance that Google Maps tells me is about 275 m:

I maintained a pace very similar to Tuesday’s run, but conditions were quite different.

For one, it was only 13C when I started (and ended), marking the coolest run in a while. I should note that it didn’t actually feel cool–13C is still pretty mild. But it showered on the way to the lake and once I arrived, there was a brief actual downpour, so I was pretty much drenched to start. After that, it showered intermittently, but eventually eased off. It brightened a little, but remained overcast, which is what I was hoping for. There is something strangely awful about running in the rain, then having the sky suddenly clear, the sun comes out, the temperature shoots up, and the humidity remains sky-high (and ground-low). But this did not happen, it stayed cloudy until after I got home.

As I type this, it’s sunny, 18C and the humidity is 52%.

I was reminded of two semi-annoying things about running in the rain:

• My glasses get speckled with drops of water. There is really no good solution to this, other than not wearing the glasses (which I need). I can fudge it by looking over the top of the rims if it gets really bad.
• The Apple Watch is clearly not suited to rainy day activities. I locked the display early on, which means you can’t really interact with it during the run. Normally I only glance at it to check BPM or intervals, but sometimes I want to change the music or do something else, and you simply can’t. What happens if you don’t lock an Apple Watch in the rain? Fun (?) and weird things! When water drops hit the watch face, it will make the watch do utterly random stuff–launch apps, switch faces, things that would never seem possible from a few errant drops of water, but do, in fact, happen. It’s one of the leading reasons I am eyeballing a Garmin watch, which conspicuously lacks any touch controls.

I felt pretty good for the run and actually kept a fairly zippy pace, save for two km– at the 5K mark I had a pace of 6:00/km even, then inexplicably slipped to 6:17/km for the 6th km. I have no idea what happened here. I swear I wasn’t running this slow! Maybe the watch GPS went a bit crazy. After that, my pace picked back up, and I managed my fastest 10K for the year at 5:48/km. Overall BPM was a bit higher at 154 BPM, which is fine. I will probably ease up a little next week and stick to 150 BPM.

Overall, a fine run to end the week.

Fun Fact: If I take the total run distance I’ve tracked and drew a straight line across the country, I’d end up…somewhere in the water off Newfoundland.

Stats:

Run 715
Average pace: 5:48/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW and CW)
Start: 10:17 a.m.
Distance: 10.06 km
Time: 58:17
Weather: Intermittent showers
Temp: 13ºC
Humidity: 87%
Wind: light
BPM: 154
Weight: 159.4
Total distance to date: 5252 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (360 km)

After taking yesterday off to recover from my many days o’ activity, I headed out this morning under sunny skies, pondering how best to do a 10K at the lake while negotiating possible detours.

I settled on running clockwise, knowing I could get at least 8K or more before hitting a possible detour. At that point, I’d probably turn around, do 2K more to finish the run, then probably walk to the nearest SkyTrain station and ride home, as it would otherwise be a lot of extra walking after the 10K.

But I didn’t need to do that, because there was a detour way earlier in the loop and although technically I might have been able to squeeze through, I chose to just turn around and head back, knowing I’d be able to finish the run relatively close to where I started.

They have been doing some sewer repair/replacement near the bridge at Still Creek:

Today they somehow were doing something right at the bridge itself, with a large truck and a giant hose or something. Who knows. I mean, the people operating it know, but I could not suss out what it was doing. It looked crowded, though, so I opted to just turn around. I was just past the 6K mark at this point, so it meant retracing about 4K of my route, then walking 5K+ after.

The weirdest part was probably not having a sense of where I was on the trail as I turned back, in terms of distance/pace.

As for the actual running part, conditions were downright reasonable–it started out at 18C and stayed there for the entire run. Humidity was around 72%, which is high, but fine when it’s 18C. I sweated, but not a lot. My first km was 5:38/km, but I felt good, so I only eased up a little. I slowed somewhat toward the middle of the run, and on the 8th km I hit 6:00/km. I was determined to not go over 6:00/km, so kept goosing the pedal, as it were, and finished with an average pace of 5:50/km, my best 10K of the year. Weirdly, the watch gave me an award for my fastest 10K ever, which it is definitely not, so the stats must have gotten reset at some point. Still, the award is very shiny looking:

My overall BPM was higher at 153, but was fine in context. Thanks to the cooler temperature, I did not feel at all like I was overexerting myself.

I’ve updated to iOS 16 and watchOS 9, so there are more stats to look over, like a breakdown of heart rate per km, rather than just overall. I’ll look through these and see how they make me feel about switching to a Garmin Forerunner 255, which I’ve pondered for a few months. SOMEWHAT FAKE EDIT: I don’t know if it’s a one-time bug or not, but the map of my route only shows the starting location and nothing else–no finish and no actual route at all. So that’s a bit of an oops.

Overall, a good run under pleasant conditions. I like it.

Stats:

Run 714
Average pace: 5:50/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW, then CCW)
Start: 10:40 a.m.
Distance: 10.05 km
Time: 58:38
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 18ºC
Humidity: 72%
Wind: light
BPM: 153
Weight: 160.1
Total distance to date: 5242 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (350 km)

Yesterday I felt off. I didn’t want to run, skip, walk, think or engage in any other similar activities.

I wanted to eat and just float away on a big puffy marshmallow cloud.

Today I vowed to change course and headed out in the morning, determined to do a 10K–and I did! But to say it did not go as planned would be an understatement.

First, the good news: I beat the heat. With a projected high of 29C, I made sure to get started no later than mid-morning. It was 17C when I started and 21C at the end. This kind of jump is very noticeable when it’s warmer, but starting at 17C, not so much. I actually sweated very little, so little I didn’t even need Nipple Guards™. I also ended up running mostly under canopy, so I probably could have skipped the sunblock, too.

I started counter-clockwise and as I approached the bridge at Silver Creek, near the start of the run, I saw tractor treads in the gravel–the work on the foot bridges had begun. Dun dun dun. I continued and at the fork between the main trail and the Spruce Loop, I noticed the treads heading down the Spruce Loop, so I took the main trail, being a smart runner and all.

But my smartness was to no avail. When I got to the next fork, between the main trail and the Conifer Loop, a sawhorse was blocking the main trail. Undaunted, I went down the Conifer Loop, only to find the Spruce Loop also had a sawhorse (with bonus KEEP OUT sign), forcing me to go back to the start of the trail. As I did, I contemplated what to do for the run and decided after hitting 2K just past the dam, that I would run clockwise until I hit the 6K mark, then double back to complete the run near the Avalon parking lot. A solid plan.

This is also the only time in recent memory that I’ve run twice over the dam. The new mesh they have on the surface to prevent ice build-up tends to kabong when you run over it.

But even this solid plan was thwarted, once again, by trail work. As I progressed along the Southshore Trail, I passed a sign reading MOWER WORKING AHEAD and rolled my eyes. Of course there’s a mower working ahead. I went a fair way without any sign of the mower (nor its melodic buzz saw song) and was beginning to think it was actually finished. But no, on a curve just ahead of the second boardwalk, there it was, just sitting on the trail, engine shut off, not mowing a thing. I don’t know why it was sitting on the trail doing nothing, but it had the trail completely blocked on both sides. I probably could have paused my run and gently picked my way through the vegetation on the sides of the trail, but this was close enough to where I was going to turn around that I just turned around, anyway.

I’m sure I confused some people, as I ran by a few up to three different times during all of this.

By the ninth km I was coming down the Avalon Trail again and was starting to feel tired. I don’t know if my body just assumed the run was over or what, but I was flagging and still had a km to go. I decided to run to the 0K marker, turn around and head back up the Avalon Trail, then turn with about 1 km left to make it feel like a “proper” finish. I even put on the gas a little for a final pace of 5:45/km, but my overall was 6:00/km even.

Still, considering how many times I had to change my route and backtrack, I’ll take it. I felt pretty decent otherwise, save for some creakiness in my lower back right toward the end (I think I slept funny/poorly). It was a perfectly cromulent way to end the week.

Here’s the map of the router. The long yellow stretch doesn’t really show it, but it actually forms a loop. Again, the maps of the runs are pretty terrible. Pour a couple of billion dollars you find under the corporate couch into improving this, Apple!

Stats:

Run 713
Average pace: 6:00/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (all directions--see post for details)
Start: 9:55 a.m.
Distance: 10.02 km
Time: 60:06
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 17-21ºC
Humidity: 64%
Wind: light
BPM: 150
Weight: 161
Total distance to date: 5232 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (340 km)