Exercise

I opted to head out for my run in the morning again because:

1. The upstairs neighbors were being just annoying enough to provide incentive to get out
2. The afternoon looked like it might be wetter than the morning (this proved accurate)

As mentioned previously, I planned to ease up on the pace today and try to push past 5K for the first time this year. I succeeded on keeping the pace lower, with a commensurate drop in my BPM. After a very light shower at the start, the run settled into being cloudy and somewhat humid, though the sun did eventually poke out a few times, so I was right to not skip the sunblock.

As I closed in on 5K, I checked how I felt and decided I could keep going. I checked again at the 6K mark and still felt good, so pushed on. At the 7K mark I felt fine, but it seemed like a good point to stop, as I wanted to end the run feeling like I could have done more, rather than doing more and regretting it later.

Still, 7K, woo. As a bonus, I had less walking for the rest of the lake loop.

No issues at all during the run and despite the slower pace and BPM, I still finished with a perfectly respectable pace of 6:05/km. In fact, my pace actually increased at the end.

Two items of note: A pair of women were jogging alongside the field just past the 5K mark, and a bunch of geese were gathered by and on the trail. The women smartly maintained pace, waved their arms slightly as they approached, and the geese that were on the path reluctantly gave them (and me) room without any hissing or drama.

The second note is the trail resurfacing is almost complete. For some reason, they stopped just a few feet short of the bridge at Silver Creek. I don’t know if they plan on resurfacing the trail beyond that and up to the dam–it’s never been done in all the years I’ve run here, but maybe this could be the year! It would cover up a lot of goose poop if they did.

Stats:

Run 692
Average pace: 6:05/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 11:13 a.m.
Distance: 7.02 km
Time: 42:44
Weather: Cloudy, some sun, some sprinkles (not the candy kind)
Temp: 21ºC
Humidity: 56%
Wind: light
BPM: 149
Weight: 164.6
Total distance to date: 5065 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (178 km)

Today my plan was to go longer, not faster (off-color joke goes here) but once again I was accidentally a lot faster on the first km than expected, at 5:43/km. The good news is my BPM was low, so I eased up a bit and was around 6:03/km for the next couple of km. On the fourth km I weirdly sagged to 6:17/km. I swear I wasn’t moving that slow! But I noticed it put my rolling average at 6:01. This meant if I pushed a bit on the final stretch, I might be able to break the six-minute mark for the first time at the lake this year.

I changed plans and went for faster. My final km was a zippy 5:38/km, bringing my average to…

5:57/km. Finarly I did it! Woo!

It probably helped that it was not as hot or humid as Monday. I also had no issues at all–no cramps, weird mystery pains or anything else. It was nice.

My plan for Friday is to again try for longer, not faster. I’m going to try for 6 km, possibly 7 km. We’ll see how I feel.

Stats:

Run 691
Average pace: 5:57/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 12:59 p.m.
Distance: 5:04 km
Time: 30:00
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 23ºC
Humidity: 56%
Wind: light
BPM: 153
Weight: 166.3
Total distance to date: 5058 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (173 km)

When nature calls before a run at the lake, I use the port-o-potty located at the corner of the Avalon parking lot (pictured above in all its glory). It’s just off the trail and near to where I start, regardless of whether I’m running clockwise or counter-clockwise.

Today was such a day, so I popped in and well.

Have you ever wondered how they clean port-o-potties? Neither have I. But if you figured they just house the thing down, you’d be right. Apparently I was the first one to use the port-o-potty this morning post-hosing. It was already warm–22C–and as you can see from the photo the potty is sitting in the sun. Plus it’s humid again, around 69% at the start of my run.

What this meant was that when I opened the door to the port-o-potty it was like stepping into a greenhouse set to emulate the very end of our future climate meltdown. The entire interior was dripping with water and the humidity felt like it was sitting right around 2000%. No one had even broken the wrappers on the toilet paper yet!

I got out of there quickly, afraid I might pass out otherwise.

Oh yeah, and then I did a run!

I went counterclockwise today and originally thought I had miscalculated because the Cottonwood Trail was mostly in direct sun, but the Avalon Trail at the opposite end was much the same, so no matter which way I was going, it was going to be with lots of sun. I was smart and wore sunblock, though!

As this is the first run of the week, I focused more on keeping a steady pace and hitting a specific heart rate range. I surprised myself by still being faster than expected and knew that if I did a burst in the last km I could break the six-minute mark, but it was very humid, I was out in the open sun at that point, and my energy was being steadily drained, so I only put on a bit of a boost and finished with a pace of 6:01/km.

Other than just feeling drained by the humidity, there were no other issues on the run, a pleasant and welcome surprise. I passed a few other joggers, plus a bronzed Adonis sans shirt who also chose to run. I’m not jealous at all of his perfect abs. Who wants to be perfect, anyway?

Stats:

Run 690
Average pace: 6:01/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:28 p.m.
Distance: 5:02 km
Time: 30:17
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 22ºC
Humidity: 60%
Wind: light
BPM: 154
Weight: 165.9
Total distance to date: 5053 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (168 km)

Today I decided to go clockwise around the lake and started without any complications–well, except for one. I forgot to put the phone in the belt, so it would have jostled in my pocket throughout the run and been a terrible distraction. I realized this and paused the run around four seconds in. Phone secured, I started off again and was astonished when the first km came up and I found my pace was 5:43/km–this was way faster than I intended.

Fearing burnout, I eased up to 6:03/km for the second km, then it happened.

Yes, I had to heed nature’s call. I paused the run, then had to search for a discreet location. Since much of the Freeway trail is closed due to sewer work being done (how appropriate), I went up a nearby connecting trail and took care of business. I resumed the run, but rather than feeling refreshed, I felt a bit off and a little crampy. The crampiness was not run-related. My pace slowed a bit more, dragging to 6:14/km for the fourth km. Even though I finished at 5:57/km, my overall pace fell a little shy of breaking the six-minute mark, But so close!

The humidity also did not help. At times, it felt like the 60% humidity was closer to 600%. I suppose this is marginally better than having my mouth go dry, but I have a water bottle now! And haven’t really needed it to date.

After walking the first km post-run, I began to feel a bit better and ran fairly consistently after that. Perhaps next week I’ll finally start pushing beyond 5K.

Still, it’s another week of 5K runs under my belt, my body is intact (and lighter) and I maintained my schedule even after an unplanned shifting of each run day.

Stats:

Run 689
Average pace: 6:02/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 12:44 p.m.
Distance: 5:03 km
Time: 30:22
Weather: Sun and cloud
Temp: 21ºC
Humidity: 60%
Wind: light
BPM: 153
Weight: 166.2
Total distance to date: 5048 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (163 km)

I know crampiness isn’t a real word, but I have to say, I am delighted by the suggestions that LanguageTool came up with as replacements:

The first run of the week, a day late because I was totally not feeling it yesterday, or in the parlance of 2022, the VIBES were not happening.

Today, the VIBES were on, and I headed out under very nice conditions, with mainly sunny and warm but not hot weather. It was also just humid enough to stave off the dreaded DMS (Dry Mouth Syndrome).

But starting the run was thwarted by technology, specifically my Series 5 Apple Watch. I decided to run clockwise because I didn’t feel like running the fairly long and straight stretch on the north side known as the Cottonwood Trail. I wanted more twists ‘n turns and stuff.

So I headed out from near the dam and noticed that my heart rate was not being picked up, which happened the last time I ran clockwise as well. Annoying, especially since I heavily monitor my pace based on current BPM now. I decided to pause the run to see if the sensor could detect that I was an actual living person, but accidentally tapped End Run instead of Pause Run. As I’ve noted before, the buttons are beside each other and the End Run button does not ask, “Are you sure?”, it just ends the run. YOU ARE DONE.

Here I was, then, about a minute and a half into a run and having to start over. I mulled and decided that I’d just go counter-clockwise anyway. Shortly into the run, the ever-advancing trail resurfacing team had moved closer to the start and I had to dodge the guy operating the machine that compacts the trail surface nice and flat. I cannot think of what this machine is called. It’s like a steam roller, but without the steam. Or the roll. But it basically does that same thing.

After passing this minor obstacle, the rest of the run was trouble-free, with the only issue being my shins feeling very slightly sore near the beginning, but feeling fine once I’d warmed up (and they feel fine post-run).

My pace was pretty consistent, though a bit of a burn at the end (5:52/km) put me at an average pace of 6:07/km. Pretty decent, especially given the humidity. I sweated copiously. When I finished I had enough gas in the proverbial tank to run pretty consistently the rest of the way around the lake. I also supped on every drinking fountain along the way.

And I wore sunblock!

I see no evidence of further burning at this time. Hooray!

Stats:

Run 687
Average pace: 6:07/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 1:42 p.m.
Distance: 5:02 km
Time: 30:48
Weather: Partly sunny
Temp: 22ºC
Humidity: 55%
Wind: light
BPM: 153
Weight: 167.4
Total distance to date: 5038 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (153 km)

The mind is a funny place.

I didn’t really feel like running today. I even thought of taking the day off. But I got dressed, went out and progressed through this chain of thought:

• I’m kind of tired, maybe I won’t run today
• Maybe I’ll run the river trail–in and out in about one hour
• OK, I’ll walk to the end of the river trail (about 2K) then start my run
• All right, I’ll run at the lake, but I’ll do a short loop, where I run 2.5 km, then turn around and retrace my route back, avoiding the extra 5 km of walking around the rest of the lake
• Well, looks like I’m running a 5K around the lake and doing the full walk back!

And I actually felt pretty good, most notably due to it being 18C instead of 32C like it was on Monday. I decided to start at a moderate pace, then judge how I felt after the first km, and go from there. But something weird happened. When the first km dinged on the watch, I looked and saw my pace was 6:43/km. This is not just slow, it’s extremely slow, like “barely running” slow, and I am sure my pace was better than that. I also noted that the total time so far in the run was over seven minutes, which should not have been possible unless I was RUNNING THROUGH TIME. My BPM was fine, so I picked up the pace and blasted to the finish line with a pace of 5:46/km for the final km. This brought my average pace to a reasonable 6:10/km.

Still, I am pretty confident that first km was off by a good 30 seconds or so.

Despite the weirdness, I otherwise felt fine and my overall BPM was basically the same as on Monday, despite having a much better pace. I am feeling some soreness (not pain) in my upper thighs from all the running, but suspect that the muscles will adapt soon™. If they don’t, I’ll begin to ease off on the extra walking and stick more to just the 5K part.

Stats:

Run 686
Average pace: 6:10/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 12:05 p.m.
Distance: 5:03 km
Time: 31:00
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 18ºC
Humidity: 55%
Wind: light
BPM: 147
Weight: 168.6
Total distance to date: 5033 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (148 km)

I headed out in the morning again, aiming to beat the predicted high of 26C today–and I did. It was around 20C, which is warm for the morning, but perfectly fine. Humidity was high enough to prevent DMS™ but not so high to make me sweat like some great big sweaty thing.

I did decide that since this was the third run of the week and my third also at the lake that I would moderate my pace a bit, in order to not blow the proverbial gasket or other analogy to a part of my body. This worked. And like the previous run, I also felt more confident picking up the pace and surprised myself with an average pace of 6:12/km, which was nice as I was running counter-clockwise, which is the “harder” more technical route.

I didn’t encounter any issues during the run, except for one near the end, where a tree had fallen across the trail, making me test my jumping skills.

Overall, I’m pleased that I was able to stick to my preferred running schedule. The weather helped, as it’s not terribly motivating to get out and run when it’s raining.

Stats:

Run 684
Average pace: 6:12/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:20 a.m.
Distance: 5:02 km
Time: 31:09
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 19-20ºC
Humidity: 56%
Wind: light
BPM: 153
Weight: 169.5
Total distance to date: 5025 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (140 km)

I blame myself.

And the three women and a dog.

I got off to an unusually early start this morning, beginning my run at just after 9 a.m. I opted to go clockwise around the lake again, and the plan was to moderate my pace a bit and see if I could extend beyond 5K.

Ho ho.

What happened instead is as I was getting a drink at the fountain, near my starting point, three women went jogging past me with an unleashed dog. The dog seemed well-behaved, but still, bad people! I decided to let them go on for a bit before heading out, so there would be a nice gap between us.

What I should have done is waited at least a few minutes, which would have made catching up much more challenging. Instead, I was only just onto the Avalon trail (the first stretch of the run) when I saw I was clearly closing the gap with them and would need to decide whether I wanted to slow down to stay behind them, or put on the boosters to get by and establish a comfortable gap with me in front.

I went for the latter.

As I blazed along I looked at the watch and noticed it wasn’t getting a heart rate. My heart was definitely beating, so I tried pausing and unpausing the run to see if that might help. It didn’t. By now I was at 0.87 km into the run and still no heart rate. As I am monitoring my BPM much more closely now, this was a point of consternation. When it finally kicked it, it reported a BPM of 170, which is uncomfortably above my “safe” level, so I slowed my pace and ended with perhaps the biggest drop-off ever from one km to the next:

• First km: 5:47/km
• Second km: 6:26/km

Basically, I started out so fast that I burned out, then still had 4 km to go. Whoops. I actually got progressively faster, finishing with a 6:09/km pace in the final stretch.

The trouble acquiring a heart rate has happened a few times now. By coincidence, I have started looking seriously at a Garmin watch for my runs, to get better and more detailed metrics than Apple offers.

I did manage to find enough energy to do a lot of running on the remaining stretch around the lake, so that was nice. And I also have to consider it’s only been two days since my last trip around the lake, so I am pushing myself more now. In that light, things went pretty well.

Stats:

Run 683
Average pace: 6:13/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 9:05 a.m.
Distance: 5:02 km
Time: 31:16
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 16ºC
Humidity: 93%
Wind: light
BPM: 153
Weight: 169.8
Total distance to date: 5020 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (135 km)