Exercise

I had a hankering to run clockwise today, and when I hanker, I listen to those hankerings. Unless it’s to eat an entire chocolate cake, then I try to resist.

So I set off, this time being a little less cautious about starting slow and indeed, my first km came in at a zippy 5:56/km. The last km was even better at 5:53/km. In fact, if I hadn’t slowed for the second (6:10/km) I would have had an overall pace below 6:00/km pace, which is pretty good for a lake run. Still, I can’t say I’m disappointed with a pace of 6:01/km, as it’s still 13 seconds faster than my last clockwise run around the lake.

In terms of issues, I began to feel some discomfort from the ankle and up into the hop on my right leg, which was odd and something I attribute to spending hours yesterday sitting in a chair playing video games. I was probably slouching like a sullen teenager without realizing it. I figured if I just maintained pace it would likely work itself out, and it did!

While I did stop the run at 5K, I found myself running more and more on the way out from the lake, to the point that I was pretty much running again. Next time I think I will try to ease off on the 5th km and then try pushing for more and see how far I go. I believe my stamina has improved enough to give it the proverbial college try.

Also, at the end, I successfully dodged between a bunch of geese that had decided to chill out all over the path. It must have been nap time, as they were indifferent to my presence in a very un-goose like way.

Stats:

Run 683
Average pace: 6:01/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 12:05 p.m.
Distance: 5:03 km
Time: 30:18
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 15ºC
Humidity: 68%
Wind: light to nil
BPM: 155
Weight: 171.8
Total distance to date: 5015 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (130 km)

This is the first time in a while I’ve done two lake runs in the same week, so go me!

Conditions were good–pleasantly mild, mostly cloudy and humid enough to prevent runner’s mouth but not so humid that I was drinking the air.

A surprising number of other runners were out today, apparently thinking it was also a fine day for a jog.

I started out slow, choosing once again to focus on being deliberate and not all speedy and such. The first two km, my pace was 6:13/km. It dipped again for the typical third km sag to 6:18/km, then I figured if I had the energy I may as well use it, so wrapped up with paces of 6:09/km and 6:00/km even.

Near the end, some geese were sitting on the trail–and on the grass next to it. And they had babies. This would present an interesting challenge, I thought to myself as I approached. I picked a path and weaved my way through. Surprisingly, the geese didn’t budge. Maybe the sun was making them lazy.

The walk out from the lake saw a fair bit of running as well, but I didn’t quite feel up to extending past 5K just yet. Still, it was another solid effort with no issues. I like no-issue runs.

Stats:

Run 682
Average pace: 6:12/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 12:51 p.m.
Distance: 5:02 km
Time: 31:06
Weather: Sun and cloud
Temp: 19ºC
Humidity: 59%
Wind: light
BPM: 151
Weight: 170.6
Total distance to date: 5010 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (125 km)

Today I was feeling lazy and almost didn’t go out. Bad!

But I did go out and opted to run the river trail after first walking to the far end of the trail. It was cloudy and actually felt a bit cool starting out, despite being 17C. Once more I deliberately chose a deliberate pace for the run, and my first km came in at 6:08/km. I stayed within a few seconds of this through the next three km and felt I had enough in me to push a bit for the last km. It went like this:

• First third: This is going well. Vroom vroom!
• Second third: Am I starting to feel tired? Do I keep looking at my watch?
• Third, uh, third: Second wind achieved! Sailing to the end

That fifth km came in at a pace of 5:28/km, which is a lot faster than expected and almost brought my overall pace below the six-minute mark. Kind of fun!

The run otherwise went well. No cramps, issues or the need to use the loo at any point (I used the loo before and after, though).

I’ll likely return to the lake for the next run, but today was a nice, satisfying outing.

Stats:

Run 681
Average pace: 6:01/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Start: 2:03 p.m.
Distance: 5:03 km
Time: 30:16
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 17ºC
Humidity: 59%
Wind: light
BPM: 155
Weight: 170.8
Total distance to date: 5005 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (120 km)

Today, I completed a 5K and officially reached 5,000 total km since I started running back in the olden days of 2009. That works out to about 384 km per year, which sounds less impressive. So forgot I just wrote that.

Instead, I will note that I didn’t track distance in the early days of running and have definitely missed a few here and there, so I probably hit 5,000 km awhile back. Still, it’s a nice milestone. And the fact that I am still running 13 years later shows that I must like this running stuff or something.

For today’s run, I returned to the lake after two days off and ran clockwise, improving my pace by four seconds and reducing my BPM by 5. Nice! I didn’t bring the water bottle with me, but it was so humid that I felt I could just open my mouth and drink the air.

In terms of pace, it was a long, steady decline. I tried to hold back form the start, but still turned in an opening km of 6:01/km. by the fourth km the pace had drooped (plunged?) to 6:36/km. Yikes. I mean, the humidity was wearing me out and I’ve been exercising a lot this week. Now, normally I don’t look at my splits while running, partly because I don’t want them to influence my performance in unhealthy ways, but because the Apple Watch is so gentle with its haptic feedback that it feels like it’s afraid to interrupt me when I hot a km, so it sends this faint, barely detectable feedback that is totally lost when your arms are swinging and your feet are pounding the ground.

Today, though, I played music directly from the Watch and doing this also transfers the notifications from the Watch to the AirPods. The AirPods will even lower the volume of music when they pop up, meaning you are guaranteed to never missed them. Clearly, this is Apple’s plot to drive AirPods sales.

But it also meant that I could easily check my splits live, and I did. When I saw the fourth km come in at 6:36/km, I decided that would not do, and put on the gas to finish–or at least as much gas as I could spare. My final km was at a pace of 6:04/km–almost as good as the start. Not bad!

I then made a beeline to the nearest water fountain and supped. When I got home I was pretty pooped, but now, some hours later, I actually don’t feel that bad, though I am going to be a tad stiff in the morning.

Overall, it was a good outing and I’m glad I went whole hog™ and did the lake loop again. It’s the best way to improve my stamina, plus it’s just so pretty this time of year.

Look, pretty!

While I’m always happy to see them resurfacing parts of the Burnaby Lake Loop, I wish Metro Vancouver Parks would prioritize the trail next to the athletic fields. This is what I faced today, after yesterday’s monsoon-like rainfall:

Stats:

Run 680
Average pace: 6:14/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 2:16 p.m.
Distance: 5:02 km
Time: 31:23
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 21ºC
Humidity: 60%
Wind: light
BPM: 155
Weight: 172.5
Total distance to date: 5000 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (115 km)

It was sunny and warm today, so I decided to take advantage and do a run at the lake. To my surprise, when I got there they had part of the trail closed off for resurfacing. The resurfacing itself is not surprising, but the section–going from the dam and ending where the Conifer Loop connects to the main trail–is, because this was resurfaced a few years ago. I suspect it was not done as well as it might have, because the storms of last fall and winter caused a lot of heaving and collapse along the edges.

Still, I’d really like to see them tackle the area by the athletic fields. As I finished my run, the rain from a few days ago meant the right half of the trail was still submerged, due to the field having weird drainage that just dumps all water onto the trail.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Since I always take the side trails, the detour had no effect on my route. I headed off, clutching my new SPI-belt water bottle in my hand (I elected to try it first without the clip, since it’s fairly small). I found as my hand got sweaty I would naturally switch the bottle to the other hand. It didn’t seem to affect my running in any way, and it was easy enough to grab a sip on the go. Ironically, I didn’t really need it today, since it was humid enough that dry mouth™ was not an issue.

What was an issue was my initial pace. I think I got a little over enthused being out in the nice weather (and listening to R.E.M.’s Lifes Rich Pageant) and started out too fast. It took me a fair bit to adjust my pace and I continued to adjust and moderate it through the run. I won’t say that I was itching to hit that 5K mark and have the run be over with, but I definitely felt my stamina getting tapped out. My slowest km was the last, but possibly because I didn’t realize I was so close to finishing (I started on the other side of the dam, since I had to use the loo beforehand).

I did have one issue–a stitch in my lower left side that started around the 4K mark and lasted a few minutes. I was already going at a fairly slow pace, so I didn’t want to slow down even more. I figured if I kept steady it would work itself out, and it did.

Still, I did manage to find enough energy to do some running on the way out from the lake, plus I saw a heron at a trail-side pond (see below). It looked very chill.

I was very pooped by the time I got home. After a quick soak in the tub, I laid on the bed and used the massage thinger and felt like staying there for about seven hundred years.

Overall, it was nice to get back to the lake. I look forward to eventually finding the 5K runs “easy” again. Thinking back, it was 10 years ago that I did my summer of 10Ks at Burnaby Lake, three runs per week, and just under 1,000 km for the year (2012). I ain’t gonna do that this year, but some regular running will do just fine.

Stats:

Run 679
Average pace: 6:18/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 12:59 p.m.
Distance: 5:04 km
Time: 31:46
Weather: Sun and high cloud
Temp: 21ºC
Humidity: 50%
Wind: light
BPM: 160
Weight: 172.6
Total distance to date: 4995 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (110 km)