What do I do when I am not feeling well and generally void of energy? I exercise, of course!
I will admit by about the 45 minute mark I was getting a bit tired. But I felt guilty for not being on the treadmill or running over the previous three days.
I originally thought of doing a 30 minute walk, then maybe a jog after, but weighed the possibility of me finishing the walk, then declaring it good and stopping there, so I pushed on and did my first full hour walk. Once I got past the “I am going to suddenly fall asleep from exhaustion, roll off the end of the treadmill and injure myself” part, it was not that bad.
The stats, with the previous 30 minute walk in brackets. Of note, pace stayed about the same, though BPM was higher, due to doubling the length of the exercise.
Speed: 6.5 km/h
Incline: 10
Pace: 9:16/km (9:17 km/h)
Time: 60:05 (30.06)
Distance: 6.48 km (3.24 km)
Calories burned: 613 (287)
BPM: 142 (132)
Here’s an example of something I couldn’t do before the treadmill: Start a workout at almost 10 p.m. Even in the summer it would be dark and spooky at this time. But inside the miracle of artificial light means I was A-OK to hop on the treadmill.
Here are the stats, with the previous run in brackets as comparison. As you can see, the pace was better and BPM was much lower–even lower than previous walks on the treadmill. Maybe my body feels well-rested by mid-evening.
Speed: 6.5 km/h (6 km/h)
Incline: 10
Pace: 9:17/km (9:21 km/h)
Time: 30:06 (30.05)
Distance: 3.24 km (3.21 km)
Calories burned: 287 (313)
BPM: 132 (143)
I did a 30 minute treadmill walk today and intended to follow it, after cooling off for about ten minutes, with a 30 minute treadmill run.
The run, with the incline set to 1 to simulate the wind resistance of running outdoors, began decently enough. After about two minutes I had a sudden and urgent need to go to the bathroom. My entire midsection was rumbling ominously, so without knowing exactly what was in store, I stopped the run after 2:17. This netted me a distance of 0.35 km and 22 calories burned. But hey, I tried!
The less-jostling walk yielded the following stats (pace is a bit slow and BPM a bit high):
Speed: 6.5 km/h (6 km/h)
Incline: 10
Pace: 9:21 km/h
Time: 30.05
Distance: 3.21 km
Calories burned: 313
BPM: 143
Well, the future has arrived and with it my personal challenge to exercise every day. Most days this will mean hitting the treadmill, as was the case today. As I’ve mentioned before, there is not a lot that can be said about walking on a treadmill, as zany adventures are rarely encountered. I did notice that my pace was a bit slower than my previous 5 km workout. I guess I am tired or something. With that, the stats:
Speed: 6.5 km/h (6 km/h)
Incline: 10
Pace: 9:18 km/h
Time: 30.06
Distance: 3.23 km
Calories burned: 295
BPM: 134
After indulging in a few tortilla chips, I worked off the fat and the guilt on the treadmill. I thought about going for a run outside but it has been a monsoon all day and I generally avoid running in monsoons.
Instead I did a 5 km walk. The stats are below, with the stats in brackets being from my previous 5 km workout, which was done at a speed setting of 6.0 (easier). The notable differences are a lower BPM today, despite using harder settings and of course, fewer calories burned for the same distance because I walked for four fewer minutes:
Speed: 6.5 km/h (6 km/h)
Incline: 10
Pace: 9:13 km/h (9:51/km)
Time: 46.10 (50:05)
Distance: 5.01 km (5.08 km)
Calories burned: 433 (533)
BPM: 139 (144)
Run 645Average pace: 6:01/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 1:44 pm
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 30:14
Weather: Partly sunny
Temp: 10ºC
Humidity: 76%
Wind: light
BPM: 162
Weight: 171.1 pounds
Total distance to date: 4835 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 8
Shoes: Saucony Switchback ISO (195 km)
Back to Burnaby Lake for the first time since November 24 (more than a month ago) and it was like I’d never left, at least in terms of pace, as it came in at 6:01/km, a rounding error away from the previous pace of 6:02/km–but technically still faster!
Most of the run was fairly consistent and I would have come in under six minutes if not for the third km, where my pace dropped to 6:10/km. This drop was due to two things: I was admittedly tired (I haven’t run outdoors much lately and it is a lot more demanding than being on a treadmill), but also because I kept gawking over to my right, which undoubtedly slowed me down. I was again staring at the clearcut mentioned in my last post on running at Burnaby Lake. It just looks so very weird now, like the whole of civilization has suddenly been revealed, the illusion that you’re running in the woods has been literally stripped away. This time, though, there was more evidence on the reason for the massive tree removal. Earth-moving equipment was in place and you could already see dirt piled up and plowed alongside the existing railroad track, indicating that the trees were removed to either allow them to shore up the existing track area or possibly expand it to include new track.
It still looks about as attractive as you’d expect a clearcut to be.
The run itself was done in remarkably mild conditions, with the temperature a balmy 10ºC–well above normal–, along with little wind and even the sun poking out a bit here and there. While the weather was surprisingly pleasant, the trail was not. Several sections–including resurfaced areas–are collapsing due to the aggressive inflow of water. Keep in mind that the fall hasn’t even been abnormally wet, too. There were numerous cones dotting the trail to mark soft spots and areas where the surface was crumbling away along the edges. The area leading up to the Cottonwood Trail was especially bad, as was the stretch immediately after it that leads to the bridge at Still Creek.
Surprisingly, despite occasional and somewhat large puddles, the area by the fields was not flooded and I escaped with my feet dry. Here’s hoping more resurfacing and shoring up has been scheduled for sooner than later.
Overall I didn’t experience any issues, just that “yep, not exactly in peak form” feeling, though my BPM was lower than the previous run, which was nice. That was probably due to being in slightly better shape (thank you, treadmill!) and also the warmer conditions meaning less strain.
It was nice to be back outside, and I did run a fair bit on the walk out from the lake, so all of my pep hasn’t yet abandoned me. We’ll see how it goes the next time when I run with actual wind resistance and stuff.
I opted out of the insanity of dealing with Boxing Day sale crowds at the mall and did a basic 30 minute walk on the treadmill instead. The settings were the same as the previous walk, though I pushed a little harder (most evident on the second km, where my pace was 9:07/km).
Other than that, it was exercise on the treadmill. No dogs magically appeared for me to trip over, and it did not rain at all indoors.
The stats (previous walk in brackets):
Speed: 6.5 km/h (6 km/h)
Incline: 10
Pace: 9:15/km (9:17/km)
Time: 30:05 (40:04)
Distance: 3.25 km (4.31 km)
Calories burned: 279 (363)
BPM: 134 (137)
What better way to celebrate the yuletide than to walk for 40 minutes on a treadmill? Little did I know how catastrophically bad the actual day was going to unfold (coal all around), but earlier when there was peace and all that, the treadmill stood ready.
For this day’s workout, I decided to bump the speed from 6 to 7. That may not seem like much, but 7 feels a lot faster, sort of an uber-walking pace that is not quite a jog. It was simply too much to sustain, so I fell back to 6.5, which the treadmill informed me is a 9:13/km pace. I maintained that for 40 minutes and don’t mind say, toward the end I was getting a little tuckered.
I also jury-rigged a platform to put my Vornado fan on and it worked quite well, even on the low setting, reducing the buckets of sweat to a mere thimble. Getting a proper shelf is definitely on the to-do list now.
And the stats (with the previous 30 minute/6.0 walk in brackets). As you can see, the pace was definitely brisker–this is pretty much in line with my regular walk speed when I go out jogging– BPM was only slightly higher and I was able to cover more ground, so to speak:
Speed: 6.5 km/h (6 km/h)
Incline: 10
Pace: 9:17/km (9:45/km)
Time: 40:04 (30:04)
Distance: 4.31 km (3.08 km)
Calories burned: 363 (281)
BPM: 137 (135)
I did a repeat of yesterday’s treadmill workout, eschewing going out for a run because I was feeling a bit lazy and hey, it’s the holidays. Plus having an extra day to recover after a long layoff on a trail run is a good thing. Yep!
Tonight I walked to the dulcet tones of Jonathan Coulton. I have put the previous walk’s stats in brackets as comparison, because the settings and time for both walks were the same. Note the differences! They’re not major, but even small ones are nice to see. Specifically:
Pace is five seconds faster. I am beginning to approach the walking speed on my runs (ie. when I walk 1.5 km to the river or 4 km to the lake), except those walks feature an incline of mostly 0%, not 10%.
Time: Identical. This was just weird luck.
Distance: Befitting my faster pace, I covered a smidgen more.
Calories burned: Work harder, burn more! Seeing this number go up gives me warm fuzzies. And less fat.
BPM: Basically the same, as expected. In time this could drop more.
Speed: 6 km/h
Incline: 10
Pace: 9:45/km (9:50/km)
Time: 30:04
Distance: 3.08 km (3.05 km)
Calories burned: 281 (259)
BPM: 135 (134)
This was the first time I followed a run with a walk. That doesn’t sound like anything extraordinary, and it really isn’t, but I’m hoping it sets a pattern going forward where I’m putting in some exercise every day.
I walked for 30 minutes and just over 3 km at the usual settings. Compared to the previous walk, which was 50 minutes, pace was nearly identical at 9:50/km, but the BPM was lower–134 vs. 144. It still strikes me as funny how when I ramp the speed up to 6 km/h to start it seems absurdly fast, like I almost have to jog to keep up, then five minutes in, it feels like it’s going slow enough that I want to goose the speed higher.
Also, I think the fact that it is near-freezing outside and the heat is off inside (the condo seriously rarely requires the heat to be on to stay warm) meant I was able to keep the sweat somewhat under control. I still need to get some kind of fan set up.
The stats:
Speed: 6 km/h
Incline: 10
Pace: 9:50/km
Time: 30:04
Distance: 3.05 km
Calories burned: 259
BPM: 134
Run 644Average pace: 5:45/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Start: 2:58 pm
Distance: 5.02 km
Time: 28:52
Weather: Partly sunny
Temp: 7ºC
Humidity: 76%
Wind: light
BPM: 170
Weight: 1706. pounds
Total distance to date: 4830 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 8
Shoes: Saucony Switchback ISO (190 km)
After messing around on the treadmill for a few weeks, I could not deny that today the weather was perfectly fine for running outside. I did deny it, a little, and as a result got a late start, not beginning until almost 3 p.m. Because of this, I opted to run at the river, rather than the lake, but compensated a little by walking to the far end of the trail before starting.
Conditions were actually pretty similar to the last run back in November, with little wind and partly sunny skies. I made no plans to push, I just wanted to complete 5K without any embarrassing pratfalls. Or falls.
And I did! Perhaps the workouts on the treadmill have made a difference (though the river vs. lake is generally a faster, easier run), but I lopped an entire 17 minutes from my previous pace, coming in at an average of 5:45/km. I experienced no cramps or other issues, just a general sense of still not being in great shape. But it was okay.
Being outside reminded me of how different it is than the treadmill. It’s cold. You have wind resistance. Did I mention it’s cold? You never know what that giant unleashed dog is going to do. The river trail kind of stinks a little. But when it isn’t stinky, it’s nice to run on a course that actually has turns, to feel that breeze, even if it freezes your cheeks, to see other people, even if they have giant unleashed dogs.
And I was pleasantly surprised by the pace, though the BPM is right on the edge of what I’m comfortable with.
In all, though, a nice return to the great urban outdoors.
