Today while waiting for a Telus tech to arrive and install a fibre connection, I killed some time by doing a walk on ye olde treadmill. I sweated like the proverbial pig (do pigs actually sweat a lot?), so a top priority now is getting a fan mounted to help keep my cool ‘n dry.
I put on The Proclaimers’ Sunshine on Leith, which remains a gem of a pop album and is great for working out to and also, just, you know, listening to. It was also long enough to meet my criteria of exercising for either 50 minutes or 5 km, whichever came first.
As it turned out, I hit the 5K mark before 50 minutes, making it the first time I’ve done so on the treadmill. I then kept up for another minute or so to get the 50 minutes, too. I’m really into fives, apparently.
This time I put the towel in a place where it wouldn’t slip away after the first few minutes, and this was good due to the aforementioned buckets of sweat.
Other than that, it was a good workout. I let the music and my thoughts absorb me, so the 50 minutes went by quickly. My pace was eight seconds faster and BPM was a little lower, so pretty good overall.
Stats:
Speed: 6 km/h
Incline: 10
Pace: 9:51/km
Time: 50:05
Distance: 5.08 km
Calories burned: 533
BPM: 144
In which I did the same thing as Sunday, swapping The Dark Side of the Moon with Wish You Were Here. As a bonus, this album is about four minutes longer. Toward the end I was getting a bit stupid and tired, but saw I was close to getting 500 active calories burned, so that became my new goal and necessitated me adding the Pink Floyd classic “San Tropez” to the mix. I hit 500 before the song concluded and celebrated by sweating copiously.
In all, this was my longest treadmill walk and my latest. I started at 9:13 pm and ended at 9:59 pm. At this time last night I was climbing into bed.
My pace also matched my ending time, ten seconds slower than Sunday, but I walked farther, so I call it even(ish). My BPM was lower, which was nice. My total time was exactly four minutes longer than the previous walk, which is weird.
The stats:
Speed: 6 km/h
Incline: 10
Pace: 9:59/km
Time: 46:11
Distance: 4.62 km
Calories burned: 502
BPM: 146
Today I would normally walk to the lake and do a 5 or 10K run (I’m currently doing 5Ks again as I build my stamina back up). It was cloudy, but without a real chance of rain, thought it was cool, hovering around 4-5 Celsius in the morning. I had breakfast, did some chores and thought about running and a persistent voice keep saying, “I don’t wanna.” And I listened to that voice, because I am fat and lazy.
Normally that would be the end of the story, but now I have my good friend, treadmill. I mulled over a few plans–maybe a combo of a walk and a run or something. I decided to start with a 30 minute walk on my now-standard settings of 6 km/h and a 10 incline (yes, it really is walking uphill all the way). I then put on The Dark Side of the Moon because I’ve been in a Pink Floyd kind of mood recently.
And then I decided to walk for the entire album. As a side note, the final track, “Eclipse”, is a rousing way to finish any workout. The choice of music seemed to inspire me, as I walked at a very brisk pace, finishing with the following stats:
By way of comparison, a 5K run usually nets me about 330 calories or so burned, so walking uphill definitely burns better, though it’s not as intense, given the lower BPM. But I sweat way more. Somehow it all evens out.
Anyway, it was a good workout and offered proof on how having the treadmill is too convenient for me to avoid exercise without feeling massive guilt. Well, so far, anyway. Hopefully it stays that way.
P.S. I have created a new tag cleverly called treadmill walks to record such events apart from treadmill runs.
Today I slept in a wee bit, then had breakfast and thought about going for a run. Instead I noodled around for a bit, then walked to the mall, which, given my walking pace, burned 341 calories.
When I got home I thought about going for a run, but time was running out to get to the lake before darkness set in.
So I had a bubble bath, because I bought bubble bath at the mall.
After the bubble bath, I did not think about going for a run, because I was all fuzzy and warm and relaxed. Instead I had dinner.
After dinner I did a 20 minute walk on the treadmill with a speed of 6 and incline of 10. I sweated profusely. After the sweat dried, I got back on and did an open run, planning to stop when the watch declared I had been running for 30 minutes.
Thirty minutes later I stopped. I started the run at a speed of 10 again, but after awhile I wanted to get my heart rate down a bit, so dropped the speed to 9.4, then 9.2. I bumped it back to 10 for the last minute or so.
Overall, it went fine. The first few minutes all the muscles that get worked out in running, rather than walking, yodeled in protest. Things settled down after that and I was left to ponder thoughts like, “Why is my phone randomly pulling up so many Coldplay songs?” By the last few minutes I was getting into that “will be glad it’s over” state of mind because I am still soft and flabby. Then it was over.
A few takeaways now that I’ve done multiple runs on the treadmill:
I definitely need a fan, because I sweat buckets on this thing. The fan on the treadmill is equivalent to having a baby wave its hand in front of your face.
Maybe a towel to go with the fan.
Running without a shirt is kind of nice. I may do this outdoors once I lose most of the tire.
The downside of going without a shirt is a well-designed shirt pulls the sweat away from your body. With no shirt, the sweat is all, “All right, I’m staying right here.”
I’m tempted to cover up the display while running. I don’t really like seeing my stats in front of me for the entire run. Maybe I’ll start playing racing videos on the iPad or something.
And the stats:
Distance: 4.47 km
Time: 30:06
Average pace: 6:44/km
Speed: 9.2-10 km/h
BPM: 153
Calories: 333
Total treadmill distance: 54.11 km
Device used: Apple Watch Series 5
Tonight I got back on the treadmill to try the Sole app, which can sync to the treadmill through the magic of Bluetooth, which is neither blue nor has teeth.
The app has a measly 1.5 star rating in the App Store, but I didn’t check on why. It could be a single disgruntled ex-employee or maybe the app actively kills other apps while they innocently idle in the background. In any case, I use the Apple Watch to track my runs for real, so this app is just be a bonus or alternative to the monochrome LCD on the treadmill itself.
And that’s what it was. There are three views, one that closely mimics the treadmill’s display, but in color, and two others that show the same stats, but in different layouts. It’s nicer than the built-in display simply because it’s in color and higher resolution. It also makes it easy to start a timed run, something I haven’t quite uncovered on the treadmill’s actual controls.
Reaching out to interact with the iPad while running is a good test of balance, of which I have very little. Fortunately, you can still control the run from the treadmill’s panel and buttons, too.
For this mini-run I set a 10 minute goal and in that time I ran 1.51 km and my BPM was a low 148. This was with a speed of 10 km/h, so close to my normal running pace (I’m going to start recording the speed in my treadmill stats, but it will generally be set to 10 km/h). I burned 103 calories or two Timbits. Mmm, Timbits.
I next did a test walk to see how using a mix of incline and speed would turn out. This time I didn’t set a timer, I decided to walk until I had burned another 100 calories. Interestingly, my BPM was 145, nearly the same as for the run. It took me 9:56 minutes to burn 106 calories using the following settings:
Speed: 6 km/h Incline: 10%
This put my walking pace at 10:17/km, which is pretty decent for a 10% incline. I sweated copiously. I may tinker with the settings a bit more, but this may be as close to the sweet spot as I’ll get, as the incline can only be set to a maximum of 12% and at 6 km/h I was able to keep pace, but nudging the speed up from there made it a fair bit more difficult to keep from moving toward the end of the treadmill and a spot on America’s Funniest Home Videos or whatever the YouTube equivalent is now.
Here are the stats for the run part:
Distance: 1.51 km
Time: 10:04
Average pace: 6:38/km
Speed: 10 km/h
BPM: 148
Calories: 103
Total treadmill distance: 49.64 km
Device used: Apple Watch Series 5
I think I may try doing at least a mini-run of 10-15 minutes every day, along with the longer 5K runs and, of course, the outdoor runs on the weekend, except when there are blizzards and such.
The second time was more like a “real” treadmill run. I put on the AirPods and listened to music, which made me realize that I was apparently concentrating so hard during the first run that I didn’t notice the sound of the treadmill’s motor at all. It’s not loud, per se, but it’s kind of hard to miss. I could still hear it underneath the music with the AirPods in, but not to the point it was annoying.
I tried the built-in fan. It moves a tiny bit of air and adds to the noise. I stopped trying it.
This time I ramped up to the usual jogging speed of 6 (mph), which translates to about 9.7 km/h. This is the best combo of comfort and speed to approximate running outdoors, though it’s slower. Adding a 1% incline brings it closer and I might try that in the future.
I ran 15 minutes on my first bit of treadmillin’ and went for 20 minutes tonight. I’ll try the full 30 minutes or 5K the next time out. Tonight I definitely felt better on the treadmill and best of all, my left foot feels fine, even wearing the cross trainers without the orthotic. Yay. I also ended the run at 20 minutes on the Workout app, but let it go a few minutes longer on the treadmill itself, ramping the speed down to give me a recovery period, something I neglected the first time. It’s a much nicer way to finish.
Plans for the future may include mounting a better fan, setting up the iPad app that works with the treadmill to see how it compares to the built-in display (the treadmill has a place to hold a tablet) and other stuff I haven’t thought of yet. Jeff brought his magic fingers to play after by helping to execute the right key combo to enter maintenance mode and change the units from miles back to km. That should make it easier on my brain to track progress on future runs.
The stats:
Distance: 3.09 km
Time: 20:04
Average pace: 6:30/km
BPM: 160
Calories: 241
Total treadmill distance: 48.13 km
Device used: Apple Watch Series 5
After thinking about for a good long while and doing research for awhile longer, I finally went out and bought a treadmill so I can run when it is dark/wet/scary outside. It’s a Sole F80, which is what might be considered a basic or entry-level commercial grade treadmill. I was willing to spend on something commercial grade because I’ll be using the treadmill regularly and I wanted something that could hold up to daily use.
Unlike a lot of treadmill purchasers, I’m not in the planning stages of running, since I’ve already logged 4,800+ km over the last ten years, so I don’t expect this to become a glorified coat rack in a couple of months.
Setup was east, because I paid the fitness store to do it. The manual shows an exploded view of the treadmill, so named because looking at it will make your head explode. It took three experienced builders an hour to put the treadmill together. It would have taken me a week and I’d have had parts left over, wondering if they were important or not.
I programmed in settings for User 1 (me) and User 2 (Jeff) and did a trial run (ho ho) of 15 minutes. I didn’t listen to music, just my own clomping, as I wanted to listen for any odd sounds the first time. I heard no odd sounds, just the relatively quiet whir of the motor and, as mentioned, my clomping. Shortly into the run my left shoelace came untied, which was weird, but I figure I must have tied it a bit lopsided and got an end caught under my shoe. Because I had been un-manlike and read the manual, I knew how to pause the run, tied my shoelace back up and completed the run.
Because I haven’t been running much lately and also I’m fattish now, even 15 minutes felt like more than 15 minutes. But I’m going to run again in a couple days and keep it up as much as I can comfortably manage.
I do like the ease of just changing and hopping on. It really can’t get more convenient, so my excuses for not running will need to be extra-lame now:
“I might break the treadmill!”
“What if I pull a muscle again? I’m good at pulling muscles.”
“What if I fly off and go through a wall?”
“What if I run so much my legs become like tree trunks and suddenly I can’t get through the door?”
And so forth
The stats for my first at-home mini-run:
Distance: 2.32 km
Time: 15:06
Average pace: 6:30/km
BPM: 157
Calories: 175
Total treadmill distance: 45.04 km
Device used: Apple Watch Series 5
Run 643Average pace: 6:02/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 11:35 am
Distance: 5.02 km
Time: 30:17
Weather: Sunny, some cloud
Temp: 9ºC
Humidity: 77%
Wind: light
BPM: 175 (?)
Weight: 172 pounds
Total distance to date: 4825 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 8
Shoes: Saucony Switchback ISO (185 km)
Exactly three weeks and two pulled muscles later (one lower back, one upper thigh) I returned for only my second run of November. I was expecting to be slow, generally lack stamina, and so planned on only doing a 5K.
It was a good call.
I started out slow (6:10 on the fist km), got even slower (6:19 on the second) before finding some energy reserves on the third km, where I got my best results, a relatively zippy 5:41/km. After that it was downhill again, with the final km almost exactly mirroring the first.
Other than lacking energy I felt fine–no cramps or other issues. The pulled muscle in my leg didn’t hurt at all while running and seems fine now. I just had no gas in the tank.
Strangely, although the workout app claims an average BPM of 175 (which is high and plausible after three weeks of slothfulness), there is no heart rate data otherwise, just this message:
The heart rate for the walks before and after the run recorded without issue, so I’m not sure why it didn’t work for the run. Maybe I was running so slow it got confused and shut off.
The conditions were okay. It was clear, but felt colder than the 9ºC would indicate. It had rained earlier, so there was some piddle jumping, but the only really bad spot was that one section by the field that always floods. It was flooded and after trying to skirt around it, I gave up and just plunged through. My feet are almost dry now.
The harvest of destruction came as I approached the Cottonwood Trail just past the 3K mark. For reasons unknown, almost every tree between the trail and the train tracks had been cut down. It looked like a clearcut. I expected to see protesters locking arms together. A lot of bramble had been cleared out, too, but sloppily enough that the trail was covered in twigs and other detritus. Further, recent rains had hit this part of the trail especially hard, carving lines and further exposing tree roots in what is already the tree root-iest part of the trail. It’s the worst I’ve seen it in eight years of running here. Hopefully Cottonwood is next on the list for resurfacing, as it’s clearly overdue.
Crowd-wise it was not as bad as expected, though a gaggle of photographers completely and utterly blocked the path on the Piper Mill Trail. I actually had to stop and wait for them to part to get through. Why do people completely block the trail? Do they think no one else will ever use it except them? Perhaps.
Speaking of using the trail, I saw a pair of cyclists on the way in carefully studying the map, the one that clearly states NO CYCLING in multiple spots, and which includes directions to alternate routes. I confirmed that bikes were not allowed and directed them to the alternate route. They seemed displeased and I can’t blame them, because a bike lane on a road is not as nice as a trail around a lake, but they actually turned around and left, so kudos to them.
Overall this run went about as expected. I will cling to that third km where I briefly hit my stride as an example of how I can still run decently, as long as I, you know, actually go out and run.
Run 642Average pace: 5:52/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:33 am
Distance: 10.03 km
Time: 58:47
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 6-7ºC
Humidity: 84%
Wind: light
BPM: 160
Weight: 169.1 pounds
Total distance to date: 4820 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 8
Shoes: Saucony Switchback ISO (180 km)
I did not run last weekend for various reasons that I sum up as runner ennui, a term I just made up now. The weather was nice, I just lacked any motivation at all. I can’t even say I was feeling lazy, I just felt a total lack of ambition.
This weekend, the weather was again nice, but chilly, so I donned my layers and headed out, taking advantage of the (still dumb) switch back to Pacific Standard Time. Although I left around 9:45 a.m. it felt more like 10:45 a.m., which worked to my advantage.
As it was sunny, the lake was packed full of people, including a large number of runners, many running in pairs or small groups. I generally navigated most of these groups fine, but there were a few near-misses thanks to the ever-baffling lack of situational awareness that some people exhibit, even though they have functioning eyes and presumably functioning brains. In one instance two girls stood off to the side of the trail. A half second later I would have passed, but one of the girls, even though she saw me, still chose to step out into my path rather than wait that half second, then seemed confused about what she had done. Baffling!
A group of four runners were running abreast of each other, taking up the entire width of the trail. The one on my side moved very slightly in, giving me barely enough room, because falling back for a moment is apparently an inconceivable horror. I don’t understand people.
A family of cyclists were camped out on the Still Creek bridge with one of the kids having some issue or another. They were close to the trail exit, so I said nothing and just moved around them. Another cyclist, riding fast and not paying much attention, caught me by surprise at a corner and left me sufficiently stunned by the near-collision that I didn’t even know how to react. I finally turned my head around and mumbled something about no bikes allowed. He was long gone.
But enough about the weird, crowdy people. As mentioned, it was cool, but I wore two layers and warmed up quickly. I chose a modest pace, stuck to it and only felt a bit of a stick in my lower-left side for a few minutes early on, before it went away. My fastest pace was the final km, at 5:41, edging the start by one second. Generally I felt good and the trail was in good shape, other than the marshy area past the fields, which was filled with puddles and generally damp despite no recent rain. Maybe the swamp is backing up. This is one of the last areas that really needs to be resurfaced.
The best part may be my BPM dropping back to 160, which is a full 21 beats lower than the previous, rainy run. I can’t say for sure with only a single data point, but it would seem cold + rain = heart works a lot harder, where cold alone doesn’t have as much effect.
Overall, a solid effort and about what I was expecting. I am actively looking at treadmills, so here’s hoping I can continue runs indoors now that the standard time perpetual dark mode™ has been enabled for the next four months.
Run 641Average pace: 5:50/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 11:35 am
Distance: 10.05 km
Time: 58:44
Weather: Rain
Temp: 8ºC
Humidity: 92%
Wind: light
BPM: 181
Weight: 165.7 pounds
Total distance to date: 4810 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 8
Shoes: Saucony Switchback ISO (170 km)
I once again planned to run Saturday and ended up running Sunday. The weather today was predicted to be cats and dogs so I arranged the day before to have Jeff gently push me to head out in the morning when it would likely be pouring and I’d likely be thinking about how warm and dry it was inside.
This is exactly what happened. After about half an hour of gentle persuasion I changed and headed out into the rain.
I wore shorts and two layers up top–a sleeveless t-shirt with the long-sleeved Nike short over top, as it was an unseasonably cool 8ºC. This turned out to be a good choice. Yay for dressing for the weather.
As per the forecast I didn’t expect the rain to stop and it didn’t, though it varied in intensity over the course of the run. Luckily the wind was nearly calm, so it didn’t feel even colder. I had a surprisingly sluggish start, with the first km coming in at 6:01/km, and finished strong at 5:40/km, with an overall pace of 5:50/km. This is a bit slower than the last run, but given the weather and slow start, pretty decent overall.
There was a running event earlier in the morning and they still had their tents set up on the south side of the dam, so rather than starting over by the 9K marker, I began on the other side of the dam. This meant my run went “long” and I didn’t hit 10K until I was actually running across the dam. If I’ve finished a run on top of the dam before, it’s been long enough that I don’t remember. The top of the dam is always covered in puddles when it rains, so it was a splashy end.
Speaking of puddles, this was definitely a run where I had to dodge and weave frequently around puddles large and small. At the athletic fields, the usual part of the trail that floods was flooded as usual and after a quick assessment I realized there was nothing to be done but to go straight through, so my feet got dunked good just shy of the halfway mark. They seemed to be fine after. I would have liked to have seen how the runners in the race handled that part. It’s not an insubstantial puddle (the parks people should really fix the whole stretch one day, there is essentially no drainage at all).
Speaking of parks people, I encountered a putt putt car on the Conifer Loop, something I wasn’t expecting. Maybe the driver was trying to avoid the main trail out of courtesy to the other runners. And speaking of people, for the first few km I encountered far more than expected. A few were running, a few had dogs, but most were just out walking, many without umbrellas, and all very wet. As I exited the Conifer Loop I saw a pair ahead of me that I’d have to dodge, then another pair approaching from the other side, so I had to navigate between all four. I was not expecting this on such a crappy day. Why were these people not home, safely warm, and getting drunk while playing cribbage? I don’t know.
For most of the run after, people were few and far between, and my pace picked up toward the middle of the run, then see-sawed after until a strong finish on the dam. The one area of concern was my BPM, which shot way up to 181. That is high, but perhaps just reflecting the cold and wet. As I get used to the conditions I should see that come back down. If not I will be alarmed and consider staying home and getting drunk while playing cribbage.
Overall, this was a good run for a couple of reasons. I experienced no issues during the run, and just as importantly, I did the run, knowing how bad the conditions would be.
Run 640Average pace: 5:44/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 12:25 pm
Distance: 10.01 km
Time: 57:27
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 11-12ºC
Humidity: 71%
Wind: light
BPM: 164
Weight: 166.2 pounds
Total distance to date: 4800 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 8
Shoes: Saucony Switchback ISO (160 km)
Today is Thanksgiving in Canada and the weather was cool, but clear. Knowing how past runs have gone on stat holidays, I expected crowds and planned for it. And my planing paid off!
Yesterday I wasn’t sure I’d be running at all. I was congested, had a pressure headache and was certain I was coming down with something. My legs had that “wet noodle” feeling that usually means the onset of a cold or worse. But today the noodles were firmer, though the congestion and sinus pressure persisted, so maybe just allergies?
I took a blast of decongestant spray to my nose, then set off around 11:45 a.m. I wore my long-sleeved Nike shirt and while a short-sleeved t-shirt might have been fine, I didn’t feel overly warm in the Nike shirt. There was a light breeze and the sun was out, though it is already not providing much in the way of summer-like warmth anymore.
I chose to run clockwise, which worked out especially well today, as most people travel the lake in the opposite direction, meaning I’d be running toward most walkers and unless they were strolling with their eyes shut, they would see me approaching and presumably do something to let me by (I can report all did). For those I approached from behind, I switched to calling out, “Behind you!” to those who gave no indication they didn’t see/hear me coming–and it worked! Yay.
For this run, I opted to maintain a steady pace throughout, unsure how I would feel. Indeed, by the 6K mark I was feeling a bit tired, but pressed on, got my second win and finished with a near-identical pace compared to Thursday, at 5:44/km. Even better, my BPM was down to 164. Other than getting a bit tired midway through, I experienced no issues or complications, despite the heavier-than-usual traffic.
It doesn’t escape me, either, than I’ve been rather lucky with the weather being so nice for these runs. I know one day it will be raining and I won’t want to run, but the rain will persist and I’ll have to. Then I’ll grouse about it here. 😛
I saw another snake on the trail, and like the one on Thursday, it may no attempt to move as I jogged by. This must be “fall snake” behavior, where they are too preoccupied soaking up rays to keep warm to bother getting out of the way unless they really have to. Or a bunch of snakes are slithering onto the trail and lapsing into comas or dying. I’m not a snakeologist, I don’t know.
The next run will likely be on the treadmill at the Canada Games Pool, as sunset is happening around 6:20 now, which is before I usually finish my runs. Plus the weather this week looks stinky. But I might try one more during the week before declaring them done until the spring.
Run 639Average pace: 5:43/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 12:55 pm
Distance: 10.03 km
Time: 57:15
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 10ºC
Humidity: 46%
Wind: light
BPM: 168
Weight: 166.1 pounds
Total distance to date: 4790 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 8
Shoes: Saucony Switchback ISO (150 km)
After missing a week of runs due to illness and in one case poor planning/laziness, I finally set out today on a rare mid-week afternoon run, since I had to take the day off for workers to put tape on and then paint our condo door and drill a hole above said door for a new fiber drop (fiber drops are being added to all suites).
Upon waking up it was an unseasonably cold 0ºC. Yes, actual freezing in the second week of October. I planned on running around 10 and by then it was up to 6ºC. I was delayed for a variety of reasons (laziness not being one this time) and finally headed out around noon.
One of the delays was sensing I had to use the potty before heading out and wanted to make sure I got that out of the way first, because running and having to go, especially when the going is pooping, is a bad combination.
By noon the temperature was a relatively balmy 10ºC, but I still opted to wear my gray long-sleeved shirt. In retrospect the lighter Nike shirt would have sufficed, or even a regular t-shirt, as I only felt a bit cool on the walk back and that was mostly fixed by keeping my hands in my pockets. Even a decade later, I can still manage to overdress.
I opted to go counter-clockwise today and set a moderate pace, not wanting to go all crazy post-recovery and post-not running for a week. I had no real issues and despite the incredibly nice weather–a perfectly clear sky and little wind–the trail was not particularly crowded. But.
But around the 2K mark I spied a group of four women walking ahead, just past Piper Spit. Further beyond them the trail splits three ways, one to the Nature House (closed), one continuing the lake loop, and the third leading to the Piper Mill trail, which was my destination. I figured they would stick to the main trail and if they got to the intersection first, I would not have to navigate around them.
This did not happen.
Instead, I closed the gap and as I approached (the trail is narrow here, so I knew I could not dip of to the sides to go around), I cleared my throat and stomped my feet a little more forcefully to let them know I was approaching. This, it turned out, was an error. I should have just yelled, :Behind you!” As it was, the two women in the back were to the right, so I could pass them on the left. The two in front were on the left, meaning I would need to deke over and pass them on the right. There was not a lot of room, but enough to do this.
Except the woman on the right suddenly decided to shift to the right, putting herself directly in my path. I moved as much like a ninja as I could to avoid a collision, and ended up putting both hands on her shoulders to keep myself from plowing her over. Without stopping I apologized and kept going. She stood frozen as if she had seen some cosmic horror. Maybe I look that bad when running.
Anyway, it was unsettling, but didn’t really throw me off, and though I encountered others after, they all obligingly moved out of the way when they were blocking my path.
I had no issues during the run and was never in any doubt I’d manage the full 10K–until about the midway point. My stamina was still fine. My knees were behaving. My legs and feet were cooperating. So what was the issue?
In a word, my bowels. I suddenly had to go…again.The halfway point us by the fields and I thought of pausing the run to use the washroom at the nearby clubhouse (the door even says JOGGERS on it). I decided I could wait–a wait that would be about 27 minutes before the Jiffy John was at hand at the end of the run.
I was wrong.
Around the 6K mark I began to question the wisdom of skipping the washroom. By the time I was hitting the first boardwalk I was actively looking for a place to duck off the trail to do my business, not unlike a bear in the woods. I spotted one just past the boardwalk, made my way into the brush and behind a large and hopefully concealing tree. I did my business, avoided using leaves as surrogate toilet paper because I imagined what it would feel like later if I wiped my butt with poison ivy, and returned to the trail, lighter, but not faster. In fact, this coincided with my slowest point in the run. I picked up the pace a bit, fell back again, then made another effort on the final stretch to finish with a respectable overall pace of 5:43/km, pretty much right in the middle of my first two 10Ks.
The cold definitely had an effect on the run. While I felt fine my body was clearly working harder, both being a bit off and due to the cold. My BPM was 168–still below the 170 threshold, but not by much. Still, I felt fine, never winded or creaky.
Overall, a good run, despite the unwanted call of nature butting (heh heh) in.
