I did another lunchtime walk on the treadmill. Nothing unusual to report. I reverted to the 6.5 speed setting and did not collapse into a ball. I sweated decently.
The pi was achieved by covering 3.14 km. Mmm, pi…
The increased speed increased also increased all my stats, including BPM, though not to an alarming degree. This is closer to my usual treadmill workouts, which is nice to see in my current flabbo state.
The stats:
Speed: 6.5 km/h (6.0)
Incline: 10
Pace: 9:34/km (9:54 km/h)
Time: 30:05 (30:04)
Distance: 3.14 km (3.04 km)
Calories burned: 321 (272)
BPM: 143 (136)
A day after doing a 5K run and a lot of walking for the first time in more than two months I decided (with it raining outside) to get at least a little exercise by going on the treadmill for a 30 minute workout at the more causal speed setting of 6 (bumped to 6.5 for the last five minutes).
Every muscle that had been worked yesterday screamed. Then they eventually stopped screaming. By the end I was feeling tired (I had been feeling sore and tired all morning and wanted to nap, not work out).
Overall, it was not too bad an effort and shouldn’t contribute much to even more soreness in the days ahead. I am going to try to hit the treadmill more often at noon, either walking or running, when the weather is not nice, to insure I get a little exercise every day. It won’t make me shed pounds, but it will help keep me a little healthier. Plus, it keeps my AirPods from getting lonely.
The stats (previous workout in brackets). As befits my current flabby state, BPM was a bit higher and pace was a bit slower, but nothing too egregious.
Speed: 6.0 km/h (6.5 km/h for last five minutes)
Incline: 10
Pace: 9:54/km (9:47 km/h)
Time: 30:04 (30:04)
Distance: 3.04 km (3.07 km)
Calories burned: 272 (251)
BPM: 136 (132)
Run 648Average pace: 6:28/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 12:53 pm
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 32:33
Weather: Clouds and sun
Temp: 19ºC
Humidity: 53%
Wind: light
BPM: 163
Weight: 175.1 pounds
Total distance to date: 4850 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 8
Shoes: Saucony Switchback ISO (210 km)
I would say it’s hard to believe it’s been 70 days since the last time I ran outdoors–March 22, just days after everything started getting locked down in B.C.–but when you look at my stats, it’s actually quite easy to believe, because I was not so much slow as struggling to keep moving over a distance I would in peak condition find trivial to run.
I knew I was in for a challenge when I walked the 4 km to the lake and saw my pace averaged 10:02/km. It would normally be about a full minute faster. And this was just walking.
Undaunted and without madding crowds due to the early afternoon start on a weekday, I made a pit stop at the Jiffy John (no sanitizer–boo, are they trying to give us Covid?) then set off on a five km course counter-clockwise around the lake, setting a steady pace and knowing that the goal was merely to finish.
And finish I did, though at several points it felt like the run was going to finish me instead.
You can see graphically what happened in this map of the run (Apple, please make these maps available on iPads and the web, thanks, and change them back to being light instead of dark. Dark is weird and ugly. Or at least make it a toggle):
The GPS did not fail twice, but my body did!
As you can see, I started out slow and occasionally–such as when the ground slopped downward–got a little faster before going slow again. Partway into the Piper Mill Trail my lungs were ablaze and I had to do something to keep them from scorching from the inside out, so I paused the run, then resumed once my breathing and heartrate settled a bit–before I reached the end of the Piper Mill Trail, at least.
I puttered along until I got about two-thirds of the way down the Cottonwood Trail. Again, I struggled to keep going and paused for a minute before resuming, after which I was abler to keep going through to the end.
My total time was a perhaps worst-ever 32:33, with the average overall pace being 6:28/km. I’m certain that is my slowest average pace ever. It certainly felt like it.
But I did it and while I may be sore as all get-out tomorrow, right now I don’t feel too bad. My BPM was 163, which is actually lower than my previous run, but this was likely due to the fact that my pace was so incredibly sluggish.
I did refill the tank to run a bit on the way back, though, so I have some dim hope that things will improve if I keep getting out there.
The weather was decent–pleasant, but not hot, partial sun and a light breeze. There weren’t a lot of people out, and the majority of those that were made little to no effort at physical distancing, except where it was impossible to avoid, such as on the narrow boardwalks. A surprising number of joggers were out and even more surprising, I passed one of them somehow. They must have been in casual running mode.
Despite some recent heavy rain a few days earlier (which was unusual compared to the weather trends we’ve seen this spring), the trail was in good shape, so puddle jumping was not needed, with one major exception.
This section of trail was completely submerged for some reason. Luckily, it’s right off the fields and you can actually detour around it by heading up the access road and hooking left at the first turn-off to rejoin the main loop.
A river runs through it…but shouldn’t.
Overall, while I am a bit shocked at just how slow I was, I can’t say that I was surprised at being slow and finding the run a bit of a struggle. Seventy days is a long time between runs. I will try not to go another seventy days before the next one.
It was noon, I was waiting for a delivery and didn’t want to go out for a walk and miss it, so I stayed in and thought I could do a workout. But I didn’t want to be in the middle of some hardcore exercise when the delivery showed up, so I got on the treadmill, set it to 5–a leisurely pace of 12 minutes per km–and walked for exactly five minutes. I did not sweat.
But I did burn nineteen calories. Woo. Behold:
I gained more than 19 calories back later just by looking at a container of Goldfish crackers.
The delivery showed up about a minute after my workout was complete, so I like to think I handled the whole thing perfectly.
At noon today I opted to run instead of lunch. To expedite matters, I ran on the treadmill instead of outside. It has been a long while since I ran inside or outside.
I started at a speed of 9.5, which translates to a pace of 6:12/km or so. Slower than a typical outdoor run, but fairly decent for the treadmill. I quickly realized that this was Too Fast and set it back to 9. I then realized that running at this or any other pace for more than a few minutes was lighting my calves and ankles on fire. I checked my BPM on the watch, and it was rocketing toward 170. I did not like this, so about 3-4 times when my heart rate started to climb, I dropped down to my walking pace of 6.5 and walked for a minute or so until my BPM settled.
Technically, then, this was not a 30-minute run but more like a 24- or 25-minute run. Still, I finished instead of just quitting and eating a giant pie. I consider this a good start to getting back into the run of things.
I booked today off and went for a walk in the afternoon because it was pleasant out and I like pleasant things.
In The Truth Equation Neil Pasricha suggests doing one of three activities every day, for 20 minutes:
write in a journal
read fiction
walk among trees
Each activity is supposed to put you in a positive frame of mind, with the tree one working apparently because trees secretly spray you with feel-good chemicals or something. You know, like the spores in that episode of the original Star Trek, but les evil.
I ended up doing a full loop of Burnaby Lake and am a little pooped as a result, because I am soft and flabby. But it was nice.
And unnerving.
It was nice because the weather was warm but not hot, the breeze gentle and inviting. I stopped and took pictures (see below). It was everything Pasricha had promised in his book.
But of course, we are in the middle of a pandemic right now, so there are still signs all over asking everyone to stay 2 meters apart, don’t sneeze into each other’s faces and so on.
For stretches, especially the first few km, it was fine. There were few people out–it was a workday and most people, despite all the closures, are still working. But it is also a long weekend and others like me were obviously getting an early start. All good.
So, the walk was relaxing. Except when other people came by, because of the ones who passed me, there was exactly one small group of three that made an actual effort to make as much space as possible between them and me. Everyone else just walked straight by, as if we weren’t in the middle of a pandemic.
Realistically, the chances of catching the virus while walking past someone outdoors is exceedingly small. I had no real need to be concerned. But it still created a tension that began to wear on me as I progressed around the lake. I even diverted temporarily onto the Freeway trail at one point just because I knew there would be few if any people walking it (there were a few cyclists, it turned out). But the Freeway trail is not very scenic and, being next to the freeway, is noisy. It’s the kind of trail you walk on if you have to, not because you want to. I returned to the Burnaby Lake loop at the second opportunity to do so and finished my walk.
Overall, it was fine. I get it, people are tired of walking on virtual eggshells, and of being cooped up all the time and being asked to stay home. Parks are one of the few public places that are open and available. But if what I saw today is an indication of how seriously people are treating physical distancing right now–well, let me say that I won’t be surprised if we see an uptick in cases in a few weeks.
On a more pleasant note, photos!
Burnaby Lake from the bridge over Deer Lake BrookButtercups and plenty of ’emWildflowers along Cariboo Place.Another shot of the lake, with lily pads starting to cover the surface.
And finally, one last shot of the lake with the Metrotown towers in the distance and some god rays in the top left. At least I didn’t get my thumb in this one (something I’ve done several times recently for reasons unknown).
I didn’t intend to stop doing workouts and here it is almost two week since my last one. I am bad. And fat. But it is time to stop morphing into a sloth and morph into a slightly less pudgy human, and so I metaphorically dusted off the treadmill and did a workout tonight.
I made one small tweak–I set the speed to 6.0 (10 km/h pace) instead of the usual 6.5 pace. I was surprised at how different it felt. At 6.5 I have to hold onto the handgrips nearly the entire time, as the treadmill is pulling hard, trying to whisk me off the back. At 6.0 I can hold on with a loose grip and walk without holding at all, though 6.0 is probably near the edge of where that is possible, as I don’t feel entirely steady walking hands-free at this pace.
Overall, I felt fine. The slower pace helped and the 30 minutes went by quickly, even though it still took 30 minutes. The notable differences in the stats are pace (slower treadmill means slower pace, though I was comfortably under the official 10 km/h pace), fewer calories burned (naturally) and a lower BPM (also unsurprising, but nice to see it dropped as much as it did).
Maybe next time I’ll so a mix of speeds. Maybe I’ll actually try jogging. Maybe I won’t wait almost two weeks before doing something again. The world is full of possibilities.
Speed: 6.0 km/h (6.5 km/h)
Incline: 10
Pace: 9:47/km (9:31 km/h)
Time: 30:04 (30:04)
Distance: 3.07 km (3.15 km)
Calories burned: 251 (296)
BPM: 132 (141)
Nic and I went for a stroll around the southern half of Burnaby Lake today, taking pictures, enjoying nature and, of course, avoiding people.
The weather was mild, but cloudy and this probably scared a few people off. The majority of those on the trail seemed to be mindful to keep the 2 meters away, or at least as best they could manage, as much of the trail isn’t even 2 meters wide. There were a few dopes, of course, and a surprisingly large number of cyclists. The entrance to the park had a giant sandwich board in place basically saying TAKE YOUR BIKE ELSEWHERE. YES, YOU. But a lot of people are clearly ignoring these signs, perhaps because they think there is no enforcement right now–which may be true, as I did not see any park people or vehicles.
I did see greenery, water and ducks, some of which are below.
First, the standard shot of Burnaby Lake, taken from the bridge at Deer Lake Brook. You can see the baby lily pads popping up all over, as well as the general greenery filling in along the shore.
Next is the little pond adjacent to the lake with a partially sunken log that is popular with ducks. The pond is smaller than usual as we haven’t had much rain for a few months. But the ducks were still there.
This pond is nearby to the other one and nicely captures the fact that the area around the lake is marshland.
And there were a number of these signs dotting the sides of the trail reminding us that we live in COVID times. As I said above, people were generally pretty good about not getting elbow to elbow, though there’s always a few dingbats out and aboot.
Nic was using his telephoto lens to capture amazing shots of birds. Meanwhile I managed this with my iPhone 8:
If I crop as much as I dare, you can see this:
It’s not great, but at least you can tell they are birds. They preened for a bit, then took off, probably because we were standing there staring at them.
Overall, it was a nice outing and the cloudy weather likely worked to our benefit, keeping crowds down. It would have been great running weather, so I may vow yet again to try next weekend to get off the treadmill and into nature and all that.
I was not overly active today, so decided I better hit ye olde treadmill to make up for it. It was fine. I seemed to sweat more than usual. The stats almost look like I forgot to fix my copy and paste, but my pace and distance were in fact identical to the last workout. BPM was up a little, but not a lot, and I burned off a few more of the million calories I need to go through to get back to my usual weight.
Baby (elephant) steps…
Speed: 6.5 km/h
Incline: 10
Pace: 9:31/km (9:31 km/h)
Time: 30:04 (30:03)
Distance: 3.15 km (3.15 km)
Calories burned: 296 (284)
BPM: 141 (137)
Nothing too exciting to report on tonight’s workout. I started reasonably early compared to some recent exercises–it was only 9:30 p.m. when I hit the treadmill.
I wasn’t really feeling it, but sometime around the midway mark my mind started to drift and I muddled through, distracted from the sweating and exertion by various thoughts about various things.
Note the stats below are comparing today’s 30 minute workout to the previous, which was all of 7:28 minutes. The only interesting thing of note is that my pace after 30 minutes was the same as after 7:28 minutes, so I apparently had more gas tonight than I did the previous night.
Speed: 6.5 km/h
Incline: 10
Pace: 9:31/km (9:31 km/h)
Time: 30:03 (7.28)
Distance: 3.15 km (0.78 km)
Calories burned: 284 (59)
BPM: 137 (123)
I went for a walk down to the park in the afternoon and unlike my previous stroll, I made sure to not have a few lingering minutes left on my exercise ring to haunt me through the rest of the day.
The rest of the day proved to be a rather lazy one, though, so I ended up with a shortfall on my move ring instead. I was at 90% by 11:30 p.m. and my mind was starting to click over into “too bad so sad” on missing closing all three rings. But at 11:45 p.m. I found myself donning my shorts and hopping on the treadmill, determined to close the move ring in one final burst of obsessive completionist effort. It happened at 11:55 p.m.
My exercise lasted 7:26 minutes and covered 0.78 km. The minimal stats are below. Hitting my move goal with minutes to spare gave me a perfect week on all three goals, and made me feel a tiny bit better about having a pretty lazy day overall.
Stats (note I am comparing to a shorter-than-normal 20 minute walk):
Speed: 6.5 km/h
Incline: 10
Pace: 9:31/km (9:38 km/h)
Time: 7:28 (20.03)
Distance: 0.78 km (2.08 km)
Calories burned: 59 (163)
BPM: 123 (129)
Technically I didn’t wait until the last minute, but with a mere two minutes remaining on my exercise ring, I finally decided to do a treadmill walk…at 11:10 p.m.
I cut it a bit shorter than normal–down to 20 minutes–but I figured that might also provide some interesting info on how a shorter workout would differ, stat-wise.
First, I was slow, which one would not expect in a shorter workout. I think this was due to the late start and my body basically already switching to going-to-bed mode and being suddenly shocked into what-the-heck-is-going-on mode.
But more expectedly, my BPM was down to the lowest yet at 129.
Other than being slow, the stats are pretty much in line with doing two-thirds of the usual workout. And now I don’t have to go to bed cursing myself for leaving that tiny sliver of the exercise ring open.
Speed: 6.5 km/h
Incline: 10
Pace: 9:38/km (9:29 km/h)
Time: 20:03 (30.04)
Distance: 2.08 km (3.17 km)
Calories burned: 163 (266)
BPM: 129 (136)
