Exercise

Run 459: A comfy run in the rain

Run 459
Average pace: 5:16/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Distance: 5:04 km
Time: 26:33
Weather: Light showers
Temp: 14ºC
Wind: light
BPM: 156
Stride: n/a
Weight: 157.8 pounds
Total distance to date: 3670 km
Devices/apps: Apple Watch and iPhone 6

I skipped Tuesday’s usual run because I was wiped out from work. This is not normal, but the first day of classes for the fall semester when you work at a college IT help desk can do that to you. I came home feeling like I’d walked 20,000 steps. Which I had.

I vowed to stay on track by running tonight and despite ominous clouds, I stayed true to my vow. Due to a light rain and a temperature of only 14ºC I donned my long-sleeved Nike shirt, though in the end a regular t-shirt would have been fine (because there was virtually no wind, so it never felt overly chilly).

Somewhat unusually I fell into a comfortable pace quite early and stayed there for nearly the entire run. Looking at my splits I had the usual drop at the 2km mark but actually got progressively faster to the end of the run, with my final km pace being 5:03 vs. 5:07 for the first km. Until about the last 500m I never tried to push beyond this comfy pace so I am surprised to see I kept picking up speed.

The right leg felt fine for the first half of the run, began to feel a bit stiff in the second half, but began to feel better again before the run ended. It is weird, my right leg. I can handle weird better than injured, however.

The rain was pretty light and wasn’t even a nuisance on my glasses like it usually is, thanks to the aforementioned lack of wind. The trail was all but deserted, save for a cyclist or two. I know it makes me seem anti-social but I kind of like running Omega Man-style.

Overall I’m pleased with this run. It is probably the most relaxed I’ve felt while doing a 5K in a long time.

Run 458: Snakes, side trails and people everywhere

Run 458
Average pace: 5:33/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Distance: 10:09 km
Time: 56:05
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 16ºC
Wind: light
BPM: 156
Stride: n/a
Weight: 156.7 pounds
Total distance to date: 3665 km
Devices/apps: Apple Watch and iPhone 6

I was still a bit concerned about the stiffness in my right leg so my plan today was to run steady but not push so I expected my pace to be lower–and it was, but only by a few seconds, coming in at 5:33/km. More importantly, the leg behaved and there were long stretches where my breathing was relaxed and I just felt good, that feeling where you feel like you could keep running forever or until your shoes completely fall apart.

There was some sun heading to the lake but it vanished behind the clouds for the run. The promise of sun and a slightly later start meant the trails were packed, with both joggers and walkers a-plenty. Reluctantly, and for the first time since I tripped, I opted to take all three side trails, to help avoid the crowds.

The good news is it worked. The side trails were completely clear and I remained upright the entire time. Here’s the tree root hazard report:

Spruce Loop: one root on the left side of the trail (not an issue as I was running on the right)
Conifer Loop: massive root that crosses the entire width of the trail and sits in the open. It’s impossible to miss seeing it. There is one other prominent root, on the left side. This is the Evil Tree Root, the one I tripped on. It was in the sun today and looked deceivingly harmless.
Piper Mill Trail: a few small roots located in the middle of the trail

While I settled into a comfy pace for most of the run, the starting km was an unusually brisk 5:03/km, the closest I’ve come this year to breaking the five minute mark. This is not a mark I expect to break, so seeing the time was a bit of a surprise.

I spied a garter snake slithering rapidly into the brush ahead of me. It was much faster than the python I saw a few weeks ago. It probably sits lower on the food chain than a python, though. For reference, this is what it looked like:

Western garter snake

I am happy to report no dogs off-leash and every runner and pedestrian was polite and alert. Overall, a surprisingly pleasant run.

Run 457: Never mind the tree roots, here come the cars!

Run 457
Average pace: 5:31/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Distance: 10:05 km
Time: 55:32
Weather: Clear
Temp: 17ºC
Wind: light
BPM: 158
Stride: n/a
Weight: 157.4 pounds
Total distance to date: 3655 km
Devices/apps: Apple Watch and iPhone 6

With more time than originally expected, I did a 10K to round out the week of running, with the sky cloudy and the temperature 17ºC. The wind was light but felt a little brisk. Winter is clearly on the way as of September 1st.

For some reason my right leg was feeling a bit stiff on the walk to the lake, which struck me as odd as it felt fine yesterday and I didn’t run or even do a walk yesterday, other than trekking around on the job. I chose to hold back a bit for the run as a result, and while the soreness persisted into the run, it settled down and I don’t feel it made any real impact. I didn’t feel uncomfortable, at any rate.

The trail was pretty quiet but two people were blatantly violating the unspoken “walk on the right” rule. I got out of the way for one, reluctantly, while the other opted to pass on my right, which was pretty much where the trail did not exist. He managed to stay upright.

Despite yesterday’s rain, the trail was dry and puddle-free, apart from some water on top of the dam (and I didn’t run on the dam). It did rain after the run, so I am happy to have dodged that.

When running clockwise there is one notable danger point and that’s where Roberts Road leads into the parking lot for the Burnaby Lake Rowing Pavilion. When running counter-clockwise you emerge from the trail and cross the street with a clear view in both directions. When approaching from the other side you have a giant wall of vegetation creating a blind spot on your left–the side where traffic will come in from. It looks like this, courtesy of Google Maps street view:

Where joggers and cars hopefully don't meet.
Where joggers and cars hopefully don’t meet.

Generally this is not a problem as there is very little traffic and on a weekday, who would be coming out to the rowing pavilion, anyway? Someone in a small blue car with no brakes, apparently. As always, when I approach from the dangerous side, I swing a bit wide so I can see any vehicles ASAP and if it looks clear, I run across to the safety of the trail on the other side (it was shortly past that point that I ran into the bobcat/lynx, so safety is a relative thing). The blue car emerged at nearly the same moment and I quickly pulled in close to the edge as it sped by. It was obvious the driver was not expecting pedestrians. He or she was a dummy, not to mention reckless. But I got by and finished the run.

The pace was only slightly off my previous 10K and I’m happy with that. Sunday’s forecast currently looks perfectly pleasant, so here’s hoping it remains such. Almost every other days is a variation of “rain because summer is over, suckers.”

Run 456: Holding back while moving forward

Run 456
Average pace: 5:20/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Distance: 5:03 km
Time: 26:57
Weather: Clear
Temp: 19ºC
Wind: light
BPM: 153
Stride: n/a
Weight: 158.2 pounds
Total distance to date: 3645 km
Devices/apps: Apple Watch and iPhone 6

If there’s a word I’d use to describe tonight’s run it would be nice. I was wary of the right leg being stiff from Sunday’s run and conditions were comfy, so I adopted a more relaxed pace. Even so, I still came in at 5:20/km and with no discomfort. It did feel like I was on the edge of some cramping a few times, which made it easier to justify the moderate (yet still reasonably zippy pace). The combo of the pace and temperature of 19ºC meant my heart rate was lower, too, which is always a plus.

I headed out later than normal due to a late dinner but the bonus side effect of that is the sun had dipped behind the trees, so I didn’t have to engage in a staring contest with it on that one part of the river trail.

Overall, this was a mellow, almost relaxing run. I’d practically forgotten what it was like to run without the elements conspiring against me.

If the forecast holds up, there’s a better than 50% chance that Thursday’s run will be soggy. I’m hoping not because I prefer rain-free runs to not rain-free, but I’ll head out regardless, hoping that one day someone will invent technology that keeps glasses dry when it’s wet out.

Run 455: A difference of degrees (16 of them, to be precise)

Run 455
Average pace: 5:28/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Distance: 10:03 km
Time: 54:57
Weather: Overcast
Temp: 17-18ºC
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 165
Stride: n/a
Weight: 158.9 pounds
Total distance to date: 3640 km
Devices/apps: Apple Watch and iPhone 6

Today was my first post-vacation 10K, coming nine days after the last one, when it was 30ºC. It was also my first run since this Thursday when it was even hotter at 33ºC. The weather has changed and I’m reasonably confident the last hot days of summer are over. With the sky overcast and the temperature a mere 17ºC (which is, in fact, almost ideal for summer running and is perfectly fine even if you’re strolling out and aboot), I set out this morning to find out just how much of a difference 16ºC could make.

As it turns out, a lot!

My pace last Friday was a molasses-like 6:01/km, one of the few times I’ve slipped past the six minute mark. I was not impressed. I was sad. I felt old. And slow. And sweaty. I remember struggling to pull my shirt off I was so sweaty, like the start of some porn scene gone horribly wrong.

Today I decided to start exactly at the 0 km marker and run the exact, official Burnaby Lake Loop, to see how well the markers matched the GPS. When I strode past the 10 km marker the watch showed me at 9.88 km–pretty close, really.

And when I passed that 10 km marker I was not bathed in sweat. I actually only sweated a little, mostly in my favorite spot, which is around the sides of my temple. Why these spots generate so much sweat I do not know. Maybe my brain is mentally jogging at the same time. My pace turned out to be 5:28/km, not only handily eclipsing the previous 10K but also besting my fastest 10K post-injury, which was 5:41/km.

The only downside is the right hip area started to feel a little sore when I applied thrusters. Moderating my pace corrected this, though it still feels a little sore tonight and I suspect it may be a bit stiff tomorrow. I’m not overly concerned as it feels sore rather than hurt.

Given the cooler conditions there weren’t as many people out but still more than I expected. There were a lot of runners, including more cute young male runners than I am used to seeing. I only point this out because almost all runners I see, male or female, tend to be in their 30s or older. I didn’t recognize most of these runners (I see a few regulars most days) and one of the young guys was absolutely drenched with sweat, as if he was in a bubble where it was still 33ºC.

Other than the small degree of soreness in my right leg, the run went very well. For the first time in a long time I actually felt a second wind on the back half and my pace picked up after the usual midway drop. It was nice.

Tuesday’s forecast is currently calling for around 21º about the time I am running, which is warmer but still much cooler and the rest of the week looks like poop from a summer weather perspective, with a chance of rain and highs in the upper teens. I’m liking the temperatures but could do without the rain. I’ll take the rain (to quote R.E.M.) over more 30ºC+ temperatures, though.

Run 454: Ludicrously hot

Run 454
Average pace: 5:23/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Distance: 5:04 km
Time: 27:12
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 33ºC
Wind: light
BPM: 157
Stride: n/a
Weight: 157.7 pounds
Total distance to date: 3630 km
Devices/apps: Apple Watch and iPhone 6

Let me illustrate the temperature for tonight’s run with an actual illustration (technically a screenshot from my Apple Watch of the Weather Underground app):

IMG_0847

In the evening I usually head out at 6 p.m. Tonight I headed out about 45 minutes later, hoping it might cool a bit. 33ºC is not exactly cool.

I dutifully headed off on my 5K run, choosing to use the built-in fitness app instead of the Nike Run Club app because it was too hot to fiddle with anything I couldn’t use Siri with. Siri is nice when you’re lazy and she’s feeling cooperative.

I was grateful for most of the run being in the shade. I still sweated copiously.

Though my pace was much slower than Tuesday, it was still a respectable 5:23/km and in an unusual twist, my pace actually picked up in the latter half (the temperature dipped slightly, which may have helped a little).

Considering the heat, I’m fairly pleased with how the run went, especially given how strongly tempted I was to loaf at home instead. Sunday is promising to be much cooler and I ain’t complaining.

Run 453: The return of the narrated run

Run 453
Average pace: 5:13/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Distance: 5:08 km
Time: 26:30
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 25ºC
Wind: moderate
BPM: 158.3
Stride: n/a
Weight: 158.4 pounds
Total distance to date: 3625 km
Devices/apps: Nike Run Club app, Apple Watch and iPhone 6

The Nike+ running app got a major overhaul yesterday, emerging with a new look and name, the Nike Run Club. Unsurprisingly, the social network aspects of it have been ramped up. More importantly, though, the app finally supports the heart rate monitor of the Apple Watch, as it now access all of the Apple Health info if you let it. And so for the first time since I got the watch, I used the Nike app (let’s call it NRC because it’s shorter and looks so totally cool). Setting my preferences and starting the run was simple and sure enough, there was my BPM in the stats at the end. I will dig more into the app later but I did manage to end the run without knowing how by guessing it would use the same method as Apple’s Fitness app, which proved correct.

It was nice to hear that confident voice telling me how many km I’d completed. My only mistake was starting an open run instead of setting it to a fixed distance, so I didn’t get a notification halfway or a countdown at the end. I’ll figure that out for next time.

Oh, and I can actually see a map of my route again. Yay. Apple is apparently adding maps to their Fitness app in iOS 10 but I believe it will still lack voice notifications. The weak taps the watch uses to signal milestones (kmstones?) is something I almost never notice.

Curiously, while the watch and phone apps both show the BPM, the NRC website doesn’t. Not sure why it doesn’t transfer over but it’s not a big deal, as the notes feature lets you add it in.

And the actual run itself went quite well. It was warm but not uncomfortable, with the start of the cooling of the evening. There was one brief stretch where the sun was directly aiming into my eyes but most of the run was in shade. I started out fast–almost too fast–and forced myself to slow down (my second km was, in fact, significantly slower than the others). Overall, though, I felt fine pushing a little more than usual given the 5K length and managed a spiffy pace of 5:13/km, a veritable lightning bolt after Friday morning’s sweat-soaked slog.

The predicted high on Thursday, my next run day, is 31ºc, which could mean a swift return to sweat-soaked slog. But we shall see.

For tonight, I am pleased.

Run 452: Slower, safer and Africa hot

Run 452
Average pace: 6:01/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) – no side trails taken
Distance: 10:03 km
Time: 60:34
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 30ºC
Wind: light
BPM: 158
Stride: n/a
Weight: 157.8 pounds
Total distance to date: 3620 km
Device used: Apple Watch and iPhone 6

I slept in a wee bit this morning–only by about 15 minutes–but it immediately put the kibosh on my plan to run earlier than normal to beat the heat. It wouldn’t have mattered, anyway. The day started hot and has only gotten a little bit hotter still since then.

When I headed off counter-clockwise at the lake the temperature was 30ºC and stayed there (I’ve made it red above to indicate that yes, it was pretty warm). The first km, through a relatively breezy section of trail, was actually fairly zippy, but after that my pace dropped off steeply. It was really quite warm. The lack of any appreciable breeze did not help, either. At times the air felt thick and hot and then a mysteriously cool breeze would blast in from somewhere off the trail, only to vanish a moment later.

Weather is weird.

Despite having a “people working” sign up today, I saw no sign of the re-surfacing crew on the Southshore trail. It looks pretty much done to me.

Around the halfway mark I entertained the idea of ending the run early, but pressed on. By the 7 km mark–my slowest by a fair bit–I was giving this much more serious thought but I kept on and once I reached the 8K mark my pace actually improved and I managed to pant my way to a full 10K. My pace was terrible, of course. I think I’ve broken 6:00/km once before. Regardless, 6:01/km is definitely one of my slowest runs ever. To be fair, I haven’t run often when it’s this hot, either. Nor would I want to ever again. It was yucky.

Compounding things, I wore my replacement pair of Hokas, which ironically have an even worse case of color bleeding than my original pair. I wore them because a shoelace snapped on the originals. My left foot, perhaps not used to this crazy, color-staining new shoe, was a bit sore for stretches of the run and that may have ticked my pace down even more. Other than the foot and oppressive heat, I didn’t experience any other issues. My BPM was similar to Wednesday because while I had to work harder with the heat, I was slow enough that it kind of balanced out.

I did get through without seeing any pythons, bobcats or giraffes, so there’s that.

I return to my usual run schedule next week and haven’t decided whether to start Sunday and miss my usual two-day break or wait till Tuesday and get a three day rest bonus. If it’s still 30ºC on Sunday that may make the decision a little easier.

The cat in the lake

Today I decided to go for a nice walk around Burnaby Lake because it was really hot and I’m kind of dumb. But it did allow me to see that the resurfacing of the Southshore trail is pretty much complete, so my nemesis the excavator will probably not be there to try to run me down tomorrow.

Probably.

In the meantime, as I walked and sweated on my clockwise jaunt, I crossed the 4 km mark, ventured over the rowing pavilion parking lot and entered a stretch of the trail that is characterized by tall grass on the lake-side, giving the area a kind of everglade feel to it. At least it’s what I think an everglade would feel like. I confess I haven’t been to one, not even a fake one like they probably have at Disney World.

I noticed a not-quite-small brown dog sort of shimmying into the tall grass, perhaps to get out of the sun. It was an odd kind of move and looking at the trail up ahead I could not see any kind of owner for said dog. Also odd.

But it was not a dog. It was this:

Big kitty at lake
I think this is a lynx, a bobcat or more likely a lynx/bobcat hybrid. A boblynx.

I apologize for the less-than-stellar quality of the shot. The cat was in the shade and I was reluctant to call it out into the sun, since it was a wild animal and could have ripped my throat open if so inclined.

My first thought was a lynx. I later looked at lynx photos and it appears to have characteristics of both a lynx and a bobcat and hybrids are possible, so I think this was the possibly rare boblynx.

It seemed a bit skittish and unsure and wasn’t acting at all aggressive. I remained calm, trying to remember what I’d seen on one of those TV shows, Survive or DIE! or something like that. They were talking about what to do when you encounter a mountain lion but maybe the advice would translate on a scaled-down wild cat. As I recalled, you are supposed to make noise, stand your ground and if American, shoot it repeatedly with the assault rifle you’re probably carrying. Also something about throwing rocks to prove you’re the alpha. I didn’t have any rocks and throwing them at a non-aggressive animal literally less than two meters away from me did not seem like a good idea.

I clapped my hands and told it to shoo, to scoot. It stood there and seemed embarrassed for me. I don’t blame it, really. I then took a few pictures while it just hung around, undecided on what to do.

At this point I had three choices:

  1. Turn around and head back
  2. Proceed forward, giving the cat as wide a berth as possible
  3. Stand there until one of us got bored and left

Option #1 seemed unwise. Turning your back on a wild animal is never a good idea. Turning your back on a domestic animal is never a good idea. I don’t trust bobcats or cows.

Option #3 seemed problematic as I have a high threshold for boredom and it’s possible the cat had no concept of boredom and would wait until it got hungry instead, at which point I would be the most convenient food source.

I opted for #2 and as soon as I took one step forward, the cat majestically leaped into the grass and disappeared. I mean, that sucker cleared about a meter from a standing position. It was scary and impressive.

I continued my walk, keeping an eye behind me until I was safely out of the immediate area.

I expect to see a giraffe the next time I’m at the lake.

Run 451: Slower, safer and warmer

Run 451
Average pace: 5:54/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW) – no side trails taken
Distance: 10:07 km
Time: 59:34
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 25ºC
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 157
Stride: n/a
Weight: 157.8 pounds
Total distance to date: 3610 km
Device used: Apple Watch and iPhone 6

It was a bit warmer today and I started out a little slower, then stayed a little slower for the entire run, with the splits otherwise following the usual pattern: faster first half, slower back half and a bit of a boost in the last km. I ran clockwise, again skipped the optional trails and found my pace a fair bit slower than last week. I’m not sure if it’s the changed route, the consistently warmer weather or general caution of going splat again but since I felt pretty good for most of the run, I’m not exactly disappointed with the pace. Well, maybe a little. Taking almost an hour to run 10K is not exactly where I expected to be with a bunch of them under my belt (and let me tell you, they barely fit in there).

There were multiple groups of walkers again, especially at the end where they seemed to be clumping up. At this point I’ve resigned myself to them–the weather is gorgeous, it’s summer, people are going to be out. I just wish they weren’t so damned oblivious. Several times today I even called out, “On your left” as I approached from behind, which elicited exactly zero reaction most of the time. It’s weird and annoying.

No real issues with the run, otherwise, just slower. I felt decent through long stretches, so perhaps the combination of the warm weather and fear of tree roots may be see how a more jogging-like pace could be nice, almost relaxing. Other than the Cottonwood trail, there really aren’t many places left on the loop around the lake with prominent roots or other obstacles in the path.

The trail resurfacing continues and it probably won’t be much longer before they’ve finished the entire Southshore trail. The excavator was idling at the side as I passed by, though I swear the driver keyed the ignition when he saw me.

Overall, an unspectacular effort but I’m good with that. Friday is expected to be hotter so I’m not expecting my pace to improve. It may even get slower if it is truly Africa hot (it looks to be 26-27ºC during my usual run time, which shouldn’t result in a pace much different than today.

Run 450: No tripping, just kind-of-slow running with bonus exotic snake

Run 450
Average pace: 5:50/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) – no side trails taken
Distance: 10:03 km
Time: 58:38
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 23ºC
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 155
Stride: n/a
Weight: 158.8 pounds
Total distance to date: 3600 km
Device used: Apple Watch and iPhone 6

My big fear today, of course, was coming across another evil tree root. Or more specifically, tripping across another evil tree root. To reduce the risk I chose to skip all three side trails (Piper Mill, Spruce and Conifer Loops) and chanted direction. This had the side effect of giving me more of that smoove resurfaced, uh, surface to run on and also meant that if I did trip again, I’d at least fall in a new direction and in a new spot.

I did not trip.

The first half of the run I was surprisingly brisk but the second half saw me slow a fair bit, partly due to the Monday effect, partly due to burning too much gas in the first 5K and maybe partly due to being cautious, though most of the exposed roots were on the Cottonwood trail, during the first half of the run. While the pace of 5:50/km is nothing special, my BPM was also down at 155 and the weather, though warm, was an entirely tolerable 23ºC throughout.

The various lacerations and bruises didn’t have any effect I could tell, though the hip bruise became less mysterious when I noted that the shorts pocket that holds my keys perfectly matched up with it. Now I know what it feels like to slam onto gravel into your own set of keys. I don’t recommend doing this.

The resurfacing continued sans detour, with only a single worker out raking dirt. The construction zone was fairly small and strangely I missed the excavator entirely. I can only guess it had broken down or been defeated in a similar manner to the killdozer.

A few walking groups were out but were more on top of things than usual, so I was able to consistently slip by without incident.

The most interesting thing happened on the walk back along the Brunette River trail. Shortly after I crossed the bridge there I saw a snake. Now, I’ve seen several snakes this summer, of the small, slithery black and yellow garter variety. Observe below that this is not a small garter snake:

pythons in Burnaby
This is a python. It is a long way from home.

As mentioned in the caption, this is a python, about a meter long. It was very chill, as the kids say, and just laid there while I and a guy passing by on a bike took pictures. It eventually moved very casually off into the vegetation. As you might guess, pythons are not local to Burnaby or most of this continent, so it was either an escapee or an unwanted pet. Poor guy. Or girl. I’m not sure how you tell with a snake, really.

Looking back, maybe I should have contacted animal control or something, though the snake would have been long gone into the bush by the time they arrived. Still, I’d feel bad if it ate someone’s little moppet or something.

A little trip down Burnaby Mountain (no actual tripping involved)

Today Jeff and I went on our first hike in a good long while, a relatively gentle saunter down various connecting trails on Burnaby Mountain. The weather was sunny and warm but fortunately not Africa hot. We encountered a few cyclists but got out of the way without incident each time. One of them approaching from behind tipped us off to his presence with the world’s screechiest bicycle brakes. Seriously, an entire can of WD-40 may not have been enough to quiet that thing.

I knew there would be tree roots a-plenty on the trails and indeed, I tripped up on several of them, but because I was walking and looking down instead of running and gazing off at some non-specific thing up ahead, it was easy to recover each time and so I emerged at the bottom of the mountain sweaty but otherwise unscathed.

I only took two pictures because as pretty as trees on a mountain are, I didn’t have the time or inclination (or skill) to make fairly generic nature shots look like more than generic nature shots. But trust me, it was pretty.

Here is Jeff posing on the same bridge I froze my butt on when we did a similar hike in the winter. He looks much happier than I did:

Jeff posing on a bridge at Burnaby Mountain

The only other picture I took is of the vehicle cast down on the mountain in the olden days when the area was still a logging operation. Apparently some people tried to make a trail down to it or something, perhaps as a weirdly unprofitable salvage operation, as signs and fencing make it clear you are not meant to go down to touch the car:

Do not go to the dilapidated car

All in all, it was a pleasant little outing.