Run 606: Slower, stinkier

Run 606
Average pace: 6:12/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 2:14 pm
Distance: 5:02 km
Time: 31:02
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 16ºC
Humidity: 53%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 162
Weight: 168.1 pounds
Total distance to date: 4610 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 2, iPhone 8

The conditions for today’s run were different in a number of ways compared to last week’s:

  • warmer (16º vs 9º)
  • windier (it was a tad breezy at times)
  • at the lake running clockwise (ostensibly harder than clockwise) vs. running the river (which is inarguably easier)

I headed out and was pleased by a decent pace on the walk to the lake. I was less pleased by having to pee twice before starting the run, using every available public toilet along the way (which was both of them). I had decided ahead of time to run counter-clockwise, but this time I started the run on the south side of the dam, at the official 0K marker.

I headed off and at first it felt like I was running too hard and I kept pulling back, but it still felt hard. When I finished and saw the average pace of 6:12/km, I was not surprised–it nearly matches my previous run at the lake. The total run time is only separated by a mere second. It always creeps me out a little when that happens. How can I be that incredibly consistent from one run to the next over a distance of five km? Weird, I say.

Because I felt like I was working harder, I was also not surprised to see my BPM up a bit, but only a bit, and well below the threshold I prefer staying away from.

The big surprise came when I looked at the splits:

KmPace
16:14
26:33
36:24
45:53
55:57

As you can see, I was doing the opposite of pushing to hard at the start, as I was muddling along at a decidedly average pace if 6:14/km. I did succeed in slowing down, though. as I dropped to a slug-like 6:33 in the next km. I recall feeling especially slow right around the midway point of the run before finally finding something of a second wind, or maybe just a moderate second breeze.

Whatever it was, it allowed me to pick up the pace, so my last few km were actually run at a decent pace. But by the end I was tired. I spent the first km after the run recovering and thinking about how much more my knees were aching compared to most runs (they seem no worse for wear now). After that one km of recovery, though, I ended up finding a new reserve of energy and managed ro run/walk the rest of the way around the lake. Overall, I’m not thrilled with the result, but I’m not really upset, either. It felt harder than it should have, but maybe the uptick in temperature was enough to drag on me.

The trail was quite busy. I didn’t see too many runners going by (and none dealt me the psychological blow of sprinting past me from behind), but one was jogging with a German Shepherd on a leash and I thought it was cute and then the dog barked at me–once–as I passed by and I no longer found it cute.

There were multiple cyclists out, all of them wearing that “I’m pretending I don’t know I shouldn’t be riding here when I totally know I shouldn’t be riding here” look. You fool no one, naughty cyclists!

The stinky part is in reference to the skunk cabbage, which is nearing peak skunk cabbage aroma. It is not a delicate bouquet.

Fortunately, despite the people, dogs, cyclists and geese, there were no near-collisions or fancy dipsy-doodling required to navigate around anyone. The section near the fields was festooned with several large puddles, and these did require a bit of coordinated footwork to avoid getting soaked from the ankles down. If they do any resurfacing on the trails this year, I hope they do this section first, even if I’d really like to see all the tree roots on the Cottonwood trail covered up. At least that trail never gets submerged.

I’m tentatively planning on another run on Monday, as it’s a holiday, but I will see what my knees say (“Hell no” or “Well…okay” seem the likeliest responses) before deciding. Also, if it’s pouring rain I may lean toward the “Hell no” even before consulting the knees.

Fun fact: I set a new Move record on my Apple Watch today, with 1840 calories burned (it’s up to 1912 as I write this):


Easter 2019: Eggless

Or more accurately, eggless thus far. Tomorrow is Good Friday, so I still have a few days to rectify my egg-free situation.

In the meantime, I recall as a kid I loved Easter because of the copious amounts of Easter candy. I don’t recall the origin of Easter turning into a candyfest and even though I could easily look it up now (thanks, internet!) I don’t really need to know. All I know is I loved Easter for the following reasons:

  • Chocolate bunnies. The hollow ones were fine, the solid ones were the kid equivalent of gold bars in value.
  • The cream-filled eggs that came wrapped candy-bar style. They weren’t true egg shapes, as they had flat bottoms, but they were very yummy. The Oh Henry! variant was quite good.
  • Cadbury Creme Eggs. Interestingly, these have been hard to come by this year. I don’t think I’ve seen any in stores. Did they stop making them? (Fake edit: No, they just changed the packaging to confuse me.) They are apparently only 150 calories each. I say “only” because I don’t think I’ve ever eaten two in a row, or ever could. They are, as they say, rich. But they were always my favorite. And who am I kidding? As a kid I probably ate a three-pack in a minute flat. 450 calories–I could burn that off in a 10K run now. I’d be tempted, but I really don’t think I’d make it through three. I’d need days to recover before I could even think about running to work them off.
  • Pretty much any other bunny or egg-shaped candy, unless it contained black licorice. That stuff is grossbuckets. I’ll happily eat broccoli as an adult, but black licorice was and still is still a no-go.

Anyway, here’s to a happy Easter. The weather is supposed to be decent-ish (cloudy, seasonal) so I may go out and pretend to hunt for eggs. Then buy some for half-price the day after.

A short, odd book review

This single paragraph–for a horror novel called Salvage, posted on the Kobo website–may qualify as one of the oddest book reviews I’ve seen:

“I had a hard time with it. The chapters being on average 30+ pages induced me to skip many, perhaps too many in order to finish the chapter being read. I became lost at times and finished the book by sheer determination. the book is well written but those never ending chapters.”

The idea that 30+ pages per chapter is too long is strange. It’s not like there’s a rule for chapter length, and with ebooks, you don’t even have to keep track of where you left off. Perhaps the reader is one of those people compelled to always read to the end of the current chapter before setting the book down. Even then, it’s such a weird affectation that I wonder why one would even bring it up. But even more baffling is how the reader confesses to skipping a bunch of chapters, then becomes “lost at times” (no kidding), but still finishes the book (“well written”) and gives it three stars.

(I bought the book in question–not based on this review.)

The world we live in

I did that thing tonight where I watched a particular video on YouTube and ended up going on to watch a bunch of mostly-unrelated videos. One of them was Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” which is a catchy song with a well-choreographed video (seriously, it’s obvious the director is meticulously timing the entire video to the actual music, something you don’t see that often).

One of the things I noticed is the video has over one billion views. It was released in 2009 so it’s had time to acquire those views, but it’s still a staggering number.

But more than the number of views, I was struck by the number of comments.

802,810.

If you read one comment per second, it would take you 223 hours (over nine days) to read them all. Also you would be insane.

And this is the world we live in.

I am afraid.

Run 605: Faster, colder

Run 605
Average pace: 5:47/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Start: 1:36 pm
Distance: 5:03 km
Time: 29:04
Weather: Overcast
Temp: 9ºC
Humidity: 63%
Wind: moderate
BPM: 158
Weight: 166.8 pounds
Total distance to date: 4605 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 2, iPhone 8

I was a little leery going into today’s run because the last time I ran at the river it was cool–7ºC–and my BPM was crazy high, as in so high I was actually a bit afraid to run outdoors again under similar conditions.

Although the temperature was similar today at 9ºC, I have been running at least weekly for some time now, both on the treadmill and outdoors, so I was thinking I’d probably be okay. I set out for a modest pace under cloudy skies and a small threat of rain. The wind of the last few days eased up, so temperature-wise it actually felt decent during the run.

There were many people on the trail, most of the dog walkers had their dogs unleashed (boo) but the dogs were well-behaved (yay). I generally stuck to my plan and the only issue of note was some discomfort right around the bump in the orthotic in my left shoe. This is somewhat odd, because that bump is specifically there to keep the left foot from getting sore when I’m walking and especially when I’m running. Is my foot changing? Is it going through foot puberty? I may have to make a trip to Kintec to get them to have a look. Plus I should probably get the orthotic re-upholstered or whatever the term is for getting the padding replaced, as it’s getting old, scruffy and the heels have holes in them from where gravel has gotten stuck (I’ve been wearing my gravel scoops–aka Brooks Cascadia 12s–since I got the orthotics).

In the end, and with a light coat of sweat, I finished with a much faster-than anticipated pace of 5:47/km, which is 23 (!) seconds faster than my last run at Burnaby Lake, and even 12 seconds better than the “my poor heart” run at the river on January 26. Come to think of it, why is the temperature only 2 degrees warmer nearly three months later? I’ll file a report with The Weather Bureau or other appropriate agency.

Overall, I am pleased with the result. I am getting faster, which shows I am getting in shape, but more importantly, my heart rate is back down to a healthy level, after a couple of alarmingly high runs. As a bonus, I don’t really feel the knees are a major factor at this point. I can still feel them when I run, but it’s easy to ignore them. If anything–and despite having done nothing specific to treat them–they seem to be feeling better than they did at this time last year when they first started getting sore. So yay for that.

Facebook uses its inside voice

This was posted on 9to5mac.com, and while many sites covered the story, I like the way they use Facebook’s explanation in the headline, which I imagine is meant to be read deadpan-style:

What an interesting accident. I like the cheek of the person who arranged for the “accidental” printing of a message onto a physical Facebook product stating “Big Brother is Watching.” It’s a great thing to read before strapping on a VR helmet and blocking yourself off from the “real” world.