After running in the snow yesterday the temperature rose above freezing and the snow today has turned to rain.
And it rained and rained and rained.
If it had stayed cold we’d be up to our eyeballs in snow right now, so in a way it’s good that it rained instead, even if the entrance to the building I live in is now a growing lake thanks to mostly imaginary drainage.
Only six more months until summer!
Of the ten resolutions I made this year, I hit four of them and failed on six. Not exactly inspiring, but then this year has been bleak in an existential sort of way that hasn’t happened in a long time, thanks to the appalling spectacle of Trump’s breathtakingly corrupt and inept presidency, which easily eclipsed my absolute worst expectations.
But enough of that. The world didn’t blow up in 2017, so there is a small glimmer it will make it through 2018, too. Therefore, my resolutions.
My theme for 2018 is “Be realistic” so my goals are more modest than in years past.
Bonus resolution:
Apple’s AirPods work like some other true wireless Bluetooth earbuds in that you operate the controls by tapping on the earbuds directly. iOS 11 allows for different controls for the left and right bud, though the controls themselves are limited to only:
Still, this covers my needs for the most part, especially when running. This MacRumors article on using the AirPods revealed a trick I was unaware of:
Tap Your Ear
You don’t necessarily have to tap right on your AirPod to use the double tap gestures. Many people prefer to tap softly on the back of an ear instead. It’s a little less audibly jarring and it works just as well.
I verified this on my run today and it is entirely weird to control music by bapping on your ear. It was a tad inconsistent, which no doubt made for a strange sight to others on the trail (“Why does that man keep hitting his ear?”) but the same can be said for the controls in general, they just seem a lot harder to execute when jogging.
Still, the novelty of hitting my ear to skip to the next track may never grow old. Or at least not until I remember I can just tell Siri to do it instead.
Run 561
Average pace: 5:55/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 11:10 am
Distance: 10.03 km
Time: 59:25
Weather: Cloudy, light snow
Temp: 0-1ºC
Humidity: 92%
Wind: light
BPM: 172
Weight: 161.6 pounds
Total distance to date: 4370 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone
It was snowing this morning, which was actually good for the run. While that may sound like crazy talk, hear me out.
The snow on the ground now is getting more compacted and turning slick, which is bad for traction and good for falling on your face. The new snow piling on top is providing more traction, making for a grippier, less falling-on-your-face experience.
I dressed a bit differently this time, choosing a long-sleeved shirt and my running jacket. This turned out to be wise as the jacket’s lining provided enough insulation to keep me toasty warm–almost too warm, in fact. When zipped up all the way, the collar stands up and helpfully keeps snow from going down the back of your neck, too.
Even though it was only slightly warmer than Sunday’s run, I ended up doffing the gloves around 2 km in and didn’t put them back on until I was around the 7 km mark.
One brave runner was wearing shorts. I wonder if he regretted it later. I saw him at the start of his run so he was still all smiles with his partner (who was all bundled up).
There were more people out than expected, but it wasn’t too bad traffic-wise.
The snow had mostly stopped by the start of the run, which is good, because snow and glasses don’t mix well. I had this emphasized when it began snowing again around the 8K mark and my glasses grew clumped with blobs of snow. Also, feeling the very tiny specks of snow bapping your face is a weird sensation.
The trail was caught between having too much compact snow and not quite enough fresh snow, so traction wasn’t as good as it could have been. I only felt a foot slip about two times but I was constantly making adjustments in foot placement and stride. The extra effort showed in my BPM, which was back up. The bridges were again kind of bumpy and unpleasant and the first boardwalk was especially bad, the snow so crusty and uneven it was difficult to exceed a walking pace without losing my footing.
The left knee got a bit stiff but leveled out and was not bad for the latter part of the run. The other lower left butt muscle did start to make its presence known in the last km or so, but it never got painful.
The overall pace of 5:55/km was slower but unsurprisingly so. The snow kept coming down at a decent pace on the walk back, so if I’d started the run an hour later it probably would have been easier.
Still, this is the first time in about seven years that I’ve run in a real snowfall and while it slowed me down, it didn’t stop me. Damn snow.
With only five days left in the year, here’s a look at how I fared on the resolutions I made for 2017. Here’s the original post in full for reference: New Year Resolutions for 2017
I will make resolutions for 2018 tomorrow.
Scorecard for 2017 Resolutions:
Summary:
6 NO
4 YES
Not great, but not a total disaster, either. The most important ones I flopped on, though, so there is significant room for improvement in 2018.
In my defense, 2017 was generally a colossally awful year for the planet, not just me.
Run 560
Average pace: 5:51/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:42 am
Distance: 10.04 km
Time: 58:53
Weather: Cloudy, compact snow
Temp: -1ºC
Humidity: 79%
Wind: light
BPM: 158
Weight: 163 pounds
Total distance to date: 4360 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone
As the year winds down, so does the temperature. Or at least this week it does.
Heading out to the lake this morning, the temperature was below freezing, making this my first sub-freezing run at the lake in either a very long time or possibly ever, with it staying firmly at -1ºC throughout on a cloudy day that mercifully had little wind.
I dressed accordingly and was reasonably comfortable:
I was curious what the trail would be like as the Brunette River trail is a mix of bare patches and compact snow a little under a week after our latest blast of wintry weather. It turned out that while there were some clear patches, particularly in areas where the trees were close to the trail or the opposite where the trail was completely exposed (like along the sports fields), the majority was covered in compact snow. I had to adjust my gait and pace a little to insure optimal traction but the only genuinely slippery section was the small straight stretch leading to the bridge at Still Creek. My feet lost traction a few times there, but there was never a great risk of going splat.
All of the bridges were covered with crunchy, uneven snow, including the boardwalks, which made them strangely uncomfortable for running across. Not slippery, just odd and unpleasant.
The Spruce Loop and Conifer Loops had the most snow, with almost no melt at all. Because of this, they were actually pretty good to run on, as the snow was thick enough to provide grip, rather than having turned into a more icy surface seen elsewhere.
The trail was fairly quiet, with only a small number of walkers and other joggers out. No one was wearing shorts.
The more measured pace meant my time was back up to 5:51/km, but it also meant my BPM was significantly lower, at 158 (vs. 173 last week). I felt almost relaxed at times, and never really pushed, because pushing on snow usually means falling on snow when you’re running.
The tendons around my left knee started to make their presence known about halfway through and they’re still a bit stiff now. This seems to be a long term thing at this point. I wonder if one of those knee things would help. You can tell how often I’ve used them because I can’t even recall the proper name without searching the internet (compression knee sleeves/braces, it turns out). On the one hand, it could prove to just be a placebo. On the other hand, if it still worked, that’s good enough for me. I have to admit I’d feel a bit like a dork wearing one. Or maybe I’d look manly. “Look at that dedicated runner, going out even when injured!”
Something to think about.
Overall, though, this chilly went surprisingly decently, given the condition of the trail. We may get snow tonight, so that could complicate runs in the near future. Damn snow.
I’ve talked about A Charlie Brown Christmas before and how its message decrying the commercialization of Christmas resonates just as much today as it did when the special first aired in 1965.
It is then ironic, to say the least, that you may now purchase this:
Charlie Brown Christmas tree with blanket
Yes, you can buy a plastic replica of the humble tree Charlie Brown picked out–the only real tree in the lot where he and Linus went looking.
It’s only $8.62 U.S. That’s just over $10 Canadian, a bargain for those looking to simultaneously pay tribute to and mock the message of A Charlie Brown Christmas.
Ho ho (no).
Yes, I’ve completely remade the look of the site. The couple of bots scraping it probably won’t even notice. 🙁
Changes made:
I may chuck it all in a week but for now I kind of like the more subdued, cleaner aesthetic. It will work great with the slightly grainy animated cat gifs I love posting.
Hopefully this will be the only post I make in this particular series.
Yesterday I went to work in pouring rain. This is not terribly unusual in December. However, the temperature got tricksy and started going down instead of up as the morning progressed, and by 10 a.m. the rain turned to snow and it snowed a fair bit, then it warmed up, turned back to rain for awhile, then back to snow again and then finally it stopped in the early evening.
Today it was clear and it’s not as bad as I make it sound. Most sidewalks and roads are clear or clear-ish, with some slippery sections. The trail around the golf course is jog-worthy (several were out during my noon walk today).
The 10-day forecast calls for a mix of sun, clouds and some showers, so we may get through the rest of 2017 without more of the infernal white stuff. Hooray.
Here’s a picture taken from the Langara Trail looking toward some trees, behind which is Langara College. I’m posting this shot because it says damn snow more than the others I took.
Odd Hours by Dean Koontz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
As always the character of Odd remains endearing and funny, with the customary pathos mixed in, but Odd Hours feels incomplete, more like the first act of a larger story, with plot holes left unexplained, characters lightly sketched across a few scenes, a couple of awfully convenient coincidences, and an incredibly high stakes story that feels utterly the opposite in the way it is executed (no pun intended–that’s a minor spoiler).
Still, it’s a quick read and by this fourth book Koontz has built up enough good will with the character of Odd Thomas that I’m willing to overlook the flaws and press on to #5, albeit with diminished enthusiasm.
How else do you explain this line in his review of the Zag Slim Book keyboard for the 10.5″ iPad Pro?
I’ve spent far too many hours searching in couch cushions for my Apple Pencil
Does Chance Miller really spend hours looking for his Apple Pencil in his couch? Is his couch as big as a city block? Perhaps. I’ve seen some pretty big couches. Or maybe he is perpetually losing it in every couch he encounters, as he goes through life dangerously nurturing his couch obsession, risking permanent loss of his Apple Pencil.
More curiously, he states that “I’m hard-pressed to find a reason to choose the Slim Book over the Smart Keyboard” then lists the Slim Book’s superior features:
It’s clear why one would be hard-pressed to find a reason to choose the Slim Book when its list of superior features is as big as a couch.
But wait, let me provide the full quote from above:
I’m hard-pressed to find a reason to choose the Slim Book over the Smart Keyboard, but I’ve grown very accustomed to the typing experience the Smart Keyboard provides
Thus proving himself utterly mad for preferring the terrible, joyless, noisy MacBook Pro keyboard. Okay, to be fair, I actually find the Smart Keyboard for the iPad Pro to be superior in feel to that of the new MacBook Pro, but he still professes “to love” Apple’s keyboard design and specifically calls out the MacBook Pro. Insanity!
Mostly, I wished he had written “I’ve spent far too many years searching in couch cushions for my Apple Pencil” just to see if the editor was paying attention.
I exercised for over three hours yesterday, which is a lot for me. First there was the usual weekend stuff:
About an hour and a half later Jeff and I went for a bike ride at Colony Farm that inadvertently included a decent amount of uphill cycling (Colony Farm itself is entirely flat). This worked out thusly:
All told, I burnt oodles of calories and was confident that I would sleep soundly that night. Indeed, by about 9 p.m. I could barely stay awake sitting in ye olde computer chair and so I went to bed early.
And spent the first half of the night having a weird un-sleep where I kept waking up, felt weird and bad, would get up to pee and would feel even more weird and bad, with almost flu-like symptoms. By early morning it all seemed to settle down and a Tums plucked from the bathroom cabinet went unconsumed by the bedside.
Still, it was a strange experience. I fully expected to conk out almost immediately after all the exercise but the opposite happened.
Also, my butt is slightly sore today and I wore my special biking undies, too. Also also I kept getting the high and low gears mixed up because it’s been that long since the last bike ride. I managed to get them right for our one big unplanned ascent, though. I still hget nervous bombing downhill. I do not have a need for speed.
Today, after all that exercise yesterday, I suggested we go to the Canada Games Pool. So we did–and I spent half an hour on the elliptical. And then I forgot to turn off the activity on my watch, so it thinks I was on the elliptical for an hour. Haha, no. I haven’t gone quite that mad yet.
The bonus activity-recording did capture half an hour of intense ping pong after the elliptical, though. Jeff won 2-1 and all the games were close. At one point the ping pong ball ended up in my shorts. I had no idea this was even possible and mused over the seeming impossibility of it while I fished the ball out of my shorts. I had to do this because it actually got lodged in the mesh fabric of the shorts.
We finished up at the whirlpool, which actually felt kind of nice after all the pseudo-running and not pseudo ping-ponging. I still get nervous about dunking the watch but it always comes out fine. Just before leaving the whirlpool, an old guy showed up wearing massive earphones. He also had a tablet (possibly a Surface) that was playing videos or something. He set it by the edge of the whirlpool so he could rock out while he soaked. I’m not sure I’d risk that much technology so close to a swimming pool, a whirlpool and a lot of wandering and very wet people. But who am I to judge?
I hope I sleep better tonight. I’m not going to bed early.
Also, here’s an official stock image of the Canada Games Pool showing the upper fitness area where I do elliptical training and then forget to stop tracking the activity on my watch:
