Run 462: A slight route change, new map and so very tired

Run 462
Average pace: 5:16/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Distance: 5:04 km
Time: 26:34
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 24ºC
Wind: light
BPM: 171
Stride: n/a
Weight: 156.3 pounds
Total distance to date: 3690 km
Devices/apps: Apple Watch and iPhone 6

I had already planned to take it easy for tonight’s run, deliberately holding back after pushing it on Tuesday, to help reduce the risk of re-injury. I’m a wee bit paranoid about it now.

It also helped that I was dead-tired after work and didn’t especially feel like running, anyway. I set off right on time, though, and conditions were unusually balmy for mid-September, with the temperature 24ºC. As before, the dun is now low enough that it doesn’t feel as warm as the temperature would suggest.

For music I opted for random Billy Joel and iTunes uncannily managed to pick from among his weakest songs, so not exactly inspiring stuff to jog to. Nonetheless, I hit a comfortable pace and finished with a more relaxed 5:16/km.

The one change I made to the route was to extend it past the end of the feeder road that leads to the river trail by hooking right onto Cariboo Road and right again down Government Street. I ran until I hot the halfway mark and then turned back, the intention being to avoid the switchback at the end of the run where I reach the end of the trail, double back for about 500 m then come back one more time. This is necessary to hit 5 km as the trail is only about 2 km long. It worked out but I’m undecided on whether I’ll stick to this. The major potential downside is having a train show up after I’ve crossed the tracks, which would force me to idle for about 5-7 minutes and see if the new auto-pause feature of the activity app really works.

Speaking of the app, tonight’s run was the first with my iPhone updated to iOS 10 and the watch updated to watchOS 3. The activity app has a few new options and improvements when it comes to running. The default display shows more metrics (though I’ve pruned it back a little for readability by removing current pace, since seeing that just makes me squirrely) and the run summary now includes temperature (though it still uses Vancouver data, which can be significantly different from where I’m running. Tonight it was 24 but the app reported 17), humidity, elevation and–finally–a map of the route. I only wish the map was available on the web so I could see it on a display larger than a smartphone’s.

I’m not sure why the BPM were so much higher tonight. It may be a glitch with the updated watchOS or maybe it’s just a reflection of me straining while feeling very tired. We’ll see how it changes for Sunday, which could be a cooler and soggy run.

Overall, though, I’m content with tonight’s results.

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