Run 554
Average pace: 5:42/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 12:20 pm
Distance: 10.02 km
Time: 57:14
Weather: Cloudy, light showers
Temp: 10ºC
Humidity: 74%
Wind: light
BPM: 159
Weight: 160 pounds
Total distance to date: 4310 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone
In a freakish coincidence I started today’s 10K run at the exact same time as last week’s–12:20 p.m. I did not plan this.
My pace as slightly slower–5:42/km vs. 5:40/km last week, but this was not surprising as my goal was to run at a comfortable pace and never push. I wasn’t specifically trying to lower my BPM, I was just reducing the chance of pain or injury as I had not run in the intervening week.
But my heart rate did drop and quite a bit, from 169 last week to 159 this week, right back to my usual zone. This was reflected in a general feeling of being relaxed, or as relaxed as you can feel when moving at a jogging pace for nearly an hour without stopping. At no point did I feel winded or tired, I just kept on trucking along, never doubting I would make it to the end.
I also had one of my slowest starts, with the first km matching my overall pace of 5:42. To show how consistent I was, I was still at 5:42 at the 9 km mark. The slow start was also deliberate. I resisted my usual “shot out of a cannon” approach to see how it would affect my overall time and BPM. It made the start a little more pleasant because I didn’t experience that big drop-off around the 2-3K point where the initial burst of speed runs out.
Around the 6K mark two things happened. First, it started to sprinkle, but it never amounted to more than that, so I avoided a nipple incident. Second, my left knee started to tighten up. It peaked quickly, though, and surprisingly was not an issue for the rest of the run. It’s still a bit stiff now, in the evening, but not enough to be genuinely uncomfortable, just a very slight nuisance.
The trail was in decent shape, with only a few puddles to negotiate. I saw three runners right at the start and a smattering of others after, including a young guy smartly dressed in black shorts, dark gray t-shirt, black cap, fashionable stubble and…black gloves. The gloves looked weird because of the t-shirt. Also it was 10ºC so I’m pretty sure his hands would have been sweating like crazy. I wore my long-sleeved short and would have been fine in a regular tee, especially with little wind.
Dogs were behaved and mostly on-leash. One woman by the sports fields had walked maybe a hundred meters or more ahead of her dog, which is dumb to begin with, but her dog was also tiny and would make a nice bite-size snack for a coyote–which I have seen multiple times in the area. I was going to say something to her but she moved off the trail and onto the field by the time I reached her. I felt bad for the all-but-ignored snack dog.
Overall, then, I’m happy with today’s result. I felt pretty good, got my BPM back in a range I’m more comfortable with, and the gray weather kept the trails lightly populated.