Run 597: A little cooler, a little slower, but not partly sunny

Run 597
Average pace: 5:38/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 12:56 pm
Distance: 5:02 km
Time: 28:23
Weather: Cloudy (not Partly Sunny)
Temp: 13ºC
Humidity: 80%
Wind: nil to light
BPM: 164
Weight: 163.4 pounds
Total distance to date: 4565 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone 8

The forecast for today was Partly Sunny. In fact, as I left for my run the weather app insisted it was, in fact, Partly Sunny right now. Which it was, if you consider Completely Cloudy to be the same thing as Partly Sunny.

There was no prediction for rain and that proved accurate, luckily. I headed out, expecting to be a bit slower than the last run due to a combination of factors–not as much walking during the week, eight days since the last run, a slower walk to the lake, and a general feeling of sluggishness.

And I was right! But it was only two seconds slower, which is almost but not quite a rounding error (it was about 12 seconds spread over the length of 5 km, which I totally could have topped had I known I was that close.

The interesting part is the breakdown of this and the previous run. Last time I started a little slower but stayed steady through the first two km, flagged in the third and fourth, then picked up for the final. Today I started out even faster but saw a huge drop in the second km, then stayed around that pace, picking up only a bit by the final km. So it was kind of front-loaded.

No real issues to be reported, though I think the strong start left me a bit winded for the remainder. The knees were the knees. I almost felt a cramp here and there, but they never quite materialized.

It stayed 13ºC throughout and I wore a long-sleeved shirt. I would have been fine with a regular t-shirt, as there was little wind. BPM was down to 164, which was nice, and with high humidity, I felt semi-hydrated even without having any water.

There were a few other runners out, including one with a perfectly chiseled body. He was running silly fast and without a shirt, of course. If ya got it….

The number of walkers out was greater than expected, given the sky looked like it might open up for most of the time I was out. And there was one cyclist who startled me from behind post-run mainly because he was riding so fast and blaring music, which seemed odd. His jacket was as loud as the music, too.

Overall, then, a solid effort. I will once again endeavor to run during the week, but who knows how that will go. I have found the motivation to run after work elusive. This week is also the first where the sun begins setting before 7 p.m., so the days of post-work runs are numbered as it is.

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