Run 645 Average pace: 6:01/km Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 1:44 pm Distance: 5.03 km Time: 30:14 Weather: Partly sunny Temp: 10ºC Humidity: 76% Wind: light BPM: 162 Weight: 171.1 pounds Total distance to date: 4835 km Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 8 Shoes: Saucony Switchback ISO (195 km)
Back to Burnaby Lake for the first time since November 24 (more than a month ago) and it was like I’d never left, at least in terms of pace, as it came in at 6:01/km, a rounding error away from the previous pace of 6:02/km–but technically still faster!
Most of the run was fairly consistent and I would have come in under six minutes if not for the third km, where my pace dropped to 6:10/km. This drop was due to two things: I was admittedly tired (I haven’t run outdoors much lately and it is a lot more demanding than being on a treadmill), but also because I kept gawking over to my right, which undoubtedly slowed me down. I was again staring at the clearcut mentioned in my last post on running at Burnaby Lake. It just looks so very weird now, like the whole of civilization has suddenly been revealed, the illusion that you’re running in the woods has been literally stripped away. This time, though, there was more evidence on the reason for the massive tree removal. Earth-moving equipment was in place and you could already see dirt piled up and plowed alongside the existing railroad track, indicating that the trees were removed to either allow them to shore up the existing track area or possibly expand it to include new track.
It still looks about as attractive as you’d expect a clearcut to be.
The run itself was done in remarkably mild conditions, with the temperature a balmy 10ºC–well above normal–, along with little wind and even the sun poking out a bit here and there. While the weather was surprisingly pleasant, the trail was not. Several sections–including resurfaced areas–are collapsing due to the aggressive inflow of water. Keep in mind that the fall hasn’t even been abnormally wet, too. There were numerous cones dotting the trail to mark soft spots and areas where the surface was crumbling away along the edges. The area leading up to the Cottonwood Trail was especially bad, as was the stretch immediately after it that leads to the bridge at Still Creek.
Surprisingly, despite occasional and somewhat large puddles, the area by the fields was not flooded and I escaped with my feet dry. Here’s hoping more resurfacing and shoring up has been scheduled for sooner than later.
Overall I didn’t experience any issues, just that “yep, not exactly in peak form” feeling, though my BPM was lower than the previous run, which was nice. That was probably due to being in slightly better shape (thank you, treadmill!) and also the warmer conditions meaning less strain.
It was nice to be back outside, and I did run a fair bit on the walk out from the lake, so all of my pep hasn’t yet abandoned me. We’ll see how it goes the next time when I run with actual wind resistance and stuff.
