It was sunny and warm today, so I decided to take advantage and do a run at the lake. To my surprise, when I got there they had part of the trail closed off for resurfacing. The resurfacing itself is not surprising, but the section–going from the dam and ending where the Conifer Loop connects to the main trail–is, because this was resurfaced a few years ago. I suspect it was not done as well as it might have, because the storms of last fall and winter caused a lot of heaving and collapse along the edges.
Still, I’d really like to see them tackle the area by the athletic fields. As I finished my run, the rain from a few days ago meant the right half of the trail was still submerged, due to the field having weird drainage that just dumps all water onto the trail.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Since I always take the side trails, the detour had no effect on my route. I headed off, clutching my new SPI-belt water bottle in my hand (I elected to try it first without the clip, since it’s fairly small). I found as my hand got sweaty I would naturally switch the bottle to the other hand. It didn’t seem to affect my running in any way, and it was easy enough to grab a sip on the go. Ironically, I didn’t really need it today, since it was humid enough that dry mouth™ was not an issue.
What was an issue was my initial pace. I think I got a little over enthused being out in the nice weather (and listening to R.E.M.’s Lifes Rich Pageant) and started out too fast. It took me a fair bit to adjust my pace and I continued to adjust and moderate it through the run. I won’t say that I was itching to hit that 5K mark and have the run be over with, but I definitely felt my stamina getting tapped out. My slowest km was the last, but possibly because I didn’t realize I was so close to finishing (I started on the other side of the dam, since I had to use the loo beforehand).
I did have one issue–a stitch in my lower left side that started around the 4K mark and lasted a few minutes. I was already going at a fairly slow pace, so I didn’t want to slow down even more. I figured if I kept steady it would work itself out, and it did.
Still, I did manage to find enough energy to do some running on the way out from the lake, plus I saw a heron at a trail-side pond (see below). It looked very chill.
I was very pooped by the time I got home. After a quick soak in the tub, I laid on the bed and used the massage thinger and felt like staying there for about seven hundred years.
Overall, it was nice to get back to the lake. I look forward to eventually finding the 5K runs “easy” again. Thinking back, it was 10 years ago that I did my summer of 10Ks at Burnaby Lake, three runs per week, and just under 1,000 km for the year (2012). I ain’t gonna do that this year, but some regular running will do just fine.
Stats:
Run 679 Average pace: 6:18/km Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 12:59 p.m. Distance: 5:04 km Time: 31:46 Weather: Sun and high cloud Temp: 21ºC Humidity: 50% Wind: light BPM: 160 Weight: 172.6 Total distance to date: 4995 km Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (110 km)
