Today’s run had me filled with trepidation: Would my left hip be hip (fine) or most unhip (sore)? Would I be able to run 10K or go conservative and only do 5K?
As it turned out, I turned in my best run at the lake so far this year, breaking both the six-minute mark and coming in under an hour for the first time in actual years. Woo.
It started out weird, with the Apple Watch claiming a BPM after 1 km of 97, which would be possible if I was actually a godlike supernatural being and not a guy with a sore hip. I paused the run for a few moments, which sometimes lets the watch “catch up” and the BPM leaped to 158, which seemed too high, then fell back to 149, which is my Goldilocks BPM zone. I continued on.
Three big factors in today’s performance:
- The temperature was a relatively cool 22C and stayed there the entire time
- The sky was mostly overcast, with only a bit of sun poking out near the start
- An actual breeze was blowing, providing additional cooling (and occasionally resistance)
This meant I sweated a lot less than usual (in fact, on the back half of the run I was sweating very little), and I was seeing much better results while putting in the same usual effort. I let my BPM go up slightly to 152 because it didn’t feel like I was working harder. Of the 10 km, only two were above the six-minute mark and one was right on it, the rest were all under, with the first km being a rather zippy 5:36/km. I felt good. It was nice.
So, the hip. Was it sore? Yes, I could definitely feel it. But at the same time, it was clearly not affecting my pace. Was the soreness being covered up by a rush of endorphins? The proverbial runner’s high making me oblivious to the pain? Maybe a tiny bit, but mostly I don’t think so. It was clearly not as bad as Monday, so may be on the mend. We’ll see on Friday.
Other things:
- I went Watch-only. After the three workouts (two 4K walks, the 10K run) and listening to music for about 100 minutes, the battery was down to 16%. I could probably squeeze more juice out of it by turning off always-on mode, but it is about three years old now, so I am not overly surprised it drained so much. Well, maybe a little surprised that it dipped below 20%. I basically didn’t do anything with the watch in the few hours before the run, other than wear it.
- I skipped the sunblock, hoping it would neither be sunny, nor cloudy-but-still-sunburn-y, and it looks like I was right! Sunblock has helped a lot this summer, but it is horrible and sticky when running, and I always think I’ll rub some of it into my eyes when wiping sweat away.
- I also forgot to protect my nipple. Ack! But it turned out that I didn’t sweat enough to cause any issues. The last km or so on the walk back I could feel the start of something (not something good), but it went away after I washed up, and my chest is happy for now.
- Without the phone, I did not wear my SPI-belt, which I believe caused some minor abrasions on my belly after Monday’s run. My evidence is that the abrasions perfectly match where the buckle of the belt lines up when I’m wearing it. I did feel weirdly naked without the phone, even though the watch has cellular, so I can still make/take calls and messages. But it was nice to carry less junk, too.
And now, I will bask in a good result and the good feeling from it.
Stats:
Run 703 Average pace: 5:55/km Location: Burnaby Lake (CW) Start: 11:53 a.m. Distance: 10.02 km Time: 59:22 Weather: Overcast Temp: 22ºC Humidity: 64% Wind: light to moderate BPM: 152 Weight: 164.4 Total distance to date: 5155 km Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (263 km)
