KNEE KNEWS: My knees were feeling a bit stiff by Thursday evening, after the very soggy run that morning. This led to some trepidation but by Saturday morning everything was feeling pretty close to back to normal.
I started out today pondering whether to give myself an extra day of rest or to continue with my altered schedule this week, and if so, whether to go all-in or scale back.
In the end I went for the full loop around the lake, even briefly entertaining the thought of a 10K, but I’m not totally mad, so I stuck to 5K. I did start late, though, after sleeping in a bit, so I didn’t actually begin the run until almost 1 p.m.
Conditions were similar to Thursday temperature-wise, but it was merely overcast, with no breeze at all. It was nice to not get utterly drenched, just as I thought it would be.
But it was also…a Saturday.
Overall, it wasn’t bad for a weekend run. There were more people, especially in the first km or so, but they were generally fine. There were two dog incidents, though. Grr (not a dog growling, that’s me).
Incident 1: I am nearing the end of the Conifer Loop, just starting to round a corner when a medium-sized dog comes dashing around, immediately followed by another, both off-leash. This is one of those things where your eyes see things, but there’s lag before your brain interprets what is happening. It took me a moment to realize these were two dogs off-leash “playing” with each other, not coyotes looking for fresh babies or something. After rounding the corner, I aw the presumed owners, a pair of girls who seemed delighted by it all. I was not delighted, as the dogs nearly collided with me. I told them it might be a good idea to leash their dogs.
Incident 2: This was more minor, as I could see it coming. A smaller (but not small dog) was walking off-leash ahead of its owners. It was walking on the right side of the trail–the side I am running on. It kept walking straight toward me. It did not move. At the last moment, I had to deke around it to avoid stepping on it and crushing its doggy spine. I didn’t say anything to the owners, but probably had a pretty good frowny face going.
Fortunately, the run was otherwise free of such incidents and I actually felt pretty good. It was chilly, but not cold, with the cloud cover hanging low enough to reduce visibility in the distance. My BPM was lower at 151, but my pace was improved at 5:42/km. I am pleased with the results.
As I type this an hour or so later, the knees feel a little stiff, but not sore or achy. We’ll see how they feel tonight!
Stats:
Run 821 Average pace: 5:42/km Training status: Maintaining Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 12:58 p.m. Distance: 5:04 km Time: 28:42 Weather: Cloudy Temp: 14ºC Humidity: 87-83% Wind: light BPM: 151 Weight: 168.3 Total distance to date: 5985 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: HOKA Speedgoat 5 (120/235/355 km)
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