Today was the first day of rain in over a month, a welcome respite even for Vancouverites. I had delayed my run by one day knowing and even welcoming the chance to run in a brisk shower. Crazy, I know.
A light rain fell through the length of the run and the temperature was a much cooler 15ºC, a full 10 degrees cooler than my previous run. The difference in the results is plain in the chart below, as my pace was dramatically improved through the middle and final stretches.
Not surprisingly, the park was nearly deserted, save for a few dedicated dog walkers and one other lone jogger who left not too long after I started.
I had no problems of note on the run and actually put in a bit of an extra effort to maintain my pace the last few km, with good results to show for it. I typically overdressed by wearing my running jacket and had it tied around my waist before hitting 2 km. The iPod was once again unruly and I was unable to stop the workout until the 10.1 km mark, about 80m farther than I planned. On the plus side, my pace for that 100m was a brisk 5:12/km. 😛
Overall time was 55:04 and probably under 55 minutes if you just count up to 10K. Average pace was 5:27, matching my best since returning to 10Ks last month.
Chart (red denotes running in especially warm conditions, green denotes cramps during run):
| km | Aug 7 | Aug 4 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 km | 5:04 | 5:02 |
| 2 km | 5:08 | 5:08 |
| 3 km | 5:12 | 5:15 |
| 4 km | 5:16 | 5:19 |
| 5 km | 5:19 | 5:23 |
| 6 km | 5:21 | 5:26 |
| 7 km | 5:23 | 5:29 |
| 8 km | 5:26 | 5:32 |
| 9 km | 5:27 | 5:35 |
| 10 km | 5:27 | 5:37 |
