5K

I got the urge to do some kind of exercise today and didn’t want to be stuck mid-evening on the treadmill, so off I went for a late afternoon 5K run on the weekend, something I basically never do.

And it was fine!

I did a short loop counter-clockwise, running to the 3K marker, then turning back. I had a decent BPM of 152 and matched my last 5K pace of 5:38/km, with only the second “okay, put on the brakes a bit” km being the outlier at 5:52/km.

No issues at all and despite wearing two layers, I didn’t feel overdressed, as there was a bit of a chill in the air, especially with the sun hiding behind the clouds most of the time.

The OCD part: My total distance to date had been 5695 km prior to today’s run, meaning every time I ran 10K, it would never be a nice, even number. By doing a 5K today, it now stands at not just a nice even number, but one that’s easy to remember: 5700 km. Woo!

Stats:

Run 766
Average pace: 5:38/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 4:03 p.m.
Distance: 5:04 km
Time: 28:21
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 9ºC
Humidity: 71%
Wind: low
BPM: 152
Weight: 163.5
Total distance to date: 5700 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (372 km)

I decided to start the week with a li’l 5K run and after getting to the lake, made the decision to go on a short loop clockwise after seeing multiple people with dogs going counter-clockwise. I was willing to risk unknown dogs vs. known dogs.

It was a good call, as there was only one dog and it was well-behaved. Good boy! (or girl)

Because I was only doing 5K, I didn’t try too hard to stick to 150 BPM and ended up with the exact same BPM as my last run, 153, though my pace was much faster at 5:38/m. I got an award for my fastest 1K, woo (5:25/km, almost like the olden days).

Weather-wise, it was mostly drizzle, and it lasted most of the run, but it wasn’t bad. I wore two layers, but without any real wind, it didn’t feel cold at all.

Overall, I felt zippy and had no issues, so a good start to the week.

Stats:

Run 764
Average pace: 5:38/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 11:58 a.m.
Distance: 5:03 km
Time: 28:21
Weather: Cloudy, light showers
Temp: 8-10ºC
Humidity: 86%
Wind: low
BPM: 153
Weight: 163.5
Total distance to date: 5685 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (357 km)

My first run since our latest (and hopefully final) snow of the season, and a few general observations:

• Mild! It was 9C, the warmest it’s been all year. It was nice. EDIT: I thought about this later and remembered we had some record high temperatures in January. I checked and on my January 13th run it was 10C (at 9:00 in the morning). So I actually had to wait almost two months for it to get nearly that warm again.
• Late! I didn’t actually start the run until 1:41 p.m., the latest in quite a while. I was just busy in the morning, and jogging when it would be milder in the afternoon had a certain appeal.
• Destruction! See below.

There was still some snow on the trail, as the photo below illustrates, with probably more being on the side trail and the south shore, but not enough to make the run unnavigable or anything, just a tad annoying in certain spots. It did help keep me from running too fast early on, though. The snow was both compacted, yet somewhat squishy, so there was no way to get a good grip on it.

I dressed in two layers and think I may have been fine in a long-sleeved t-shirt. Because of the week off, I chose on-the-fly to just do a 5K, and given the greater snow on the south side of the lake, I’m okay with that. I’ll do 10K next time, assuming we don’t have a blizzard in the interim.

As for destruction…yes! The heavy snow brought down more trees and branches, several of which were still down on the trail today, which is a little odd, given the snow happened last week. Multiple branches on the first boardwalk effectively made it one-lane in places, and a number of trees are leaning precariously over the trail, dangling their branches directly at head level, forcing you to bob around them. I mean, it keeps you focused, because you really don’t want to stab yourself in the face with a branch at a running pace.

I had no issues, other than the right ankle feeling a little creaky. Nothing serious, just kinks being worked out after the week-long layoff (the treadmill doesn’t really count).

In all, a decent run on an iffy trail. I’ll be glad when the weather is better, the trail is tidier, and I can focus just on running, not being stabbed by nature.

Stats:

Run 760
Average pace: 5:51/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 1:41 p.m.
Distance: 5:03 km
Time: 29:28
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 9ºC
Humidity: 57%
Wind: low
BPM: 151
Weight: 163.7
Total distance to date: 5650 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (322 km)

This morning I contemplated what to do today, run-wise, after the technical SNAFU that was Wednesday’s run, everything from just taking a break, to doing a normal 10K, to a 5K to using the Apple Watch instead.

In the end, I opted to take it easier by running a 5K and used the Apple Watch only, to see how it would compare to the Garmin, particularly in terms of heart rate.

My average BPM was 150, which is the exact target I try to hit, so that was nice. The run doesn’t show any weird spikes or dips in heart rate, also nice.

It felt very cold and clammy and took me awhile to warm up. That said, my pace was fairly brisk and consistent throughout. It was kind of a weird run. I did not feel zippy at all, despite what the numbers say (average pace of 5:38/km) At the same time, I also did not feel slow, per se, just…cold and blah. I mixed things up a wee bit, post-run, by diverting onto the Freeway Trail. It’s not especially scenic in the summer and it’s really not scenic at all in the winter, but at least it was a change of pace. And I had the entire trail to myself for the entire 2 km.

At least the sun came out after the run, and I got a few nice shots of the lake.

And proved that my heart is normal, but my Garmin Forerunner, at least on Wednesday, was not.

It was also interesting to do a run with the Apple Watch after using the Garmin for a few months. If I ignore the erratic heart rate monitoring on Wednesday, I’d have to say the Garmin is a better experience almost completely across the board for running:

• The Memory-In-Pixel display of the Garmin may not be great indoors, but outdoors, even on gloomy days, it’s very readable, much more than the Apple Watch’s AMOLED display (which is great indoors)
• Speaking of readable, all the stats on the Garmin are rendered in bigger, thicker fonts, so at-a-glance info is much easier to parse vs. the Apple Watch’s thin, uniform fonts.
• The Apple Watch still keeps up interval info for an irritatingly long time
• The vibration feedback is about 1,000 times more prominent on the Garmin compared to the delicate haptic caress of the Apple Watch (and I have the haptics cranked up to full).
• The Apple Watch does always show the time, which is handy
• Accessing music is also much easier on the Apple Watch
• Pausing/unpausing a workout is simpler on the Garmin
• The post-workout info is a lot more detailed on the Garmin

Man, my hands are still cold as I type this. I’m glad my running for the week is done. I’m going to go give my hands a nice hot shower.

Bonus shot of the lake, post-run:

Stats:

Run 758
Average pace: 5:38/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 12:05 p.m.
Distance: 5.04 km
Time: 28:22
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 5ºC
Humidity: 87%
Wind: low
BPM: 150
Weight: 162.2
Total distance to date: 5635 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (307 km)

Today I was feeling rather unmotivated to run. I mulled various options:

• Don’t run
• Do a regular 10K run at the lake
• Do a 5K run at the river instead
• Do a 5K short loop at the lake
• Do a regular 5K at the lake then walk the rest of the way back

I did the last and bolded option, after initially leaning toward a river run.

I wore my rain jacket, which proved very handy, but only wore one layer underneath, which was the right call, as the jacket gets a tad warm after I get a tad warm.

It showered on and off during the run and when it showered it would come down pretty good, so I alternated from mostly dry to rather soggy. I had no issues on the run, though, and saw few other people, mostly just a few fellow joggers.

I opted to not check on my heart rate at all, only checking in on my pace, which was a relatively zippy 5:49/km. My BPM was 149 overall and stayed pretty consistent, peaking only slightly higher at 151. It was kind of nice to do a shorter run for a change. and have a chance to walk and take a few photos on the way out.

It also allows me to get my total distance to date back to a nice, round figure. In this case, that would be 5590 km.

Wednesday I should be back to my usual 10K, rain or shine (currently it looks like partly sunny, woo).

Stats:

Run 753
Average pace: 5:49/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 12:06 p.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 29:15
Weather: Intermittent showers
Temp: 6-7ºC
Humidity: 91%
Wind: low to moderate
BPM: 149
Weight: 163.9
Total distance to date: 5590 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (262 km)

The forecast said it would rain today. It was accurate!

I dressed in my long-sleeve shirt, light rain jacket and shorts. This proved fine. It was around 4C to start but warmed up a few degrees over the course of the run. I never felt cold, really. I did get wet. Very wet.

It poured for the entire walk to the lake and all of my 5K run. Funnily enough, the rain stopped almost exactly when I finished the run, as if the rain was synced to it. Showers returned on and off later, but still, I found the timing amusing.

Which means I didn’t mind running in the rain too much. It wasn’t windy, which helped with visibility (less rain on the glasses) and the jacket held up well, keeping me dry on the inside. I did not see another jogger on my entire loop around the lake.

While I feel I could have done 10K, I held to 5K to avoid overexerting myself. I did run most of the second half of the loop after, anyway. When I started the workout on my Forerunner watch, it actually said REST and told me to take it easy, why are you running, are you crazy? I clicked it away, assuring it I knew what I was doing, mostly.

Other than having to dodge a lot of debris again (including another new ex-tree_, I had no issues on the run and my energy level was improved over Wednesday. Other than the rain, it was actually pretty nice!

Back to 10Ks and probably more rain next week. As long as it’s not snow…

Stats:

Run 739
Average pace: 5:50/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 10:00 a.m.
Distance: 5.04 km
Time: 29:23
Weather: Rain
Temp: 4-7ºC
Humidity: 98%
Wind: low
BPM: 155
Weight: 165.5
Total distance to date: 5465 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (137 km)

For the first time in 16 days, I ran outside. Woo!

And an interesting run it was.

I originally planned to do a 5K on the river trail, if enough snow had melted. Indeed, that was the case, but with some snow still on the trail, I thought I might continue to the lake, to see if it might be better there. Initially it seemed to be the case, so I headed out for a 5K, with the possibility of doing more, if I felt perky enough.

I did not feel perky enough. But after clocking in a respectable 5K, I found that after around half a km of walking, I got my second wind and ended up running most of the rest of the way around the lake.

My initial blog entry for this run was going to be “Picking my steps” because the first half of the run I encountered some stretches of trail that still had enough snow to require caution, or to find a nice clear rut left by one of the putt-putt cars the parks workers use to get around. But as I continued to run, “Trail of destruction” felt like a much better fit.

Conditions were decent–cloudy and around 5C, with little to no wind. I wore two layers and running pants, but shorts and even one layer would have been fine. As mentioned, snow in some spots meant I had to be careful at times, but it didn’t affect my pace that much, really.

But I have never, in over ten years of running at Burnaby Lake, seen so much destruction in the form of downed trees, branches, bushes and other debris littering the trails. Even a lot of stuff that hadn’t collapsed was now leaning precariously over the trail, often right at eye level.

Several large trees that have been leaning over the trail for years are leaning more prominently now, and I suspect they won’t last much longer. A lot of this will be cleaned up soon, no doubt, but at the same time, we’re not even two weeks into winter, so there may be a lot more havoc to come.

Still, it was nice to finally get back out again. Friday is looking soggy so boo on that, but I’ll head out, anyway, probably doing a full 10K this time.

Stats:

Run 738
Average pace: 5:55/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 9:34 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 29:45
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 5ºC
Humidity: 98%
Wind: low
BPM: 155
Weight: 164.1
Total distance to date: 5460 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (132 km)