Burnaby Lake runs

Run 694: For the first time in two days, another 10K!

View from Cariboo Dam, just prior to starting the run.

It was forecast to get up to 28C today, so I opted for a mid-morning run to beat the heat. Here’s my run report in handy list form, because I like lists.

  • Good News: I ran another 10K. Yay! I can now say it’s been two days between 10K runs, instead of 988 days.
  • Less-Than-Good-News: Around the 5K mark, an upper left thigh muscle began to twinge a bit. It settled after a few km and is fine now. I blame my body for being weirdly asymmetrical. It may also not surprise you that I am also left-handed.
  • Bad News: None, really. This run felt a lot harder than Monday due to the warmer temperatures (though they were not bad), but mainly the still-high humidity. Humidity is like a superpower designed to drain all energy from your body. It works very well!
  • Fun Fact: For whatever reason, I mistype “humidity” almost every time. I didn’t this time because I was concentrating hard enough for Mavis Beacon to sit up and notice.
  • Trail update: They are putting the final touches on the trail resurfacing near the dam. Where will they resurface next? (Please please please be the trail along the athletic fields.)
  • Sensitive subject: A few years ago I had a weird issue when running if my chest got wet, whether through perspiration or precipitation–my nipples would become strangely sensitive. It almost feels like this might be making an unwelcome return. It’s both weird and annoying. So far it is only hinting. I will give it a hint to go away and see if that works.
  • Award time: I got an award in the Apple Watch Fitness app for most calories burned in a running workout, 723. I find this somewhat odd that it didn’t happen years ago. Maybe I have more calories to burn now.

Award:

Finarly I did it.

Stats:

Run 694
Average pace: 6:12/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 10:00 a.m.
Distance: 10.02 km
Time: 62:08
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 22-25ºC
Humidity: 64%
Wind: light
BPM: 150
Weight: 165.6
Total distance to date: 5085 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (198 km)

Run 543: Annoyed

UPDATE, August 21, 2022: The update is just to fix minor typos I noticed when reading through this post years later. I do have to LOL (as the kids say) when I refer to my pace being "plodding" at 5:20/km, when today that would be blazing fast. Good ol' aging!
Run 543
Average pace: 5:20/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 12:01 pm
Distance: 5.02 km
Time: 26:48
Weather: Party sunny
Temp: 12-13ºC
Humidity: 63%
Wind: light
BPM: 173
Weight: 153.3 pounds
Total distance to date: 4222 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone

Note to self: NEVER RUN ON A STATUTORY HOLIDAY

I didn’t feel like running today, but by late morning, a combination of guilt and rainy skies predicted for tomorrow prompted me to head out.

Today is Thanksgiving in Canada, a stat holiday. It is also a day I normally don’t run.

I started walking down the river trail, undecided on what to do, but leaning toward some kind of 5K. As I entered the river trail, I noted a couple with a lovely small dog. The dog was leashed. What smart and responsible dog owners, I thought! They stopped for a moment by the Canine Code of Conduct sign and the woman unclasped the dog leash, freeing her mutt. I was still 20 minutes from running and already annoyed. Later, I watched a pair of people look at one of the new STAY OUT signs posted at the entrance to one of the unofficial trails, then promptly take off down it. They probably had no idea where the trail led, but no sign was going to boss them around! I predict traffic on these trails will increase as a result of these signs (UPDATE, August 21, 2022: All the signs were vandalized and removed within about a month of going up and were never replaced).

I ended up doing a rather plodding 5K, sticking to the usual counter-clockwise route. The first three km were strangely sluggish, despite an equally strangely high BPM of 173. By the fourth and final km my pace improved significantly, but I opted to end it there rather than continue, netting an average pace of 5:20/km. If I had done a full 10K I probably would have finished with a decent pace rather than a mediocre one.

The left leg’s tendon felt a little tight toward the end, but was otherwise manageable. Conditions were also fine–dry and cool, temperatures hovering around 12-13ºC throughout my non hour run time.

As is always the case on a stat holiday, lots of people were out, especially people who like to clump awkwardly and block the trail. Multiple times I had to slow down, divert (in one case entirely off the trail) or even briefly stop. As I was coming out of the Conifer Loop trail, I saw three people ahead of me. Two moved forward to study the map at the intersection of the trails. The third–who clearly saw me–hesitated, then moved forward at precisely the right time to get in my way. How do people pull off these inept moves with such precision? I do not know.

Likewise, I continue to be baffled by my amazing ability to flip small rocks into my shoes now while running. I’m not sure if my gait has changed or if it’s the newish Brooks Cascadia shoes I’m wearing, but I have become expert in the whole “flip a small sharp piece of gravel into the air and have it land on the back of your shoe and then promptly slip down into it and lodge uncomfortably under your foot” thing. This time the gravel was sharp enough that I had to pause the run to fish it out of my shoe and toss it aside while muttering colorful metaphors.

By the end of the run I just wanted to leave, so I turned and headed back to the Burnaby Lake SkyTrain station instead of walking out. I don’t regret my choice.

Overall: bleah.

Run 393: The sounds of silence with bonus extra hot heat

Run 393
Average pace: 5:40/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Distance: 5.14 km
Time: 29:11
Weather: Sunny and hot, humid; some high cloud
Temp: 31-33ºC
Wind: nil to moderate
Calories burned: 371
Weight: 157.5 pounds
Total distance to date: 3199
Device used: iPhone 6

With the extended forecast promising hot weather and plenty of it, I opted to head out mid-morning for today’s run, when the temperatures were going to be merely in the mid-20s.

When I got to the lake I checked the weather app and it reported the temperature as 33ºC. As you might notice, this is not mid-20s.

I decided to go ahead and run anyway, setting up for a 10K, but not overly optimistic that I would last that long.

I somehow managed to trigger the countdown on the Nike+ app after carefully putting the phone in my SPI-belt, so I took off. It was then I realized no music was playing. I had a good pace going, so the idea of stopping to get the music playing was not overly appealing. The idea of trying to fish out the phone, start the music, then put the phone back in the SPI-belt while still running seemed laughable.

I kept running, with only my delightful wheezing serving as accompaniment. On the other hand, I got to hear birds chirping, which I normally never do. I believe the chirps interpreted to, “Man, it sure is hot today. Boy howdy.”

My pace took a big hit after 1K, which was not surprising. Nor was the big drop after 2K. It was 33ºC, after all. By about the fourth km, I had settled into a steady, if sluggish pace. I didn’t feel as sluggish as I actually was, probably thanks to an intermittent breeze and the sun being at my back rather than staring me in the face.

But the course forward was clear and uninviting. After hitting 5K I unzipped the SPI-belt to take the phone out and end the run. Then I changed my mind and zipped the belt back up. Then I repeated the entire thing again, once more changing my mind. At this point, the phone burbled “Workout paused” because my fiddling had apparently managed to invoke whatever magic command pauses a workout without specifically trying to do so. I glanced down and saw my pace was 5:40/km–yikes.

I ended the run.

I don’t feel too bad about stopping. The last two km my pace was creeping over 5:50/km and I wasn’t particularly enjoying myself. I hydrated before starting out so didn’t feel overly dry after (the walk back home felt worse for being parched, really) but obviously at these temperatures there is concern over dehydration and heatstroke.

The secret is to start running at 6 a.m. or something.

Also, I’ve decided I don’t like the SPI-belt/iPhone 6 combo. Separately each is fine but they are obviously not really designed for each other. On top of the no-music, I also had this weird thing where the cord on the left earbud kept tugging with each step (you step a lot in nearly 30 minutes of running). I don’t know if I never noticed this before when music would normally be playing or if it was new, but it was fantastically annoying. It made me think of getting wireless earphones until I found out how much they cost. I then chalked the tugging up to being a weird one-time thing.

I did, however, pick up a running watch after. More on that later.

Run 391: The it-feels-like summer first day of summer run

Run 391
Average pace: 5:37/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Distance: 7.10 km
Time: 39:54
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 26ºC
Wind: moderate to breezy
Calories burned: 526
Weight: 158.2 pounds
Total distance to date: 3186
Device used: iPhone 6

Today is the first day of summer and it felt like it. The temperature was 26ºC, right at the tipping point between warm and maybe-a-little-too-warm for my comfort level when running. A good breeze, normally refreshing, meant I suffered from Dry Mouth™ for much of the run.

The run also ended at 7K instead of 10K, even though I was not ailing in any particular way. My left foot behaved itself, I wasn’t cramping up or otherwise hurting. What I was, was slow. Again. The pace was a fairly awful 5:37/km. This past week has been strange and very disappointing, run-wise.

My walk to the lake went fine, showing no signs of the fatigue I’d been hit with earlier in the week. Given the higher temperature, I was still concerned. I started out and had again wrestled with getting the iPhone in the SPI-belt. I’m beginning to not like this combination. If I could have the run start after putting the phone in, I’d be good, but there doesn’t seem to be any way to do that, alas. Maybe this is a conspiracy to get me to spend $450 on an Apple Watch.

When I hit the first km mark, I knew my pace was way off. This continued and although I could have pushed on to a full 10K I had visions of not hitting it until I was actually looping back over the start of the run. The thought was so depressing, I stopped at 7K, as it would at least provide a point of comparison to my previous 7K.

That comparison is also depressing, as it turns out.

Looking at the stats for today’s run, I note a few things:

  • The first km pace was 5:26/km. This is strangely slow–it’s slower than the pace of the entire 7K I ran on June 11, just ten days ago. The phone/belt struggle appears to be partly to blame here. I also see a huge drop in pace right at the 1K mark, suggesting I was mentally defeated by the pace already.
  • My fastest km was the third at 5:22/km, with the fourth km also faster than the first at 5:24/km. It is very unusual for later km to be faster than the first. It’s only happened a few times in hundreds of runs.
  • Save for the third km, every km my pace flagged more and more.

There was also an event sponsored by the Running Room. Fortunately the event had wound down by the time I was running, so I didn’t have to face hordes of runners unused to the trail (I also wisely chose to run in the same direction the signs pointed out), but I suppose I ought to check for these things beforehand when I run on weekends. There were a bunch of people moving from the central gathering area at the rowing pavilion parking lot, but luckily they didn’t clog things up much.

Oh, and a few cyclists walking their bikes. You’re not fooling anyone, cyclists!

Overall, then, a very disappointing outing and the third run in a row (of only six this month) that has gone poorly. I’d say it can only get better from here, but even that almost feels like a bold claim at this point.

We shall see.

Run 390: The still slow mid-week run

Run 390
Average pace: 5:27/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Distance: 5.06 km
Time: 27:36
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 22-24ºC
Wind: moderate to breezy
Calories burned: 374
Weight: 157.8 pounds
Total distance to date: 3179
Device used: iPhone 6

Tuesday’s run was delayed a day because I was feeling strangely tired and in fact I didn’t go into work today (Wednesday). After sleeping in and supposedly shaking off whatever is afflicting me I decided to try a run at the lake early in the afternoon.

The walk there was noticeably slower than usual, an ominous sign–though I didn’t feel awful or anything. I headed out and didn’t feel bad but didn’t feel great, either. I made an effort to not push so I wasn’t expecting to set any land speed records.

I had two big drops, 11% after 2 km and an unexpected 4% drop for the last km. These combined to give me a mediocre pace of 5:27/km, six seconds slower than my previous 7K run and 13 seconds slower than my last 5K. Blargh.

The good news was no complications. The right tendon felt a bit stiff at the start but warmed up quickly. The left foot behaved right up until the very end of the walk home.

The walk home was probably the highlight. It was only fractions of a second off my fastest pace for a walk that length (about 9 km). I was ranting in my head about things I am unhappy about and this apparently translates directly into walking speed. I may have to apply it to my next run.

The other highlight was how quiet the trail was. I miss mid-afternoon weekday runs. I’m not anti-social but a trail sans people is nice for a solo runner. Maybe I’m a little anti-social.

Burnaby Lake runs: A pictorial guide

Reading about my runs is pretty dry for everyone but me and sometimes even I find it a bit dry. There’s only so many ways to wax poetic about exercise you do multiple times a week.

On August 18, 2011 my partner and I went for a stroll around Burnaby Lake. A full circuit around the lake takes about two hours when walking and covers a little over 10 km. I chronicled our walk in pictures that day and have (8 months later!) sorted them out for perusal.

Burnaby Lake is the largest urban lake in the Lower Mainland/Metro Vancouver area and has more lilypads than any other place on Earth. Or at least it seems that way. There are always plenty of birds splashing about, sunning, eating and doing generally bird-like things, copious numbers of black slugs in the warmer months and apparently turtles and fish, though I have yet to see a single turtle or fish and regard their presence at the lake as the stuff of myth and legend.

This is a modified copy of the lake map where I’ve superimposed my running route (the original is available here as a PDF). Click on it to see the detail better. My route is in red with a red dot marking the parking lot that serves as the starting point. I generally run the traditional counter-clockwise though I sometimes mix it up and run clockwise because I can be crazy like that.

Here are a few random highlights from the gallery. Click to embiggen each image.
[singlepic id=436 w=400 h=300 float=none]
Cariboo Dam.
[singlepic id=460 w=400 h=300 float=none]
View of the lake from one of the bridges.
[singlepic id=453 w=400 h=300 float=none]
If you want to touch trees, you’ve come to the right place.

Full gallery of Burnaby Lake which guides you around the lake counter-clockwise. It’s like going for a jog without any of the effort or sweating.

The strobe light run

Distance: 5.03 km
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 10ºC
Wind: none
Calories burned: 351
Average pace: 5:28/km
Total distance to date: 1075 km

Today I started my first full week of running and the weather was again perfect: 10ºC, no breeze and sunny skies. I did things a little differently by riding the SkyTrain to the Sperling/Burnaby Lake station and walking about 1 km to the Burnaby Lake trail, specifically to the bridge that serves as the unofficial halfway point of the 10K or so loop. I then ran along the north side of the lake, toward the Brunette River portion of the Central Valley Greenway, with the intent of doing a brisk cooldown walk for the 4 km remaining after the run.

All went according to plan and even though it still seemed to take ages for each km to be called out on the iPod, I managed to keep going without stopping, the cramps kept more in check this time.

As for the strobe light effect, there is a fairly long stretch along the north part of the trail that is nearly completely straight and the angle of the sun and proliferation of thin, leaf-free trees combined to create a rapidly blinking light effect on my eyes, constantly flashing like I was in a disco. It was almost seizure-inducing but had the neat side-effect of distracting me from the aches and soreness of being horribly out of shape, so it all worked out.

In other good news, I improved my pace by a good amount, knocking 10 seconds off my average pace.

Chart:

Feb 6
 Feb 3
1 km 5:06 5:06
2 km 5:15 5:21
3 km 5:21 5:31
4 km 5:25 5:37
5 km 5:28 5:38