Burnaby Lake runs

Another run in The Rains, though it eased up to more of a sprinkle for the last two km, at least.

It was also a bit chillier at 6C, but I found I didn’t need to tuck my hands in at the start to keep them warm.

As for puddles, they were legion. The trail around the athletic fields was a series of equally bad choices. I went onto the field but it was so sodden it made no difference. My feet got wet.

I once again chose to keep a more moderate pace and finished slightly faster than Friday, but without the silly turboboost at the end, because this time no one passed me. In fact, I didn’t see anyone else out running, just a few people walking, some with dogs, some without. The trail was the lightest I’ve seen in some time, which is not surprising given how poopy the weather was.

In the final km, the left hip said hi, but that was all. The shins also seemed to hold up fine when I was dishing out the most punishment when going up or downhill. My pace varied quite a bit. My start was a bit sluggish, as I felt tired after a lousy night of sleep, with the second km coming in at 6:04/km, but by the Cottonwood Trail I had both eased my pace and cruised to a pace of 5:46/km. I ended with 5:55/km, which is perfectly fine. BPM ticked up slightly to 153, also fine.

I also figured out what the cryptic 4.02 alerts are, as they do indeed come up at the 4 and 8K marks. Why, you might ask? Isn’t 4K kind of random? It is! Until you convert to imperial, where it comes out as 2.5 miles, which may be one of the standard intervals. Why it would get converted to metric and shown to me when I’m running 5 or 10K runs, I don’t know, but at least I know what it is now. Maybe I can turn it off.

Overall, a perfectly cromulent run. I am hoping the next one will be a bit drier, but…

Stats:

Run 745
Average pace: 5:55/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 9:51 a.m.
Distance: 10.04 km
Time: 59:25
Weather: Rain
Temp: 6ºC
Humidity: 97%
Wind: low
BPM: 153
Weight: 163.4
Total distance to date: 5520 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (192 km)

I dressed for rain (rain jacket) and that came in handy, as after some intermittent showers for the first four km, The Rains descended, and it poured for the rest of the run, and rained on the walk home. It’s raining now as I type this. But it was also super mild at 10C, which is well above normal.

Today I had only one goal. Well, two goals:

• Avoid big puddles
• Run at a slower pace, trying to stick closer to 150 BPM

On the first part, this became trickier as the run progressed and when I got to the athletic fields I cut a wide berth around the floody parts of the trail, successfully keeping my feet relatively dry.

On the latter, I came pretty close, with a pace of 152 BPM. I did go a bit faster in the latter half and again in the last km, but there were other times when I let my pace drop as low as 147.

The shins again felt a little tender to start, but held up fine. I think as long as I avoid excessive turbo mode, I’ll be good. Plus, I now have at least two days of recovery (one day less than my Garmin Forerunner recommends).

As for the giants, there was one. At about 3 km remaining, I suddenly had someone whiz by me, a man dressed in black shorts, short and cap. Not the ghost of Johnny Cash, but a runner probably less than half my age and probably about 12 feet tall. He was moving pretty good on those freakishly long legs. I thought of playing catch-up, but there was no way it was going to happen unless I magically transferred into my 30-year-old body and let’s face it, 30-year-old me was actually in worse shape than the current version of me. I ended up having him pass me again, but in the opposite direction–on the river trail. I’m going to imagine he just ran full speed for the entire day, doing a few dozen loops around the lake and general area.

And then it happened again! A young couple with good hips passed me on the final km, on the Conifer Loop. They didn’t seem as fast as the hill giant, so I did make an attempt to keep pace, but a few things occurred to me:

• This was not keeping my BPM down. In fact, it climbed to 160.
• I was nearly at the end of a 10K run. I’m pretty sure they were not.
• We’ll see if they’re still doing this when they’re 58!

So as much as it pains me to have other, faster runners go by me, I let them go. I still ended with a pace of 5:57/km, which is fine for what I was setting out to do, and conditions were not great, so overall I’m pretty satisfied with the results.

Also, a lot more people than expected were out walking in pretty awful weather, including a pair of women who each had a pair of walking sticks and remained unmoved when I called out, “Behind you!” as I approached them. I ended up running off the trail to get around them. I have no idea how they could not have heard me. Maybe I am being deafist, though. Perhaps they literally could not hear! I still shot them a dirty look from further up, as I rounded a corner. I’ll assume their eyesight is as good as their hearing.

Also of note, this was my earliest run in a long time, perhaps ever! I headed out early for a coupler of reasons:

• Vain hope to beat the rain. This only semi-worked.
• I was up early due to noisy neighbours, so why not turn lemon into lemonade? Or something like that.

I was back by 10:30, which is earlier than I head out on some days. I actually was outside before the sun was even up (if you could have seen the sun). It was kind of neat!

Stats:

Run 744
Average pace: 5:57/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 8:44 a.m.
Distance: 10.04 km
Time: 59:43
Weather: Rain
Temp: 10ºC
Humidity: 94%
Wind: low
BPM: 152
Weight: 163.4
Total distance to date: 5510 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (182 km)

For the first time in so long I can’t remember, I decided to bypass all three side trails:

• Spruce Loop
• Conifer Loop
• Piper Mill Trail

This meant I’d do a “shorter” run and also hit my milestones much closer to the trail markers. In fact, I passed the 7K marker at the exact moment I hit 7 km. It felt weird!

The most notable thing about today’s run (other than lucking out and missing the rain entirely, which started about 15 minutes after I got back home), is speed. The side trails are a lot twistier, narrower and hillier than the main trail and perhaps because of this, I did the opposite of what I intended and instead of starting the week with a modest outing, I went all hells bells and by the third km I was feeling tired, which is something that, if it happens, doesn’t occur until maybe the 7th km or so. I confirmed by BPM were high, made an effort to slow on the Cottonwood Trail and managed to bring my BPM down without my pace falling down as well.

I still ended up setting Garmin records for faster 1K, 5K and 10K, plus had my best 10K pace since 2017 at 5:45/km. No real issues during the run, unlike the hip warning of Friday. This time, the watch only suggested 72 hours to recover, instead of 96!

It was cool and, in fact, it felt clammy enough leaving the building that I came back and swapped my dual layers for the long-sleeved shirt and running jacket. It was fine. It felt colder on the way to the river than at the river or lake, as a bit of breeze was blowing. The lake was as calm as ever.

Overall, an unintentionally good start to the week. For Wednesday, I plan on actually easing up for real and will resume running the side trails.

Stats:

Run 742
Average pace: 5:45/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 9:43 a.m.
Distance: 10.03 km
Time: 58:53
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 6-7ºC
Humidity: 72%
Wind: low
BPM: 155
Weight: 162.6
Total distance to date: 5495 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (167 km)

My goal today was to actually make myself slow down and run at a more moderate pace. On Wednesday, my Garmin Forerunner told me I needed 96 hours of recovery time from my run, and I was all, “You’re not my mom!” but still, I thought it wise to pull back. And when I saw my BPM briefly spike around 170 at the 4K mark, I put on the brakes, then kept a steady, slower pace going forward (my overall BPM was 154, which is fine). My overall pace was still 5:56/km, which is perfectly cromulent.

I didn’t experience any issues until the last km, when my trick hip made a brief appearance. I suspect this has to do with how I sometimes sit at my computer desk and will make adjustments. It didn’t have any effect overall on the run, other than as a tiny red flag.

Weather-wise, I was hoping to beat the rain and mostly did. It showered a little, but for probably less than 10 minutes overall. I wore the two layers/shorts combo and again this was fine. It was much milder today–already 8C when I started, and the difference in temperature was noticeable.

Altogether, a nice conclusion for the week.

Stats:

Run 741
Average pace: 5:56/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 10:05 a.m.
Distance: 10.03 km
Time: 58:53
Weather: Cloudy, intermittent showers
Temp: 8-9ºC
Humidity: 87%
Wind: low
BPM: 154
Weight: 163.2
Total distance to date: 5485 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (157 km)

With the weather being sunny (woo), I set out to do my first 10K in a few weeks. While there was a bit of a chilly breeze on the walk to the lake, it was quiet once I got there.

For clothing, I wore shorts and two layers up top. This was sufficient.

I set out and, just to be different, opted to skip the first two side trails, the Spruce and Conifer Loops. Before I made it to the 1K marker, I passed four other runners, which may be the densest ratio of other joggers I’ve ever seen (extrapolate that over my run and that would have been 40 other runners). None of them were running together, making it even weirder.

This wasn’t the only people-based weirdness, though. On at least three occasions I had two people walking ahead of me who were utterly unaware of my approach–even after I warned them verbally. Multiple times.

“Behind you!” No reaction.

“Behind you!” Still no reaction. Getting very close now.

“Excuse me!” No reaction.

“Coming through!” At this point I have to actually put on the brakes to avoid collision–this particular incident was on one of the boardwalks and there is literally no room to run around. The guy on the left fairly leapt out of his skin at my last warning and practically hopped out of the way. his friend said something funny, but I couldn’t make it out.

This happened several other times, where repeated warnings produced no reaction at all. I’m not sure how some people–especially when they’re with someone else, so clearly not lost in their own thoughts–can become so utterly oblivious to their environment when walking outdoors. What if I had been a hungry bear? A hungry jogging bear.

As for the parts where I was able to run without having to duck around others, it went well. No issues at all, and though I never felt tired, the last few km I could already feel my leg muscles reminding me that’s what a 10K run feels like.

I intended to make this an easy, mellow kind-of run, but instead just ran like I normally do and ended with a pace of 5:46/km, which is my fastest 10K in quite a long time. The Garmin app bestowed me with badges for fastest 1K, 5K and 10K. I like badges.

Post-workout, the Forerunner advised 96 hours to recover, which is twice as long as I would normally wait for my next run. I’ll mull its advice.

Overall, a good run and a nice return to 10K.

Stats:

Run 740
Average pace: 5:46/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:02 a.m.
Distance: 10.03 km
Time: 57:51
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 4-6ºC
Humidity: 79%
Wind: low
BPM: 154
Weight: 165.5
Total distance to date: 5475 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (147 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)

Today’s run was going to be chilly, with the temperature only 1ºC at the start, and 3ºC by the end, a difference I did not notice!

I dressed thus:

• Three top layers: sleeveless base, long-sleeved shirt, running jacket
• Running pants

In the end I feel I could have worn two layers up top and shorts might have been okay. The only problem is the 4 km walk to the lake before. Near-freezing temperatures on my bare legs that long would probably lead to a lot longer warm-up period during the run, and it’s not like I was sweating a lot or something.

It was sunny and once again, the lack of any sort of wind was conspicuous and weird. In anticipation of getting that flickering effect from the sun shining through the now naked trees on the Cottonwood Trail, I opted to stick to a counterclockwise route. I did encounter some strobing on the south shore, but it was a lot more intermittent. There was frost in some shaded areas of the trail, but it wasn’t that bad as far as being slippery goes. Even the boardwalks were decent.

A bigger hazard may have been the Slightly Dim People out walking. Because it was sunny, there were more people out, which is fine, because it still wasn’t exactly crowded. I don’t know if the cold makes it harder to hear, but virtually no one heard me approaching from behind and most people were walking in pairs and hogging the trail, as people do. This didn’t lead to any situations, I just noticed everyone seemed a bit more oblivious today. Maybe it’s a Monday thing.

Unlike Friday, I had no weird heart rate spikes. At around the 7.5 km mark my BPM went up to 157 but it didn’t stay there and within a minute was back to the 150 range, which actually turned out to be my overall average. Nice!

As an experiment, I wore my Apple Watch on my right wrist, but locked the display so it wouldn’t record official workouts. I was hoping it would only track my move stats (steps) as these mysteriously don’t carry over from the Garmin watch, leaving a massive gap in my step total (on a lake run I usually put in about 20,000 steps). I was skeptical, but it actually worked. The Fitness app has my exercise accounted for by the Garmin watch, while the steps were tracked by the Apple Watch. I’m not sure if I want to wear two watches for every workout, but at least I know it does what I hope it would.

This was a solid start to the week, but there are portents of snow in the forecast. We’ll see what happens on Wednesday.

Stats:

Run 736
Average pace: 5:47/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:50 a.m.
Distance: 10.04 km
Time: 58:08
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 1-3ºC
Humidity: 56%
Wind: light to nil
BPM: 150
Weight: 161.5
Total distance to date: 5445 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (117 km)

It was déjà vu in reverse as I matched Wednesday’s pace of 5:49/km, but running counter-clockwise. This was my second workout with the Forerunner 255, and it worked fine. I adjusted the stats it shows while running to include average pace and active heart rate, which are both useful for me.

The addition of the heart rate allowed me to observe an odd spike where it jumped from an average of around 150 to 171. It then dropped to 165 or so and after a few minutes (and with me only easing up slightly on my pace) it jumped back down to the 150 range. The section where it spiked was near the first boardwalk and I was not running fast, so unsure if this was a glitch with the watch or my heart. I will monitor, obviously! My overall BPM was 152, which is perfectly normal.

Other than the mystery spike, the run actually went well, no other issues. It was raining before I headed out but looked to be easing up, so I went with:

• Running jacket with long-sleeved shirt
• Shorts

This turned out to be more than I needed, as it was fairly mild and even though I felt AN ACTUAL SLIGHT BREEZE several times, it wasn’t really cold, so a long-sleeved shirt probably would have sufficed.

It’s rather amazing that I completed three runs in the third week of November and did not experience any rain.

The trail did require some minor puddle jumping here and there, and I got my feet briefly tangled up in a few twigs and debris from the rainstorm, but overall it was in pretty decent condition.

Overall, a solid effort and a nice way to end the week.

The view from the dam looking down the river, two gates open after the storm:

Stats:

Run 735
Average pace: 5:49/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:43 a.m.
Distance: 10.04 km
Time: 58:22
Weather: Overcast
Temp: 8ºC
Humidity: 86%
Wind: light
BPM: 152
Weight: 161.1
Total distance to date: 5435 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (107 km)

Also known as the 1984 run, not because it had an Orwellian feel to it, but because the music was David Gilmour’s About Face and Hall and Oates Big Bam Boom, a pair of albums from 1984. If only I’d had a sweatband and legwarmers with me.

As it was, I wore two layers up top (long and short-sleeve shirt) and shorts, and they were fine for the conditions. It was actually pretty mild and again, virtually no wind at all.

Today was the first day I wore my shiny new Garmin Forerunner 255 running watch. It’s been quite awhile since I wore something other than my Apple Watch for a run, but after the recent glitches and with it not monitoring my heart rate for multiple kilometres, I decided it was time to try something else.

I set up the watch in the morning, connected it to Apple Health and my iPhone so the data from the runs would show up as activity. I set a few preferences, then off I went, tracking my usual walks to and from the lake and the 10K around it. I was originally going to just do a 5K at the river, but talked myself into going for the full deal. Probably residual guilt over all those Pringle pizza-flavoured chips I ate yesterday.

Happily, the watch worked exactly as expected, no hiccups or weirdness. The run synced quickly to the Garmin Connect app on the phone and better yet, I can view the copious details on the Garmin Connect website. Finally, a map that isn’t stupidly small and dark!

The embed doesn’t seem to work in WordPress, so it only shows as a link for now, but I’ll see what I can do.

The only odd part is the BPM was 150–which is good–but my pace was 5:49/km–which is also good!–but normally my BPM would be higher at that pace. We’ll see if it levels out over a few runs. It was milder today, so that may have helped, too.

Garmin embed:

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/embed/10026529411

As for the suicidal squirrel, I’ve noticed that the Piper Mill Trail seems to be a popular hangout for squirrels, and today I counted at least four of them. One, a small red squirrel, decided to panic as I approached (the squirrels at the lake tend to be skittish) but instead of diving into the brush, it dove…directly into my path. Thanks to some fancy footwork, I managed to avoid tripping on it. Silly squirrel. That would have been embarrassing, though.

“How did you hurt yourself running?”

“A squirrel.”

“I see.”

The run itself felt good again, no issues at all, other than the two boardwalks being a bit slippery. There was a woman curbing her German Shepherd just past the bridge at Deer Lake Brook, and the dog was sitting obediently beside her, but he had an eye on me. She pulled on the dog slightly as if to draw him closer to her. I knew what was coming. As I ran by, the dog immediately lunged toward me and I deked successfully, keeping myself out of the WSZ (Wet Snout Zone). No other snout incidents occurred.

Overall, another solid effort and I got 11 badges and apparently ascended to Badge Level 2 on Gsrmin Connect. Go me!

View from the dam:

Stats:

Run 734
Average pace: 5:49/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 1:08 p.m.
Distance: 10.04 km
Time: 58:26
Weather: Overcast
Temp: 9ºC
Humidity: 93%
Wind: light to nil
BPM: 150
Weight: 161.0
Total distance to date: 5425 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (97 km)

The forecast called for mostly cloudy/cloudy today, which was fine by me, as I wanted to avoid the strobing effects and glare of Friday’s run. Just as I got to the lake, the sun started peeking out from behind the clouds and I cried out in my heart, “No!”

But then it clouded up again for the actual run. Also, I started the run over two hours earlier than Friday, to avoid the sun being higher in the sky. Anyway, it worked. No strobing! No glare! Just a nice, uneventful run.

Because I ran counter-clockwise, it was easier to keep control of my pace and my overall BPM dropped back down to 154, while my average pace fell to a still perfectly cromulent 5:57/km.

As an experiment, I overdressed to see if I would be overdressed.

I was overdressed.

Let me explain. I was expecting it to be 4-5C, but it turned out to be 6-7C. The difference might seem small, but it’s right at the border between what feels most comfortable to wear. I opted to err on the side of caution to see if overdressing a bit would actually feel a bit uncomfortable, but it was fine.

Even though it was Monday, everyone on the trail, whether running or walking, seemed to be all smiles and happy to be out. I mean, I don’t blame them. It was dry, relatively mild and no wind at all, so great conditions for a mid-November walk.

What I wore:

• Running jacket
• Long-sleeved shirt
• Running pants

What would have been fine (especially with no wind):

• Long-sleeved shirt
• Sleeveless base layer
• Running shorts

Wednesday’s conditions so far are looking very similar, with a decent chance of rain but similar temperatures on Friday. I will dress with my refined weather knowledge.

A shot of the Avalon Trail looking in the clockwise direction. I didn’t curse the distant cyclists because they are allowed on this part of the route (I also realized that they are very distant, so you may not even be able to see them).

And a shot from Cariboo Dam, illustrating just how little wind there was:

Stats:

Run 733
Average pace: 5:57/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:13 a.m.
Distance: 10.03 km
Time: 59:48
Weather: Cloudy, some late sun
Temp: 6-7ºC
Humidity: 78%
Wind: light to nil
BPM: 154
Weight: 161.7
Total distance to date: 5415 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (87 km)