Burnaby Lake runs

The stats and conditions for today’s run were remarkably similar to Monday’s (I did not run Wednesday because my Garmin watch recommended a rest day), but the title of the post still makes sense, because while Monday felt like a horrible slog, today’s near-identical pace was a more deliberate choice and my performance was pretty steady throughout, with a slightly faster start and finish.

I’m still not entirely sure what is dragging my performance down this week. It may be a combination of things:

• Spring allergies
• Maybe a virus of some kind?
• Probably not Spring Fever
• Definitely not Boogie Fever
• The much higher-than-normal temperatures could be a factor

Speaking of, it was 17C for the run. The normal daily high this time of year is 12C, to give you an idea of how much warmer it was. Humidity was 50% and while I didn’t experience DMS¹Dry Mouth Syndrome I could sense it beckoning. I did a short loop today and didn’t experience any issues, nothing at all like Monday. I was slower, but didn’t struggle, because the slowness was more a choice.

I saw one guy jogging with a jacket. I almost started sweating spontaneously just looking at it. Seriously, you do not need a jacket when it is sunny and 17C, unless you have, I dunno, translucent skin or something. Maybe he did.

In all, not a stellar week for running (other than the great early summer-like weather), but I got through it.

Stats:

Run 1,025
Average pace: 5:54/km
Training status: Maintaining
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW, short loop)
Start: 11:32 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 29:39
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 17°C
Humidity: 50%
Wind: light
BPM: 147
Weight: 167.1 pounds
Total distance to date: 6,950 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (220/360/580)

Music: Flood, They Might Be Giants

Spring as in the weather was suddenly not just spring-like, it got up to 17C during the run, which is more than twice what it was on Friday’s run.

Without the spring because I felt weirdly off. It’s hard to describe, but even though my first km was decent at 5:41/km, the metaphorical wheels started coming off shortly after. I even paused the run at the halfway mark and walked a bit (but only for 10-15 seconds). The best way to describe how I felt is, imagine how you feel if you haven’t eaten for a long time and you start to feel a bit wobbly or weak? It was like that. Except I ate breakfast before going out.

Anyway, it meant the run was a slog, as I got progressively slower until the final km, where I managed a pace of 5:47/km. It’s possible that while it was not hot, the temperature difference might have still affected me. My BPM was even higher, despite the lower output at 151. In all, not an auspicious start to the week.

On the plus side, it was my first run in months when I went out wearing just shorts and a t-shirt, so that was nice. I even dabbed a bit of sunscreen on the back of my neck just to be safe.

The trail was a bit more crowded than normal, but wasn’t too bad, and much less crowded than Friday. I saw a man jogging with a puppy in his hand. No topless runners, though, which was odd, given the weather.

Anyway, I’m still intact, so that’s good.

Stats:

Run 1,024
Average pace: 5:54/km
Training status: Maintaining
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 12:16 p.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 29:38
Weather: Mostly sunny
Temp: 16-17°C
Humidity: 63-59%
Wind: light
BPM: 151
Weight: 169.1 pounds
Total distance to date: 6,945 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (215/347/562)

Music: Eat to the Beat, Blondie

Today is Good Friday, which is a holiday for many people, but the day was also cloudy and threatened showers through morning and early afternoon. Holidays usually mean the trails are more crowded, but the threat of rain could keep people away.

The threat of rain did not keep people away. As a bonus, it also didn’t rain.

But the trail was packed with joggers, walkers, people with dogs and the occasional robin.

It was so crowded, in fact, that when starting on the Avalon Trail, I kept going past the turn-off onto the Southshore Trail and connected with the Freeway Trail, which is about as sexy as it sounds. I tried to stay on it as long as I could but turned back onto the main trail a bit too soon. I’ll know better next time!

While on the Freeway Trail, my left AirPod made some kind of noise and abruptly stopped working. I paused the run, put both buds in the charging case, then popped them back in my ears and everything was good. I am concerned that this means the AirPods are getting close to self-destructing, forcing me to find something else.

As for the run, I started out decently, but this was apparently overdoing it after some recent bad sleep and stress, as my pace collapsed in second km to just under six minutes. I picked up a bit after, but remembered my watch had recommended a recovery run, so never really pushed. My BPM was 149, which felt right for the condition I was in and my pace was 5:48/km, a lot slower than Monday, but again, given my current state of being, this was perfectly cromulent.

Stats:

Run 1,023
Average pace: 5:48/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 10:56 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 29:12
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 8°C
Humidity: 87%
Wind: light
BPM: 149
Weight: 168.8 pounds
Total distance to date: 6,940 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (210/334/544)

Music: Shuffle mode

I headed out more than two hours earlier compared to Friday’s run, as I attempt to get full back into my morning run routine. As a result, it was a bit chillier at 5C, but two layers was still fine, especially with the sun.

I opted to go clockwise and unlike recent runs, I got off to a strong start, which ended up matching my overall pace of 5:38/km, my fastest run in a while. The final km was my first lap under 5:30 in some time, too, at 5:27/km. My BPM is still coming in lower, though, which is nice, with today’s being 146.

I didn’t encounter any issues except a weird bit of creakiness in my right foot that pooped up around the 3K mark. I’d compare it to one of those random twitchy muscle things where it pops up, unbidden, then just as quickly disappears. It didn’t have any effect on the overall run.

There were no topless runners today.

There was one dog off-leash, but he was a good boy.

The double double bows came about because I always tie my left shoelace in a double bow and today the right lace came untied about a km in, then started coming untied about half a km later, so I gave it a double bow, too. It’s double bows all the way down.

I should start looking for new shoes soon.

Overall, though, a fine start to the week. Wednesday is looking damp, but maybe if I do a chicken dance or something I can scare the rain away. Or the neighbours.

Stats:

Run 1,022
Average pace: 5:38/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 10:23 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 28:20
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 5-6°C
Humidity: 69-67%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 146
Weight: 171.5 pounds
Total distance to date: 6,935 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (205/321/526)

Music: Shuffle mode

Today’s run was remarkably similar to Wednesday’s, except it was drier and milder, both of which were nice.

But like the previous run, I got off to a sluggish start and slowly improved and finished with a middling overall pace of 5:49/km, but also another fairly low BPM of 145. Conditions were generally fine as we’ve only had some light rain in the past few days, though there was one spot on the trail that someone had improvised a bridge on:

The downside is no one knows where to go to park anymore.

There was one dog off-leash and while he was not entirely a good boy (he trundled over to my side of the trail), he didn’t directly interfere. I still had unkind thoughts toward the owner.

But overall, today’s run was fine. There was another topless jogger, though at 10C, I can kind of see it. I dressed in two layers and one might have sufficed, but I kept the hoodie on. With the sun mostly tucked away, it didn’t really feel warm, as such.

And good news–I did three runs this week. Hooray for consistency.

As for the men interfering, on the river trail a crew had the trail blocked off about midway up because they were messing with a tree that had fallen in the river. If you really want to close off the trail, the signs should go at the start of the trail, not a meter from the work being done. I went through, it seemed safe. On the way back they were gone and I can’t say the work they did looks any better than what was there before, but I am not a treeologist.

The next men also blocking a path were right near Cariboo Dam–exactly where I start my run. They had the area roped off and were pounding stakes into the ground near the river edge, behind an existing fence, for reasons. This time I didn’t attempt to go through and went around via the Avalon entrance. They were also gone when I finished my run, but their stakes remained, doing…something or other.

And the cranes were a pair of Sandhill Cranes, which I haven’t seen in a long time, looking for food at the sports field and probably planning on having babbies soon. Spring is truly here.

Stats:

Run 1,021
Average pace: 5:49/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 12:50 p.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 29:10
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 10°C
Humidity: 61-59%
Wind: light
BPM: 145
Weight: 169.7 pounds
Total distance to date: 6,930 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (200/308/508)

Music: Shuffle mode

Today was the third time in the past three days I’ve completed the loop at Burnaby Lake, though I wasn’t carrying my camera with me this time.

Instead, it was the start of my weekly set of runs and once again, it was partly sunny, though a bit cooler than Friday, so the two layers stayed on for the duration. Shortly after I ended my 5K I had a guy pass me who was obviously not as sensitive to the temperature, as he was going topless.

There are two kinds of guys that run without a shirt:

• Guys who want to show off their six-pack
• Guys who look like they’ve had a few too many six-packs

There is nothing in-between. Average guys seem topless-averse.

Today’s run was clockwise, and very similar to Friday, with only a one-second difference in the average pace and a one beat difference in BPM (both were a bit faster/better today). I didn’t experience any issues, the trail was relatively dry after a few blissful days of not-rain and only one dog was off-leash.

In all, a good start to the week.

Stats:

Run 1,019
Average pace: 5:44/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 11:15 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 28:50
Weather: Partly sunny
Temp: 7-8°C
Humidity: 62%
Wind: light
BPM: 148
Weight: 172.1 pounds
Total distance to date: 6,920 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (190/291/481)

Music: Voices, Hall and Oates

It was my first run of Spring 2026 and as a bonus it was both partly sunny and unusually mild, a nice change after multiple days of torrential rains.

I wore two layers (hoodie and t-shirt), which actually turned out to be one too many, as I doffed my Echo hoodie about halfway through the run, meaning I got an early start to my 2026 tan. 😀

I missed Wednesday’s run due to said torrential rains and felt a little sloggy (that’s the best way I can describe it) today but kept up a fairly consistent pace throughout, with an average of 5:45/km and a BPM of 149. Neither is outstanding, but both are perfectly cromulent.

Strangely a lot of dogs were off-leash. Bad dog owners! Fortunately the dogs themselves were well-behaved.

The trail was in pretty good shape despite the heavy rain–or so I thought! It was actually fine right up till the end of the run, where the newly-resurfaced stretch was seeing water ingress:

Puddles aside, it was nice to return to the lake, get some sun and round off the week with a decent effort.

Stats:

Run 1,018
Average pace: 5:45/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 11:24 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 28:56
Weather: Partly sunny
Temp: 12-13°C
Humidity: 89-85%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 149
Weight: 171.3 pounds
Total distance to date: 6,915 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (185/278/463)

Music: Shuffle mode (R.E.M.)

The best thing about today’s run was the absence of rain. It was once again 5C, but for most of the run it was partly sunny, so it only felt cool at the start. Speaking of start, I ran in the early afternoon due to morning showers. There were still some puddles, but puddle-hopping was not too bad.

In the week since I was last at the lake, it looks like the wind claimed a few more trail-adjacent trees, freshly cut up into log-size chunks. Pedestrian traffic was relatively light and only one dog was off-leash and he was being a good boy, walking directly in front of his owner (which made me wonder why he was even off-leash).

I started out at a similar pace to the previous two runs, but unlike those, this time I gained strength as I kept going, instead of flagging, finishing with an overall pace of 5:41/km and a BPM of 150, which is a bit higher, but accurately reflects the extra effort.

I didn’t experience any issues, which is always nice, and enjoyed the walk back, with the amount of green along the trail expanding significantly since my last run–and now including the reappearance of skunk cabbage, a sure sign of spring:

This was also the first time in a few weeks that I kept to my usual Mon-Wed-Fri running schedule, which I’ll hopefully be better at sticking to as we roll on into spring.

In all, a good wrap-up to the week.

Stats

Run 1,016
Average pace: 5:41/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 1:07 p.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 28:35
Weather: Partly sunny
Temp: 5-6°C
Humidity: 77-72%
Wind: light
BPM: 150
Weight: 170.0 pounds
Total distance to date: 6,905 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (175/262/437)

Music: Seven and the Ragged Tiger, Duran Duran

It’s my first regular follow-up run in about a hundred years, woo (meaning a run two days after the previous). The well-timed is in reference to carefully watching the forecast and heading out early in the afternoon after morning showers ended. Not only did I get to skip the rain, the trail was in pretty decent shape, other than the occasional easily navigated puddle.

I flipped the course today, doing another short loop, but going counter-clockwise this time. I shaved five seconds off my pace, which is not bad. BPM was a bit higher, but fine at 150. I definitely felt I was pushing harder than on Monday.

Likely because of the earlier rain, the trail was largely empty, though more people appeared toward the end of the run.

I didn’t experience any issues at all and a single layer would likely have sufficed, but I wanted two in case the showers came back while I was out and aboot.

In all, a fine mid-week effort. Friday is currently looking wet, so we’ll see if I can squeeze in another run between showers.

Stats:

Run 1,013
Average pace: 5:42/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW, short loop)
Start: 1:18 p.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 28:38
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 10°C
Humidity: 81-80%
Wind: light
BPM: 150
Weight: 169.7 pounds
Total distance to date: 6,890 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (160/241/401)

Music: Eat to the Beat, Blondie

I opted to revert to a 5K run after three days off, to allow myself to warm up a bit before trying 10K again, but I will do 10K again soon™.

In the meantime I ran a short loop at the lake and it was downright spring-like, with a temperature of 11C, little wind and lots of sun. My stats were decent, but not earth-shattering, as my running schedule has been a tad erratic lately. Besides, it’s probably better to not shatter the earth, anyway. Still, BPM of 148 and a pace of 5:47/km is perfectly fine.

I also experienced no issues, though midway through the run I felt a bit tired–perhaps related to my “non-restorative” sleep last night. In any case, I picked up in the last few km.

Overall, a decent start to the week. The weather forecast suggest The Rains are about to return, but hopefully I can find a few patches of dry(ish) conditions to run during the rest of the week.

Stats:

Run 1,012
Average pace: 5:47/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW, short loop)
Start: 12:41 p.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 29:06
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 11°C
Humidity: 64-61%
Wind: light
BPM: 148
Weight: 170.3 pounds
Total distance to date: 6,885 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (155/233/388)

Music: Even in the Quietest Moments, Supertramp

Today’s run was notable for two things:

• It was windy as heck, which is quite unusual for Burnaby Lake
• I did my first 10K in over two years!

After doing the 7.5K run on Monday, I knew it would feel like a regression to go back to a 5K, and I was curious to see how a 10K would feel. The weather looked decent–8C and dry–so I headed to the lake and like Monday, started at a slower pace, heading clockwise, with the idea of a 10K in mind.

I knew by the time I approached the 5K mark (oddly, my slowest lap) I would keep going, so then it was a question of 7.5K or 10K. That got answered when I hit 8K and knew I’d keep going. I even had enough pep to offset my slow pace at the halfway mark.

The last time I did a 10K was on November 6, 2023 (Run 826). Weirdly, there is only a one-second difference in the average pace then vs. today, so I’m apparently pretty consistent.

I had no difficulty doing 10 km today. At no point did I start wishing the run was over or shift to WHY IS THIS RUN STILL HAPPENING GOD I WANT TO LAY DOWN. In fact, my stats were perfectly cromulent, with a faster pace than the 7.5K run and an average BPM of 151.

In all, I’m very pleased knowing I can still pull off 10 km.

The other notable part of today’s run was the wind. Burnaby Lake is usually pretty calm. It’s often dead calm, as the water at Still Creek illustrates. But not today. At one point near the start of the run I had to tug my cap down to keep it from getting blown off my head. Even though I only wore two layers again, it was still sufficient, even with the wind.

Overall, I am happy with today’s result. We’ll see if the legs/knees are also happy in a few days.

Stats:

Run 1,011
Average pace: 5:56/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:30 a.m.
Distance: 10 km
Time: 59:30
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 8-9°C
Humidity: 85-81%
Wind: light to strong
BPM: 151
Weight: 169.8 pounds
Total distance to date: 6,880 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (150/225/375)

Music: New Adventures in Hi-Fi, R.E.M.