Run 454 Average pace: 5:23/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Distance: 5:04 km
Time: 27:12
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 33ºC
Wind: light
BPM: 157
Stride: n/a
Weight: 157.7 pounds
Total distance to date: 3630 km
Devices/apps: Apple Watch and iPhone 6
Let me illustrate the temperature for tonight’s run with an actual illustration (technically a screenshot from my Apple Watch of the Weather Underground app):
In the evening I usually head out at 6 p.m. Tonight I headed out about 45 minutes later, hoping it might cool a bit. 33ºC is not exactly cool.
I dutifully headed off on my 5K run, choosing to use the built-in fitness app instead of the Nike Run Club app because it was too hot to fiddle with anything I couldn’t use Siri with. Siri is nice when you’re lazy and she’s feeling cooperative.
I was grateful for most of the run being in the shade. I still sweated copiously.
Though my pace was much slower than Tuesday, it was still a respectable 5:23/km and in an unusual twist, my pace actually picked up in the latter half (the temperature dipped slightly, which may have helped a little).
Considering the heat, I’m fairly pleased with how the run went, especially given how strongly tempted I was to loaf at home instead. Sunday is promising to be much cooler and I ain’t complaining.
Run 453 Average pace: 5:13/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Distance: 5:08 km
Time: 26:30
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 25ºC
Wind: moderate
BPM: 158.3
Stride: n/a
Weight: 158.4 pounds
Total distance to date: 3625 km
Devices/apps: Nike Run Club app, Apple Watch and iPhone 6
The Nike+ running app got a major overhaul yesterday, emerging with a new look and name, the Nike Run Club. Unsurprisingly, the social network aspects of it have been ramped up. More importantly, though, the app finally supports the heart rate monitor of the Apple Watch, as it now access all of the Apple Health info if you let it. And so for the first time since I got the watch, I used the Nike app (let’s call it NRC because it’s shorter and looks so totally cool). Setting my preferences and starting the run was simple and sure enough, there was my BPM in the stats at the end. I will dig more into the app later but I did manage to end the run without knowing how by guessing it would use the same method as Apple’s Fitness app, which proved correct.
It was nice to hear that confident voice telling me how many km I’d completed. My only mistake was starting an open run instead of setting it to a fixed distance, so I didn’t get a notification halfway or a countdown at the end. I’ll figure that out for next time.
Oh, and I can actually see a map of my route again. Yay. Apple is apparently adding maps to their Fitness app in iOS 10 but I believe it will still lack voice notifications. The weak taps the watch uses to signal milestones (kmstones?) is something I almost never notice.
Curiously, while the watch and phone apps both show the BPM, the NRC website doesn’t. Not sure why it doesn’t transfer over but it’s not a big deal, as the notes feature lets you add it in.
And the actual run itself went quite well. It was warm but not uncomfortable, with the start of the cooling of the evening. There was one brief stretch where the sun was directly aiming into my eyes but most of the run was in shade. I started out fast–almost too fast–and forced myself to slow down (my second km was, in fact, significantly slower than the others). Overall, though, I felt fine pushing a little more than usual given the 5K length and managed a spiffy pace of 5:13/km, a veritable lightning bolt after Friday morning’s sweat-soaked slog.
The predicted high on Thursday, my next run day, is 31ºc, which could mean a swift return to sweat-soaked slog. But we shall see.
UPDATE, June 22, 2024: I have changed the title again. Sorry, Nic! I wanted something that would show up more easily in searches. Nic's title was Just scraping by.
UPDATE, July 8, 2022: I have changed the title of this post from the original of Tree root: 1, me: 0. Credit to Nic Demers.
Run 449 Average pace: 5:43/km Location: Burnaby Lake (CW) Distance: 10:09 km Time: 57:52 Weather: Sunny Temp: 27ºC Wind: light to moderate BPM: 158 Stride: n/a Weight: 159.6 pounds Total distance to date: 3590 km Device used: Apple Watch and iPhone 6
I was concerned about two things today: my right leg and the temperature. As forecast, it turned out to be very warm so I was glad to head out in the morning. Even then it was already 27ºC but fortunately it stayed there for the length of the run.
The right leg started out fine, which surprised me. I could eventually feel it but not until I was more than 6 km in and it was much milder than on Wednesday. I’d say it was of almost no consequence.
Expecting to detour along the sun-drenched Freeway trail, I opted to run clockwise, to get the extra-hot part out of the way first. As it turned out, the detour wasn’t in effect today so I was able to run the usual route. The excavator that trundles loads of dirt or gravel from a location off the Freeway trail and to the Southshore trail once again had a near-close encounter with me as it came off a feeder trail directly toward me. I was faster so ducked by but I swear that thing has a GPS lock on me. It is always right there no matter when I show up.
Despite the heat and much sweating I felt decent as I continued on, never straining or struggling. I encountered a curiously still snake that didn’t move as I approached it. Maybe it was zonked out from the sun? I hopped over and continued on. Around the 8K mark I dragged my left foot once, which is an indication I’m getting a bit tired. This is bad on a trail with many bumps and uneven surfaces (thank you park workers for helping make the trail smoother, safer and sexier), so I made an effort to pick up my feet. This turned out to be an omen of sorts.
As I entered the Conifer Loop I checked the distance and saw I was at 9.18 km, right about what I expected. I continued down the trail, heading toward the Spruce Loop and the final stretch. I was about 500m from finishing (roughly 2-3 minutes) when it happened.
The tree root.
The Conifer and Spruce Loops are side trails and while some work has been done on them (a foot bridge on Spruce was recently rebuilt as part of the current construction/resurfacing), the trails are in fairly rough shape, with lots of ruts, some loose gravel and tree roots poking through.
I have tripped up on tree roots before, my foot just catching enough to cause me to stagger before righting myself and continuing on.
That did not happen today.
Instead, my left foot firmly wedged against a root, causing my entire body to twist to the left. This made regaining my balance impossible. I was going to fall. And I did. The whole thing happened in less than a second. I remember hearing myself let out an “Oof!” and having enough time, somehow, to stick out my left hand to absorb the impact and prevent my face from hitting the gravel. My cap and glasses popped off. I skidded to a stop and laid there on my right side, looking over to the cap and glasses.
I picked up the glasses and they seemed undamaged, so I popped them back on, did the same with the cap, stood up, then without even bothering to dust off, I resumed the run because I was not going to let a spill at the 9.5K mark end my run early, especially if, as it seemed, I was just bruised and a bit battered.
I finished with a pace of 5:43/km, almost identical to Wednesday, and with a lower BPM of 158. Considering the heat and the fall, that’s pretty decent. My slowest km was actually at the 5K mark.
When I hit 10K (and those few minutes getting there seemed to stretch on unto forever because I really wanted to check out what exactly I’d done to myself) I walked over the dam to the snazzy new fountain and used the bottle-filling part to wash off the affected parts: my right leg, my right arm and left hand. I walked home at a brisker pace than normal, had a warm bath (avoiding using the usual Epsom salts and thus also avoiding screaming) then finally inspected my body in detail.
The right leg looks like a bear raked it with its claws, a set of nasty-looking scrapes along the upper half of the calf.
The right elbow and part of the forearm are nicely banged up.
The top of the right shoulder (covered by my t-shirt) sustained some abrasions, though it doesn’t look like the skin broke.
There’s a sore spot on the right hip that will bruise but again, no broken skin because it was under my shorts (the shorts came through fine, just a little dusty).
The left hand has five puncture wounds where the gravel hit. Three are small, though one still had some gravel embedded, the fourth was more sizable and the last is big enough to be kind of grossbuckets.
There’s probably more I’m missing. The bruises tomorrow should look great, and sleeping tonight will probably be fun.
I have applied copious amounts of Polysporin to everything.
Overall, I consider myself pretty fortunate. I didn’t sprain or break any bones, I didn’t hit my head, none of my stuff was damaged and on top of all that, I still finished with a decent pace.
I’m planning on my usual run on Monday and admit I’ll be feeling a little paranoid every time I see a tree root peeking above the trail surface. This is the first time in nearly 450 runs spread over the course of nine years that I’ve actually gone down (not counting that stupid dog) so hopefully this was just a rare convergence of circumstances that is unlikely to ever repeat.
I’ll know in three days!
I’ve put three images of “what happens when my body hits gravel at high speed” in the spoiler tag below (EDIT: This apparently broke ages ago, but I’ve now fixed and hidden the images again, for now – July 26, 2024).
My slightly shredded body
I will tell people I fought a shark. Yes, while trail running.Elbowing my way to various scrape and lacerations.Yeah, just kind of gross, isn’t it? You can even see a tiny bit of gravel still stuck in there. Kids, don’t try this at home!
Two and a half years ago I got a Fitbit One. It’s one of only two trackers Fitbit makes that doesn’t strap to your wrist. I keep mine in the watch pocket of my jeans (or just in the regular pocket of my shorts when the summer weather is actually summer-like). This had the effect of making me treat its goals casually. If I made the 10,000 step daily goal it was nice but I never felt inclined to push toward it.
About eight months ago I picked up an Apple Watch. It has an activity app that tracks three things: Move, Exercise and Standing. The stand goal is pretty simple, as the Apple site states: “The Stand ring closes when you’re up for at least one minute in 12 different hours during a day.” This is pretty easy to achieve unless you spend 15 hours of the day sleeping. Move tracks active calories, so simply walking will contribute to this, albeit not super quickly. Exercise is defined as activity that is at least at a pace of brisk walking. This is set to 30 minutes by default and is usually the first goal I hit each day because the 30 minutes don’t have to be consecutive and I pretty much walk briskly all the time, varying only in the degree of briskness.
Now that I’ve explained what the Apple Watch activity app does, I’ll explain the crucial feature that separates it from my Fitbit One: the watch is on my wrist and the activity ring is on the watch face I’ve selected, meaning I can at a glance always see how close I am to the three goals. I see the incomplete rings and they bug me, just as they’re supposed to. The visibility makes all the difference. The activity app will also occasionally make the watch chirp or tap my wrist to remind me to stand or egg me on for one of the other goals. And I obey.
Take today, for example. I normally do about a 5 km walk each day and that, combined with other moving about and generally existing, is usually enough to get me the exercise and move goals. Today, with the full effect of vacation settling in and no run scheduled, I was feeling lazy. I did some walking for about 20 minutes but that’s not enough to fill those rings. I lazed away most of the afternoon. I had dinner. I looked at the time. I looked at those incomplete rings. I got up and went for a brisk walk. I kept walking until my watch happily dinged, confirming I’d reached my move goal. Then I walked a little more before coming home just because.
I also stopped and scratched the ears of a tabby cat that lives a few blocks from my place on the way back. Bonus calories burned, rewarded with purring.
Another insidious feature of the activity app is it tracks consecutive days and rewards you for streaks. My move streak is currently 176 days. As it grows longer I get more anxious about breaking it so I keep walking, I keep moving.
One night I went out in a rainstorm at 10:30 p.m. and circled a four block area twice to reach my move goal. I did this after calculating that walking briskly in the restricted confines of the condo wouldn’t get me to the goal before midnight, thus leading to the horror of the move streak ending. Unacceptable.
And here’s the thing: I am a self-admitted slave to this technology. It works exactly as it is designed to, providing just the right level of incentive to keep me going. But it’s good because it keeps me moving, prevents me from calcifying in a chair for hours at a time and is keeping me generally aware of the importance of remaining active and specifically bugging me when I’m not. I’ve even started adjusting the move goal higher, forcing me to do more to hit it.
Now, if all of this turns out to be a sneaky way to get humanity to lay down the groundwork for SkyNET or the Matrix or something, I’ll be miffed. But I’ll be miffed and in shape.
Run 446 Average pace: 5:41/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Distance: 10:05 km
Time: 57:15
Weather: Sun with occasional high cloud
Temp: 18-20ºC
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 156
Stride: n/a
Weight: 160.7 pounds
Total distance to date: 3559 km
Device used: Apple Watch and iPhone 6
I’ve been sticking to a counter-clockwise pattern at the lake since the trail resurfacing began in order to minimize my having to dodge heavy equipment and awkwardly-placed piles of dirt but today the urge to mix things up overcame my concern over awkwardly-placed piles of dirt, so I went clockwise.
I again set the run officially for 7K, planned to do at least 8K, with 10K as a special bonus if I was up to it.
I started out right at the 0 marker to easily track my distance (I don’t like looking at the fitness app on the watch while running–it’s weird, I know. I’m afraid I’ll see my pace, become discouraged and then slow down even more, or some other weird psychological thing) and headed off under a sunny morning sky. On the Avalon trail I spied a group of people but I couldn’t tell what they were doing. Were they a group of walkers pondering the map? Searching for someone’s lost keys? They started moving as I got closer and turned off onto the Southshore trail. Drat. This meant I would have to deal with them shortly.
Here’s the thing with walking groups. I’ve mentioned before they tend to blob out all over the trail, actively blocking others in both directions. It seems also that the larger the group, the more oblivious they will be to, probably, anything. Other pedestrians, joggers, wild horses, coyotes, low flying planes.
This was one of those groups. Rather than sow confusion by announcing my impending arrival (usually with “On your left!”) I opted to scoot by on the left, where the trail did not dip into a ditch or anything. It was a tight squeeze and one of the walkers helpfully blurted out “Jogger!” as I was passing through, but I got by and continued on my way. I made it past the first boardwalk but then hit the same detour as Wednesday and had to move onto the Freeway trail. This also rendered me starting at the 0 marker pointless, as I now had no way of knowing exactly how far I’d run. Oh well.
When I returned to the Southshore trail a few minutes later it wasn’t quite as treacherous as Wednesday, though I did get close to an excavator that was backing up down another trail. I felt a little bad jogging over the freshly packed gravel two men were still raking and fluffing up, but hey, gotta break it in sometime.
As I passed the 4K mark it seemed plausible that I might be able to do 10K. The right leg was behaving, I’d found a rhythm that found me breathing comfortably (BPM was down to 156) and then there was a second walking group. This one I met head-on and several dramatically leaped out of my way even though there was no need to. I appreciated the sentiment that I was some unstoppable force.
I continued on and by the time I hit 8K I knew that short of sudden bear attack/walking group consisting of large immovable metallic men, I would hit 10K and I did. The walk home also came in at under 9:00/km, so overall it was a good effort.
The second half of the run was slower and the pace was inconsistently consistent. That is, each km was never more than a few seconds off from the one before or after, but the actual times were a veritable roller coaster, up and down, up and down. The overall pace of 5:41/km was only five seconds off my 8K pace and still ahead of some of my earlier 7Ks, so I’m pleased with that. For some reason my opening km was 5:09/km, one of my fastest yet. I wasn’t even trying to run fast. This also includes where I was slowed by the first walking group. Weird.
Anyway, I’m pleased that I hit 10 km at last. Now I have the weekend to recover, with the next run on Monday, when I’m sure winter conditions will return once again.
Run 445 Average pace: 5:36/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Distance: 8.07 km
Time: 45:20
Weather: Overcast
Temp: 15ºC
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 162
Stride: n/a
Weight: 160.5 pounds
Total distance to date: 3549 km
Device used: Apple Watch and iPhone 6
The weather was a replay of yesterday, though without the rain. The conditions were actually nice for running–cool but not cold, overcast but not wet, with just enough of a breeze to be refreshing.
Mindful of having run the last two days, I started out at a deliberate pace and overall held pretty steady after the inevitable 2K adjustment and the 6-7K dip. I finished strong (partial reason below) but just as I came up on 8 km, I started to feel the upper right leg getting stiff/sore, so I called it there. By the end of the walk home the leg was fine, so I’ll aim for 8 and push for 10K again on Friday.
My overall pace was the best for a lake run this year at 5:36/km and I felt pretty good throughout. Surprisingly, I still managed to sweat a fair bit, probably due to the humidity and in spite of the relative chill. I was also surprised by the number of people I encountered on a gray weekday morning. The trail wasn’t packed but there was a relatively steady stream of walkers and joggers. The most annoying was a walking group. These groups that one might imagine would know more than the average person about trail etiquette and unspoken rules, often seem to know the least and tend to spread themselves across the trail in a giant unpassable blob. To their credit, this group was a little more on top of things.
Despite earlier showers, I didn’t have to dodge any puddles, though the trail was still wet in spots. What I did have to dodge were slugs. Lots and lots of slugs. At times I had to exercise great dexterity to avoid sending slugs to their maker, but I think I got through without any slime-trailing casualties.
The detour came right near the end of the run. I decided to call it at 8K and at nearly the same moment came up to a sign directing me onto the Freeway trail, as part of the trail was again closed for resurfacing. The last few minutes prior to my exit via the detour were a tad hairy. I first encountered a park worker raking the sides of a freshly-surfaced section of trail. He had his little gravel-flattening machine parked just past him up the trail (I have no idea what these are called. They’re basically little hand-operated steam rollers except they don’t have a roller, just a flat belt that presses down and flattens the ground or whatever is below it). After this section of the trail came the in-between section that had neither the old surface nor the new surface. Instead it had been gouged out by an excavator and was filled with a number of piles of dirt (base layer) that had not yet been flattened.
The gouging left deep ruts and holes and the dirt piles were giant obstacles. I approached this stretch at full speed and unaware (there is a reason why cyclists are not permitted here and numerous blind corners are one of them). I managed to stay upright through this patch and entered another gouged area that did not yet have dirt piles in it. I passed a side trail and spied an excavator with a huge pile of dirt in its scoop trundling toward the same trail I was on. When I next glanced behind me it was on my trail and seemingly gaining ground. It occupied pretty much the entire width of the trail, so having it catch up would have been awkward or possibly fatal. I fired up the jets to make space between us and that is how the final km of my run was almost as fast as the first one.
Overall, I am pleased with the results, though wary as always of the right leg. I think it’s fine and I’ll have a full day’s rest tomorrow, save for a likely 5K walk, but that shouldn’t affect things. At any rate, this is already a million times better than last summer’s disastrous August.
Run 444 Average pace: 5:17/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Distance: 5.04 km
Time: 26:40
Weather: Light rain showers
Temp: 15ºC
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 151
Stride: n/a
Weight: 160.1 pounds
Total distance to date: 3541 km
Device used: Apple Watch and iPhone 6
Today marks the first official day of my vacation. It rained, of course.
Seeing that the weather was poop and yet wanting to hit my 10,000 step goal on my Fitbit and meet my three activity goals on my watch (exercise, calories and standing), I mulled what to do. Normally on a non-run day I’ll go for a walk for about an hour but the thing with walks in the summer when it’s raining is there’s no good way to dress. First, I don’t carry an umbrella because I hate them and if I could I’d go back in time and uninvent them because they are obnoxious latent eye-pokers. Second, because it’s summer it’s not really cold so you don’t need to bundle up as you normally would in inclement weather. You wear a jacket and go for a brisk walk and you’ll be sweaty and gross (and wet) in no time.
The alternative was to go for a run because I don’t care about getting wet/muddy when running. I rarely do next-day runs and was especially hesitant as I still consider myself in recovery mode, but around 1 p.m. the steady rain had eased up to a steady but light shower and the decision was made. The one nod to the weather was wearing a long sleeve t-shirt. Off I went on a short 5K run along the river trail.
During the entire 5K run I only encountered a single person, a man walking two dogs, one very large and one rather small. Perhaps the small dog was a snack for when the big dog got hungry. Happily, both were leashed and no trouble.
I worked to keep a steady pace, not wanting to push things and the right leg emerged unscathed. Being that it was only 15ºC and the glare of the sun was only affecting jetliners above the clouds, conditions were surprisingly good, despite the ever-present lack of windshield wipers on my glasses. My pace at the end was 5:17/km, which seemed quite decent. I checked my last 5K back on July 20 and my pace then was 5:28/km, so my timing today was not merely decent, it was significantly better. I think the weather played a major role, much as I hate summer rain on principle. My BPM was also lower at 151.
It’s supposed to be sunny again tomorrow, though not too warm at 21ºC. My plan is to head out earlyish in the morning while it’s still cool. I’ll be planning 8K and pushing to 10K if I feel up to it. It will be interesting to see how today’s run may affect tomorrow’s, if at all.
(I met my step, exercise and calorie goals, the stand goal I’ll hit in a few hours since it’s the one goal that is strictly time-based.)
Run 441 Average pace: 5:37/km
Location: Brunette River trail and Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Distance: 7.04 km
Time: 39:34
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 20-22ºC
Wind: light
BPM: 160
Stride: n/a
Weight: 159.3 pounds
Total distance to date: 3521
Device used: Apple Watch and iPhone 6
I changed things up a little today, running another 7K but starting at the river trail and carrying over to the lake. I also started earlier, with the run beginning around 9 a.m. (I had a commitment later that meant I had to take the day off of work, so chose to use the time for a run, though the pull to watch cat videos instead was strong).
The early start meant I successfully dodged the hottest part of the day, with it being warm but still comfortable. I also dramatically improved my pace over the previous 7K, lending credence to the idea that something about the river is either really easy or something about the lake is really hard, though the last km at the lake matched my general performance at the river. I slowed in the middle, as has usually been the case this past month. The overall pace of 5:37/km was an 11 second improvement over Sunday’s.
The right leg felt slightly stiff to start but was fine otherwise.
My entrance into Burnaby Lake Park was memorable in that the sewer (there is a sewer that parallels the course of the Brunette River and at certain key points you can often catch a whiff of it–it smells just like you’d expect a sewer to) was producing a barf-inducing stench not unlike a metric tonne or two of rotten eggs. Keep in mind that at this point I am nearly 2.5 km into the run as I go by and am sucking in air greedily, except now the air is foul beyond description. Once I passed the dam the odor disappeared but it was literally gag-inducing at the time. I’m not even using “literally” in the bizarre new opposite sense where I actually mean “figuratively.” I did actually feel my gag reflex kick in. It doesn’t seem it should ever smell that bad when you’re outside of the actual sewer but I’m no sewerologist.
As expected, getting out in the morning on a weekday meant I encountered far fewer people, only a couple of other joggers and the rest mostly people with their dogs, many off-leash but strangely well-behaved. The trail definitely had a different vibe.
Speaking of the trail, they started work on another section of the Southshore trail. In fact the li’l earth mover was still there, idling at the side of the trail as I scooted past it. A lot of the new gravel had been dumped but not spread out, making for semi-tricky navigation that would have been a lot trickier had I still been running at that point. The section of the trail that splits off Avalon and was closed for a few weeks a couple of years back was again closed, apparently for replacement of the surface and a bridge. The same bridge they replaced a few years ago? That would seem odd, given how new the current bridge is. Either way, I was forced to detour onto the Freeway trail, just like back in 2012. I got impatient with the unexpected extension of my walk back and ended up jogging most of it. This meant my total walk back came in at just over 10 km, which is a pretty decent hike on its own. By the end I was definitely ready for a refreshment and the option of sitting/laying down/napping.
And the rabbit? Along the same stretch of trail as Sunday, although possibly a little farther along, I again encountered a brown rabbit sitting on the trail. Was it the same rabbit? Was I constantly invading his favorite spot to sit and contemplate bunny thoughts? This time the rabbit was more decisive and immediately peeled off into the brush.
I definitely felt I had more energy at the end of today’s run. I’m undecided on what to do for Thursday’s but it is interesting to see more verification that the river trail is apparently a lot easier to run than the lake. With the work on the Southshore trail, I know I will probably stick to running counter-clockwise for the next couple of weeks at least because the idea of running the Freeway trail under the glare of the summer sun does not make my socks roll up and down in delight.
Run 439 Average pace: 5:28/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 27:32
Weather: Sunny, humid
Temp: 26ºC
Wind: light
BPM: 158
Stride: n/a
Weight: 160.5 pounds
Total distance to date: 3507
Device used: Apple Watch and iPhone 6
Back to the river trail and my pace was almost identical to the previous river run, coming in at 5:28/km vs. 5:27/km previously. Conditions were warm and humid, though not as humid as Sunday’s run. My right calf was a little stiff before the run but oddly enough it limbered up and actually felt better after the run.
As I write this later in the evening the effect of a day of walking and the warm run have left me pretty tired. I think it’s a good tired.
There was a fair amount of activity on the trail, with a mix of other runners, cyclists, people walking dogs and people walking themselves. All were well-behaved, even friendly. It was weird but pleasant.
I felt no discomfort during the run, save for it being warm but it stayed tolerable, probably in large part to the sun not shining directly down on me for most of the run. I am pleased to see a bounce back to a better performance and now I’m curious as all get-out how the next run at the lake will be.
Run 437 Average pace: 5:27/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Distance: 5.06 km
Time: 27:24
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 24ºC
Wind: light
BPM: 157
Stride: n/a
Weight: 160.3 pounds
Total distance to date: 3497
Device used: Apple Watch and iPhone 6
I skipped Tuesday’s run for assorted reasons but was convinced to make up for it today after the weather unexpectedly took a turn for the better. That it should take a turn for the better in mid-July is something but there it was. And so I headed off to the river trail under clear skies, a steady temperature of 24ºC and a slightly higher degree of humidity thanks to the previous night’s rain.
As always I tried to keep to a steady pace but somehow ended up with a much better performance compared to Sunday’s run. The first km was as per usual the fastest but while the other four were slower they were very consistent, varying only by a few seconds or not at all. I felt good throughout and both legs felt a bit stiff at times but were otherwise fine. I ended up with a pace of 5:27/km, besting Sunday’s by 11 seconds. Even better, my BPM plunged from 169 to 157. My doctor will be pleased. I am also pleased.
There’s not much to elaborate on–no runaway dogs, mad cyclists or anything, just a nice solid run with minimal fuss. I will probably shift my next run to Friday evening and see how it feels to get out with only a single full day of rest between runs.
Run 436 Average pace: 5:38/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Distance: 5.06 km
Time: 28:32
Weather: Sun and cloud mix
Temp: 21ºC
Wind: nil to light
BPM: 169
Stride: n/a
Weight: 158.8 pounds
Total distance to date: 3492
Device used: Apple Watch and iPhone 6
July has been pretty poop so far in terms of traditional summer weather (sunny, warm) but for running it’s actually been kind of nice.
After last Sunday’s run my right leg felt a bit stiff/sore over the next few days and even my daily walks were slower. I opted to take a week off and so didn’t run again until today. It seems to have had the desired effect as my pace is back to where it was prior to last Sunday and the right leg, although again stiff and a little sore, recovered quickly.
The first km was a decent and measured pace then the next two I fell off quite a bit before finding more pep for the 4th and 5th km. I ended with a pace of 5:38/km, basically equaling my best post-recovery runs. My plan right now is to do a pair of 5Ks over the week then try a 7K next weekend. We shall see how the week progresses.
As alluded to above, conditions were pleasant, 21ºC and little wind. The trail was a bit muddy in spots from an overnight rain and I had to navigate a few puddle remnants but the worst part was the South Shore trail. Park crews starting work on resurfacing it on July 4 and so far the main work has involved running heavy equipment over the trail, leaving huge, ankle-breaking ruts and dips. I nipped around those. Fortunately if I choose to run clockwise or do a full 10K it looks like I can use the same Freeway trail detour I ran in 2012 when they replaced the first boardwalk to entirely bypass the resurfacing work, at the cost of a longer run and a good stretch through an area completely without cover (not a real concern, given the amount of sun we’ve seen so far. A lightning strike is probably a greater risk than sunstroke at this point).
There was some Rocky-something Women’s Run taking place, hence the title of today’s post. It must have been nearing the end because by the time I got back to the dam the person standing there in Official Cheering Capacity had packed up and left. I felt a little guilty passing by so many other joggers but they were there for a good cause and I remember how hard it can be to run when you don’t do it regularly. In fact, on today’s run my mind shifted from the right knee area feeling stiff to more “hey, a week off does seem to affect your cardio” as the last few km, despite being faster, were also more effort.
In all, decent progress and encouraging to see no lingering ill effects in the aftermath of last week’s slowdown.
Run 434 Average pace: 5:37/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Distance: 5.16 km
Time: 28:15
Weather: Overcast
Temp: 17-19ºC
Wind: light
BPM: 166
Stride: n/a
Weight: 160.1 pounds
Total distance to date: 3482
Device used: Apple Watch and iPhone 6
Also unofficial walk-your-dog-unleashed day based on the number of people I saw with their dogs off-leash (nearly every dog I saw).
Today was my second run after the six weeks off and the weather was near-perfect, though a bit poopy if you were just looking to go outside to celebrate Canada Day. The temperature stayed in the high teens and the sky was cloudy, making it a lot more comfortable than last Sunday’s run in the sun with unseasonably high temperatures.
I again worked to maintain a steady but not fast pace and the conditions allowed me to do so more easily today. I ended with a pace of 5:37/km, besting Sunday’s pace by 14 seconds. My BPM were also down to 166 from 169–still higher than what I’d expect when I’m conditioned but about right for this early in my renewed running.
My big concern was The Leg. The calf and muscles behind the knee (not the knee itself) of the right leg began to feel a bit sore midway through the run but the soreness peaked early, never getting worse nor getting bad enough to affect my pace. Even better, the soreness disappeared on the nine km walk back home, which was done at a fairly brisk clip of 8:42/km. I am pleased by this result, though I’d have preferred no soreness at all. I’m guessing I’d have needed to sit out for two to four months to guarantee that.
Still, I am happy with the progress made. I am tentatively planning on a third run on Sunday so we’ll see if things stay the same or improve. If they get worse instead I will be sad and make a sad face.
