pleasant walks

No run: The Walk

I was going to run tonight but then my leg exploded.

This is a slight exaggeration.

On Sunday’s run the muscle that went kablooey in my upper right leg last August started to ache a bit. Concerning, but yesterday (Monday) it felt a lot better so I was no longer as concerned and I planned to run on my normal schedule tonight.

Very early this morning the same muscle felt a little more sore instead of a little less sore, as expected. At first I shrugged it off as sleeping in a weird position and stretching it or something. The run was still on.

Just before getting up I stretched my legs, as one often does before rising. This resulted in a sensation in this upper right leg muscle that can be compared to (pick one or pick all):

  • 500 matches inside the muscle all being lit simultaneously
  • Satan suddenly possessing the muscle and attempting the Linda Blair head spin with it
  • a machine specifically designed to create pain suddenly teleporting into the muscle and activating

You get the idea.

I’m not sure how the simple act of stretching caused such an explosive burst of pain, but it did. I took two Alleve and tried resting (I passed on work since the incredible pain would probably prove distracting) but there was no position that went from “yes, this hurts” to “no, this doesn’t hurt” or even “yes, this still hurts but is tolerable.” So I got up and padded around, sat, had tea, got up, sat down again and so on. A few hours later the Alleve finally had some effect or the muscle relaxed sufficiently to become an ache.

It remains a dull ache tonight.

I decided a run would be unwise, plus it looked like rain, so I probably saved both my leg and my nipples*.

However, I felt a walk would be okay so I headed out and walked the river trail, touching the gate at the far end before returning. The weather was a light drizzle for about the first two-thirds. It changed to, well, steady rain for the last third, meaning I got drenched.

Still, it was nice to get out.

The Apple Watch proved flaky again, as it has before in inclement weather (or when I’m wearing a jacket, I’m not entirely sure what the trigger is). It tracked my run up to 7:20 p.m. then stopped on its own. I got inside at 7:24 p.m. so it didn’t miss much, but still, the only way to stop a fitness activity is to:

a) swipe through several screens until you get to the one where you tap the End button
b) force touch (press hard) on the activity screen until you get the same screen with the End button

Notice both of these require you to tap a specific, small button on a specific screen. There is, to my knowledge, no other way to make the app stop. And yet it did.

There’s a way to lock the screen. The next time I’m out and the weather turns bad I may try it to see if it prevents this from happening. I’d prefer it to just not happen, though. I don’t mind AI in the watch but I’d rather it not be rogue AI.

 

* don’t ask

About that March haiku where snow was forbidden…

It is snowing as I type this. I am disappointed my haiku did not have the power to control the weather.

As I have become tremendously soft and flabby over the winter I decided today to go for a walk rather than watch my expanded belly bounce as I attempted to jog. But it would be a long and brisk exercise-style walk, designed to improve my stamina and burn a calorie or two in preparation for the resumption of The Runs (not to be confused with diarrhea).

I headed out on my usual run route and shortly after stepping outside the first tentative flakes began to fell, mocking my decision to experience the outdoors. It was still well above freezing and the snow was curiously hard and bouncy, resembling small white rocks. I’m sure there’s a technical term for this. Rock snow. Or maybe it was just hail.

It relented and for awhile I forgot about it and focused on the walk around the lake. When I arrived at Caribou Dam I discovered a large section of the path, stretching from the dam to Silver Creek, had been cordoned off. It turned out the Beaver Rampage of 2014 had resulted in a copious amount of coal spilling and collecting in Silver Creek and the part of Burnaby Lake it feeds into. CN is tasked with cleaning it up before it kills all the fish, birds and turtles. They probably don’t mind if it kills the beavers.

Here is one of the nice signs explaining how the turtles will not be killed but a trout or two may choke on a lump of coal further downstream:

Coal Lake, March 1 2014

The only other thing of note on the trail were a few lingering patches of snow that were mushy or easy to avoid. There were plenty of joggers, some walkers and, of course, plenty of people with off-leash dogs because dogs must be free. Free to chase, jump, knock down, bite and maul.

I finished the 17 km or so at my usual pace of 6+ km/hr and unlike previous loner walks I escaped with nary a blister on my feet. Woot.

Walk this way (around Burnaby Lake)

I did one more Big Walk® around Burnaby Lake before my first tentative steps back into running next weekend.

The weather was sunny after several days of monsoon-like weather thanks to the Pineapple Express. I took advantage and found it to be mild, with little wind and most of the big puddles already having dried up along the trail. Even the cyclists and dogs off-leash didn’t bug me. It was a nice hint that spring is on the way after The Rains.

My favorite “rules are not for me!” moment came when crossing north on Roberts Street, near the rowing pavilion. As you approach the resumption of the trail on the other side of the road there is an especially giant sign that states DOGS MUST BE LEASHED AT ALL TIMES. I watched a woman stop and remove the leash from her dog in front of this sign. I don’t know if she was going for bonus irony points or what. At least the dog was well-behaved.

I used the iPod pedometer to track my pace and came in with the following stats:

2:23:53 duration
17.6 km distance
898 calories burned
18,746 steps taken

I was walking fast enough that any faster would have been a light jog. Things seem to have held together nicely both during and after the walk. Next weekend I’m heading to the resplendent gold and blue Mercer Stadium Track to do a simple calibration run fort the new iPod. It will probably be 2-4 laps or 800-1600 meters, enough to get the calibration and see if my Achilles tendon will weep in protest or behave itself. From there I will be doing a few short runs per week, starting with some 2Ks, moving up to 5Ks and finally back to my usual 10-11.5K runs. I don’t have a set schedule in mind, I’ll just ramp things up based on my stamina and pain/discomfort after each run. If all goes well I’m going to aim to beat last year’s mark by running 1,000K. Since I’ve already missed two months, I’l need to hit at least 100K each month going forward. If I stay healthy I can do it. If not, I can always lie lie lie.