Run 592: Return to Mars, or maybe Venus

Run 592
Average pace: 5:49/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 12:12 pm
Distance: 5:03 km
Time: 29:22
Weather: Smoke haze
Temp: 20-21ºC
Humidity: 60%
Wind: light
BPM: 162
Weight: 161 pounds
Total distance to date: 4540 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone 8

The wind shifted again and the smoke haze was back, again giving the light a weird alien cast, sort of a sunset yellow, but at noon.

On the plus side the temperature was comfy at 20ºC. On the negative, the humidity made it feel a lot warmer and I sweated copiously. My BPM was also up a bit as a result, though 162 is not bad.

I all but ignored the knees for most of the run, only becoming peripherally aware of them at the end. More noticeable was a tinge in my right hip, something I haven’t felt for awhile. It persisted for a few km, but then faded away. There were no other issues to note, other than the aforementioned sweating.

The oddest part of the run, other than seeing no cyclists–I’m kidding, there were a pair of cyclists–was how my pace went in reverse, as I got faster on each km, as if I was literally warming up. Which I was. My starting km was 5:55/km, as was my second, but I was down to 5:44/km by the last km. Still not lightning fast, but given the conditions and virtual lack of breeze, still pretty decent, especially given how many runs it took me to finally get back under 6:00/km.

Overall, then, a perfectly cromulent run and a further extension of my regular run routine. I may yet try a full 10K run around the lake before summer is officially over.

Run 533: Return of the smoke haze

Run 533
Average pace: 5:16/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Start: 6:51 pm
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 26:36
Weather: Smoke haze
Temp: 22ºC
Humidity: 72%
Wind: light
BPM: 149
Weight: 156.6 pounds
Total distance to date: 4149 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone

It turned out the forecast was sort of right for today’s run. It was 22ºC and cloudy–but most of the cloud was actually the return of the smoke haze. Boo. It seems a little weaker this time, at least, so the air isn’t quite as stinky.

It was humid as all get-out, though, so no dry mouth but much wet everything else as I sweated like a well-oiled sweating machine.

I opted for a basic 5K tonight as I headed out later than planned and intended to find a comfortable pace. I somehow managed to fall into a cadence that felt nearly perfect, and felt very light on my feet as a result. I didn’t really push at all until the final km.

As a result, my pace was 5:16/km, only one second off my best for the year, and my BPM was a low 149. For much of the run I was even able to breathe through my nose. This doesn’t sound impressive to a non-runner, perhaps (“Duh, I breathe through my nose all the time!”) but try jogging hard for a few km with your mouth closed and see what happens.

No issues at all on the run and only a few people opted to hit the trail on this rather dreary-looking evening. The shadows are starting to get a little more ominous with the sun setting earlier.

Overall, a spiffy and pleasing effort, despite the grossbuckets conditions.

The sky is blue, hooray!

Today the sky was blue. This may seem like no big thing in the middle of August, even in Vancouver where the weather is known to be a bit on the soggy side.

What makes today’s blue sky so amazing and wonderful is that it’s the first time in about two weeks that the sky has been anything but a dull, yellow-tinged gray, thanks to the interminable smoke haze from forest fires a-far. The combination of a very strong high pressure ridge and smoke finally broke today with some southwesterly (re: normal) marine wind moving in. The haze isn’t 100% gone yet but it’s very minimal–the North Shore mountains are visible again. It’s like coming out of The Mist to discover the world is still there, which also happens to be an ending that is a thousand times better than the movie version.

With the promise of overnight showers, the rest of that stupid fine particulate matter should hopefully settle to the ground, which means the run on Monday should be much more pleasant–even if it’s raining!

Run 519: Smoke, construction, heat, humidity and poop

Run 519
Average pace: 5:41/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 10:14 am
Distance: 10.02 km
Time: 57:18
Weather: Smoke haze, sun
Temp: 23-25ºC
Humidity: 58%
Wind: light
BPM: 152
Weight: 159.0 pounds
Total distance to date: 4033 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone

The run conditions were almost identical to Monday’s yet I definitely felt I had more spring in my step for the first km, as evidenced by my 5:11/km pace. That ended quickly, as further evidenced by the second km pace being 5:42/km. The last three km felt much like a slog and while my eyes didn’t burn quite the same as they did two days ago, by the time I approached the 9K mark I was ready for the run to be over.

Let me back up and set up another complication that made the desire to stop running even stronger.

Before leaving I went to the bathroom. I mean, I physically went into the bathroom, but nothing happened. My bowels remained silent and unmoved. Fine. I’d have one more chance when I got to the lake. I got to the lake and contemplated the Johnny Potty or whatever it’s called. I looked at the name but all I can recall now is the word Johnny. I like to think it is really called Johnny Potty and is named after someone who is legally known as Johnny Potty.

This time the bowel stirred, slightly. It may have been the heat. The temperature on the walk to the lake shot up from 19ºC to 23ºC and then up to 25ºC during the run. But again, no action in the ol’ “gotta go” department so I headed off and again, it was fine.

As I passed the 9K mark (meaning I had a little over five minutes to go) it suddenly became very much not fine. I had to go like I had never gone before. The urge was more than that, it was a command, a command delivered with great authority, a command you could not ignore. But I had to finish the run. Running, as I mentioned before on this blog, is about the worst thing you can do if you want to quiet a nascent bowel movement. Because you are agitating all your innards, see?

In the end (ho ho) I made it but it was an extremely close thing. Also, the Johnny Potty was a literal sweatbox. But at least there was toilet paper and hand sanitizer. The day was so humid the sanitizer would not dry on my hands until I had nearly exited the park.

Oh, and I did a 10K run, too.

After the speedy start I settled into a pace close to my overall average of 5:41/km for most of the run and it wasn’t too bad. I still sweated buckets and never exactly tore up the trail, but it was no worse than other recent runs.

Speaking of torn-up trails, today was the first weekday run that wasn’t also a holiday so I figured the crews would be out resurfacing the trail and they were. The shovel and little tractor/hopper that was getting filled with gravel were in the parking lot, so I knew I wouldn’t encounter them on the trail. I did come across a putt-putt car that took up most of the width of the trail not far into the South Shore segment. Ahead of it a guy was using one of those vibrating devices that has a belt that magically flattens and compresses the fresh gravel. I had to actually stop running to navigate around. Before I encountered him I came across several hundred meters of fresh gravel piled high along the middle of the trail. This stuff is basically impossible to run on, so you stick to the edges, but the edges are mushy and uneven so the whole thing is a bit of a trial. I nearly twisted a foot but I got through without face-planting.

The road construction crew at the rowing pavilion parking lot were out but no heavy equipment was in operation so I skittered across without having to worry about being crushed under a steamroller. One of the road workers even nodded to me as I ran by. He was kind of cute. He was probably nodding as if to say, “You can do it, just a little farther before you poop your shorts!”

The athletic fields were again covered in geese, all of them standing around or pecking at the grass. All except one, which was sitting there, in defiance of the others. When I looked straight at this one goose it immediately stood and started pecking the ground, as if I had caught it slacking off. “That’s right, poopmonster, get busy!” I pretended to shout at it.

Near the 3K signpost I passed a group of about six police and at least one park worker, all of them standing in a circle and discussing something. It seemed like a peculiar place for a discussion so there must have been shenanigans at play. This was possibly corroborated when I emerged from the Spruce Loop and noticed a sawhorse across the main trail with a “Trail Closed – Detour” sign on it.

I still don’t know what actually happened. But something!

It was not long after this that The Bowel Incident occurred. The bowel km was also the slowest, for reasons I hope are obvious.

When I got home all sweaty and stinky I wanted nothing more than to have a nice shower or a bath with invigorating Epsom salts. But thanks to a power outage last night we had no hot water. I ended up soaking in the hot tub at the Canada Games Pool with Jeff and having a shower there, which turned out to be perfectly decent. I always feel a little naughty dunking the Apple Watch into the water but the reality is it probably needed a good cleaning.

Overall I’m pleased that I turned in a decent pace given the ongoing terrible conditions (current forecast says the weather will change by the weekend) and basically everything else about the run other than the pace also being terrible.

Run 518: The smoke haze BC Day run

Run 518
Average pace: 5:51/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:59 am
Distance: 10.03 km
Time: 58:49
Weather: Smoke haze, sun
Temp: 23-25ºC
Humidity: 57%
Wind: light
BPM: 148
Weight: 159.1 pounds
Total distance to date: 4023 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone

Conditions were very similar to Saturday’s run, although by running in the morning the temperature was a wee bit cooler. This was enough to shave four seconds off my average pace in comparison, so I came in at 5:51/km, which is still very pokey.

The one anomaly was my BPM, which was an unusually low 148. I have no real explanation for this. It certainly didn’t feel like I was taking it easy, what with the thick smoky soup currently masquerading as the atmosphere making every step feel like it was taken on a gas giant.

It also smelled of gas, especially near the dam.

I sweated buckets and my eyes again were a little irritated by the end but once more I managed to get through the full 10K. It didn’t seem quite as horrible as Saturday, though the sun appeared to shine a little brighter, apparently due to a very mild influx of marine wind that isn’t enough to change the overall weather pattern.

Also, today is BC Day–a stat holiday–and unlike Saturday, there were a lot of people out. I passed by about eight other joggers at least and lots of pedestrians. People don’t mind fine particulate matter if it occurs on a paid day off, it seems.

Other than the terrible conditions, the run went decently. My left knee had a few moments where it threatened to bother me, but the moments passed and it was fine. The right heel was a bit sore starting out but as the run progressed it felt better and was not an issue.

It looks like the resurfacing gnomes were busy as work on the South Shore trail has been extended closer to the first boardwalk, which I’m assuming will be the end point. They also extended some of the work on the Avalon trail, which is being kept with a similar, if slightly coarser, surface material.

Speaking of the Avalon trail, I was coming down it, just about finished my run, and along came a woman slowly pedaling her bike. I told her bikes were not allowed on the trail (she was only a dozen meters or so past one of the many signs saying this). She acknowledged that I had said words to her, some possible form of communication, then kept riding. I hope she got knocked into a creek by an off-leash dog.

On Wednesday it looks like conditions will be much the same (boo) but with the bonus if having construction equipment coming and going around the rowing pavilion parking lot (they’ve torn up the road leading to it and will be resurfacing it soon), as well as likely having workers on the trail spreading huge piles of gravel that will be difficult to navigate.

But at least it won’t be cold.

Run 517: The fine particulate matter 10K

Run 517
Average pace: 5:55/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW), including Piper Mill trail and Spruce Loop
Start: 1:19 pm
Distance: 10.02 km
Time: 59:28
Weather: Smoke haze, sun
Temp: 25ºC
Humidity: 53%
Wind: light
BPM: 153
Weight: 158.7 pounds
Total distance to date: 4013 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone

The good news is the work to replace the foot bridge on the Cottonwood trail took less time than the signs indicated (as I suspected it would–they weren’t exactly replacing the Golden Gate here), so while I had planned on the possibility of running to Still Creek then turning and running back to complete 10K, I was able to keep going and behold the splendor of the new foot bridge, which looks remarkably like the old one.

Meanwhile, the bridge at Deer Lake Brook, unless my eyes are deceiving me, appears to be sagging very slightly in the middle. I’m wondering if the footings are starting to sink. I blame climate change.

Speaking of climate change, the worst part of the run was the weather. 25ºC is not hot, it’s just warm but not uncomfortably so. However, we are still in the middle of what would be a heat wave that has ironically seen lower-than-expected temperatures because the smoke haze from forest fires is so thick now that the sun can barely get through it. It’s also very humid and the fine particulate matter is not fine at all, it’s becoming noticeable enough that my eyes felt very slightly irritated by the end of the run.

Here’s the thing, though. I started out slow–5:44 for the first km (and that is very slow) and didn’t improve. By the last few km I was plodding along at a pace of over 6:00/km. This is not fun.

I saw very few people out on what would have otherwise been a spectacular Saturday afternoon. I didn’t see anyone else running because everyone else was smarter than me.

But I got through it. In a way the re-opening of the Cottonwood trail ruined my plan. As the run wore on I thought about getting to what would have been the barricade at Still Creek, turning around and completing 6K (which would not have meant much more running at that point) and then walking the rest of the way. When I saw the way was clear to complete a full loop I kept going because I figured I was already past the halfway-point, anyway.

The 10-day forecast doesn’t show any break in the sunny weather so the smoke haze is going to persist until a) the high pressure ridge finally breaks or b) all the forest fires magically go out.

I did make things worse by not going out in the morning when it would have at least been cooler. I’ll try to do that on Monday when I switch to my vacation running schedule of M-W-F.

In the end this was one of those “glad it’s over” runs. Here’s to eventual smoke haze-free jogging!

Stop smoking

Specifically, I’d like the air to stop smoking. Yesterday was weird with an orange haze and the air having a thick, soupy quality thanks to that good old fine particulate matter blowing in from forest fires in the Interior.

Today the haze descended to ground level so it not only blotted out the blue sky, it created a thin, fog-like layer everywhere you looked. And unlike yesterday the smell of the smoke has become tangible. It’s like being on the periphery of a magic campfire where no matter where you move, the campfire is always the same distance away.

Anyway, it’s gross and unlikely to change soon due to a very strong ridge of high pressure. It’s also bad because, well, lots of forest on fire.

But there is no mistaking it’s definitely summer.