sore legs

Run 460
Average pace: 5:36/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Distance: 10:04 km
Time: 56:26
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 18ºC
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 161
Stride: n/a
Weight: 156.5 pounds
Total distance to date: 3680 km
Devices/apps: Apple Watch and iPhone 6

I slept in about an hour later than intended this morning and then poked about before finally getting out to run. As a result, only the first ten minutes of my run was in the morning and the rest in the afternoon. The temperature didn’t vary from 18ºC, though, and while it didn’t feel hot, it certainly felt warmer than the last few evening runs. I produced sweat!

I was initially planning to run clockwise but some cones and small signs indicated that the Running Room was having an event and the idea of running counter to potentially dozens of potentially inexperienced runners, along with the usual Sunday crowd, convinced me to go counter-clockwise instead. Given that I didn’t start until noon, I was fairly certain the event would be in clean-up mode but you never know, so off I went.

The run was a definite mixed bag. Time-wise it was better than many 10Ks, though a bit slower than some at 5:36/km. My left foot started to hurt at the halfway point but after a few km it settled into a tolerable kind of quasi-soreness. Around the same time the right leg began to feel sore and for a space of ten minutes or so the balanced each other out with competing mild agonies. The right leg also settled down and by the end of the run I wasn’t feeling uncomfortable.

I skipped the side trails, opting to assiduously follow the distance markers. As I passed the 10 km sing my watch reported 9.96 km. Impressive.

A few complications from people produced near-incidents and I chalk this up to my later start, as later usually means more people. On two occasions people remained utterly oblivious to my presence and I nearly had to abandon the trail to get by. On the second occasion I actually verbally warned a couple ahead of me with “On your left!” to which there was no reaction. Nearly upon them, I added, “Coming through!” and it was only as I literally brushed by that the woman on the left suddenly realized I was there. How is this even possible? I do not know. I am not a sneaky runner.

I also nearly had a dog incident. I passed another group of oblivious people and they had a dog off-leash. Fine, I passed them, let them enjoy their bylaw violating ways. But then the dog rushed up on my left and then cut in front of me–the exact same maneuver that led to me falling flat at China Creek Park lo those years ago. The only thing that prevented a repeat this time is the dog moved farther ahead of me before cutting over, giving me time to actually react. I made a “Really?” gesture with my hands then flashed a dirty look back at the group of people. I wanted to say something but wanted to just keep running more. I then nearly tripped going up the steps on the bridge at Deer Lake Brook, properly distracted by the dog. At this point I began to worry if I was going to get through the last three km upright.

But I did.

Next time I am not sleeping in.

Run 457
Average pace: 5:31/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Distance: 10:05 km
Time: 55:32
Weather: Clear
Temp: 17ºC
Wind: light
BPM: 158
Stride: n/a
Weight: 157.4 pounds
Total distance to date: 3655 km
Devices/apps: Apple Watch and iPhone 6

With more time than originally expected, I did a 10K to round out the week of running, with the sky cloudy and the temperature 17ºC. The wind was light but felt a little brisk. Winter is clearly on the way as of September 1st.

For some reason my right leg was feeling a bit stiff on the walk to the lake, which struck me as odd as it felt fine yesterday and I didn’t run or even do a walk yesterday, other than trekking around on the job. I chose to hold back a bit for the run as a result, and while the soreness persisted into the run, it settled down and I don’t feel it made any real impact. I didn’t feel uncomfortable, at any rate.

The trail was pretty quiet but two people were blatantly violating the unspoken “walk on the right” rule. I got out of the way for one, reluctantly, while the other opted to pass on my right, which was pretty much where the trail did not exist. He managed to stay upright.

Despite yesterday’s rain, the trail was dry and puddle-free, apart from some water on top of the dam (and I didn’t run on the dam). It did rain after the run, so I am happy to have dodged that.

When running clockwise there is one notable danger point and that’s where Roberts Road leads into the parking lot for the Burnaby Lake Rowing Pavilion. When running counter-clockwise you emerge from the trail and cross the street with a clear view in both directions. When approaching from the other side you have a giant wall of vegetation creating a blind spot on your left–the side where traffic will come in from. It looks like this, courtesy of Google Maps street view:

Generally this is not a problem as there is very little traffic and on a weekday, who would be coming out to the rowing pavilion, anyway? Someone in a small blue car with no brakes, apparently. As always, when I approach from the dangerous side, I swing a bit wide so I can see any vehicles ASAP and if it looks clear, I run across to the safety of the trail on the other side (it was shortly past that point that I ran into the bobcat/lynx, so safety is a relative thing). The blue car emerged at nearly the same moment and I quickly pulled in close to the edge as it sped by. It was obvious the driver was not expecting pedestrians. He or she was a dummy, not to mention reckless. But I got by and finished the run.

The pace was only slightly off my previous 10K and I’m happy with that. Sunday’s forecast currently looks perfectly pleasant, so here’s hoping it remains such. Almost every other days is a variation of “rain because summer is over, suckers.”

Run 448
Average pace: 5:42/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Distance: 10:05 km
Time: 57:25
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 19-20ºC
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 164
Stride: n/a
Weight: 159 pounds
Total distance to date: 3580 km
Device used: Apple Watch and iPhone 6

Today’s run started out curiously slowly, with a pace of 5:41/km during the first km. I know I was trying to establish a deliberate pace but maybe I was more effective than intended. In fact, four of the other km (including the 8th) I was actually faster than that first km, which pretty much never happens. A weird start.

I ran counter-clockwise today to change things up and the cloudy skies meant cooler conditions in the morning, though it was again humid and sweating profusely was not a problem. About halfway through the groin (site of my recurring injury in my upper right leg, what I sometimes refer to as the hip, though my doctor tells me it ain’t no hip) started to feel stiff. I contemplated way to do, since it started so early, ultimately opting to continue through to the full 10 km. It did start to feel better toward the end and this is reflected in my pace picking up in the last few km. I can still sort of feel it now, but it no longer hurts.

It is a point of concern, but we’ll see how a day of rest helps before Friday’s run.

The trail was a bit damp from yesterday’s misty rain but was otherwise in good shape, with no puddle-jumping needed. The trail construction was more minimal, basically just a short stretch of unraked/smoothed gravel. For some reason, regardless of when I run, the one little excavator always seems to be on the same section of trail as I am when I get to area and once again it loomed large–and in reverse–forcing me to make eye contact before skirting around it. This was fine and the crew working on the trail have always been mindful and considerate of the people like me plowing through their work (there is still one section off-limits where a bridge is being replaced). But there were others out, specifically another walking group. These groups seem to have the collective brain capacity of a small rock, completely oblivious to everything and anything around them. I am convinced there could be a forest fire raging around them and they would not notice until they themselves were ablaze.

This is to say that as I entered the uneven gravel area, which is very soft and hard to keep traction on, I always spied a walking group immediately ahead of me. They remained unaware of my presence even as I moved through them, carefully navigating to the left, trying to not stumble off the mushy path. At one point a fellow walker did call out, “Runner, runner!” to absolutely no effect. These people react like slugs except slugs are tiny and easy to avoid.

The trail in general was a little busier than expected, though most of the others out were other joggers and a few walking their dogs.

I completed the run and had a pokey walk home that was identical to Monday’s, also a little weird. My overall pace was 5:42/km, nearly identical to last Friday’s 10K (my first as part of post-recovery), so that was a plus, at least.  We’ll see how that stacks up to this Friday.

Run 447
Average pace: 5:47/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Distance: 10:07 km
Time: 58:20
Weather: Sun and cloud
Temp: 21ºC
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 160
Stride: n/a
Weight: 159.2 pounds
Total distance to date: 3570 km
Device used: Apple Watch and iPhone 6

I slept in so started out later than intended today, but still started in the morning (and ended in the afternoon). The weather was evenly split, with the first half of the run sunny and the second half overcast. The temperature never budged from 21ºC, so conditions were pretty comfortable.

I started out slower and basically just stayed slower throughout, with little variation, though I was faster in the first half of the run, perhaps powered by the sun’s energy, just like Superman. Cardio-wise I felt like it was more effort in the first half, likely just feeling the sun, but it was tolerable and I never felt like I was close to ending the run early or anything.

The upper right leg got stiff around the 6K mark but I pressed on and within a few km it was fine and remained fine after. But at the 8K mark my left calf suddenly decided to stiffen up. It was odd and I kept going and it, too, went away on its own. My legs are strange.

Other than that, the run went decently enough. I was expecting having the weekend off would lead to a slower pace and 5:47/km isn’t too terrible, being only six seconds off Friday. I finished the 10 km and surprised myself with a weirdly slow walk back home. I have been hitting under 9:00/km on the walks to and from the lake but today the walk back came in at 9:25/km. I’m actually a bit baffled as I didn’t think I was moving that slow (slow being a relative term).

The trail construction was more minimal today, though I did have to once again duck out of the way of a vehicle on the path. Other than that it was relatively quiet and that was nice.

Run 443
Average pace: 5:45/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Distance: 8.05 km
Time: 46:21
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 21-23ºC
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 155
Stride: n/a
Weight: 159.6 pounds
Total distance to date: 3536 km
Device used: Apple Watch and iPhone 6

Last year I famously set out on the first Monday of my vacation on a 10K run. You can read about it here. Spoiler: it ended in horrible pain and I didn’t run again until January of this year.

Today’s run was started with some trepidation, not just because of the anniversary of that Titanic-like run, but also because when I woke up on Friday morning that same hip/hamstring/whatever it is was aching again. I had felt fine after Tuesday’s run so it again seemed to be associated with something that happened in the night as I slept.

Friday’s walk at lunch was slower than normal because of this and when I ran my time again retreated back to my previous slower pace (though it was also quite warm). By Sunday the achiness had mostly cleared up but I was not to be lulled into a false sense of security!

The walk to the lake this morning went briskly and with no achiness, but the moment I started actually running it hit. The good news is the run did not end like last year’s. The ache modified and by the end of the run had mostly dissipated. The walk home was fine. I don’t think I am in for a repeat of last year but man, I’d love to just run and not have to worry about this stuff.

I may have made matters slightly worse by forgetting to stretch before the run. Oops.

Onto the run itself. I officially set out to do a 7K run, feeling I was still not up to a full 10K yet, with the idea that if I felt good I would run farther. The whole hip thing made me think I’d stop at 7K but I was actually feeling decent by the time I’d covered 7 km, so I pushed on to do 8K and stopped there. Surprisingly, my pace was slightly better than Friday, coming in at 5:45/km. I started to feel a little slothful around 6K but kept pushing and got a nice second wind. I stopped at 8K simply because I didn’t want to push it. I’ll probably set 8K as a goal for Wednesday and see if I can make 10.

Much as it was last year on BC Day, the trail was fairly crowded, with a particularly large number of joggers, including one who was aiming for a head-on collision with me because he wasn’t following the stay-on-the-right rule. Perhaps surprisingly, nearly every runner at the lake does this. The naughty left-side runner darted out of the way in time. And again, no cyclists. Yay!

I am not really sure what to expect on Wednesday. I just hope I can emerge intact, however far I run.

Run 435
Average pace: 5:44/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Distance: 5.08 km
Time: 29:10
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 23-24ºC
Wind: moderate to strong
BPM: 162
Stride: n/a
Weight: 160.1 pounds
Total distance to date: 3487
Device used: Apple Watch and iPhone 6

Today was the first post-recovery run with a normal downtime of one day between runs and the results were about what I expected. The muscles in the right leg were a little stiffer, I was a bit slower but recovered quickly again. It was also sunny and much warmer than on Friday, though a strong breeze offset that somewhat.

My BPM was also down again, to 162, another promising sign.

After I finished the run I was heading up the final hill to the dam and a guy who had run past me came down from the fountain there and warned me and another nearby guy that there was a bear. He didn’t specify where, precisely, but it seemed to be somewhere across the dam, as the runner was heading in the opposite direction. The other guy said he’d lived in the area for thirty years and the idea of bears would have been inconceivable back in the day. Since crossing the dam was required for me to get home without a long detour, I and the other guy slowly made our way across the dam. I pointed out someone approaching from the right and then more people from the left. It seemed unlikely that these people would be strolling so casually in the obvious presence of a bear.

“The bear would eat the kid,” the other guy said, gesturing to the family approaching from the left, as if to assure me. I continued on, keeping alert but remaining bear-free for the rest of my walk home. I hope to remain bear-free as if I’m on an actual run and encounter a bear I will already be engaged in about the worst possible activity for bear encounters. “But I’m just jogging!” is unlikely to be persuasive.

Meanwhile, I am planning on continuing my regular running schedule, so will see how Tuesday goes. According to the forecast I will not have to worry about it being Africa hot. 😛

Run 432
Average pace: 5:41/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Distance: 10.01 km
Time: 56:57
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 15ºC
Wind: light
BPM: 160
Stride: n/a
Weight: 162.9 pounds
Total distance to date: 3472
Device used: Apple Watch and iPhone 6

The FIRE DANGER signs are already up on the Brunette River trail and at Burnaby Lake, the earliest I’ve ever seen them, another sign (or two) that the climate is changing. It feels like summer has shifted forward by about a month.

Ironically, it was cloudy and cool today and we may get a shower or two soon, so the signs may come back down pretty quickly. In the meantime, the cooler weather made for pleasant running conditions.

As has been the case of late, I headed out with great trepidation, concerned about The Leg. I took a pre-emptive Advil before leaving and the walk to the lake was of no great consequence. My plan was still the same as weeks past, to maintain a steady but not speedy pace, to be as gentle as one can be when spending 50+ minutes pounding your feet on a gravel and dirt trail.

The first few km were fine and I was cautiously optimistic, but I’ve seen this happen before, only to get hit by the persistent aching shortly after.

Which is what happened. I adjusted my pace down and mulled ending the run at 5K. Instead I pushed on and in the end I don’t feel any worse for having done so. The soreness extended from the hip through the knee (though the knee itself was fine) and into the calves. The ankle, which I had previously feared may be injured, was fine, to my great relief.

The soreness is different than pain. Pain is not just unpleasant to run with, it debilitates. It makes you stop if you’re smart (I’m mostly smart) because it’s your body telling you something is broken and you need to lay off so the healing can begin. This refers to actual physical healing, not the kind politicians talk about. Persistently sore muscles simply make the run more unpleasant and tiring.

In the end I finished with a pace of 5:41/km, my second best pace for a 10K this year. This was not my intention, though at one point near the end I picked up the pace because it felt like doing so was shifting my gait enough to make the aches more tolerable. Looking at the splits, my pace is all over the place, a veritable roller coaster. I can’t say I noticed this while running, but it seems my body was making adjustments on a kind of auto-pilot. Cardio-wise I felt good for the entire run. If my right leg matched my cardio I’d probably feel like a super-powered being while jogging.

The trail was a lot less crowded due to the clouds, which was nice. There were stretches where I didn’t encounter anyone for several minutes. This may not seem like much but given the traffic the lake gets, it’s quite noticeable when you experience it. I wonder how it would feel to do an entire run without seeing anyone else. Would it feel spooky? Weird? Indescribably pleasant?

If seeing something cute at the end of a run is a good omen I should be set for the rest of the summer. Having just finished and walking toward the dam, I spotted a goose about to cross my path, heading to the river. Normally this close proximity would result in the goose hissing at me and possibly flapping its wings in a menacing gesture, as humans aren’t supposed to be part of goose planet and why are we here, anyway? Instead it continued to waddle across the trail. I gave it room and noticed about half a dozen goslings trailing behind it, with another adult goose bringing up the rear, acting as shepherd. It was adorable. It almost made me like geese. But not quite.

I’m going to use the runs this week to make a determination over whether to continue or take some real time off to allow proper healing to take place. So far things don’t seem to be getting worse, but if they’re getting better the pace may be a bit too slow to really count. I don’t want to take time off as this is peak running season, but if I do that should still give me time for the second half of summer. We shall see.