tired legs

Run 359
Average pace: 5:14/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Ran Spruce and Conifer Loops
Distance: 10.05 km
Time: 52: 31
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 19-22ºC
Wind: nil
Calories burned: 729
Total distance to date: 3004
Device used: iPhone 5c

This was a weird run if you look at the map made from the GPS.

But first, I must mark the momentous metric occasion (Nike uses Imperial units to award milestones, what with them being miles and all, so what they consider a big deal differs from what I consider a big deal) as this run I hit 3,000 km. I started using the Nike+ system to track my runs in September 2009 so it’s taken five years to get to this point or an average of 600 km per year. I’m still full intact, too, woo.

As to the weirdness of today’s run, I expected to be slower due to a later start (11:50 a.m.), warmer temperatures (19-22ºC so not really bad) and, as it turned out, very muggy conditions. The mugginess was the main villain here.

My first km was a sluggish 5:11/km, though I at least didn’t have to slow to duck under the sagging trees on the Conifer Loop, as they’ve been chopped to bits and tossed into the brush for the mushrooms. The second km saw a huge 14% drop-off to 5:53/km. I regained some form for the third and fourth km then–at the same point where the GPS has wigged out before–my time actually got improbably faster, with the 5K and 6K pace being 3:52 and 3:10. I got awards for fastest mile and km ever.

I do not think these were my fastest km ever, based on how I felt at the time.

On the seventh km my pace dropped 85% (!) to 5:52/km before pulling up again to 5:26 for the final stretch. Even more weirdly, the overall pace of 5:14/km actually makes sense given the total time of the run and distance covered. I think the trees along the field make the GPS go cuckoo. I’ll have to lobby for their removal.

Here’s how the map looked at the nutty bullet train section:

Given that I went in without much confidence, I am fine with the results, dubious recors notwithstanding.

The only negative was the left leg, which at one point or another hurt from the top down. That included the left buttock, upper thigh, Achilles tendon and foot. All of these were brief, however, and none affected my pace. I was fine after the run, though the foot remained a bit sore. It held up for the walk home.

I am thinking I may switch to earlier runs on Saturday because I’m finding the trail a little too crowded on Sundays (even if part of today’s crowd consisted of a group of seven young men running topless and in black short shorts; I both admire and hate them for being svelte, young and spry). There are an awful lot of people with seemingly no situational awareness when in public (these are the ones who stop at the top of an up escalator for no apparent reason) and they like to spread themselves out on the trail, block the way, suddenly stop and do other neat tricks.

By heading out early and on Saturday I’m thinking the worst I’ll face is other runners, who generally have excellent situational awareness. I know I’m setting myself up for a collision on a blind corner by saying this but I’ll take the chance.

At least there were no cyclists today. Hooray.

Run 352
Average pace: 5:17/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Ran Spruce and Conifer Loops and Piper Mill Trail
Distance: 5.13 km
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 24-20ºC
Wind: light
Calories burned: 373
Total distance to date: 2953

Five days between runs and missing one due to a cold meant that tonight’s 5K was bound to be slower and it was, neatly reversing the progress I’d made the previous run, with a pace of 5:17/km, the same as two runs back and a full seven seconds off my previous 5:10/km.

Although I didn’t feel especially sluggish and conditions were actually quite nice (light breeze, cooler) it was clear the cold and time off had worked against me. Or maybe it was the phone, which I used again. Yeah, that’s it. Stupid phone.

Speaking of stupid, I chose the option to lock the phone during the run, thinking this would prevent it from accidentally activating or doing weird things. But that’s what “slide to unlock” is for. What this meant is that at the end of the run, while still running (don’t want the pace to fall off) I had to enter my 4-digit passcode. This is not easy to do while running. In fact, I found it impossible. I ended up using the pause button on the earbuds to allow me to slow down enough to unlock the phone. I then resumed pace and then properly ended it. This meant the run stretched out a bit farther than normal for a 5K, to 5.13 km.

The other minor technical SNAFU was at the start. Because it’s a bit fiddly getting the phone into the spibelt I opted for the maximum 9-second countdown before the run begins. Despite this the run still started before I could get the phone securely tucked away. Fortunately it didn’t affect my first km pace.

The second and final km both saw big drops of 9% and 6% and here the phone provides a useful breakdown of where exactly I…broke down.

The second km drop-off happened as I hit the final bend on the Conifer Loop, not too long past the 1 km mark. I lost a lot of gas after a good start but maintained a steady pace after that until the last km. That last km drop-off also happened on a side trail when I did my second trip down the Spruce Loop, though I’m sure mucking about trying to actually stop the run had an effect, too.

Overall a disappointing run but not too surprising given the time off and lingering effects of the cold.

Run 346
Average pace: 5:17/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Ran Spruce and Conifer Loops
Distance: 10.04 km
Weather: Hazy high cloud
Temp: 17-22ºC
Wind: light
Calories burned: 772
Total distance to date: 2907

Today’s run was a little disappointing in that I fell back four seconds on average to a pace of 5:17/km. All of the conditions were just a little worse than Wednesday–a little warmer, a little less breeze–but not bad. I started out slower but still at a reasonable pace but fell flat between the 6 and 9K mark, where I could definitely feel myself getting tired.

I pushed on for a solid finish, picking the pace up by 3% but it wasn’t enough to overcome the sluggish middle.

Body-wise I felt fine, with nothing causing any undue discomfort.

On the plus side, I crossed the 2900 km threshold and this marked my ninth consecutive 10K run, which I think is the most I’ve done in a row since 2012.

Run 339
Average pace: 5:28/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Ran Spruce Loop, Conifer Loop and Piper Mill Trail
Distance: 10.03 km
Weather: Mainly sunny, some high cloud
Temp: 18-21ºC
Wind: nil to light
Calories burned: 771
Total distance to date: 2837

Today’s run was set up the same as Monday’s–same time, same direction. And the result? Almost identical, oddly enough. My average pace was 5:28/km, one whole second better than the prior run (and eight seconds faster in total: 54:54 vs. 55:02). Helping me achieve this tremendous speed improvement were slightly cooler temperatures and some high cloud that conveniently blotted out the sun on many of the exposed areas of the trail.

Other than that, it was pretty much a repeat of yesterday with a few kinks ironed out. I could feel a stitch threaten about the same point but it never materialized, and my feet and hip both held up nicely, especially considering I’ve walked about 60 km over the past five days alongside the two runs. The leg muscles are a little sore but that’s to be expected. My left foot was also a bit sore on the walk home but it was more an irritant than anything. I’m 99% convinced my foot issues were mainly due to the tight fit of the Adidas shoes.

Onward to Friday and hopefully the beginning of regaining some actual form. These times kind of suck.

Run 324
Average pace: 5:32/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Ran Spruce and Conifer Loops and Piper Mill Trail
Distance: 10.07 km
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 20-24ºC, felt like 26ºC
Wind: nil to light
Calories burned: 774
Total distance to date: 2747

This was a weirdly disappointing run.

First the good news: my left foot was reasonably behaved. I didn’t feel anything until the 5K mark and it wasn’t until 7K that it began to hurt. It leveled out quickly and was tolerable for the rest of the run.

Despite an unusually early start at 9 a.m. it was already quite warm–20ºC and rising rapidly to 24ºC during the run, and feeling warmer due to that good ol’ humidity. This had an impact on my time, as did my general approach of taking it slower so my foot and stamina would both hold up. I could have gone a full 11K and only stopped because I knew my time would be awful and I didn’t want to drag my average down any further.

The last run, a 5K, had me plodding along at a glacier-like pace of 5:32/km. This is terrible. I figured even doubling the distance today I would still come in faster.

I was incorrect.

My pace was worse, at 5:35/km. To put it in perspective, the last full 11K I ran my pace was 5:12/km. Today my pace for just the first km was 5:17/km.

With today’s run feeling much better overall but the time being even worse I am wondering if the new Brooks shoes are causing issues with the Nike+ sensor. Especially today it seems difficult to believe I could be loping along so slowly.

As a test I am putting the sensor back on the Adidas Untying Boost™ shoes for my next run to see what happens. I’m looking forward to being able to ditch the sensor altogether, possibly in the fall once all these crazy new smart watches have come out. It looks like between Google, Apple and everyone else there will be about a billion of them.

The one other good part of the run: I actually walked back instead of taking the SkyTrain. I sat on a bench and gave my left foot a five minute rest and managed to walk back without any great discomfort.

Run 319
Average pace: 5:27/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Ran Spruce and Conifer Loops and Piper Mill Trail
Distance: 11.03 km
Weather: Partly sunny
Temp: 22-23ºC, humid (felt like 25ºC)
Wind: moderate to breezy
Calories burned: 849
Total distance to date: 2711

Despite the title of this blog post I am not pregnant.

To my knowledge.

Instead, I woke up and felt strangely nauseated. I called in sick, slept in a little and when I got up the nausea had passed so I had breakfast and it seemed to stay down okay. I planned for a rare weekday afternoon run because running when it’s warmer is still preferable to not having a big chunk of my evening eaten up by a run.

I planned on doing a full loop around the lake and set out on a deliberately slower pace to better accommodate the goal. My first km reflected this, coming in at a poky 5:10/km. The hip was no big thing but the thigh muscles hurt both on the walk to the lake and for a good part of the run. It wasn’t until well past the halfway point that they finally went from aching to feeling warmed up. By then the left foot was starting to act up, though it stayed tolerable for the entire run, only getting notably sore on the walk back to the Production Way SkyTrain station.

The weather was a mix of sun and high cloud, was warm (and felt warmer) and was humid. Despite this the slower pace kept things tolerable and I completed a full loop, coming in at 11.03 km, though my average pace was a not-exactly-lightning-quick 5:27/km.

Another complication during the run was a few times when I felt like my gorge was rising–my gag reflex almost but not quite kicked in on several occasions. This is a rather unpleasant sensation when running. By the time I got to the SkyTrain my stomach was cramping up. I think this may be related to the Chinese food I had for dinner last night. Maybe MSG doesn’t agree with me or something.

When I got home my appetite was suitably curbed and I ate an uncharacteristically light post-run meal.

I’ll try to do another full loop on the next run. It will be interesting to see how they compare. The current forecast is suggesting cooler temperatures and a good chance of rain, so better but wetter conditions.