Distance: 11.15 km
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 17ºC
Wind: light
Calories burned: 779
Average pace: 5:10/km
Total distance to date: 922 km
After 5 p.m. and after five days off, to be exact.
I hadn’t planned on five days off but my shins were feeling tender (though it’s never hurt for walking or post-run) so when my schedule didn’t line up for a run at the usual time I decided to give myself a little extra recovery time.
I returned to Burnaby Lake under a dreary gray sky (standard fare this summer). There was some slight humidity but nothing like the last run. My legs felt a big creaky, I had some light, persistent cramping but stamina was not an issue and overall I did about as expected given the time off, finishing with a 5:10/km pace — my second best time overall.
Prior to the run I had received two new mosquito bites on my left calf. I think these were from Amazonian mosquitoes or something because these suckers (ho ho) itched like nobody’s business. Jeff slathered the bites with calamine and then dusted both legs with some Off to insure further bites would not occur. The good news is the number of bites did indeed remain constant. The bad news is each step taken with my left foot jarred the calf and the bites and was a source of irritation. Now imagine how many times you step over the course of 11.15 km. Yeah.
The trail was sparsely populated, no surprise given the weather. I had one encounter with an IEDO (ill-educated dog owner). Ahead of me was a couple with their dog — unleashed (bad!) on their left. Normally I pass on the non-dog side but this time there was more room on the left and the dog seemed to be moving on a steady, predictable course. As I got close the woman turned to the dog and, seeing me, suddenly called its name. The dog immediately froze in place, which happened to be directly in front of me. I nearly ran into it but managed to nimbly skirt to the left just in time. Had the woman said nothing I would have passed without incident. Had the dog been properly leashed nothing would have happened. People!
Chart (blue indicates the run was done clockwise; purple = Burnaby Lake):
| km | Jul 27 | Jul 20 | Jul 17 | Jul 14 | Jul 11 | Jul 9 | Jul 6 | Jul 4 | Jul 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 km | 4:56 | 4:53 | 4:56 | 4:45 | 4:54 | 4:58 | 5:08 | 4:58 | 5:04 |
| 2 km | 4:54 | 4:56 | 4:54 | 4:47 | 4:56 | 4:58 | 5:11 | 5:02 | 5:06 |
| 3 km | 4:55 | 4:58 | 4:56 | 4:51 | 4:58 | 5:03 | 5:14 | 5:08 | 5:07 |
| 4 km | 4:56 | 5:00 | 4:58 | 4:54 | 5:01 | 5:07 | 5:17 | 5:12 | 5:09 |
| 5 km | 5:00 | 5:01 | 5:00 | 4:54 | 5:03 | 5:10 | 5:20 | 5:14 | 5:11 |
| 6 km | 5:02 | 5:02 | 5:02 | 4:59 | 5:03 | 5:12 | 5:22 | 5:15 | 5:12 |
| 7 km | 5:04 | 5:03 | 5:04 | 5:00 | 5:04 | 5:15 | 5:25 | 5:17 | 5:14 |
| 8 km | 5:06 | 5:05 | 5:06 | 5:02 | 5:06 | 5:17 | 5:27 | 5:19 | 5:16 |
| 9 km | 5:07 | 5:06 | 5:08 | 5:04 | 5:08 | 5:19 | 5:30 | 5:21 | 5:17 |
| 10 km | 5:09 | 5:06 | 5:09 | 5:06 | 5:10 | 5:20 | 5:31 | 5:21 | 5:17 |
| 11 km | 5:10 | — | 5:10 | 5:01 | 4:59 | — | — | — | 5:19 |
