The head-down, cramped-up run

Distance: 11.02 km
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 24ºC
Wind: none
Calories burned: 770
Average pace: 5:16/km
Total distance to date: 944 km

Bleah.

It was quite warm tonight and there was no wind at all at Burnaby Lake so the canopied sections of the trail were especially humid. This alone would have likely shaved a few seconds off my pace but what really did me in tonight was a cramp that showed up early and persisted through about 3 km. My start time was fine — 4:51 through the first km, then it dipped by 3, 5 and 5 seconds over the successive km, torpedoing any chance of finishing with a decent time. Once the cramp cleared my pace held up much better and in fact I generally only lost a second per km over the second half, which is pretty good, especially given that the southern part of the trail is more uphill.

Given the pleasant (for walking) weather, there were a few more people out but no incidents to report. The buggy section of the run was indeed super-buggy but keeping my head down managed to spare me ingesting a hundred gnats, though I felt a few plink off my forehead and face as I pushed through the clouds of ’em.

Here’s hoping the next run is a little more in-line with what I expect. Also, note to self: no Coke Zero an hour before a run.

Chart (blue indicates the run was done clockwise; purple = Burnaby Lake):

km Aug 4 Aug 1 Jul 27 Jul 20 Jul 17 Jul 14 Jul 11 Jul 9 Jul 6 Jul 4
1 km 4:51 4:51 4:56 4:53 4:56 4:45 4:54 4:58 5:08 4:58
2 km 4:54 4:52 4:54 4:56 4:54 4:47 4:56 4:58 5:11 5:02
3 km 4:59 4:56 4:55 4:55 4:58 4:56 4:51 4:58 5:03 5:08
4 km 5:04 4:58 4:56 5:00 4:58 4:54 5:01 5:07 5:17 5:12
5 km 5:07 5:00 5:00 5:01 5:00 4:54 5:03 5:10 5:20 5:14
6 km 5:09 5:01 5:02 5:02 5:02 4:59 5:03 5:12 5:22 5:15
7 km 5:11 5:04 5:04 5:03 5:04 5:00 5:04 5:15 5:25 5:17
8 km 5:13 5:06 5:06 5:05 5:06 5:02 5:06 5:17 5:27 5:19
9 km 5:14 5:07 5:07 5:06 5:08 5:04 5:08 5:19 5:30 5:21
10 km 5:15 5:09 5:09 5:06 5:09 5:06 5:10 5:20 5:31 5:21
11 km 5:16 5:10 5:10 5:10 5:01 4:59

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