Run 394
Average pace: 5:20/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 26:53
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 27ºC
Wind: nil to light
Calories burned: 864 (!)
Weight: 155.4 pounds
Total distance to date: 3204
Device used: TomTom Runner Cardio
First, a new milestone as I passed the 3,200 km mark. Hooray for legs that still work!
I normally run Tuesday evening but given the current heatwave and the Canada Day holiday [back bacon/maple syrup joke here] today, I opted to run this morning instead. Sure it made no difference on Sunday when the mid-morning run felt like a marathon in the Sahara but it has been trending very slightly cooler so I was hopeful.
It was 27ºC when I started–higher than I like but at least tolerable–and it was still 27ºC when the run ended. Weird! The sections of the run where I was fully exposed to ol’ Sol were still Africa hot-like but overall it was a much more bearable experience.
This was borne out by my pace, which went from 5:40/km on Sunday down to 5:20/km today. Still not great but decent enough given the conditions.
I opted for only 5K as I was also testing out a new running watch (more in a bit) and experienced no issues other than sweating, sweating and also some sweating. I deliberately ran silent again and confirmed I do not enjoy listening to my own breathing. I also earned +1 on my agility stat as less than a km in a tree had fallen across the Spruce Loop trail. It wasn’t too big so I opted to leap over it and did it in a fashion reminiscent of a clumsy or drunk gazelle. I made it, it wasn’t pretty.
There was a cyclist on the trail and riding fast as well (grr) but fortunately I encountered her after the run so my trail rage was minimal. Trail rage is a term I just made up. It refers to when I fume over things while on the trail. Usually these things are cyclists. I don’t do anything else, I just fume but trail rage sounds cooler than trail fume.
Onto the running watch!
On the weekend I picked up a TomTom Runner Cardio at Best Buy. Wearable tech is apparently a big enough thing that Best Buy now devotes an entire aisle to it. I had done some research and settled on the TomTom because of generally excellent reviews and the fact that the watch has a built-in heart rate monitor, saving me having to buy and wear a heart rate monitor strap, something that had the same appeal as running in a hoop skirt. Oddly, I saw a guy running today sans shirt and he was wearing a heart rate strap. I saw another guy running topless but he was only wearing a heavy sheen of sweat.
Here is a stock image of the watch I found in the vast wilds of the Internet:
Operation is pretty simple using the touch controls below the display. There’s only four buttons so your odds of screwing up are fairly low and there’s no FORMAT WATCH AND REMOVE EVERYTHING function on the watch itself that you can accidentally select.
I secured the watch firmly to my thin sissy wrist and headed off to the lake. Once there I chose the five km run option and after a few moments it found the GPS signal and told me to warm up, with a handy countdown. As I had just walked four km to the lake at a brisk pace, I started off. The watch lets you cycle through different screens while running but I was afraid to touch it on the first run so I watched the default screen which shows a circle filling in as the run progresses. When I reached the halfway point the watch vibrated and the display changed briefly to 50%. It vibrated again at 90% (500 m) which allowed me to give a final push. I do not do final pushes when it is Africa hot but it was still nice to be notified. A final buzz at 100% showed the run complete and my next question was immediately answered–if you don’t stop it keeps tracking. I tapped the controls to stop the run and it switched back to the time display, which is large and digital and makes me feel like I am in 1978 again.
For some reason the phone and watch were not synced so I ran through the process on the walk back and was able to see my stats in all their glory, including for the first time my heart rate. I have no baseline to compare with but my average beats per minute (bpm) was 160. According to the TomTom MySports site this puts me firmly in “sprint mode.” I don’t know if that’s good or “oh my god what are you doing to yourself?!” when running 5K. I’ll do some research.
A nice bonus is the watch also links to my Nike+ account, allowing me to keep tracking my runs there. The only downside is I can no longer see splits on Nike+ but they show up on the TomTom site so I can still get to them there.
As MySports is a work-in-progress, I had to make an account on MapMyFitness and then link it to MySports first. It turned out I already had an account om MapMyFitness. To further link things endlessly, I next connected MapMyFitness to MyFitnessPal. In the end, this means my runs will automatically be posted on MyFitnessPal where I currently have an 884-day login streak going. As my Fitbit Aria scale and Fitbit One are also linked, this more or less means my every movement and weight gain/loss is being monitored to a level worthy of the NSA.
And I’m okay with that.
