Average pace: 5:08/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Ran Spruce and Conifer Loops and Piper Mill Trail
Distance: 5.2 km
Weather: Sun
Temp: 28ºC
Wind: nil
Calories burned: 378
Total distance to date: 2250 km
My plan today was to do a regular run–walk to the lake, run around it then walk back. It was a nice plan. Then we got blasted with an unusually potent high pressure ridge for this time of year and when I headed out around 2 p.m. the temperature had soared to 28ºC.
The good news is my feet held up fine.
The less good news is because after a few km in I decided there was no way I was going to run 10+ km in this crazy heat. On the one hand it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The old saw is “it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity” but in this case the high heat was matched with more humid conditions than normal and while that, coupled with the lack of wind, made the run much more difficult, it also meant that I felt far less dehydrated than I have on runs with lower temperatures.
Nonetheless, I got to Still Creek, the unofficial halfway point and then walked the rest of the way home. The pace was quite a bit slower than Wednesday at 5:08 but I can’t say I’m surprised or disappointed.
The heat also stirred up the bugs, apparently. For the first time in about two years I got bit, coming home to find a big red bite right in the middle of the right shin. A little Calamine worked wonders and kept me from scratching like mad.
Because I only ran 5K I am tentatively planning to run again tomorrow, either earlier in the morning or, more likely, later in the evening.
