Run 335
Average pace: 5:20/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Distance: 6.03 km
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 26-29ºC
Wind: light
Calories burned: 464
Total distance to date: 2809
We are back to Official Summer Weather™ again and it was already warm when I headed out late in the morning and got noticeably warmer during the run. The first km was fine, the second I began to flag but not significantly more than normal. At this point my left shoelace came untied for the billionth time.
I ran with it untied for about 2 km, stopping at a bench on the second boardwalk to re-tie it. I carefully paused the workout on the iPod. I made sure the screen didn’t turn off while I re-tied the lace. I carefully touched the Resume button onscreen when I started running again. Satisfied that I had done everything correctly, I pressed the power button on the iPod (this turns the screen off, to prevent unwanted tapping) and put it back in my shorts pocket.
All seemed well until a few seconds later when Nike Lady piped up to say “workout stopped”. This seemed ominous but slightly less ominous than “workout ended”. I kept running and a moment or so later she said “Workout resumed”. She kept quiet except to count out the km for the remainder. Why this happened I have no idea.
After tying my shoelace back up I found I could not get my pace back. I felt parched and overheated–the main reason I don’t like stopping during a run in warm weather–but I wanted to do better than 5K and managed to hit 6K and a turgid overall pace of 5:20/km before stopping (for real). The last two km definitely felt like a slog but 5:20 still seemed a little slow. Here’s how the splits broke down:
Everything seems normal until the 4K mark when the pace drops to a strangely sluggish 5:48/km. It picks up again after that and though still slower than normal is probably a better reflection of how I was running for the last two km.
Here’s the split in graph form:
This is something that never happens during a run. You can tell I really mean it because I have used italics! I’m trying to think if something happened that made me stop or move especially slow and there was a few moments where I had to nearly stop when a clump of people, well, clumped up and blocked the way, but that happened right at the start of the run and had no real effect on my pace (the first km was still under 5:00/km). The only thing I can think is that I slowed as I neared the bench to tie my shoe and the sensor got confused or something and thought I went from jogging to crawling on my hands and knees.
In any case, it probably dragged my overall pace down by ten seconds or something. That’s just a guess because I’m not a mathologist.
As for the run, though I couldn’t muster the stamina to keep going past 6K, my feet and legs held up. The left foot started to hurt on the walk to the lake entrance and by the time I got to the dam was hurting quite nicely. I took a long drink from the faucet near the dam (it’s the best thing ever after a hot run) then sat down at a picnic table, took off my left shoe and thoroughly massaged my stinky and troublesome left foot. It did not hurt to do this and in fact it felt noticeably better after. It continued to feel pretty good until about a block before home.
When I got in I massaged it again and once more it felt much better. This foot is weird. It was kind of nice not riding the SkyTrain back for a change, though. It probably broke down again, anyway.
The other interesting things that happened technically occurred after the run but while i was still on the trail:
- an adorable fuzzy golden caterpillar made its way across the trail in front of me, looking like a tiny hairy accordion. Or something. It probably got eaten by a robin.
- an adorable fuzzy little chipmunk made its way across the trail in front of me. It was very tiny but crashed into the brush like it weighed a hundred pounds. Odd chipmunk. Probably not eaten by a robin.
At around the 7K mark I was walking along with my earphones still in but the music turned off. I heard something behind me, that telltale sound of rubber rolling over gravel. A moment later a guy on a bike rode past. I gave him the evil eye, as usual. He was followed by two young daughters on their own bikes. They looked to be about six and nine years old. The three of them disappeared around a corner.
I come around the corner and the younger girl is lying in the “ditch” tangled around her bike. Dad is coming over and chuckling about how she can’t ride a bike or something. He starts to pull the bike off and she yells “Ow ow ow!” but really didn’t appear to be hurt in any way*. I continue to walk by and a short distance ahead is a sign where the path splits. Every time there is a split there are signs. I look back to good ol’ dad and then point to the “No cycling” sign then continue on. I do not see them again.
I don’t know if they went back the way they came, started walking the bikes or got airlifted out by chopper. But it felt like karma had finally come to the Burnaby Lake loop.
Here’s hoping for less heat, fewer bikes and a better pace for the next run.
* I don’t blame the girls for being there and really hope the one who crashed was fine. She appeared more put out than actually injured but I’m not a doctor, nor do I even play one on TV.
