Run 336
Average pace: 5:27/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Ran Spruce Loop, Conifer Loop (2) and Piper Mill Trail
Distance: 5.03 km
Weather: Sunny and very muggy
Temp: 27ºC
Wind: light
Calories burned: 387
Total distance to date: 2814
It was 27ºC when I headed out on tonight’s run. Warmer than I’d like but not as warm as some previous runs. I was hoping it would be semi-tolerable. I wore my New Balance MT110 minimalist shoes for the first time in a long time, to see if the extra room helped my accursed left foot.
The good news is I finished the run without fainting, throwing up or spontaneously exploding.
The other good news is the MT110s were fine. My foot started to feel a little sore after the run but only a little. I remember why I like minimalist shoes. They’re light, flexible and provide a firmer, more natural grip on the trail. I’ll keep wearing them for now.
The best news of all: the laces never came untied!
The bad news: this was the most uncomfortable run I’ve had all year. It was very warm but worse, very muggy. This is in part due to the time of day–between 5 and 6 p.m. the sun is low and the earth is fully baked, yet to to cool off for the evening. The wind also tends to die down late afternoon. I was sweating like crazy, my mouth was parched, my stamina was sucked away over the course of the 5 km like I had a vampire hanging off my neck the entire time. While km to km my time didn’t drop drastically (in the usual 2-3% range) I started out slow (5:14 for the first km) and added 4-8 seconds each km, ending with a dismal pace of 5:27/km.
This time it definitely wasn’t the equipment, it was all me. I almost packed it in at the 3K mark but pressed on, even as I felt queasy from the heat. I even managed a minor uptick in speed for the last 400 m.
If conditions are the same on Thursday I am taking water with me, even if I’m forced to wear one of those giant foam hats with the beer cans on the sides. Except using beer would probably not be a good idea.
On a scale of one to five collapsed joggers, I rate tonight’s jog four out of five collapsed joggers.
