Elk lake run

Our final full day in Victoria saw our family plus my sister Jill head out to Elk lake. It turned out to be a perfect place for a run, because as Jill and I were running, Sarah and Audrey could play in the water and at the park. It wasn't though, in retrospect, the perfect time to run. We started the run shortly after four, and it was probably the hottest part of an already hot day. Following the run the car read 26 deg/C, so I'm guessing it was probably at least 27 while running. The trail around Elk lake is really a nice loop with well marked K's along the trail. I was a bit surprised as there were some small hills thrown in along the way and also surprised that I got turned around in the trails and ended up running back the way I came. I never did do a full circumnavigation, as I ran 3/4 of the loop and then found myself turned around shortly afterward. It's a well marked trail until a couple of points and then it was too late to head back.

My plan was to run 12K between 3:53 and 3:56/k but this was abandoned as I realized the heat was slowing me down. I was also going to throw in 4 strides, but this too was thrown out, as my body couldn't respond in the heat. The faster part of my run felt fairly hard because of the heat, and I was thankful for the tree coverage along most of the trail. The tree coverage thankfully was fuller on the side I ran twice along, as the trail along the Pat Bay Hwy. was fully exposed to the sun. I warmed up for about 1K with Jill and then hit the marker for my Tempo run. I covered 1K in 3:56 and 5K in 20:09, I couldn't get an accurate 10k time as I was turned around and thus the kilometer markers were off. I decide to run for 41:00 to ensure that I covered 10k, as the heat cut my distance from the 12K; with warmup and cooldown, it was a total of 14K.

I dunked my head in the lake when I was finished and I think I could hear the steam coming off my coconut. This made me feel a whole lot better, as the heat was really cutting into me. We had a great dinner when we got home, and after dinner iced my feet (slight plantar fascitis in right foot). This is pictured above with Jersey helping himself to a drink on a hot day. All accounts are that the cat is still amongst the living.