Average pace: 5:06/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Distance: 5.05 km
Weather: Partly cloudy
Temp: 11ºC
Wind: light to moderate
Calories burned: 401
Total distance to date: 2571 km
I decided to try a 7K run on for size with my spiffy new shoes today. The plan was to run the Brunette River trail then continue to Burnaby Lake and run to Still Creek. From there I’d walk to the Sperling SkyTrain station and catch a ride back home.
And I did do just that, yet I only ended up with a 5K run.
On the weekend I bought a SPIbelt because I wanted to test out using my phone and its GPS for my runs. I opted to just carry the phone and use my iPod and use the run as a chance to see how securely the belt would hold the phone in place.
I changed my mind and used the phone. The good news is the belt worked great. The phone didn’t budge and I barely noticed it there. The not-so-good news is my times were suddenly and drastically slower. It paced my two km along the river trail at around 5:25/km. This leads to a few possibilities:
- the phone is way out of whack
- the iPod/Nike sensor is way out of whack
- I suddenly became much slower despite not really feeling it
While I think it’s possible the iPod may be overly generous on times, it has been calibrated and it’s nothing if not consistent. I’m going to calibrate the phone/Nike app at a track to see just how accurately it is gauging distance. It seems like it may be off.
Horrified at the prospect of suddenly having pokey paces posted, I switched off the phone app and returned to the iPod once I got to the lake. This meant my run was split in two, with several minutes of walking (about 200-300m) between the first 2 km and the last 5 km.
The “real” run went well. A stitch threatened but never manifested so I was able to keep a good pace. The last two km my left shoe came untied, which is disappointing with the new shoes. but the lace did feel a little loose on the walk down, so it’s partly my fault. My overall pace for the 5K was 5:06/km, my second-best of the year.
I’ll do a calibration run on the weekend with the phone but my next one or two runs will be using the iPod as per usual.