Although I set the iPod to a distance of 10K, I planned on running only half that, figuring that I was reaching a plateau with the 5K runs and this would be a good ‘send-off’ before tackling the 10Ks again. Little did I realize the surprise twist to come!
The weather was a mix of sun and cloud, around 17ºC, with a light breeze blowing. The trail was in much better shape than the previous run. I could feel my lower left leg but it didn’t hurt and did not affect my pace at all. As you can see in the chart below my time up to the 4K mark was nearly identical to the previous run. I believe had I done the full 5K I would have had a slightly improved pace due to the short 2-second gap between the 3 and 4K mark. However, just after hitting 4K my right calf (surprise twist!) suddenly started seizing up. I spent about 10 seconds running on it trying to decide what to do and opted to end the run early rather than aggravating it. I don’t believe it is actually hurt, as it seems like just a muscle spasm but it was certainly not the way I expected the run to end.
I am officially™ planning a full 10K run next time. Excelsior!
Chart (bolded numbers are overall average time/km):
| Distance | June 15th | June 11th | June 7th | June 4th | June 1st | April 30th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 km | 5:07 | 5:08 | 5:08 | 5:07 | 5:03 | 5:03 |
| 2 km | 5:13 | 5:12 | 5:15 | 5:20 | 5:21 | 5:06 |
| 3 km | 5:17 | 5:16 | 5:21 | 5:27 | 5:33 | 5:09 |
| 4 km | 5:19 | 5:20 | 5:24 | 5:31 | 5:40 | 5:12 |
| 5 km | n/a | 5:24 | 5:28 | 5:34 | 5:45 | 5:16 |
