Location: Burnaby Lake, CW
Distance: 11.03 km
Weather: Overcast, occasional sun
Temp: 14ºC
Wind: light
Calories burned: 771
Average pace: 5:13/km
Total distance to date: 1223.09 km
Déjà vu! Another run, another personal best for the year to date, another ‘500 km’ completed according to Joan Benoit Samuelson.
The main difference today was my left foot felt better but still a bit sore after resting for the weekend. It did not hurt on the walk to the lake, bothered me on for the first few km and was not an issue on the walk back. I’m hoping by the end of the week it will be back to normal or close to it. My left calf is a bit sore — not sore in the muscles torn/rent asunder sense, more sore in that I think the soreness of the foot is making me compensate a bit with the lower leg muscles, so they’re being worked a bit harder than normal. This, too, should ease up over the week.
It was overcast but never rained, so conditions were close to ideal for the run. I had to use the loo first and opted to run clockwise since I was already on the southern side of the lake, anyway. I had a good start with a 5:02 pace, expectedly fell back a bit to 5:11 for the second km, then hit 5:13 for the third km. And then something weird happened — with the exception of two km where I was actually faster at 5:12/km (an that itself is unusual) I maintained that 5:13 pace for the rest of the run — 7 of the 11 km run. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a remarkably steady run.
I pushed myself a little but not much, certainly nowhere close to the ‘lungs on fire’ pace I’ve tried a few times. Mostly I just pushed to maintain my pace and it appears I succeeded!
It had been raining prior to the run and so the trail, especially around the athletic fields, was a bit waterlogged. In fact at one point the entire trail was underwater and with nowhere to turn I had to go straight through, giving the new shoes their first official dunking. They seem to have come through fine. I am liking how light and flexible they are. The minimal padding is probably helping my form.
Having lopped off a full 13 seconds from Friday’s run, I am skeptical I can hit the same mark on Wednesday but it was certainly a nice way to round out the month.
Chart:
| km | Apr 30 | Apr 27 | Apr 25 | Apr 23 | Apr 20 | Apr 18 | Apr 16 | Apr 6 | Apr 4 | Apr 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5:02 | 5:17 | 5:06 | 4:59 | 5:09 | 5:12 | 5:15 | 5:12 | 5:17 | 5:03 |
| 2 | 5:11 | 5:21 | 5:15 | 5:11 | 5:12 | 5:21 | 5:23 | 5:19 | 5:19 | 5:17 |
| 3 | 5:13 | 5:23 | 5:19 | 5:17 | 5:18 | 5:25 | 5:31 | 5:23 | 5:24 | 5:25 |
| 4 | 5:13 | 5:22 | 5:20 | 5:20 | 5:22 | 5:28 | 5:36 | 5:25 | 5:26 | 5:30 |
| 5 | 5:13 | 5:23 | 5:22 | 5:22 | 5:25 | 5:29 | 5:41 | 5:26 | 5:27 | 5:33 |
| 6 | 5:12 | 5:23 | 5:24 | 5:22 | 5:27 | 5:30 | 5:45 | 5:28 | 5:29 | 5:37 |
| 7 | 5:12 | 5:24 | 5:25 | 5:25 | 5:29 | 5:31 | 5:49 | 5:29 | 5:31 | 5:41 |
| 8 | 5:13 | 5:25 | 5:26 | 5:27 | 5:33 | 5:32 | 5:53 | 5:30 | 5:33 | 5:46 |
| 9 | 5:13 | 5:26 | 5:28 | 5:29 | 5:35 | 5:33 | 5:57 | 5:32 | 5:35 | 5:50 |
| 10 | 5:13 | 5:26 | 5:28 | 5:31 | 5:37 | 5:33 | 5:59 | 5:33 | 5:36 | 5:53 |
| 11 | 5:13 | 5:25 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
