Average pace: 4:35/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Ran Freeway Trail
Distance: 13 km
Weather: Hazy cloud, sun
Temp: 22-24ºC
Wind: none
Calories burned: 940
Total distance to date: 2219 km
This was a weird run.
I bought new shoes — the Merrell Trail Gloves, a minimalist trail running shoe. The construction of the shoe is immediately noticeably superior to the 1010s I’ve been using, with fabric, stitching, laces and tongue all better. The soles are not as chunky, though they are also made by Vibram, like the 1010s. They retain a lot more of the slipper-like feel of me beloved MT110s. The only downside is they are a bit tight to get the feet into but are cozy (and not too tight) after that.
I was a bit concerned about how the run would go because my left foot was already warbling even before I set out. When I got to Hume Park I noticed that I’d placed the Nike+ sensor up a little higher than I’d meant to on the laces. This meant it would not lay as flat, possibly affecting accuracy.
The weather was warm and with little wind there was a mugginess for much of the route around the lake. It wasn’t horrible but it definitely contributed to leaving me feeling worn out. Also for some weird reason I went clockwise and decided to throw the Freeway Trail detour into the mix, to see how it had changed since the last time I’d run it.
This helped stretch the run out longer than normal, probably not a great idea with the left foot already acting up, but my curiosity has now been satisfied. As it turns out, fresh gravel was poured along almost the entire stretch that I ran along, taking care of all the dips, squishy dirt and uneven surfaces. This was good. Because the trail is not used nearly as much as the others, the gravel was still loose and felt quite lumpy under my minimalist soles. This was less good.
Having already stretched the run out, I opted to skip the three optional loops I normally take on the north side of the lake. I finished at just over 59 minutes and with a pace of 4:35/km, having run a shade over 13 km.
This is the suspicious part. I went back to some of the detour runs I did last June when the first boardwalk was being replaced and compared distances. One run, in which I had included the optional loops, came out to 13.06 km, a scant 60 m more than today’s. It seemed the Nike+ sensor was being a bit generous with the distance, probably by a factor of at least a few hundred meters. However, the time of that run last year was about 64 minutes, so even taking into account the extra distance, my pace was still apparently faster today (back then it was 4:58/km).
But 4:35/km seems way off. I felt fairly springy to start but definitely did not toward the end. I felt hot, sweaty, tired, the left foot was achy (but tolerable) and the right tendon was occasionally pinging, though it ended up fine for the majority of the run.
When I uploaded my data I was informed that I had set four new records for fastest 1K, 5K, 10K and mile:
1K: 3:53
5K: 21:56
10K: 45:47
mile: 6:39
Even more bizarrely, the 1K record apparently came during the 7th km. That’s often been where I’ve started running out of gas, not magically conjuring it. My pace allegedly shot up by 11% then plunged by 13% for the next km. I’m trying to remember where the 7K mark hit and it may have been near Still Creek. A couple on bikes (grr) were there and heading the same way as me. I silently pointed to the two (1) No Bikes signs as I went by but picked up my pace to give myself a little extra distance. The last thing I wanted were a pair of cyclists at my heels on a fairly narrow stretch of the trail. They may have heeded the signs, though, because I didn’t see them again. If they did turn around and leave the trail, they’d be the first cyclists to do so and I offer my e-thanks to them for doing so!
So while 3:53 seems absurdly fast, it is at least possible that it was still my fastest km. I’m going to move the sensor down lower on the shoe and see how it compares on Tuesday. I may calibrate it at the track, too.
For the record, here’s the splits as seen on the Nike+ site:
The one lingering concern is that my right tendon, which did not bother me much at all during the run, is still feeling sore hours later. I suspect I simply overworked it (especially if the times are actually accurate) so I’m hoping it will be okay tomorrow after some rest. I’m going to start icing it after runs, I think.
Also I caught a glimpse of a snake slithering into the grass along the Cottonwood Trail, first snake of the year. It’s not a good thing or a bad thing, just a thing. Plus snakes are cool.
