09.09.12 Size does matter.

As I again tried on my new (one size bigger) Vibram's, I accidentally ripped off the label.  I had being trying them on and off again for the last couple of days.  Too worried to wear them outside as I still could not get over the fact that they were a size bigger than my last ones that I wore only a week ago with no issues.  Oh well, the decision had just been made for me, they were now my new shoes.

Running with new shoes that I am not 100% sure are the right size and still not properly healed blisters on my right foot was only going to lead to one result on my run today...but another surprise awaited me.

After still trying to understand the size change of my feet (almost over it now), I decided to google what you would normally google when you have a question; How to run in Vibram's.  I found a link to a youtube video called, How to walk/run in Vibrams.  The link was everything I already knew about running barefoot.  How not to strike your heel, how the shoes work etc.  But it also provided a tip on how to lift your foot off the ground, not push of your foot like you would in normal shoes.  I found it quite interesting as I think I have been pushing off my feet at times and this was a new piece of advice that I was not aware of.

The weather this morning was atrocious but by mid morning it had cleared.  I decided that I would run to work to pick up my motorbike and finally test out the new shoes.  I started the run and everything felt normal.  I ran down the slight incline before reaching the top of the gorge being careful to stay away from the concreted stones that only a week ago caused so many issues.  I don't like running down hill however today it did not seem to be that bad.  I really started to concentrate on lifting my foot rather than focussing on pushing of my foot.  I felt like I was going reasonably fast and looked down to see that I was running at 13km an hour, faster than I have run in a while.  I made it down to the bottom of the gorge and to the flat run all the way to work.  Again, I was concentrating on lifting my foot and by doing that really felt my leg speed increase.  I looked down at my watch to again see that I was doing anything from 12-13km.  I was running at a speed on the flat that I had never run before, but the question was; could I maintain it?  I was two thirds of the way to work and was getting tired, but again focussed on lifting my foot.  I was definitely running slower and was surprised to look down at my watch and again see that I was cruising at over 12km an hour.  I finally made it into the city and to the finish line at work.  I looked down at my watch to see that I had just run 9.6km in 45 minutes, the fastest I have ever run that I can remember.  My legs felt good, my feet were not sore, no blisters had occurred on any of my feet and more importantly the blisters that were there from the other day were still there, unharmed.  Maybe my new shoes were just what I needed...size really does matter!

Attached is the running graph of my run and as you can see there is a pace line showing the consistent pace that I was running at today.  As you can see at the end of the run there was lots of stopping and starting due to crossing roads and traffic lights but overall pace was 4:41. That is a 1 hour 28 minute 20km!!  I might just have to say thank you to those concreted stones when I run past them again tomorrow...