A couple good runs.

So far this week I've had a couple of great runs in the Vibram Fivefingers. Actually, that is a bit of an understatement. I had one pretty good run, and one fantastic run. The first run was a bit more than 10k on my out and back and then to work run on Monday morning.

I can't complain about that: longish run at a decent pace, squeezed in before work on a Monday. 10.8km at a 5:24/km pace. That is a great way to kick off the week. I'm not getting in a fast 10k every day like some people, but it put me in a great mood for a Monday.

I took Tuesday off from running and ducked out for my regular lunch run today. Man I felt fast. I knew I went out too fast but I didn't care. I figured if it felt that good then "what the heck?" I could limp in the last half if I needed too. But I felt pretty good the whole time.

The run starts with a downhill and ends with an uphill, so I guess I shouldn't sweat the slower split times too much. I hadn't felt this fast in a long time. I was passing other runners, relaxed and easy, when often I'm trying to just hold an OK pace. Early in the run I passed a couple people and felt great. But then there was an old guy with grey hair up ahead. I lost sight of him around a corner for a bit, and when I rounded the corner it was clear he was pulling away. My brain had two thoughts at the same time:

• "That old, grey-haired guy shouldn't be pulling away from me!"
• "Holy Crap! I am an old grey-haired guy!

And so it was on. I picked up the pace slightly. It must have been around 1.5km on the graph. I caught him & passed (he actually looked like he was in much better shape than me) with no problem, and he slipped way back behind me. I felt great up until about the 3km mark, when a pack of three real runners passed me. I was out of gas, and it was a bit demoralizing after having passed eight or ten runners and feeling strong. But I knew I came out too fast, and I guess pushing yourself is how you get faster, right? So I just held an OK pace around Lost Lagoon, and then tried to pick up pace once I was back to the pavement by the Vancouver Rowing Club at Coal Harbor. I had some mixed success after that, with a couple of inconsistant slowdowns. But, I didn't fall off too much. 

Going back through my stats on slowgeek.com, I was pretty shocked. The average pace for the run was 4:40/km (7:31/mile). The last time I held a pace that quick was a 4km run in October, 2006. Wow. Three and a half years? Today was a really awesome run. Fast and fun. Now I just need to keep up the pressure to make sure it wasn't an outlier. I'm hoping I can maintain the upward trend on my pace over time graph.

I'm even more excited about barefoot/minimalist running. I'm getting faster because of it, I'm convinced. Hope to get out for another completely barefoot run soon: maybe tomorrow if the rain stops.