Wednesday, June 28, 2006

New shoe, new spirit


The purchase

Yesterday I went to the New Balance outlet at Bukit Bintang to try out the 767ST model which replaces the award winning and popular 766. At first glance of the actual shoe I was quite thrilled with the look and couldn't imagine how I had ended up with the ugly 680 last year in the first place.



I tried on many different sizes and variations including the 2E and 4E cuttings. In the end I could not decide on whether to get a US11 or 11.5. After a few tries of both (4E cutting), I finally decided to go for a more snug fit and choose the US11.

The shoe cost me RM202 after the 30% discount which Pacesetter members are entitled to. Ronnie and Jason were also initially with me in the shop when I was trying on the shoes but had gone to the food court as I was taking too long. I joined them there and Ron said I had to PR with my new shoe today... sigh! Anyway since I had not done 8 laps below 60min, that was to be my target for the day.


Showdown

Fook was going to pace with me. I arrived at the car park just before 6.30 and Fook was already there. After a one lap warm up we were all ready to run the 8 lapper. Both our Nike Triax had been programmed with the following target lap times: 7'40" > 7'35" > 7'30" > 7'30" > 7'25" > 7'25" > 7'20" > 7'15"

Just as we were about to start, Jamie ran by us and we quickly started out watches and followed him. I felt like we were going a little fast for the first lap but decided to adjust the pace on lap 2. My shoes felt a little too snug and I started doubting my choice of size over the 11.5.

Our first lap time was 7'26" and since I felt it was quite a comfortable pace, we maintained that pace. Jamie was starting to move much further away by then but we just hung on to our pace. Our second lap time also showed 7'26" and still feeling comfortable I increased the pace a little.

In the next two laps, I could see Fook struggling a little to maintain the pace and on the 4th lap he was already trailing a little. Jamie had stopped running by then and Ron who had completed his workout ran with us on the 4th lap. I'm uncertain when I had completely lost Fook but I saw him waiting with Ron at the 800m mark when I was completing my 5th lap.

By my 7th lap I was already felling very tired. I decided to slow the pace a little, thus making that lap the slowest lap. Conserving energy on lap 7 gave me an additional surge in the last lap which proved to be my fastest. Overall I was quite satisfied with my run and have decided to try and run 8 lappers as often as I possibly can to build my endurance and strength.

Split time: 7'26" > 7'26" > 7'11" > 7'15" > 7'15" > 7'15" > 7,40" > 7'10"
Total time: 58'40"

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