Over the past week, I wrecked (over mission peak) and
ditched my 14-yr-old NB and switched to a pair of Merrell
Bare Access 3. They are light and well-fit with big toe
boxes. As I found out, however, they demand a lot of calves
and force one to run with much less heel-striking. I tried
gingerly to break them in in less-than-a-week and today's my
first mid-run in them.
From the start, it didn't feel as high as last week. I
focused mostly on front- and mid-foot landing to lessen the
stress on the calves which were still a little sore. That
took some fun out of running and the fatigue seemed to come
much sooner than before. My ITBS seemed gone entirely. The
hip and knee didn't bother me at all. It was only the last
mile when I detected a tiny discomfort in the left hip. But
I didn't feel thankful and it didn't feel much fun.
I did appreciate the weather, though. It was cool and and
cloudy and the morning sun was hiding. There were very few
people on the trail.
I don't have the habit of looking at the watch during a run.
Otherwise, I'd have noticed that I went a little faster. And
that might explain the sub-optimal joy I felt. How much
faster? At the stop, the watch told me I set PRs for the
fastest mile (8:17), 5K(26:10), and 10K (52:57). Overall, I
finished 7.68 miles at a pace of 8:36.
I don't think it was all about the shoe. I read some
articles and books on running biomechanics(including a nice
article "The Single Secret To Becoming A Better Runner."), I
have been doing stretching and strengthing exercises daily,
I did start to conciously raise my lower legs to shorten the
lever, etc., etc.
I still enjoyed the run, just not as much. I hope the great
joy is to come back at my new pace someday. After all, what
gain is all this if it were just speed?
