Last week when speaking to Ed after he’d sprinted with me to the ‘funnel of glory’, I’d BOLDLY said I’d run a sub 20min parkrun this week. My confidence was not based on a training camp I was booked to attend or an upcoming hospital visit for bionic legs. No, it was based on knowing I had my Nike Vapourfly’s at home and that they alone are worth an additional 5-10secs per kilometre.
Supershoes or carbon-plated running shoes have caused a big stir in the running world/community particularly because these shoes come with a high price tag at odds with the egalitarian nature of running. However, the evidence is clear as since their introduction world records over all distances, by all genders have tumbled. The question is does this expensive bit of ‘kit’ only play out for the elites or can they propel the ordinary runner to running a faster 5k?
As I stood at the start line, with my Garmin set and Orbital’s Lush 1 cued in my headphones, the moment had arrived, were these shoes enough to take 14secs of last week’s time or not?
The timekeepers counted us down; 3, 2, 1, cue Lush 1 flooding my eardrums and my adrenaline flooding as the field set off.
My approach to running a specific time is to know what the aggregate pace is and to hit that like clockwork. The Garmin GPS is very reliable and with such a flat course this strategy has served me well in the past.
After 500m’s my watch told me I was going way too fast however as the field started to thin out I went through the first 1k in 3mins 57secs and I eased into what I hoped would be the rhythm needed for my desired sub 20min for the day.
There were quite a few people still around me however my noise-cancelling headphones had me ‘locked in’, focussed and undistracted but always taking time to say thank you to the marshals on the course. Parkrun doesn’t happen without these volunteers and as Graham Dodd’s once told me, if you’re going too fast to say thank you, you’re going too fast’. Parkrun is a run, not a race.
I went through 2k, passing the lake bang on target pace and properly now in the zone. 3k came and a quick look at the watch told me I was executing perfectly with no feelings of fatigue. 4k comes whilst on a long straight to the finish and having passed through that it was time to really ‘open up’ and leave it ‘all out there’. These trainers do something incredible that is very difficult to explain, they return energy to your legs. As I started going faster I could feel the effort returning as energy back into my legs. I was going faster and faster and loving the feeling. This course finishes on a grass area and these shoes do not like soft grass however my final 1k had been 3mins 39secs giving me an overall time of 19mins 37secs. This was 36secs faster than the previous week, with no additional training.
My super shoes bought in September 2022 were £149.99. I’ve run 96k in them, only using them for ‘special’ occasions or races and they still deliver. This wasn’t a scientific test but to me the evidence is crystal clear. These shoes enhance your performance (not necessarily on grass, trail or in rain) by 5/10secs per kilometre and you don’t even need this season's new additions!
For more top tips on running your best 5k please do check out my page ‘Wear and Gear’ for other things I’ve done which have improved my running enjoyment, and speed and prevented me from getting injured.
Next week/month I’m feeling the itch to go on tour to somewhere new. Last year in the month of February I travelled to Folkestone, University Parks (in Oxford) and Catford really varied and wonderful events. Looking forward to what February 2024 will offer.
Any thoughts on the rise of On-Running shoes Aqasa? https://www.on-running.com/en-us/explore/technology