Parkrun Saturday The first HOKA test

I was really looking forward to today’s Parkrun. I hadn’t been there for two weeks. What with Grandma’s Marathon and a week’s vacation with family. This was also going to be my first test of my new HOKA Carbon supershoes. So I was a little extra nervous. There was a lot riding on this run.

When we arrived nice and early, the event was being set up. The race director looked like he could do with a little help, so I offered my services. I wasn’t signed up to help, but parkrunners also get credit for the volunteering that they do. We all pitch in together to get the event going. I assembled the feather sign and worked on the start/finish area, and was really pleased with my work. Until…

Start and finish, including the funnel

All my own work…

Proud sign assembler

Oops. It’s tradition at the start here to list the number of the run in chalk on the trail. I think the official abbreviation for our run is CHL (CourtHouse Lake). I went on a totally different track and was trying to do Courthouse Lake Parkrun (CLP). But ended up with CPL - Courthouse Parkrun Lake… As I look at this now, I am reminded of a hilarious commercial for COMPAQ computers by John Cleese from the mid 1980’s. 

They probably won’t have me back to do the start-line again after this.

You only had one job Ian…

So to the run. As I had busied myself at the start-line for so long, I had cut short my warm up time. But I got half a mile in these new shoes. The first thing I noticed was how quiet they were. My wave riders give a nice firm slap as they hit the road. But because of the curve of the carbon plate inside these new shoes, your foot rolls and pushes you along the road. It’s a more efficient transference of energy. I felt it on the treadmill but this this was my first experience on the road.

There would be no new PB using these shoes today. It was too hot. It was in the 70’s at the start. When I set my PB for this course it was in the 50’s. I was under no illusions that these shoes could compensate for a 20 degree temperature differential.

Nine am arrived and we were given the order to start, and knowing that my training plan allows me to run flat out park runs, that’s what I did. I went off like a mad thing. The proper runners disappeared into the distance and I cruised along, not knowing when my marathon legs would kick in. 

My Garmin chirped at the first mile, it read 7:13. That’s fast. Is that the HOKA effect? (I checked my parkrun records. This is my fastest parkrun first mile split. Period.) 

I knew by the turn at 1.5 miles that I had gone off way too fast. I started to feel the heat and I think my marathon legs started to rebel a bit too. My splits of 8:08 and 8:24 weren’t unrespectable by themselves but I was flagging quite badly. I gutted the rest of the way out, being passed by a younger runner with better pace discipline than I about half a mile from the finish. 24:08 was a pretty good time.

The tale of the tape

Actually, 24:08 was a very good time. It was my second fastest parkrun time so far. I’d had one other parkrun in 70 degree temperatures and I was a full one minute and ten seconds faster than that. Is that the super shoe effect? It’s easy to get carried away and say “WOW! Amazing! But more quick times are needed. What I need to do is run the same course when the temperatures are in the 50’s and smash a new PB by a similar amount. Then I will be totally on board. 

Carbon plate shoes are definitely different. They feel different on your feet, they sound different on the road. I was definitely aware of  being faster through a couple of corners out there. Some people swear by Carbon shoes, I’ve met people who say don’t believe the hype. But for me, this first result is very, promising.