There are four stretches of dirt trail, each ranging from .1 to .5 miles, along my standard running routes where my pace as it relates to effort doesn’t make sense in the context of the terrain. It’s common knowledge that we tend to run faster on most downhills whereas going uphill requires more effort.
Two of these stretches, roughly .1 mile each, have a clear elevation change. Both are gradual but they’re fairly easy to see. However, when going uphill along them, I never have any issue maintaining or increasing my pace.
There’s a .5 mile stretch near my house and when I’m on my way back on a run, it occurs between 1.5 miles and 1 mile to go. There is clearly elevation change of the uphill variety on this stretch and I can definitely feel more strain. However, my pace always gets faster along it. More absurdly, it’s not like this is a case of getting closer to home because I find the final mile that follows it to be challenging and my results within it are all over the place. Note, this oddity of being unexpectedly faster is fine, it’s just odd.
The final and most perplexing of these four is a .25 mile stretch just west of me. It looks pancake flat. According to my watch, there is elevation gain but it’s not significant. However, every time I run it, my pace gets clobbered and I struggle, even if I’m pushing hard to compensate. Running the opposite direction on it, I might still feel terrible and yet my pace is noticably faster. At least there’s benefit in the opposite direction. I would say this stretch is in my head but a couple of friends of mine have experienced the same phenomenon.
I did a post some time back about the illogical effect of places on a couple of athletes’ and team’s performances. I suppose this is in the same vein of places where reality doesn’t meet expectations.
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