Okay... so I am doing an easy three on Tuesday afternoon and it is going real nice and easy. I feel that I am running a good pace between 10:30 and 11:00. To confirm this I look at my watch...
9:45???
This can not be right. I keep my pace as steady as possible and the pace only slows by about 5 seconds. I turn my attention back to my run. It felt too easy, there was no way I was running under 10 minutes per mile.
The day was clear and sunny. As I was coming up to a park I decided to stop at one of it's water fountains and get a sip. I also thought it might be a good idea to check my Forerunner. According to the navigation it had clear view of a number of satellites and good reception from those satellites as well.
Am I really getting faster?
I finished my three mile run at an avg 10:19 pace. This is not incredibly fast, but it is the fastest avg pace I have ran in a long time.... actually I think the fastest ever. hmmm.
So here comes Friday morning. I run before work, but this time is a little different than my other pre-work runs. Since I do not have to be in until late, I decide to take my time and actually jog a half mile as a warm up before I start my run.
The warm up felt nice and I got to the spot where I wanted to start my run. Hit the start button on my Forerunner and get going at a nice easy pace.
It was raining, so my jacket was covering my watch. I barely heard the beep when I reached my first mile split. Whenever I hear that beep I can not help but look at my split time, so I did...
9:52???
My mile split was actually less than 10 minutes? I can not believe this, it is my fastest mile time ever. So I decide to finish this short run fast. I was only doing two miles so I continued strong, and decided not to look at my watch at all the rest of the run.
I finished hard and out of breath, but not exhausted. I ended 2.02 miles in 20:08. A 9:59 pace. The fastest avg pace I have ever done during any run ever.
I am getting faster!?
For the rest of the day I felt like I was on top of the world. What does one do when they have such a huge milestone and breakthrough in performance? Find a race.
There is a 5k outside the Philadelphia Art Museum on April 18th. I have decided to sign up and go for a new PR. My current one is 32:14. Not really that fast by some standards, but that race was a milestone for me and gave me a huge boost in my confidence.
So if all things fall into place I will have a new PR in a couple of weeks. But if all things fall into place, and the stars and planets align correctly, and I warm up properly (something I do not always do), I think I will break 30 minutes.
If that happens, I will have a runners high for the entire weekend.
2 years ago
9 comments:
congratulations. Soon you'll (and me) will be down in the 8's and it won't feel any harder than an 11 does today. I feel the same way when I have a faster run. Do you ever do fartleks? Try running in the 8's for just 50 yards or so a couple times in your run. It's a blast.
Yeah, I imagine you're getting faster. That's why I like to time even my "easy" runs: I figure that if I'm really getting fitter, then not only will my race times improve but what I perceive as easy pace will also get faster.
And good luck in the upcoming race! I'm betting that 30:00 is gonna be toast!
Congrats! It's definitely a great feeling to see those diminishing paces on the Garmin :)
congrats! always fun to see your avg pace go down. :)
now just make sure you still take some runs easy! i know it gets tempting to keep seeing the faster pace, but you gotta let your body recover to keep getting faster. super nice job on gaining more fitness and speed - keep it up!
That's awesome! Great job on your times.
woohoo!! Good job =) I love how tangible running progresses are! You're doing great =)
It's an awesome feeling when you know that you are getting faster. Keep up the great running. Warmer weather and renewed inspiration makes great running!
Love seeing the progress man! It's only a matter of time til you see 9:30 or 9, keep it up!
Good job on your improvements. I think the key to getting faster is to just keep running consistently. You may not notice yourself getting faster, but I'm sure you'll notice the same run you did a week ago be a lot easier. Good luck on the 5k too, I need to sign up for a race too. It's hard to stay motivated when you have nothing to really train for.
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