Sunday Morning Speed Demon

Some people go to church on Sundays, some other wake up extra early to go for a run while their better half sleeps the morning away. I am from that second bunch :)

Today, I decided to do a bit of speed work and head for the track. I went to a new track that I thought was closer to home at Sacred Heart High School. Turns out it's actually a bit farther. The track itself was pretty nice, it was dry already despite some rain yesterday. My Garmin told me that it wasn't an exact 400m, but I can live with that.
What became quickly obvious through my warming up and the first few laps is that I was fast today. Some calculations done while running pegged me at a pace faster than I had ever run. As any runner will know, you should be wary of any mathematics done while running. Pace, kilometers, minutes, seconds, there's too many variables to keep track of while pushing your body to its limit and trying not to trip on anything. So I kept pushing and eventually decided to transform my track program into an all out gunning for the best.

My previous Personal Best (PB) on a 10k is almost 2 years old. I trained really hard that summer, going for 10k runs about 3 times a week plus running to work (a 2.5km commute back then) every day. My best time ever on a 10k stood at 44m43s from October 17, 2007. That was then. Today, as I crossed the 10k mark, my Garmin read to me 44m24s! YIPPI! That's a full 19 seconds faster. The runners reading will know what I'm talking about. Two seconds per km doesn't seem like much to you non runners but to runners (at least at my level) it's a pretty significant improvement.

I had no idea I had this in me this morning. I'm really happy that I was able to finally top that previous PB. Ever since my disastrous plantar fasciitis injury, I had been crippled mentally and physically, afraid to push the envellope. Today, I broke this hold and opened the door for even bigger and faster goals.
So here is the breakdown for the actual track portion of the run. I slowed down considerably coming home after pushing so hard.

4 quick 400m: 01:44 01:45 01:51 01:45
2 recovery 400m: 02:04 01:55
4 quick 400m: 01:52 01:49 01:53 01:54
2 recovery 400m (I kinda gave up the recovery gunning for the PB): 01:54 01:50
4 quick 400m (I crosse the 10k during the 3rd lap, can you tell?): 01:50 01:52 02:09 02:03
2 recovery 400m: 02:08 02:04

A funny thing happened on the way home, at least it would have been funny had anyone been awake and watching. As I was running and drinking, my water bottle popped open and I got splatterred red Powerade all over my face, shirt and left shoe. Does anybody know how to clean sports drinks from shoes?

Now I'm off to brunch with the foodiePrints brunch club. (I had a bit of a snack so they don't think I'm an ogre again eating a steak for breakfast like last time). It will be hard to hide my smiling grin caused by the rush of endorphins. Call it being the zone, high, ecstatic, happy, whatever you call it, I got it today!

In the mix was Dragonfly's classic goa trance compilation A voyage into trance. I'm sure those rocking beats played a part in my PB today.