Blown away by my own speed

I wasn’t slow when I first started running almost 5 years ago. I ran my first 10km race in 51 minutes and my first half marathon in 1:51:13. Not a bad pace.

The thing that niggled me a little though was that from then on for the next 3 years I pretty much ran at the same speed. I cut my race times by a couple of minutes but I felt that I had already reached my peak potential.

Leggings like that make you run faster. Fact.

Then I started Crossfit and (insert yet another Ode to Crossfit) I have not only not been injured at all, I have been speeding up!

For the past 6+ months I’ve been running with averages that used to be in the Utopia Zone for me. In fact my brain still can’t quite grasp the fact that they in fact are NOT in the Utopia Zone anymore. I’ve been running my lunchtime 5kms in 22-23 minutes and my lunchtime 10kms in sub-50 easy: last week I ran 10km in 47:01 and yesterday I ran 10km in 46:44.

Mind. Blown.

I did say I was running sub-50 minute 10kms “easy” but runners know that that means you don’t feel like dying but there is a chance that you do feel like throwing up. A good fast run for me is one where I don’t feel like throwing up until after 8kms 🙂

Boom! On my bum.

Anyway, there isn’t any other point to this post really other than to say that – I’m freaking excited to be running FAST!  It just shows that speed WILL happen in time, you just have to give it time (like – years) AND you have to do some weight training. Seriously – muscles are what power you on.

And to keep my running training interesting and varied, I’m going to be doing some heart rate training again, inspired by Scallywags Sprints and some rhythmic breathing, inspired by an article on Runner’s World.  The latter I’ve done already on my last two runs and it’s very addictive and zen to be counting your breaths.

What’s been making your running heart happy these days?

Leggings by: Viking Warrior Nutrition
Jacket by: Lululemon