Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Unrealistic Dreams Becoming Reality

I've always been competitive in my life, not just with opponents but with friends and especially myself. One thing that I've been competitive about in my running is the thought and briefly that I can always do better than I have been before. Back before the marathon and before I got hit with IT band pain I was able to set a 5 mile PR. Every Wednesday I run the same route with the run club, so I know when one run is better than the other. Using the iPhone app "Runkeeper" I am able to track the pace of my runs, swims, and biking, it uses the phone gps to pinpoint the route and speed.

Back on August 14th I set a time at 8:32/mile, amazed with myself and impressed I was satisfied, but only for the time being. Then when the IT band pain hit. I decoded to slow my pace and not hurt myself. But then October came around and the marathon came and went and my legs finally healed, then something amazing happened. I set a new PR for my 5 mile run. 

When I say I hit a new PR I don't mean by one or two seconds, but on October 23rd (exactly ten days after the LB marathon) I ran the same 5 mile course as always but I paced it at an 8:09/mile, a full 23 seconds faster than a couple months before!!! But that's not the last of it. Exactly seven days later, the very next Wednesday on the same 5 mike course I set ANOTHER PR. On October 30th, I ran the 5 mile route at a pace of 7:43/mile, a full 26 seconds faster than before, for the first time breaking an average pace of 8:00/mile for anything over 2 miles.

Knowing myself I was beyond excited with last weeks pace time. Then today, one week since my PR on the 30th, I decided I was going to push and see what I could do. I got off to a good start, setting a quick pace, running my fasted pace mile ever in my life (2nd mile was ran in 7min 5sec) and no mile was over 8min. For the 3rd week in a row I set a new PR, this week I ran my 5 mile course at a pace of 7:28/mile, dropping another 15 seconds per mile. 

Attached is a photo showing my pace time with the last 3 weeks and a comparative chart. Who knows where I plateau but I'm still going strong. Who knows what next week will bring!