So, these things happened this morning:
1) First full 22.5km run on the track. (I usually run the warm-up or cool down out on the streets.)
2) First track workout spent during the RAIN and WIND (yes, the weather tricked me. No rain when I left home to go to the track. Two-ish laps in and the drizzle started, building up to a fairly heavy downpour for most of the run. And guess what? No tripping or slipping over after all! So, have banished and conquered that particular track downer and fear for now.)
3) First track workout where I was listening to music whilst looking at Garmin and keeping a set pace (threshold pace for most of it, between 4:07 and 4:18). Yes, when it got hard, the usual suspects (Bon Jovi, Santana, Prince, Roxette, The Killers, Daft Punk etc) were there to spur me on and keep me company.
4) First half marathon time of 1:31!!! Yay! A PB for me!!! (Please give me a definitive answer – does a PB count if it’s just in training and not in an official, chip-timed race??) SOOO stoked and excited by this! That is a whole 3 minutes off my last time at Shanghai. Hmm, yes, there were no other runners to dodge around, but then I had the monotony of the track plus the wind and rain working against me, so I am pretty chuffed with my result. I know, I know, it’s not super speedy, not like some who can run one in 1:20 or 1:15 (I can only dream of ever getting there) but it is my own PB and I am thrilled. It goes to show that I am slowly getting faster due to this training. Here’s what I did this morning: 3.22km easy pace, 4.8km threshold pace, 1.6km easy, 4.8km threshold, 1.6km easy, 5.1km threshold (to get to 21.1!), then an easy/recovery pace for the last 1.4km.
5) First post-run Sunday selfie for this blog. Haha, I was so happy I took TWO. Don’t judge me!
J