The secret to running a faster pace: trying

Pacing well, at least for now

Today's run (street): 2.5 miles

It's interesting to see how a little extra effort can result in much better performance. Once again, I beat the 9:00 threshold this morning with a run that took exactly the same time as yesterday's. Running this way is not easy by any definition, but I haven't been going all out as I'd do in a race. On average, I'm probably registering a 3 (out of 5) on the effort meter. This week it's been closer to a 4.5.

It's no miracle that my performance this week has improved about 6% over my average for weekday runs at 4:00 AM. Back in 2009, I would beat 9:00 paces regularly. That was probably due to going out with the expectation that I'd run as fast as I could manage. I also used to monitor my pace as I ran, whereas now I only look at elapsed time on my Garmin.

The pace I ran this morning felt a little harder than it did on prior days, and I wondered if I tried to put too many hard runs together in a row. But even so, it wasn't an all out effort. I recovered quickly after I finished, with no residual effects later. I'm going to work on base tomorrow and probably won't be seeing the same pace that I've been able to achieve this week. I do hope the higher cadence and harder running I've been doing will help me when I run greater distances this weekend.