No pain, no gain...

Park Loop in 19:30...

Whilst sitting at my desk just prior to heading off to the gym, I thought... "To be honest, I have not run hard or fast enough for sometime where it hurts you to keep going."

On the way to the gym, I maintained that thought and began to mentally prepare myself for that tougher run than usual (of late).

At the start line of the Park Loop, my mind was still unchanged, so I set off at a reasonable pace, completing the first 250 metres in 53 seconds rather than the typical minute. Now it was all about keeping going. I reached the kilometre at 4:03, where recently those times have been more like 4:20 to 4:30 (even a few lazy 4:40s).

I stepped up the pace, and reached the mile mark at 6:40 (including stopping and starting at three separate kissing gates). My times at this point have been 7:00 at best and usually anything up to 7:20. My 2km time was 8:15 instead of the typical 8:40 to 8:50.

At the halfway mark, my time was 9:15 rather than anything up to 10:00.

I reached the top of the Pewterspear Garden Path at 11:54 (the 2,800 metre mark), instead of 12:30+. I again kept the pace going and yes for me (at this moment in time) it was hurting more than normal. I exited the Pewterspear Garden Path at 15:24, instead of 16:30+.

With a sub-20 in my sights, I continued to maintain the same pace and completed the 4.45km in 19:30 exactly, which equals my best Park Loop run of 2007 obtained on the 13th March.

No pain, no gain! Although, I felt that if I really wanted to, I could have taken on more pain, but that was enough for today.


Start: 2:47 pm
Time: 19:30 Park Loop
Distance: 4.45km (2.77m)

Average speed: 13.692kmh (8.508mph)
Average pace: 4:23 per km (7:03 per mile)

Heart rate: HRavg 167, HRmax 176, and 319kcals