10 minutes faster...

Lately I've been really frustrated with my longer runs.  I've really struggled with anything over 4 miles (as you might have noticed with my posts the last few weeks).  I've found myself having to walk when normally I wouldn't be phased at all.  It's been horribly demoralizing and I keep hoping for a good run, but keep having nothing but bad runs that have me concerned that I have bit off way more than I can chew with my half marathons I've scheduled.

Last night I decided to go for a run to break in the new Ipod Shuffle.  I was planning on going for 5 miles (training program called for 4.5).  I wanted to make up for some missed mileage from Saturday when I didn't finish my long run.  Anyway, the weather was beautiful and it was perfect for an evening run.

Long story short, I had a great run.  My pace was good, my legs felt strong, and my breathing was calm.  I decided around the 2 mile mark that I was going to go for a 10k distance instead of 5 miles just to see my time.  My first 10k that I ever ran was run on the same pathway that I did my run on last night, and I wanted to see how my time would compare with where I was at back in the fall.  Here's a quick look at my run:

You can see that my heart rate was good (for me) and that my splits were somewhat steady, and my overall pace was great for me!  I compared it to my 10k time from last year and found that I had ran a 10k 10 minutes faster than I was capable of doing last September.  10 minutes!  That's a 15% improvement!  Sometimes I get so caught up in where I want to be as a runner and where I think I should be and I forget to celebrate in the successes that I've had.  If I continue at this level of improvement, in 6-8 months I would be able to run a 10k in under an hour which is something I never thought I'd be able to do.  Sounds like a challenge to strive for!