For the first time in her decorated athletics career, Sally Pearson is having fun.
The Olympic 100 metre hurdles champion says her change of coach has brought a change in attitude.
"I love it and I have fun - I know I always said that in the past, but now I genuinely mean it within myself," Pearson said on Friday.
"I have always loved it, but I don't whether I actually had fun doing it."
Pearson split from her long-time coach Sharon Hannan last October, ending a wildly-successful 14-year partnership.
The Queenslander said her new coach, former training partner Antony Drinkwater-Newman, was rejuvenating.
"I'm taking a different spin on how I approach the sport now and the reasons why I do it," Pearson said.
"I have taken a lot of pressure off myself, which is probably the main thing that I have noticed over the last 20 weeks that I have been training with my new coach.
"I have been able to train with less intensity ... I'm having a lot more fun now and I'm having a lot more freedom with the program."
Pearson's Australian season continues at the Adelaide Track Classic on Saturday, but there won't be a rematch with sprint rival Mel Breen, who has skipped the meet.
Breen broke the Australian record in a 100m heat, clocking 11.11 seconds, and then defeated Pearson by 0.12s in the final last Sunday in Canberra.
"I remember last Sunday when I raced her, being so excited with how I ran and how we pushed each other," Pearson said.
"I had the biomechanist look over it and the times were level 60 metres. And then obviously I ran out of puff and couldn't go any faster."
Pearson believed she could eclipse Breen's new record mark.
"It definitely is achievable but you have got to remember, I'm a hurdler," she said.
"A lot of my technique is based around getting over 10 flights (hurdles) in a 100 metre race, so there's a lot of technical things we do differently.
"I don't focus my sessions on sprinting ... I train on getting over the hurdles and getting out of the blocks differently than a sprinter. So sometimes it's hard for me to switch over in the starting blocks to come out like Melissa does."
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