I set out alone from the Curry Village parking lot at 6:20am and joined the crowds who were setting off for Half Dome. Their route diverged from mine in Little Yosemite Valley and I made good progress to the slabs above the Merced Gorge which is where the route leaves the trail, hitting this point at 9:30am. My strategy for moving quickly is simple: don't stop. If you have to stop and rest, then you're working too hard. This means eating and drinking while moving. Having done the route the previous year helped greatly since I didn't need to stop and consult the map. Being an experienced climber, the summit blocks were quickly dispatched and my watch read 12:22pm on the summit. I was quite tired at this point, but the remainder of the trip was downhill. Hiking cross country is really much easier in daylight! 3:02pm found me intersecting the trail down the Illilouette Creek drainage and 6:00pm found me back at the car.
To emulate Warren, I just have to repeat this (albeit more slowly) for another 20 years.