A Good Treadmill Speed Workout

I don't know if you heard... the midwest had some nasty, heavy, wet snow this past week. NOT the kind of weather we like mid-April. So when I had a moment for a little speed workout, I hit the treadmill.

I first posted about this workout in this Examiner article about 3 years ago. It's considered a V02 max test, but I've used it a few times just as some quick speed work.

The workout is this:

• Warm-up: Run easy for a while. I'll do 10-20 minutes (sometimes 2 miles).

• Workout: Speed up the treadmill by 0.5 mph every 60 seconds until you see a white light and your favorite childhood puppy. Well, maybe stop just before that.

• Cool-down: 1 mile (or so) easy running.

I've done it a few times in the past, and I've done it once since we got new treadmills at the Y. The old treadmills would "max out" at 12 mph, so I'd just see how long I could hold it there once I hit that speed. (I think my PR was around 3 minutes.) But the new treadmills keep going. My goal was to see if I could hit 13.0 mph.

I ran 2 miles easy in 15:48 (around 7.5 mph), and then started the guts of the workout. As I sped it up every 60 seconds, I tried to make sure I was ending each minute by "running easy" - I wanted to keep it feeling easy and not labored (even if it WAS getting tough).

My 0.5 mile splits as I was speeding up were:

3:29 (6:58 pace)
2:56 (5:52 pace)
2:36 (5:12 pace)

I made it past 12.0 mph, 12.5 mph, and I held 13.0 mph for about 15 seconds to finish another 0.25 mile in about 1:10. Those final 75 seconds were killer: 12.5 mph is 4:48 pace and 13.0 mph is 4:36 pace! So the heart of the workout was 1.75 miles in 10:11 (average of 5:49 pace).

(Yes, it was a bit easier because I was on a treadmill, but I still use it as a bit of a gauge of fitness.)

So that's ALMOST the longest I've ever lasted for that workout! I did 1 minute at 12.0 mph, another minute at 12.5 mph, and then 15 seconds at 13.0 mph, whereas my best in the past was somewhere around 3 minutes at 12.0 mph.

I'll have some fun "BIKE news" next week, a BIG update on the Gear West Duathlon relay drama, and possibly a GIVEAWAY in the works! Stop back! Happy weekend!