Christmas Treadmill Tempo Run
>> Saturday, December 26, 2020
Well, after having TOO MANY cinnamon rolls, some superhero waffles from our new waffle maker, and lots of bacon...
Two weeks ago, I ran a hard descending 3 miles on the treadmill in 17:26, and I was hoping to break that. (On that run, I started at 10.0 mph for a mile, and then sped up by 0.2 mph every half mile ending at 10.8 mph for the final half mile.) So I did the same adjust-the-treadmill-every-half-mile-after-the-first-mile routine as last time, only I started 0.2 mph faster at 10.2 mph. I told Henry as I went to the basement to run that I was hoping to hit 11 mph on this treadmill for the first time.
And, shockingly, after that breakfast, everything went as planned! I warmed up a mile, then started running hard: 10.2 mph for the next mile, and then 0.2 mph bumps in speed every 1/2 mile after that. So I ran half-mile splits of: 2:57, 2:56, 2:53, 2:49, 2:46, and 2:43 totaling 17:06 for 3 miles. (Yes, that's on a flat treadmill, so not AS fast as running outside.)
My next "hard" run in 2 weeks should be something different (I can't KEEP doing JUST 3 mile tempo runs), but the next time I try this, I'll have to start the speed even higher. I love games like this.
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3 comments:
should use 1-2% incline to replicate outside running. Running on treadmill at 0% is a slight downhill and tough on knees.
Anon: On longer runs, I "play" with the incline to mix it up a bit. But I've been advised not to do too much because of my heel issues. (I know that it's not comparable to outdoor running, but that doesn't matter.) And the thing that EVERYONE has told me when my running form is evaluated is that my footstrikes get so much better the faster I go, so running faster on a treadmill is actually better on my knees than other people - I know one of the issues with treadmill running is that speed can hurt the knees, but my form keeps me out of that subset of people apparently! :)
Better footstrike the faster you go. Thanks for giving me food for thought. I tend to go slow and steady, and injured, but maybe going faster would help.
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