Failed Treadmill Speed Workout

I've posted about how I've been feeling GREAT during my long runs on the treadmill lately. So I was ready to KILL it in my 2x2 mile workout on the treadmill on Friday! But instead it "killed" me.

I do this workout often, and I last did it on the treadmill about a year ago: at that time, I ran a 11:50 and 11:24 noting that the 11:50 felt a bit easy. During that workout a year ago, I was slower than 10 mph (6:00 pace) for the first half mile, and then I sped up a little to end at 10.4 mph. During the workout on Friday, warmed up for 1.2 miles and then walked for 0.2 miles. For the first interval, I started at 10.2 mph for the first mile, then 10.3 for 0.5 miles and 10.4 for the final 0.5 mile:

2:57, 2:57, 2:53, 2:53 = 11:41

Here was my view during my nearly 3 minute walking break before interval #2:

After the first interval. From l-to-r on the screen: warm-up,
walking for 2-3 mins, 1st interval, and then currently walking.

I was feeling worked. I started the 2nd interval again at 10.2 mph, but then bumped it up to 10.3 mph at 0.5 miles instead of after a full mile. But then after a mile, I was done. I bumped it up to 10.4 mph, but then pretty quickly threw in the towel after 1 mile instead of 2. Damn it.

Stopping early: a full 2 mile interval left-of-center, and
then just another 1 mile interval before jogging easier.

The final mile interval (which should have been TWO) looked like this:

2:56, 2:55 = 5:52

I thought "Well yep... just a 'reality check.' I had a few good treadmill runs, but now this. That happens." My legs didn't feel that bad after - I didn't feel SUPER worked, but I just couldn't keep it up during that workout.

It wasn't until looking at those photos I took of the screen above 2 days post-workout that I realized what happened! It wasn't just a "bad" workout! My wife had cranked up the incline a little (something I don't do becauase it's too hard on my always problematic calf muscles) and it didn't reset after her workout. So notice that both of those photos show an incline of "4" above!!

Whoops!!!!!!

I SOMETIMES bump it up to 2 or 3 for a minute just to break things up in my long runs, but before Friday's workout, I probably ran 0.7 miles at an incline of 2 or 3 over the last 200 miles of treadmill miles. And then I did 6 miles at an incline of 4, including some miles of HARD running!

So maybe I still am "running well" on the treadmill. I wish I hadn't botched that incline so I could compare it to last year's workout. Mostly, I'm just glad my calves didn't feel all jacked up after that!!!

We'll see how I feel on today's long run. I hoping to have another big "bike trainer week" this week like I did two weeks ago, so maybe I'll ease up a little on today's run. Just playing it by ear.