Failed Treadmill Speed Workout

I ran a 17:26 treadmill 5K in early December, and then I bested that in late December with a 17:07. That got me thinking...

... could I see "16" at the front of my time for a treadmill 5K?...

I went for it on Friday. Based on my 17:07 treadmill 5K about 5 weeks ago, I had a pretty decent idea of what speeds I'd have to run to make 16:5x possible: I started at 10.6 mph for just about 0.1 miles, then up to 10.8 mph for a few tenths of a mile, and then held it at 10.9 mph until around mile 1.9 or so. Around mile 1, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to finish, and I suppose that's a goal of a super hard run.

Around mile 1.9, I bumped it up from 10.9 mph to 11.1 mph, then 11.3 a bit later, and then 11.4 mph around mile 2.7 or so. But at 2.8 miles (without even THINKING about it), I found myself hopping off the treadmill. I was done 0.3 miles short.

Being my treadmill only gives tenths and not hundredths, I don't know exactly how far I was when I stopped. The treadmill said 2.8 miles, but it wasn't RIGHT when it clicked over to 2.8 miles, so I'd guess I was around 2.82 miles. Here are my half mile splits:

2:47, 2:45, 2:44, 2:44, 2:42, 1:39 (0.3+ miles) = 15:24 for 2.8+ miles

If that were EXACTLY 2.8 miles, I'd be at 5:30 overall pace and I'd have hit 3.1 miles at 17:03 (but I had sped up the treadmill throughout, so I was running faster than my "average" speed near the end). If it was 2.82 miles, my overall average pace would have been 5:27.66, and that would have put me at 16:55.7 for 3.1 miles. If I ran the exact same speed as my previous full half mile for that last 1:39, that'd put me only 0:02 past 0.3 miles, but I had been speeding the treadmill up, so it was longer than 0:02 past 0.3 miles. Anyway, I was totally on track, but I just couldn't pull it off!

Climbing heart rate throughout.


No walking (duh), and a lot of zone 5.


My cadence is high when I run fast! (Except for that last
really low red dot showing I had stepped off the treadmill...)

I can't do this workout as my next speed workout (as I try to not do the same speed workouts back-to-back), but MAYBE I'll take another stab at this in 4 weeks or so.