Two Speed Workouts: Treadmill Tempo in Rome, and Ladder Intervals on the Track in St. Paul

Earlier this week, I posted about a long run in Rome. I had a speed workout in Rome as well: we got in on Friday afternoon 2 weeks ago, and once we got settled, I hit the hotel's treadmill for a quick hard 3 mile run.

I warmed-up a bit and figured out what I was going to do being the treadmill's speed was in kilometers (I mean, OF COURSE it was, but it wasn't something I had thought of ahead of time), and then I reset everything and got ready to run hard. I took splits ever 0.8 kilometers (800 meters) and ran 4.80 kilometers, or just shy of 3 standard miles. Yes, I was going for a 5K, but I was DONE! Here's how sweaty the treadmill was when I finished:

All those drips on the floor were me. Oops.
(Yes, I wiped them up with a gym towel.)


Where I stretched post-run...


... here are the sweat marks with labels.


I got my heart pumping.

It was an extra sweaty run because it was down in the lower level of our hotel along with their spa. So coming down the final set of stairs, it suddenly got about 10 degrees warmer as one would like it to be for a massage. So it was EXTRA HOT down there!

Here's what I ran:

Started too easy, but had better 800 meter splits after the first mile.


Back in our swanky room.


We were going to go for a walk, but we shortened it after seeing what was coming...


... so we stopped 2 doors down at a gelato place (note the rain outside to the far right)...


... where Sarah got a Nutella crepe and I got a lemon-sugar crepe.

That was 2 weeks ago at the start of our trip. Then 1 week ago I just ran easy on Friday: I'd had back-to-back weeks of speed work and then a week of walking a LOT of vacation, so I didn't want to overdo it. So yesterday, I hit the track here at home for some more speed. This time, I figured I'd throw in some longer intervals after lots of shorter track workouts leading up to the Raspberry Run 1 Mile last month.

So yesterday I did a ladder workout: 400, 800, 1200, 1600, 1200, 800, 400 with 2 mins rest between. It was a workout I stumbled across from over 9 years ago that I did with my running team. I didn't have the splits from back then memorized, but I hit the track yesterday knowing that my longer intervals had about a 1:22/lap average. So I had something to beat!

Here's what I ran, with my rest time in parentheses after my splits (and I took 400 meter splits for everything except for my 1600 where I took 800 meter splits):

400: 1:18.0 (1:59)
800: 2:40.3 = 1:20.0, 1:20.3 (1:59)
1200: 4:03.0 = 1:19.1, 1:23.8, 1:20.1 (2:00)
1600: 5:24.1 = 2:43.9, 2:41.2 (1:59)
1200: 4:02.1 = 1:19.8, 1:21.9, 1:20.4 (1:59)
800: 2:35.8 = 1:18.1, 1:17.7 (1:59)
400: 1:14.6

So how did that compare to this same workout nearly a decade ago?

EVEN 400
2 sec FASTER 800
3 sec FASTER 1200
4 sec FASTER 1600
3 sec FASTER 1200
3 sec FASTER 800
3 sec SLOWER 400

So only slower in the final 400. I think I can chalk that up to younger legs in 2014. :)

Lots of laps.


Yep, that all seems about right.