First Treadmill Intervals of the Season

The TC 10 Mile was over 4 weeks ago, and I had some calf pain in my next long run 8 days later (as we were getting ready to leave town for a 6-day road trip to Yellowstone). Finally, about 2.5 weeks after the race, I had a normal-feeling run. So then this past Friday (nearly 4 weeks post-race), I FINALLY felt ready to throw in some speed work!

My last post was about it snowing here on Thursday. Well, it was still icy on Friday morning, so it wasn't conducive to hitting the track - I would have been slipping everywhere. Here was a pic from later in the morning on Friday that showed some sweet fog in the middle of St. Paul:

So I got up and hit the treadmill before sunrise. I figured I'd start with a pretty normal 3x1 mile intervals with about 2-2:30 walking rest between. After a 1 mile warm-up and then 0.2 miles of walking, I was ready to crank up the speed. I didn't look back to last year's treadmill workouts - I didn't care much about the time and just wanted to run hard.

For the first interval, I started at 10.6 mph, and then went up to 10.7 after a half mile, and then 10.8 for the last 1/4 mile or so.

For the 2nd, I started at 10.8 and bumped it up a little sooner to 10.9 and 11.0 mph.

And for the 3rd, I started and 11.0, and moved it up every minute or 2 ending at 11.4 for the last bit.

My splits were:

2:50 + 2:47 = 5:38.2
2:28 walking (0.2 miles)

2:47 + 2:44 = 5:31.3
2:14 walking (0.2 miles)

2:43 + 2:39 = 5:23.2

Here's what my screen looked like part way through my cool down:

Showing the intervals and the current cool down happening.
(There was a longer warm-up that was off
the screen - it just shows the last 30 mins.)

Between an easy trainer spin on Thursday, this treadmill run on Friday, and then a longer trainer ride on Saturday, it feels like winter finally got here! But luckily I got out for a decent long run (in the 50 degree rain) on Monday morning. I'll avoid the treadmill at all costs, but I need it if it's slippery for long runs or fast runs - my knees hate "running tight" trying not to fall on a slick surface. Love cold weather running, but I need normal footing!