Fast Treadmill Long Runs!

Every long run of December has been on the treadmill.

• Dec 1st and 8th: I posted about my first two noting that my first one was rough and the 2nd one was better. The 2nd one had "pace miles" in the middle that started at 9.1 mph and sped up every half mile (speeding up at 3 other random times as well) for the middle 6 miles in 36:55 (6:09.17 pace).

• Dec 15th: My 3rd long run had "pace miles" that didn't quite last for all 6 miles: I started faster at 9.3 mph but only lasted for 5.6 miles. It was 33:53 (6:03.04 pace).

That brings us to these last 2 long runs that ROCKED...

• Dec 22nd: Last week, I was feeling risky and thought I'd start faster again. I started the "pace miles" at 9.3 mph, and I upped the speed at 4 other times as well (mile 1, mile 3, mile 5, and another one near the end), so I ended at 10.8 mph. My half mile splits looked like this:

3:12, 3:11, 3:07, 3:04, 3:04, 3:00, 2:58, 2:56, 2:54, 2:52, 2:50, 2:46

= 35:59.8 (5:59.97/mile!)

I knew as I was speeding up that I could be close to averaging 6:00 for those miles, as I was at 10.0 mph right near the middle of those faster miles (meaning half would be slower than 6:00 pace and half would be faster). I was thrilled with that!

• Dec 29th: I was hoping this week's long run would be outside, but as the weekend approached, they were calling for 5+ inches of snow on Sunday night. So it looked like this hours before my long run:

Welp, back to the treadmill. (I love running outside when it's cold,
but if I try to run FAST on slick footing, I hurt my knee or heel.)

Because my previous speed workout was kind of a FAIL, I went even harder on this run. I started these last few long runs with "pace miles" starting at 9.3 mph, but this time I started at 9.4 mph. I thought I'd try to be just as fast as last week, because maybe I wouldn't speed up an "extra" time after a mile. But I still sped up those extra times! (At mile 1, mile 3, and mile 5.) So this one ended up being WELL under 6:00 pace!

3:11, 3:10, 3:04, 3:03, 3:01, 2:59, 2:57, 2:54, 2:52, 2:51, 2:49, 2:46

= 35:43 (5:57.17/mile!)

Because I started faster and kept it that way throughout, those splits are all 1-2 seconds faster than the corresponding splits from last week's workout (except for the last split because both workouts ended at 10.8 mph - I didn't speed up one last time with a few tenths left on this last run like I did last week).

So this recent workout was faster than my "new best treadmill long run ever" post from 10 months ago, and just a LITTLE slower than one that came a few weeks after that that I only mention at the top of this post where I ran 35:37 (5:56.17/mile) for my "pace miles." (In that workout, I did 9.4 mph up to 10.9 mph, and the 4 "extra" speed ups were all a bit sooner: 0.7 miles, 2.7 miles, 4.7 miles, and within the last half mile.)

I had the time on Monday (as neither the boys nor I had school), so I got in a bit longer of a run... I kept running on my cool down:

12.2 miles on the treadmill in 1:22:02 (6:43/mile). Lots of sweat drips.

Yes, treadmill runs are "easier" than outdoor runs, but again, I'm just happy to get in some hard running!

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