Failed 3x1 Mile Intervals on the Treadmill

I went to the small gym (for anyone not on a sports team) at the university where I teach. I got there REALLY early hoping I could use it... not fully sure of the rules. I was the first one in for the day:

Claiming the right treadmill.


Wide angle shot of the entire gym. It's small!


Right next to a radiator - it was WARM!

I went there to try a 3x1 mile interval workout on a more "responsive" treadmill (ours at home is SLOW to get to speed, and it only shows tenths instead of hundredths of a mile), and because I always feel like running super fast on our treadmill at home is abusive to it. The plan was to do what I did 5 weeks ago, only speed everything up by 0.1 mph: so that meant starting the 3 intervals at 10.9 mph, 11.1 mph, and 11.4 mph (and speeding up twice within each interval).

I took off and immediately liked being able to see the hundredths of a mile. It's not a big deal in easy runs or even in long runs where I run a bit harder. But in more of an "all out" interval, it's nice to have more info than just "Wait... it's reading 0.9 miles, but is it about to click over to 1.0 miles? Or did it just hit 0.9 miles and I have another 30 seconds before 1.0 miles yet?"

First one went well. The second one felt a little harder. And as I got up to speed for the 3rd one, I wasn't sure I'd be able to hold it. Sure enough, I found myself jumping off the treadmill a 1/2 mile into that final mile interval. Dang. But also, I like finding my limit. I've been successfully pushing harder on the treadmill recently, and I knew it wasn't going to last. Bummed I couldn't finish this workout like I had hoped, but also realistic about knowing that would happen one of these days.

Here were my splits:

#1: 2:44 + 2:42 = 5:26.9
0.18 walking: 2:38 (started to speed up at 2:15)

#2: 2:42 + 2:39 = 5:21.5
0.20 walking: 2:40

#3: 2:36 - DEAD after a half mile

Those first 2 intervals were each about 5 seconds faster than this same workout last month, and if I were able to hold on for that 3rd interval, I'd have ran my fastest treadmill mile ever: probably around 5:10-5:12. But it didn't happen.

After a 2 mile cool-down, all of my sweat drips from the workout had dried.
(Yes, I wiped it down well afterwards!)


I stupidly wore a cotton shirt. Here it is in a wet pile post-workout.


2.5 intervals.

This isn't an excuse, but I felt a bit better about "failing" this workout a little later when I remembered that I had a 2 hour trainer ride the day before with 5x10 min intervals in the middle:

Maybe SOME reason for the failed interval workout 16 hours later.