Semi-Wordless Wednesday: My Cats While I Workout

My cats tend to hang around me while I work out. I came across an old photo from about 2 years ago with our cat Clark (who would end up dying shortly after this) watching me on the trainer:

Clark and Bruce just chillin'.

And then a treadmill run shortly after that started like this:

Clark, if you fall out of there, I'll end up trampling you!

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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.

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PR Long Run Treadmill Workout!!

After Friday's treadmill 5K PR workout where I ran 17:04, I started a long run on the treadmill on Monday with high hopes. I posted about some faster treadmill workouts throughout December last week, with the best one having my 6 faster miles in the middle done in 35:43 (5:57.17 pace).

I had the same plan for those "pace miles" for this week's run, but I was planning on speeding up a bit sooner. I speed up 0.1 mph every half mile, but I want to be able to take my splits every half mile... so I usually speed up on the 0.4s and 0.9s instead of the 0.5s and the 1.0s so that I'm not trying to speed up and take a split on my Garmin at the same time. But this time I was going to speed up on the 0.3s and 0.8s. So that ends up being 1.2 miles done 0.1 mph faster than last week. That sounds like it could be a lot, but it's really only the difference of a few seconds over those 6 miles. I was going for a PR on this long run.

I warmed up for 2.5 miles, then started the "pace miles" at 9.4 mph, speeding up 0.1 mph every half mile (at mile 2.8, mile 3.3, mile 3.8, etc.). I also sped up an EXTRA 0.1 mph within the pace miles at 4 different spots: at miles 1, 3, 5, and 5.5 miles to end at 10.9 mph. Here were my splits:

3:11, 3:09, 3:04, 3:02, 3:01, 2:59, 2:55, 2:54, 2:52, 2:51, 2:47, 2:45

= 35:34.9 (5:55.82/mile!)

That was about 8 seconds faster than the week before (that's the tiny difference that going 0.1 mph faster for 1.2 miles creates, along with speeding up 1 extra time near the end), and about 3 seconds faster that my PR for this workout which came about 11 months ago!

Hopped off for 90 secs in my cooldown to make sure the boys were getting ready for school. :)

The slight bad news is that my left glute felt a little "hung up" early on in that run. I thought it'd loosen up and feel better, and it DID during the fast miles... I didn't think about it at all. But then it felt SORE and ACHY since then. I skipped a ride on Tuesday to help it rest. I've been stretching it how I can, and using our massage gun with the "bullet" attachment to get in deep. Yesterday's easy run felt TOTALLY NORMAL, but then I still feel it while walking around. I saw Dr. Backus (my local chiro) who dug in it a lot and figures it's a piriformis issue. Might be turning my normal speed workout tomorrow into just another easy run... Trying to get this nipped before it turns into something worse!

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A PR Treadmill 5K! (Between Decent Bike Workouts)

New Year's day (Thursday) was spent with the boys at the ski slope. We got home that evening and I had time for a bike workout, which was about 12 hours later than my "preferred" time to workout (especially considering that I was doing this right before bed... and then planning to get up early to run hard, so that was NO recovery except for laying in bed).

I cranked out an hour and 40 minute workout with 4x10 minute efforts in the middle:

Early the next morning (Friday), I hit the treadmill for a 5K. I had done the same workout 3 weeks earlier, and my plan was to try to do the same workout, only have the treadmill 0.1 mph faster throughout. I mentioned doing that in my post last month, noting that should take me from 17:15 to about 17:05. So after a bit of a warm-up, I ran my 3.1 miles like this: 10.7 mph for 0.5, 10.8 mph for 0.5, 10.9 mph from mile 1 through 2.3, 11.0 for 0.4, 11.1 for about 0.25 before knocking it up to 11.2 for about final 0.15. I didn't think I'd last after about 0.75 miles, but then sped up more near the end than I did a few weeks back!

My half-mile splits were:

2:48, 2:46, 2:45, 2:44, 2:45, 2:41, 0:31 = 17:04.2

That's the fastest I've ever done that workout, and technically 1 second faster than my 5K PR! (But it's easier to do on a treadmill, I know! This is not a *real* PR!) I think my treadmill 5K PR was about 3 years ago in 17:07 where I started slower, but sped up a bit sooner.

Neither of these were reading correctly. I bet the pace at the start and finish
of the 5K effort was about right, but that's NOT right in the middle.


Sweaty treadmill, watching "Tomorrow War" on Prime. Red arrows
showing the start and finish of the 5K from mile 1.5 through 4.6.

The final "peak" at the end of the 5K effort was when I was at 11.1 or 11.2 mph.

Then the day after that (Saturday) I hit the trainer for another decent workout. I knew I wanted to go a big longer, but I didn't know how much effort I wanted to put in (although I'm making it a point to get in more QUALITY bike workouts this year). I found myself thinking that I should do a 30 or 40 minute tempo effort, and I ended up holding on for 40 minutes. Every 10 minutes I did a different thing: 10 mins just "hard," 10 mins standing, 10 mins starting in an easier gear and shifting to a harder gear every 2 mins, and then the final 10 mins alternating standing and seated every 2 mins.

40 min effort, and then "moderate" for the next 25 mins or so.
An hour and 50 mins total.

You can see the final 10 mins of that 40 min effort got my heart rate a bit higher, and that happened for 2 reasons. First, I think the alternating standing and seated was harder for me. And second, I WAS pushing a bit harder because I knew the end was near.

This capped off a decent week! I might see if I can beat that treadmill 5K again in 4-6 weeks... maybe I can hit sub-17!

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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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Treadmill 5K

I posted earlier this week that I did an all-out V02 max treadmill workout last week, but I had a solid treadmill workout the week before that as well. About 2 weeks ago, I did a treadmill tempo 5K workout.

I warmed up for 1.75 miles (approximately, as my treadmill only shows TENTHS of a mile and not HUNDREDTHS of a mile), and then walked for about 0.25 miles.

Then I started the 5K effort as I cranked it up to 10.6 mph. I upped it again to 10.7 mph after a half mile, and 10.8 mph at the 1 mile mark. I wasn't sure I could keep speeding up (that wasn't really the goal... I just wanted to be fast), so I held 10.8 mph from mile 1 to about mile 2.4. Then up to 10.9 mph for about 0.3 miles, and then 11.0 mph for the final 0.4 miles.

My half-mile splits for the 3.1 miles looked like this:

2:50, 2:48, 2:46, 2:46, 2:46, 2:44, 0:32 = 17:15 (5:33.87/mile pace)

I had no goals, but I was happy with that!! I think I've been in the very low 17s for a treadmill 5K before, so now I have something to try to beat (much like my V02 max treadmill workout from last week). Maybe I'll try a similar "speed up strategy" next time I try a treadmill 5K, but maybe I'll try to keep everyone 0.1 mph faster - I think that'd put me around 17:05. With some decent training, I might shoot for sub-17 before the winter is over.

Pace looks right. HR is NOT correct!

It was later that day that my car didn't start (here's the post where I biked 15 miles in 15 degree temps to get it back), but we had a family Christmas the next day. And we were in charge of bringing veggies. So I grabbed my backpack and started jumping snow berms on the way to Aldi:

My trusty 22-year-old steed after 8 miles in the snow.


Lots of gunky build-up.


I got a pitcher of water and washed it off before it corroded too much.


All of the veggies (and tortilla shells and shredded cheese) made it home safely!

That ride was a nice cool-down after the treadmill 5K!

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Treadmill Training: 3 out of 4 Runs and Getting Faster

We've had some snow here in MN. I LOVE running in the cold, but I can't run "fast" on slippery snow because the "spin out" flares up my calf problems. So I've done some of my recent hard running on the treadmill.

Last Monday (Dec 1st), I did my first treadmill run of the season. It was a long run, and it didn't go that well. I started my "6 pace miles" in the middle of my 11+ mile run at 9.1 mph - by the middle of last winter, I was starting them at 9.3 or 9.4 mph. And then I sped up normally by 0.1 mph every half mile. But after a few miles, I knew I wasn't going to be able to hold on for 6 harder miles, so I stopped after 5.5 miles, which had the final half mile at 10.1 mph.

Last Wednesday was snowy, but I just went out for an easy run, so I ran in the snow. It was lovely.

Last Friday (Dec 5th) was a speed day, so I did 3x1 mile repeats on the treadmill. I posted about this workout on Monday. They went as well as I could have hoped! I recreated the same treadmill workout I did at the end of last winter while the boys and I were in Charlotte. And I nailed it! That means when I re-do this workout in 4-6 weeks, I'll have to start off faster and see if I can hold on. That was a bit of a confidence boosting workout. (Much like how the Thanksgiving Turkey Trot 5K was a confidence booster as well... I'm feeling good about my fitness level right now after a summer / fall of it not being as great.)

Then on Monday (Dec 8th), I hit the treadmill for another long run. This started similar to last weeks, but went a LOT better! First of all, I started at 9.1 mph again, but I held on for all 6 "harder" miles. And on top of that, I sped up TWO EXTRA TIMES over those 6 miles: once just after mile 1, and once before mile 5. And then I sped up again in my last half mile. So I ended with the last mile being between 10.3 and 10.5 mph! (I was at 10.3 mph at mile 5, 10.4 at mile 5.5, and 10.5 at mile 5.7.) So my half-mile splits for those faster 6 miles (9.1 mph up to 10.5 mph) looked like this:

6 miles at pace (starting at 9.1 mph and speeding up 0.1 mph every half mile):

3:17, 3:15, 3:11*, 3:09, 3:07, 3:04, 3:03, 3:01, 2:59, 2:58*, 2:54, 2:51*

= 36:55 (6:09.17 pace)

* asterisks denote splits where I sped up an extra 0.1 mph

Here's a post from April where I was under 6:00 / mile for my "pace miles" (5:59) and the opening paragraph of that post talks about 2 other times I was faster yet in February (5:57 and 5:56 / mile). So 6:09 pace in December isn't bad... but I know I have room to grow.

I hope to be back outside shortly, but I have plans for some fast / hard treadmill workouts if I can't be!

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Treadmill Mile Repeats

I did some mile repeats on the treadmill on Friday morning, because it looked like this outside:

View down our alley.

My last *treadmill* workout like that was in Charlotte in February, so I looked back to that workout for treadmill settings. (And I settled on mile repeats because my previous speed day before this was the Turkey Day 5K, so I didn't want to run another 5K tempo again... and before that was a short interval workout at the track.)

In this same workout from February, I started the 3 intervals at 10.8 mph, 11.0 mph, and 11.3 mph, and that was my plan for starting this workout. I wanted to see if I could re-create that workout. And I ended up doing that exactly. My first 2 intervals were similar: ran for 0.4 miles, sped up by 0.1 mph, ran another 0.4 miles, sped up another 0.1 mph, and then held that until the end of the mile. In my 3rd interval, I sped up a few more times: instead of just twice, I think I sped up 3 times (at 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 miles, finishing the last 0.2 miles at 11.6 mph. Here's what I ran:

[taking half-mile splits]

1.3 warm-up (7.8 mph and faster): 3:52, 3:46, 2:14
0.2 miles walking: 2:35

2:46 + 2:45 = 5:31.6
0.2 mile walking: 2:15

2:43 + 2:41 = 5:25.5
0.2 mile walking: 2:05 (speeding up at 1:30, which was right on)

2:40 + 2:35 = 5:16.1

0.3 mile walking: 3:51 (including waking up boys)
1.0 mile cool-down: 3:52, 3:49

Note: our treadmill is SLOW to change speed, so as I noted before the final interval, I have to speed it up after 1:30 rest and it's just barely getting up to speed at 2:05, which is 35 seconds later.

The sweaty treadmill after.


HR was MUCH higher than that!


My Garmin splits.

I've noted this before: my Garmin says my slower treadmill miles are always longer, and my faster treadmill miles are always shorter. It just goes off "arm swing," so I don't know what that says about my form. So I make sure to take splits on my Garmin when the treadmill crosses the correct distance - I don't go by my Garmin for distance while on the treadmill. On a "normal" longer run (not intervals) it averages out to be pretty correct in the end, with my slower miles being "longer" and my faster miles being "shorter."

Well, a decent start to a winter of treadmill speed sessions. I'll try to better that by spring!

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Good Treadmill Long Run

I thought this might have been my best treadmill long run ever, but I forgot about two that I had in early February: I posted about the first one where I had 6 descending "pace miles" in the middle with a 5:57 average, but I never even posted about the 2nd where I was a bit faster with a 5:56 average.

Sunday afternoon, we got some heavy snow that froze overnight. It was great by Monday evening because the spring sun has power to get rid of that quickly, but overnight it was icy and horrible. So I ended March with a dang long run on the treadmill. Booooo.

I didn't feel great (maybe because it's beeen 3 BIG weeks), but I still wanted to push the effort. After 2.5 easier miles, I started my faster "pace miles" at 9.3 mph only to speed up by 0.1 mph every half mile. But I also sped up randomly 4 other times throughout those miles (before 1 mile, around 2.5 miles, 4.5 miles, and 5.6 miles) so I ended at 10.8 mph. My half mile splits looked like this:

3:13, 3:09, 3:07, 3:05, 3:03, 3:01, 2:57, 2:56, 2:53, 2:51, 2:49, 2:46

= 35:57 (5:59.50 average pace)

Can you spot in my pace or HR where I ran off the treadmill
for 90 secs to wake up my boys for school?!? Ha!

I thought that was maybe my first time under 6:00/mile for my "pace miles" of a treadmill long run, but I had completely forgotten about those 2 runs about 2 months ago with paces of 5:57 and 5:56 for those middle miles. Still, not a bad start to the week after a few really big weeks!

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Two Treadmill Workouts: a GOOD One and a BAD One!

About 10 days ago, the boys and I left for a 2500 mile road trip because Henry qualified for the JUNIOR OLYMPICS IN CHARLOTTE in fencing! It was over President's Day weekend, and it worked out so they didn't have to miss any school! I'll have more on that shortly once I download a few photos (but you can find about 5 posts on Instagram recently about the trip), and I also need to be downloading photos from our Mexico trip last month as well. And I'm doing a lot of photography at my sons' school for an upcoming musical, so I've been editing about 900 photos over the last few days as well. Sheesh.

I'll have more about the trip soon. But here are the 2 treadmill workouts I did while away from home.

Friday was out biggest day on the road: from 4:15 a.m. until about 9:00 p.m. we were in the car for 13+ hours. That morning we left a hotel in northern Indiana, and they didn't have a working treadmill (one was "out of order," and one was literally stuck on 1 mph). So I didn't get my normal morning workout done. We pulled into Charlotte after a day on the road, and we ALL NEEDED TO MOVE OUR BODIES even though it was late:

Pulling into downtown!

We quickly got our room set and our things unpacked for the next 2 nights. Then the boys played in the pool as I hit the treadmill that looked through a window directly into the pool:

Selfie after a quick warm-up on the treadmill.

I had hoped to get in a treadmill speed workout on this trip because I REALLY like doing those on treadmills that AREN'T MINE. And I say that for 2 reasons: ours changes speed very slowly, and ours only has TENTHs of miles, not HUNDREDTHs of miles in the read-out. Our treadmill is great for "just running," but not great for speed workouts.

I didn't have time to look back to older workouts, so I just prepped to run 3x1 mile intervals on the treadmill. I warmed up for a mile, walked for 0.2 miles (and snapped that photo above), and then sped up. Here's what I ran, with about 2:20-2:50 walking between (for about 0.2 miles):

10.8 and 10.9 mph for 0.4 each, then 11.0 for the final 0.2 miles:

2:46 + 2:44 = 5:31.0


11.0 and 11.1 mph for 0.4 each, then 11.2 for the final 0.2 miles:

2:43 + 2:41 = 5:24.9


11.3 mph for 0.4, 11.4 for 0.3, 11.5 for 0.15, 11.6 for final 0.15:

2:38 + 2:36 = 5:15.6

Those felt good! I was slower on the treadmill back in November, and a bit slower on the track in December.

In the pool post-run around 9:45 p.m.


Sweaty post-run.


Soaked.


Nothing surprising here.


Garmin splits.

When I'm running HARD on the treadmill (both in this workout and in every workout at home), the "arm pump distance" registers a little short as seen above. But note my 2 warm-up half-miles: running easier always registers as a bit long.

We slept in on Saturday (our "lazy day" in Charlotte), then Henry fenced on Sunday before we drove a good chunk back home towards MN. We made it to central Illinois for that night. I got up early on Monday morning (President's Day) for a long treadmill run. There was 1 treadmill, and the TV attached to it only played TNT or ESPN 2. No joke.

Post-run with sweaty drip marks.

This was my failed run. After a weekend of sleeping in odd beds and eating crap, I don't know what I was expecting. It was to be a "normal" long run of 2.5 miles easier, 6 miles harder, and then 2.5 miles easier again. But part way through the harder miles, I knew I wouldn't make it the entire way. I got through 5 harder miles and was OK with that - I started those faster miles at 9.4 mph and sped up every 1/2 mile to 10.3 mph. Half mile splits for those harder miles looked like this:

3:11, 3:09, 3:06, 3:05, 3:03, 3:01, 2:59, 2:57, 2:56, 2:55

= 30:25 (6:05.00 / mile pace)

Overall, the run was only 10.1 miles in 1:09:03 (6:50/mile). I just could NOT keep going - I was fried.

Sweaty butt marks post-run.


Passed out boys in the room.


A big hotel breakfast an hour later.

We only had 6+ hours to drive back on Monday, so that felt GOOD after 10 hours in the car the day before! We were happy to be home!

More on Henry's Junior Olympics in the next couple of posts or so...

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NEW Best Treadmill Long Run Ever!

In mid-January, I had a really fast treadmill long run where I started my "faster pace miles" in the middle a lot faster than normal (9.4 mph vs 8.9 - 9.1 mph) and kept speeding up. Those middle 6 pace miles were done in 36:10 (6:01.67/mile pace).

This week, I out-did that. We got a little snow overnight before my long run, so the trails were too slick for me to be out on them (it screws up my knee). So I hit the treadmill, and thought "Ummmm.... maybe I can start faster like I did a few weeks ago..."

So again, I started at 9.4 mph and sped up 0.1 mph every half mile. But this time, I sped up an EXTRA 0.1 mph at 2 different times throughout the workout: around mile 0.7 and around mile 3. With an extra bump in speed near the end, I had gone from 9.4 mph up through 10.8 mph for the final 0.3 miles or so!! My half-mile splits for those middle 6 miles were:

3:11, 3:08, 3:06, 3:01, 3:01, 2:59, 2:58, 2:56, 2:54, 2:52, 2:49, 2:47

= 35:47!! (5:57.83/mile)

I averaged under 6:00/mile for those 6 miles! Back in July, I had my first outdoor long run where I dropped under 6:00/mile - I've only been speeding up in my long runs over the years (not that I'm necessarily getting FASTER, but mostly because I decided to push the effort more and more... which DID start to make me faster).

Overall, it was 11.7 miles in 1:17:41, or 6:38 pace. With the middle 6 miles averaging just under 5:58 pace.

I had to run upstairs during my cooldown to wake my boys - you can tell where.

But seriously, I can't help but wonder if my treadmill is slowing down a bit in its old age... I might not be this fast...

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Fastest Treadmill Long Run EVER!

Last week's long run was GREAT.

About a month ago, I did 6.5 harder miles (in the middle of 11.6 miles) that started at 9.1 mph and sped up to 10.4 mph speeding up 0.1 mph every half mile. (That ended up being 6.5 miles in the middle in 40:13, or 6:11/mile pace.)

Two weeks ago, I did the same thing, only I started 0.1 mph faster, and held it throughout: 6.5 harder miles (in the middle of 12 miles) that started at 9.2 mph and sped up to 10.5 mph speeding up 0.1 mph every half mile. (That ended up being 6.5 miles in the middle in 39:47, or 6:07/mile pace.)

I wanted to try something a bit harder last week... maybe start faster without the perfect "descend" every half mile. So I started at what felt like a SUBSTANTIALLY faster pace for my middle harder miles: I started at 9.4 mph thinking I'd bump up the speed a few times, but then hold it for a mile or 2 if I needed to. I had no plan to descend those splits like I did in my previous workouts...

... only I PERFECTLY descended those splits every half mile like I did in those previous workouts!

I did 6 miles harder in the middle (not 6.5 like I did in my previous 2 long runs), but I started at 9.4 mph and finished at 10.6 mph. My splits looked like this:

Half mile: 3:11, 3:08, 3:07, 3:06, 3:02, 3:01, 3:00, 2:58, 2:56, 2:54, 2:53, 2:50

Mile splits: 6:19, 6:13, 6:03, 5:58, 5:50, 5:43

= 36:10 (6:01.67/mile pace)

The first 6 splits were over 3:00, and then the last 5 were sub-3:00 for each half mile! At under 6:02/mile pace overall! I wasn't thinking I could hold on starting at 9.4 mph, but I did!

My "graph" during my cool-down. All those highest graphs are minutes at 10.1 mph or faster!


Speed and HR climbing through those harder miles (with the tiny dips in speed
being when I wipe my face - my arm slows down so it thinks I'm slowing down).

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Treadmill Tempo 5K

It was time for a little speed work at the end of last week. We'd just received a 1/2" of snow, so the sidewalks, trails, and the track would not be fast, so I opted for the treadmill.

I came across a treadmill 5K from exactly a year ago where I wasn't trying to be super fast: I started at 10.1 mph, worked my way up to 10.8 mph, and finished with a 17:55 5K. I figured I'd start a little faster at 10.3 mph and work my way up in a similar fashion, aiming to finish around 11+ mph.

So I started at 10.3 mph, and cranked up the pace by 0.1 mph every half mile. I started speeding up a bit "earlier" at mile 2.3: I was at 10.8 mph, up to 10.9 shortly after, 11.0 around mile 2.8, and 11.1 for the last 0:45 or so. I was being worked, but it didn't feel too hard. I THOUGHT I was going to end up in the lower 17s for a finishing time, and I felt GREAT about that. But I actually finished at 17:33 - I had mis-calculated something in my head pre-run. Oh well.

After a 1.2 mile cool-down.


Pace and HR slowly climbing throughout.


Showing a quick step off the treadmill after the 5K effort, and my HR zones.

My half-mile splits looked like this:

2:54, 2:52, 2:51, 2:49, 2:47, 2:44, 0:32 = 17:33.7

I had my treadmill tempo 5K PR just over 2 years ago, and I ran 17:07 by starting at 10.5 mph, quickly getting it up to 10.7 mph, and then holding it at 10.8 mph for most of it before speeding up more as I got closer to the end. Next time I do a hard run like this, I start off faster!

Anyway, it was still a decent end to the week after starting the week with a long (and decently fast) treadmill run.

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Long Treadmill Workout

I did my first treadmill long run of this winter 3 weeks ago. And this morning was my 2nd - it was around 0 this morning (which is usually fine running conditions for me), but I was worried about my sore calf acting up. It got sore again last week, and I saw a (different-than-usual) chiropractor for some deep massage and adjustments. I wanted to be able to call it quits if it got too sore today, but it didn't! Yay!

Three weeks ago, I warmed up and then did some "harder" miles starting at 9.1 mph and working my way up to 10.4 mph over 6.5 miles, with my average pace being 6:11.23/mile for those harder miles. Today, I started at 9.2 mph and worked my way up similarly to 10.5 mph, so my half-mile splits looked like this:

3:15, 3:13, 3:11, 3:09, 3:07, 3:05, 3:03, 3:01, 2:59, 2:58, 2:56, 2:54, 2:51

= 39:47 (6:07.23 / mile pace)

Overall, it was 12.0 miles in in 1:20:44 (6:44 pace overall).

After finishing - the far left of the "graph" was the end of my harder miles,
and the rest was 3 miles of running easier between 7.8 and 8.4 mph.


My pace doesn't show the constant speeding up, but my heart rate does!

My calf still feels good - working on beating this pain so I can get back into regular speed sessions!

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First Treadmill Long Run of the Season

Throughout November and early December, I had 3 treadmill runs on icy/snowy mornings. But last week was my first LONG run on the treadmill.

I did a version of my "normal" workout: 2.5 miles easy, 6 miles harder (getting faster every half mile), and then a few miles of cool-down. I started my harder miles at 9.1 mph and worked my way up to 10.2 mph through 6 miles. But then I added an extra half mile at 10.3 and up to 10.4 for the final few tenths. So I did 6.5 miles in the middle in 40:13. Here were my half-mile splits as I sped up:

3:18, 3:15, 3:14, 3:10, 3:09, 3:07, 3:05, 3:03, 3:02, 2:58, 2:58, 2:56, 2:53

= 40:13 for 6.5 miles (6:11.23/mile)

After 2.6 miles of running easier, here's what the treadmill looked like when I finished 11.6 miles:

The "cliff" on the left was the rest of the "hard" miles, and then the majority of that graph is 7.x or 8.x mph. And my Garmin data from treadmill runs is always funny: it doesn't do a GREAT job finding my pace, but you can see my "pace" through my heart rate:

All the quick dips in pace are from wiping my face with my shirt - I don't STOP, but my arm stops swinging, so it thinks I'm not running. But that bigger dip near the end was from when I jumped off to run upstairs to tell my boys something for a few seconds.

Hoping to be back outside this week after 5 inches of snow later last week! I think the paths should be clear by now.

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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!

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