Thursday, March 13, 2008

Mind games on the treadmill

The anxiety of running fast on the treadmill today was driving me crazy. According to my schedule I needed to run two 1 mile repeats and a 1/2 mile at a 5:38 pace with a 1/2 mile recovery between sets. This type of workout was to be done on the track but with a slushy snow covered track there was no way I would be able to run fast on it. With the crummy conditions I resorted to doing the workout on the treadmill later in the evening. Although, throughout the day I was thinking how was I going to run the fast set of intervals on the treadmill.

The top speed of my treadmill goes from 10 mph (6:00 pace per mile) to 11 mph (5:30 pace per mile)to 12 mph (5:00 pace per mile)and I only needed to run at a 5:38 pace per mile. Do I run at 10 mph with a 3 to 4 percent incline? Do I run at 5:30 mph with no incline? I had to get on the treadmill to find out what I could do.

During the warm up I focused on being relaxed and told myself that I could run at the 5:30 pace, even if I had to hold on the bars or if I puked, I was going to run it. After 20 minutes of easy running I hit the first set of 1 miles at a 5:30 pace with the incline set not at ZERO but at TWO percent. Yes, I went for the gutsy workout. And, I survived two 1 mile repeats and a half mile feeling great because I conquered the mind battle over the treadmill.

This weekend I am looking forward to running a 5 mile race (St. Malachi).

5 comments:

The Salty One said...

Good luck tomorrow! Wish I was going to be there too!

Tri-Dummy said...

That pace was sick!

E-Speed said...

great job at Malachi today Lou! Your treadmill efforts look like they paid off!

Afternoon Tea With Oranges said...

Wow! That's the way to put mind over matter! Very inspiring!

duchossois said...

Hi Lou. Congrats on a great race at St. Malachi. By the way, this is my first visit to your blog, and it is well done.