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).

PR on the Treadmill

Today's weather was a cold 9F with -10F windchill. I was planning on running 20 miles outside but my wife reminded me of running in the past during freezing temps where I would come home after a long run, and I would have one frozen family jewel.
That was enough for me to reconsider my running plans for the day. She suggested I run on the treadmill and run 5 miles at a time throughout the day. I thought I'd get on the thing and see what happens.

After running 10 miles at a 7:30 pace with an incline of 1 %, I was determined to get the run done in one long 20 mile stretch. I knew I'd have to keep things interesting for the last 10 miles so I played with the speed and incline.
The last 10 miles went like this:
2 miles @ 7:00 pace, 0% incline,
1 mile @ 7:30 pace, 0% incline,
1 mile @ 7:30 pace, 6% incline,
1 mile @ 730 pace, 0% incline,
2 miles @ 7:00 pace, 0% incline,
1 mile @ 7:30 pace, 0% incline,
1 mile @ 7:30 pace, 6% incline,
1 mile @ 7:30 pace, 0% incline.

Running 20 miles on the treadmill today was a personal record and I got to see the display time go from 99:59 to 00:00 for the first time, too.

Some other numbers I recorded during my run was:
Listened to Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium - 2 times,
Lost count of watching cartoons on WBKids with no sound,
Ate 2 packets of vanilla Cliff shots, one at 7 miles and the other at 14 miles,
Drank 1 sports bottle of water with 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar and 2 teaspoons of raw honey,
Average heart rate - 127 bps,
Max heart rate - 144 bps,
Total time to run 20 miles - 2:27:41

My legs didn't feel like toast after the run and I was glad to finish a nice run on the treadmill.