Lunch - hard workout - 4 miles on the treadmill. Our fitness center got two brand new treadmills, and I was anxious to see what they were capable of. This was a progressive run that started off at 7.5 mph (8:00 pace), with the speed increasing 0.5 mph every 1/2 mile until I couldn't keep the pace for 1/2 mile any more. 1/2 mile at 8:00 pace, 1/2 mile at 7:30 pace, 1/2 mile at 7:00 pace 1/2 mile at 6:40 pace, 1/2 mile at 6:20 pace (was still doing very good here with my breathing and my stride), 1/2 mile at 6:00 pace (started to labor a bit here), 1/2 mile at 5:40 pace, then 1/4 mile at 5:20 pace - this was where I finally couldn't hold the pace for the full 1/2 mile. I know I could have, but I didn't want to be completely wasted after the workout. For the last 1/4 mile I cooled down walking, then walked for another few minutes. I counted the first 1/4 mile of walking as part of my run. My impressions of this workout:
1. I was a bit surprised at how long into the workiout I was able to maintain good breathing - all the way to 6:00 pace.
2. I was excited about how long I was able to go at sub-6:00 pace. I feel confident that if I tried, I could run a sub-5:30 mile right now, and I also feel pretty confident that this year I might finally be able to break 18:00 in the 5K.
My workout today leads me to believe that the new treadmills go all the way up to 12 mph (5:00 pace). At some point, as my training continues to progress, I may try to get in some V02 workouts at that pace to see how I do. But that won't be for some time yet. | 