ONE THING IS FOR CERTAIN

I didn’t even run on my treadmill last night, but I hate it. After completing last Thursday’s workout (6 mile tempo run with the miles at 6:45, 6:15, 6:00, 6:15, 6:00 and 6:15) on it I felt really confident. However, after tonight’s run, one thing is for certain, my treadmill is not calibrated correctly.

I decided to do tonight’s workout on the track to make sure my pacing was accurate. The dirt track near my house tends to get soft and soggy and given all the rain we’ve had lately I decided to avoid it. There’s a high school about 3 miles from my house. I thought that’d be a little too far for a warm-up and cool-down, so I drove. Good thing because they had a track meet going on and I had to drive to a different high school.

Tonight’s workout originally called for 3 x 2 miles, alternating the pace for each rep, 6:30, 6:15, 6:30, with a mile jog between. After comparing it to last week’s workout, which didn’t contain any rest periods, I told my coach it was too easy. He suggested dropping the paces by 15 seconds.

After a 2 mile warm-up I started the first rep, going through 200 meters in 45 seconds. Oops. I let off the gas and settled in, finishing the first 3200 rep in 12:34 (6:19 pace). On the second rep I decided just to check my pace every 800 meters. Even though I was supposed to run 6:00 pace, I was a little surprised to see 3:00 and 6:02 for my first 2 splits. I slowed a little and finished in 12:09 (6:07 pace). The last rep was a mess. I thought 6:15-6:20 pace would feel easy after running 6:07 pace. It didn’t. My first lap was at 6:30 pace, so I picked it up. While I was happy to go through 1600 in 6:20, I had zero focus. I was thinking about stopping. Then they started to lock up the gates and I was thinking how I’d finish my last mile if they kicked me out. On top of that my stomach and my right Achilles were starting to act up. So basically I just went through the motions and finished in 12:48 (6:26 pace). Afterwards I did a mile cool-down in my bare feet. Who needs Nike Frees – at least this time of year?

Overall, it was a decent workout. I just think my treadmill workout last week set me up for “failure.” I should know better than to believe what my treadmill tells me.