Friday, January 29, 2010

Be Carefull... that treadmill MUST be on fire!!!

Treadmill Speedwork Challenge!

I usually do Yasso-800's for my weekly speedwork but over the past few months those have become a little tired and local schools seem to be locking up their tracks when we're not in football season :( So... I was left with the mill-o-death.

As you know, the T-mill and I area working on our relationship-- going through therapy, spending quality time, and overall just trying to have a more positive attitude toward each other. I visit it for about 2 of my weekly runs, and it doesn't throw me off and kill me. Deal? Deal! So I thought I would get some speedwork in on my new buddy and see how that goes.

Workout: Speed Ladders on the T-mill ~7:16-7:41 min/mile
I did a ladder rung with about .14 miles of jogging or walking between each set.
Ladder: .25M, .5M, .75M, 1M, 1M, .75M, .5M, .25M
Elevation: Varied- T-mill set on "Random," but I kept it on a lower setting- no mountain climbing!
Total Mileage with W/U, C/D, and .14 between: ~6.25

This is the first time since I hurt my ankle AND since I bought my new VFFs that I attempted to do speedwork. My ankle did get a little tight between the 2- mile ladder rungs, but I iced at the end it it's feeling better. Overall, I finished all my planned rungs and really had the T-mill down in the low 7's... which in real life I consider to be REALLY low 7's or high 6's (I don't trust the speed accuracy on those htings). I finished and was literally ringing out my hair and shirt, but I was very proud to get my first speed session of the year done successfully!!!

I cleaned up in the locker room, grabbed my stuff and very proudly walked by my treadmill friend. Apparently, I turn around for 5 minutes and he's forming relationships with another runner. That's ok though-- she was going much slower, so he wasn't going to have any fun with her. And as I very wittily thought to myself "be careful... that treadmill MUST be on fire!" cause I kicked butt today!!!

What speedwork do you do??? Would love to hear some new ideas to try!!!

.... That's was last night. Tonight I have an easy workout at the gym so I can run my 13-15 tomorrow. I don't want to push too far, so I'm doing 13, evaluating then possibly doing another 2. I'll probably be running on the back side of the flying pig course because I live right on it!!! If you're ever interested in running the Pig let me know... great race, great medals, great bags... just great overall!!!!

12 comments:

  1. Great job on those intervals!!! Aren't they much more fun on a treadmill than a track? NOT! You're brave to vary incline while doing speedwork. Perhaps I'll have to give that a try. And yes, I confirmed with my footpod that those machines are definitely not accurate, especially if you vary the incline. You may be running even faster than you think! Do your feet hurt? Cause you burned it up!

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  2. Yasso is so hard! I have been doing Ryan Hall's 1/2 marathon plan which for the first few weeks you do 800 or 1000 meters X 5-7 times. Good luck! Great training!

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  3. Great ladder! I love when the treadmill cooperates like that, although it's rare.
    My speedwork is all over the board. Whatever it takes to keep it/me fresh!

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  4. I'm getting very unnerved because my IT band started hurting again...I am hoping it calms down very soon.

    I'm not a yasso fan, I like really random intervals. One that I've been doing and read a lot about is 30 second all out intervals, you literally run as hard as possible for 30 seconds, recover 90 sec x 8. I've done some ladder workouts but did them by time instead of distance...in fact I'm going to give that a go again soon, I like it!

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  5. Woohoo! Kickin' TM workout! Great numbers.

    One thing I don't mind doing on the treadmill is speed work. It's those easy or steady runs that kill me with boredom.

    Have a great weekend!

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  6. I did Yasso 800's on the treadmill forever but I can't do them anymore. Mental shutdown!! I'm still looking for a good new speed workout! Nice work on the ladders!

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  7. You beast! LOL!

    I don't do speed intervals or track work. They hurt my knees/ITB so my coach has me do pace workouts instead. Basically tempo runs only a little speedier. They work so much better for me and help me ramp up my endurance at high speeds.

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  8. Love it!! I am sure the treadmill misses you..

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  9. Great job impressing your new treadmill friend. He is so going to be calling you!

    My speed work used to consist of runs with hubbs - since he was so fast! But post surgery he is not really running. I do some on the treadmill and some speed on the roads but I really don't like HAVING to run fast. I am terrible about getting speed work done. So I pile miles on and go for distance. Maybe that's why I have yet to crack a sub 3:30 marathon time?!?!

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  10. I have never done a ladder workout- it looks like you kicked ass at it! Maybe I will try one for my speed workout later today...but I would have no idea what pace to go, I always just do repeat 800s and maybe throw in some 400s at the end.

    I love your treadmill commentary- I'm definitely in a fight with mine. We haven't spoken in two weeks.

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  11. I tend to prefer 800s on the dreadmill, as well. It helps the time pass faster. I usually wrk between a 1 and 2 degree incline, but nothing lower or higher.

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