Treadmill Run

Time: 79:10

Distance: ~20.8 kilometers

This year Craft and Karhu is sponsoring the YMCA North Shore Race Series which doesn't kick off until April, but we were able to take advantage of some our contacts. Meagan scored a week long pass to any of the six YMCA's near us. Fortunately, the closest location is across the street from our building.

We walked the 50 meters in the snow to the front door of the Y which was far enough for me to know that a run outside would mean: cold feet, narrow shoulders, impassable sidewalks and an achilles injury three weeks from now. It was going to be a treadmill run for me, but would I make it 80 minutes or just 8? I usually despise spinning my wheels, but for whatever reason, today was different.

I put the incline at 2.0 and started on my way to nowhere. I ran easy for 30 minutes while watching ESPN -- a luxury since we only get four channels at home. I learned that Michael Jordan is turning 50 and all week ESPN will be running specials on his legacy. It sounds like if there is a week to run inside, this might be it!

After 30 minutes I upped the tempo to 10 MPH (6:00/mi pace) and proceeded to listen to Sigur Ros while drenching the treadmill's display. I held pace for the next 30 minutes feeling like I was running relaxed but making the most of the indoor run. As most treadmills do, the machine started cooling down at the hour mark. I ran easy for 3 minutes to get a slight recovery, reset the timer and then started a brief fartlek of roughly: 2 mins on (1 off), 1:30 on (1 off) with pace ranging from 5:27 to 5:13 on the hard and 6:40 to 6:00 on the easy. I was making it up as I went along for the next 13-14 minutes.

I ended feeling pretty beat at the end of the nearly 80 minutes session and exceeded my goal of 12 miles. I hope to get outside and run on the roads soon, but it's good to know that making a workout of running on the treadmill at least makes it somewhat bearable for me.