Friday, January 13, 2012

Let's Be Friends, Treadmill

So, winter is here. A high of 23 degrees today and snow. Blech. As much as I do not like to run on the treadmill - or dreadmill - I must. I can dress for the cold and be okay to run (I think), but I don't want to take any chances slipping on ice out there. That scares me.

I got into a conversation yesterday with an old neighbor/running friend. He is a crazy good runner, and his wife is becoming one as well. They are both coming up to run the Carmel Half Marathon - it'll be her first and he told me he will be pacing her. Now I know Erin is an incredible athlete and, even though the distance is new to her, running is not. She is actually training for a half Ironman and this will be part of the training. Out of curiousity, I asked what her pace will be. John said she wants to finish the half...her first...in 1:45:00. Seriously.

Now, I know that is out of my league. That's 25 minutes faster than I finished my first (2:10:47), and I can't imagine shaving that much time off, and I know I've said before that I'm not interested in changing my pace, BUT I can't help but feel a little competitive. I can't be competitive with Erin - just being real. But I can be competitive with myself- part of why I love running. I do dream of finishing a half at 2 hours - that's 10 minutes off my last time, and that is a lot. I'm soooo comfortable at the pace I run, but I can't help but be curious about what would happen if I did try to train to run a little bit faster. John suggested I run 1/4 mile at an uncomfortable pace, then 1/4 mile at my comfortable pace. That sounds doable. And something I can do on the treadmill when I need to. I'll see how it goes and would be thrilled if I could finish the Carmel Half not too far behind Erin and John...but honestly, I would be just as thrilled if I finished at 2:09:59.

*update* I took John's suggestion and varied my speed on the treadmill. I usually do a speed of 5.2...very comfortable pace, at a 2% incline. I did a mile at that pace to warm-up, then upped the speed to 6.0 for a 1/4 mile, then back down to 5.2, and so on. The 6.0 did have me breathing faster, that's for sure, and when I went back down to 5.2 - wow, that felt slow! I did a total of 3 miles, and did the last 1/2 mile at the 6.0 pace. I can see how this will help my pace. Btw, when running outside, I run around a 9:23/mile pace. On the treadmill, it says 6.0 is a 10:00/mile pace. Crazy.

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