Death by Treadmill

Jack Daniels is a sick individual. He might have forgotten more about running than I'll ever know, and there's no doubt his programs work, but man! are some workouts tough. If you read the book, he seems to advocate doing just enough to improve fitness, but not so much you can't get back at it the next day. But then the workouts try to kill you.

The reason I use a treadmill for all my faster sessions is so I can't cheat. Every rep is as fast as it's supposed to be, and the last one will be as fast as the first. It will be harder, natch, but the speed will still be there, or I'll end up in a heap against the wall. And tonight that made it miserable. This is the first time I've done a workout that used both I- and T-paces, and it was a wake-up call. You start with 3x4/1 @ T, by the last one a nice hard effort. Then you fall right into 3x3/2 @ I. That first interval which comes after short rest is nasty. The rest of them, at high speed with already fatigued legs, just get mean. I was digging to stay on top of the pace without completely exploding. By the end, I was drenched with sweat, and the ten minute cooldown jog seemed to take 30 minutes. I was wracked.

I look forward to doing this again in two weeks. :)

Run: 50 minutes, w/3x4 minutes @ 9.3 mph, 1 minute @ 7.5 mph + 3x3 minutes @ 10.1 mph, 2 minutes @ 7.5 mph