Thursday night and I managed to do a bit of speedwork on the dreadmill at the Gorbals.  I was a little late in starting after getting ready for some visitors at the weekend… I eventually got on the treadmill at about quarter to 8.  And it was annoyingly set to 20 minutes max… so I got one of the gym instructors to over ride it to be one hour.

The idea was to do 7 miles alternating between a steady pace (7.1mph / 8:27 min miles) and a fast pace (8.2mph / 7:19 min miles).  It was all going ok after the first mile or so…. then I started to doubt myself and needed a pee among other things.

After mile 4 (second speed interval at 8.2 mph), when my heart rate peaked at 177 (93%)… I decided I’d take a wee walk to recover (4mph)… and managed to lower my heart rate to about 130 (70%). After a quarter of a mile I started to run again, at 7.2mph this time.  This made mile 5 a 10 minute mile.  I started to feel tightness / lactic acid start to build up in my calves… not ideal I thought.

At 5 miles (42:20 mins), I decided I would hop off the treadmill for a rest, pee and drink.  In the toilets… ‘Just 2 more miles’, I thought to myself as I looked into the mirror – all red faced and sweaty.  ‘I can do just 2 more miles!’

So I went back up stairs and started the treadmill up again.  Mile 6 at 8.2mph again.  I managed it then said to myself I’d run at 6.7mph and maybe just make it up to 6.2 miles…but I managed to push on for another 0.8 miles before giving a final push for the last tenth of a mile (8.2mph).

It was hard work and I think speedwork like this on the treadmill is something I need to work on.  And I need to be more positive when I’m on the dreadmill and believe that I can do it!

RUN: 7.1 miles (speedwork), 57:42, Pace: 8:07, Calories:700
Ave HR:  158 (83%) Max HR: 179 (94%).
262 mile challenge: 176.9 – 7.1 = 169.8 miles to go.

Pity I needed to take the quarter of a mile walk and the break after 5 miles, but at least I stuck at it and did almost what I had set out to do.  Practice might make perfect!