Week 4

I decided to take this week's speed session to the treadmill.  It's not my first choice, but I was running in the morning and, as of late, all of my morning workouts have been at the gym.  If I'm going to run in the dark, I prefer it be at night, at least in the winter.  I feel like I see more people out, though that may not actually be the case.  Plus it's hard to drag myself out of my warm bed when the alarm goes off and it helps to know that I'll be in a climate controlled environment and not dealing with temperatures in the 20s.  An added bonus is that it also means I have to do laundry less frequently - I have a lot more t-shirts and shorts than I do tights and winter tops.

One reason I've been trying to get to the track is that I feel like speedwork on the treadmill is a different experience.  I don't have to get myself to the appropriate pace, the machine sets it for me.  All I have to do is keep my legs moving fast enough to keep from flying off the back.  Of course, at the same time, I can't slow down and speed up within the interval like I can on the track.  So I do get practice running at a consistent hard pace.  When weighing all the pros and cons, it seems like speedwork on the treadmill is slightly easier, but it may just be all in my head... 

Today's workout was 1 mile, 2 miles, and 2x800.  I was a bit intimidated by the prescribed paces and the mental challenge of the longer intervals.  Fortunately, I made it through and, although it was tempting (particularly at about 1.25 of the 2 miler), didn't reduce the speed on the treadmill.  It was certainly hard, but not as hard as I feared it might be.  I'm learning that I might have a bit more speed in me than I thought. 

Week 4 of National Half Marathon training is off to a good start.