Treadmill? In the Summer?

Yes, I was forced to do a treadmill workout tonight. I got bogged down at work and didn't make it to practice. Last year, this would have meant that I just felt badly about missing the workout (especially since tonight's was a hill workout). This year it means that I got to do Coach Ramon's alternative treadmill workout.

I hate the treadmill.

Fortunately everyone that used to go to the gym in my apartment during the winter is either working out outside or has better things to do than workout. So I got to watch "the Simpsons" while I did hills.

This was my workout. (All done at 6.3 mph).

8 minutes warmup
Repeat the following, 3x:
2 minutes at incline 2
3 minutes at incline 6
2 minutes at incline 1
5 minutes recovery

When I was warming up I was thinking that maybe I should increase the speed. Even after the 2 minutes at incline 2 I was feeling like I was slacking a bit. But then I got to incline 6. It really IS like running a for real hill. I don't think I've ever had the incline up so high on the treadmill. Luckily, it was only 3 minutes. It was do-able, but I was breathing hard. By the end of the workout I was dripping sweat. I'm glad I didn't decide to increase the pace. It seemed just right for me.

I'm wondering if anyone is going to even show up for the group workout on the 5th. I'm thinking that maybe there will be 10 people. Most everyone I know is going to the shore for the weekend. OR partying too much to worry about getting up in the morning to do 14-16 miles. I'll be there though. :)

Treading (Just Barely)

I absolutely cannot stand treadmill. But I realize that it is my best option for non-group runs from time to time if for nothing else besides the safety factor. So last night I cooked up a little workout with the help of an article I found on Runner's World. Everything was on 1.0 resistance to simulate the wind. I was supposed to do:

7 minutes at 6.0 mph
2 minutes at 6.4 mph
2 minutes at 6.6 mph
5 minutes at 6.8 mph
6 minutes at 6.4 mph
6 minutes at 6.6 mph
5 minutes at 6.2 mph
5 minutes at 6.0 mph

So I got to about 28 minutes and I was sweating like crazy, breathing heavy and I had this sharp pain on the outsides of my calves. I decided to check my pulse: 219. Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Time to stop. I felt awful. But I knew I had to stop. There was no way that was healthy. I am just very bummed overall because I feel like my training has not been going well. I feel like I SHOULD be going much faster even in my training and I just can't do it. I can't figure out whether I should push harder and if that would lead to injury (something I've dealt with in the past a lot) or if I should stay where I am. I feel like I am not pushing hard enough because I know of my past runs, but I just really do NOT want to get injured. Rant, rant, rant. I am just frustrated.