The Same Old Treadmill

This morning I got up and was determined to do the actual workout that was proscribed according the half-marathon training plan. I got to the gym and got on my regular old treadmill. And it is old. I'm guessing that it's one of the older treadmills at the gym. I like it because it's on the end of a row of treadmills so there can only ever be one other person next to me, I can sort-of see the big TV with the close captioning (good for seeing headlines on the news in the morning) and I can also people-watch when there are classes in the exercise studio.

Today's plan was 4 miles and then 4 gentle pickups. And that's what I did ... sort-of. To be fair, I did the whole workout, just not exactly in the order described. I ended up running three miles, then doing the pickups, and then finishing with one last mile. I was running a lot faster today in general, especially on the last mile where I really pushed myself, so it was nice to see that I am capable of doing that, even if it's not long-term.

I was a little worried about the pickups today after yesterday's pain near my knee (it's really above my knee on the inside), but it went fine! I did four of them at 9.0, 9.5, 9.6 and 10.0 speed. I did each pickup for 30 seconds. I actually even did the last one at 10.0 for a little bit longer because I wanted to get to a nice round number on the time.

I'm quite happy to report that my knee felt fine today. I think it must be related to sprinting and perhaps my form breaks down a little bit, which causes that muscle/tendon/whatever is under my skin to just get a little bit tweaked once in a while. I'm of course going to keep an eye on it.

I was glad that I broke up the run the way that I did today. I really considered just pooping out and not doing the last mile, but instead I decided to run faster than normal just to get it over with. I really hate how this stuff has a mental component. I kept telling myself that I wasn't tired but I still really wanted to stop and quit. But, I didn't and I guess that is good for something (plus, I really did run a lot faster than usual!).

Run #1
Time: 30:22
Distance: 3.00 miles
Pace: 10:07/mile

Pickups
Time: 8:00
Distance: 0.76 miles
Pace: 10:31/mile

Run #2
Time: 8:58
Distance: 1.00 mile
Pace: 8:58/mile