The DREADMILL

Ever since I started running I have hated the idea of treadmills.  Why run on a treadmill in a gym if you can enjoy the beautiful outdoors that God gave us?  The trails around my house and neighborhood are peaceful, wonderful, relatively flat, and span several miles. The streets in the neighborhood offer countless different routes and a guarantee you'll see someone you know while on your run. There's really nothing NOT to love.

HOWEVER.....

If you have ever been in Texas in the summer, you know it's pretty much like Hell on Earth. Even at 5am the humidity will hover at over 85% and the temp rarely dips below 75 degrees. It doesn't sound bad temperature-wise until you get about a mile into your run and realize you can't breathe and that's sweat dripping off your elbow.  It's enough to make even a hardcore runner take pause and realize it doesn't feel good at all. Sure, a runner can slog through it and get those miles in, but is it enjoyable?

Two years ago I signed Greg and I up for the Napa-to-Sonoma Half Marathon, which would take place in mid-July.  Temperatures at the race would probably be in the 50s and 60s, humidity hit or miss. Scenery: spectacular. Wine at the finish. A race meant for me and Greg to run together. Something I didn't really think too much about was TRAINING for said race. Training up until July in Texas. Doing a 12 mile run in 80 degrees, plus countless runs over 8 miles leading up to that. To put it bluntly, it was miserable. The race itself was pretty great, but I vowed that would be the last summertime half marathon I would ever train for in the hot Texas summer.

Last year I had a bout of exhaustion that derailed any quality summertime running. I struggled every time I was out there. I pretty much maxed out at 4 miles and it simply was not enjoyable for me at all.  I was typically running at a 9:45 pace or slower, whereas my usual training pace is 9:15-9:30.  I was dejected that I was getting slower and struggling so much.  My marathon training season pace really wasn't much better, although I was able to enjoy some cooler and more comfortable, albeit slower than usual, runs during the fall and winter.

I knew I needed to make a change this season if I wanted to maintain my running shape.  I had no choice but to embrace the dreaded TREADMILL, or as my running friends like to call it, THE DREADMILL.  *cue foreboding music here*

Up until my first day in my gym my longest treadmill run was 4 miles, plus I had done a 5 mile run with a walking break at 3.  I jumped right into my new routine, however, and was consistently posting 4 and 5 mile runs, and even a 10K, within the first month at the gym.  I do strength training and core work before my treadmill runs so I'm already slightly fatigued before I even start.  If someone, especially a dude, hops on the treadmill next to me, I usually crank up the speed and push myself more than usual.  After I missed a 10k race because of traffic, I immediately headed to the gym and got my frustrations out on the treadmill. I posted a 44-minute 5 mile run, which is almost my 10k race pace. I do speed interval workouts consistently so I can continue to push my pace. I'm running harder, faster, more efficiently, and I'm not dreading every single run.  I get to watch young buff dudes people during their workouts, or read the headlines on the TVs set up in front of the cardio equipment. I can sleep in later and not worry about how hot and sunny it's getting outside. If I want to run at 11am I can, when it's 95 degrees outside.

Today I posted my very first 10 mile non-stop treadmill run.  Well, almost non-stop.  You see, the treadmills at our gym max out at 60 minutes, so when that session was up (at 6.3 miles), I paused, took my shirt off (it gets warm in our gym! I still sweat a lot), reset the 'mill for another 3.7 miles and continued on my quest for double-digits.  I ran it in 1:34, which is 9:25 pace.  Last week I did 5 miles, then strength training, then another 5 miles for a total running time of 1:33, a 9:18 pace.  It's a huge difference from how I felt running long runs last year.

Last week Greg and I did a couple of short runs outside during late morning. I'm running a 5K on September 5 and a half marathon on October 9 so I do need to stay slightly acclimated to outdoor running.  It was already very hot when we started, but I just ran with what felt comfortable.  I rarely looked at my Garmin to check my pace, but when I did I was consistently seeing sub-9 minute pace, and it felt easy.  During the last mile of one of the runs, when I was definitely feeling the heat, I ended up running FASTER.  I absolutely attribute it to my treadmill runs.

Color me shocked....I AM LOVING THE TREADMILL.

A "DNS" really sucks right about now

Ever since my second marathon of the season I've felt pretty darn fantastic. I signed up for the Capitol 10K awhile ago, figuring I would see how I felt come race day and decide if I wanted to attempt a personal best. I ran my very best 10k at the Cap 10K two years ago....a 53:45...but that was with some serious speed training the few weeks prior. This year I was merely relying on the relay and whatever I could pull off in the 5 weeks between the Austin Marathon and Capitol 10K.  In other words, I figured a 57 minute 10K was about what I would pull off.

However...to my huge surprise...I was feeling AWESOME.  I felt really good at the relay and posted respectable times in each of my legs.  I was barely sore after my second marathon and after the relay.  I joined the gym and started running on a treadmill to force some faster speed out of these legs.  Things were looking surprisingly good for a shot at a personal best.

On Thursday of this past week, while still sore was a pretty tough Pilates session the day before, I headed out for a 4 miler, figuring it would be a bit slower since I was sore.  I felt sluggish through the first mile and figured it was probably about 10 minute pace (if I was lucky), which was my typical pace for the first mile.  To my surprise I looked down at my Garmin when it beeped after my first mile....8:44.  WTH?  I never do that for my first mile of a run without realizing I'm running that fast. So I decided that I would just maintain that pace and do a 5K.  My time ended up being 26:50.  Not a 5K PR by a long shot but still a pretty good pace without intentionally meaning to do a fast run....and exactly half of what I needed to hit a 10K PR.  Hmmm....yeah, I could do it.

Unfortunately, things didn't work out that way.  For the past 4 years I have always parked in a particular parking structure before this race, getting there about an hour early.  I didn't alter my plan this morning....but it had a vastly different outcome.  I GOT STUCK IN TRAFFIC.

And because I hadn't come up with an alternative plan, I had no idea what to do.  I was alone, so I couldn't just ditch the car and then the driver figure it out.  There were going to be over 20,000 running this race, so if I didn't get to the start I was going to be stuck behind a lot of walkers.  Not that there's anything wrong with walkers, but having to navigate through them for the first couple miles would have absolutely killed any chance I had at a good time.  At five minutes until start time I was still stuck in traffic, and hadn't even moved for at least 5 minutes.  It led me to believe the parking structure was full....and unfortunately there really was nowhere else for me to park...I pretty much picked the worst street to be on.  I had to make the painful decision to bag the race, turn around, and head back home.  Devastated much???

This has never happened to me.

I always get to races early.

I really wanted to cry.

I decided that if I wasn't running the race, I could at least make a good shot at a fast time on a treadmill.  I would have run outside, but I knew the treadmill would force a certain pace out of me much better.  So off to the gym I went.  I wanted to get a full 10K in, but I figured that I could relieve my babysitter (my fabulous friend Heather) so she could head to church without having to drag my kids with her.  If I ran a full 10K it was cutting it close, so I ended up running 5 miles in 44 minutes.  Had I ran the last 1.2 miles in just under 8 min/mile pace, I would have had my PR.  I absolutely would have done it.  Although I may have puked trying.  When I got off the treadmill, I had to literally hold my hand to my mouth to keep myself from puking.  That gym is really REALLY warm sometimes and my adrenaline was sky high. 

But dammit, I got those aggressions out.

Now, many hours later, after reading about all my friends running a fabulous race today, and it seeming like I was the ONLY one who missed the race, I'm still sad.  I would have liked to have seen my friends, I would have liked to take picture of my Garmin to show off my new 10K personal best time of 53:30...or better....I'm just sad. 

Greg told me he'd pace me to get a PR out of me in the next couple weeks.  I'm going to take him up on that.