Today, I tried another outdoor run. This one was very short because I didn't have a lot of time, but I wanted to do an experiment. I've been doing a lot of that lately. I set out to run a half mile at the high school track (which is closed due to construction, but can be gotten into in the evenings) so I could be sure I was correct with the mileage and I could benefit from the fact that it was flat, which resembles the treadmill, except my treadmill has a minimum incline of "2," whatever that means. What exactly is 2? 2%, 20%, 2 degrees, some randon number assigned by a treadmill guy? I don't know. What I do know is my treadmill is never flat; I am always running up hill. So I wanted to run around this track at what I consider to be my normal treadmill pace several times and see how it felt. My first lap was a little too fast at 2:15 (setting me up for a 9 mile), so I slowed down on the second to a more comfortable 2:30 lap. For the math challenged, that is a 4:45 half mile. I'm suggesting I can keep up the 2:30 pace, but not the 2:15 pace (I know, it's still pathetic, and I used to be able to do a quarter mile in 60 seconds...but those days are long past...so bear with me here), which means that I am now looking at a 10 minute mile outside, possibly sustainable. All I have to say about that is "That's incredible!" Either my treadmill is way faster than is says it is, or it is way easier to run outside on flat earth. I'll still be training on the treadmill, but I am simply going to take the speed with a big grain of salt and focus on HR and time running. Getting the feeling of my pace on the track took a while. I can hardly make myself go as slow as I need to go to be in the sustainable range. It feels so dang slow to run a ten minute mile, but if I go faster, I start to spike the HR. I'll definitely need to take the monitor and run outside a lot before the Moose. If I end up maintaining a 10 minute mile pace in the real thing, I will be very pleased. That wasn't even on the radar last week. I figured 12 was the best I could hope for. Feeling better about how well the training is working now.
Anyway...I'm ready to swim like the wind this weekend. I don't care how delusional I am, I'm going for the fastest swim split in the race. I just read Dean Karnazes' book Ultramarathon Man, and if he can run 226 miles in a row (10 marathons without stopping!), I can surely swim my guts out for 2.2 miles. Pain is weakness leaving the body. If it doesn't hurt, you're going too slow. Yes, I am slightly insane right now, but I've never felt better.
2 comments:
I have always found running outside to be more difficult than the treadmill. The big difference being the additional effort required to overcome both wind resistance, and air resistance from forward travel. Neither of these are encountered on the treadmill. Also, most treadmills naturally propel you forward (who hasn't made the mistake of trying to abruptly stop on one?), which isn't the case out on the track.
From what you described, it sounds to me like running outside may actually be harder for you too.
Consider this: If you ran one mile on the treadmill at a 9 min/mile pace and one on the track at the same pace, which will produce the higher HR? My money is on the track.
By the way, the enthusiasm is inspiring me to rethink my own performance objective for the race. I have been preparing for an 8 minute mile, but what is to stop me from running a 7:30? That's right! Nothing but my own weakness, which Shawn has already explained will leave my body as the pain increases.
Okay, here's my feeling today, after my body has spoken. I can definitely run faster outside than what my treadmill says. But because I am always running uphill inside, my form takes a beating outside...I feel like I am always kind of falling the last couple of inches, because I expect the floor to be there (uphill) but it isn't, so I kind of impact too hard, which over the course of the run causes some new muscles aches. But I cannot maintain on my treadmill a 10 minute mile pace (6mph), while I was able to do that on the track without too much trouble. At the slow pace I go, and the mass I'm moving around, the air resistance is not much of a factor. I'm like a Rhino taking a stroll on a breezy day.
Whatever...I will simply vary my runs in and out, and check the monitor, and I will be ready for the Moose in 10 months.
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