A damp, grey morning did not inspire me to want to run outside. I knew that my favourite paths would be ankle-deep in cold and watery mud and running on the road didn’t especially grab me either. Instead I headed for the machine.
After a half mile warm-up at 6mph I jumped to 7mph and then increased by 0.2 each quarter-mile until I reached 8mph. I returned to 6mph for a quarter mile and repeated the exercise before returning to 6mph and running the final mile at 7mph. This may seem a little convoluted, but I saw it as a mild form of interval training.
Though I focused my cognitive resources on the mechanics of running for a change, I also alighted upon an interesting exercise for a workshop later this week. It’s amazing how similar the approaches for training people to run faster is, to helping people to think more creatively.
5 miles in 42.35, a little over 7mph average.