I ran another treadmill long run today. This is the third time that I have done this over the last 3 months, because it allows me to run fast in temperatures under 80 degrees, whereas when I run outside I often have to deal with temperatures in the 90's, even when I run early in the morning. I set the treadmill to a 1% grade during the tempo to simulate air resistance, and I turned a fan on me to simulate a little air movement just like last time. I started with a warm-up of 9 miles, starting off slow, then slowly speeding up, and running the last mile at 9.6mph before starting the tempo (57:48 for the first 8.5 miles, for an average of 6:48/mile). I ran the tempo in a similar manner to how I ran it the last time, starting at 11.3mph (5:18 pace) for the first 5 miles. However, this time I did not increase the pace to 11.4 mph after 5 miles, waiting to speed up until I hit the 7 mile mark. At 7 miles I sped up to 11.4 mph, and at 8 miles I increased the pace to 11.5 mph. After 9 miles I slowly increased the pace over the last mile, finishing at 12.6 mph, with a closing mile of 4:56-4:58 (didn't see the exact time, but it was somewhere in that range). 5 mile splits were 26:32 and 26:02 (52:34 for 10 miles). I was much happier with this 10 mile tempo than I was the last time I did this. Last time I struggled to maintain pace, whereas this time I felt smooth, relaxed and controlled. To be honest, 5:18 pace felt easy. I was also happy with my HR, because I have felt lately like my cardiovascular fitness has been improving, and my HR stayed around 169-171 for most of the time I was running at 5:18 pace (in the past it has been just a little higher than that at that pace). So, this workout was by and large a validation for me that my fitness is where I want it to be (at least it is trending in the right direction). Seeing that I did this at the end of a 100+ mile week feels good too. I still felt strong at the end of this workout, and I even ran my 1 mile cool down at 6:40 pace because I wanted to get the run over with, and my legs did not feel hammered. Total time for 20 miles was 2:00:20 (6:01 pace). At the end of the workout it was 72 degrees with 52% humidity in the lab.
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