With all the rain we’ve had lately, my current trend is to stay indoors and run at home on the treadmill. Treadmill running used to be a chore but for some reason at the moment, I’m really enjoying the “dreadmill” as some people refer to it.
As you probably already know I’m a big fan of the Runervals series of workouts, and although Coach Troy Jacobson recommends performing these tough workouts just once per week, I’ll usually follow along at a less intense effort several times a week. The advantages are numerous:
- I’m guaranteed a quality, structured workout
- The 50 or so minutes passes really quickly – much faster than a random run on the treadmill
- My legs are getting less of a beating than they would outside on the roads
- My shoes seem to last longer
- I don’t have to think about when to speed up/slow down – I just follow Troy’s instructions
- I’m more likely to drink and stay hydrated on the treadmill
- I was going to say “I don’t get wet in the rain”, but I usually end up walking off the treadmill as drenched as if I’d been running outside in the rain
So, tonight I’ve logged another 7 miles, which doubles my mileage for the week. However, it looks like I won’t be hitting 60+ miles for the week after all – I gave myself a rest day on Monday and I’m planning to run another 5k race on Saturday morning.
I do plan on running another 20 miler on Sunday though – probably my last long run before the Frederick Marathon on May 4th. Training is going well and I’m definitely going to taper correctly for this one – unlike last month’s Shamrock Marathon where I was still increasing my mileage the week of the race.