Miles on the Dreadmill

It was cold today, so I went home for my running gear and then drove back downtown to my gym to use the dreaded treadmill.  I warmed up for 2 miles at 12 minute pace while watching ESPN and ESPN2.  Duke was beating Tulsa on the one channel and Northwestern was beating Iowa on the other, so I just kept switching back and forth.

I followed my new warmup routine of going slow, landing on the balls and toes of my feet, and keeping short strides.  It was another good warmup.

I stopped the treadmill, retied my running shoes so they were tighter, turned off the TV, and turned on my mp3 player to the likes of Ten and Vs from Pearl Jam.  I went right into a 7mph or 8:34 minute pace.  The treadmill at my gym has a virtual track on part of its screen.  I used long strides on the straightaways and short faster strides on the curves of the track.  In the end, I ran 4 miles in 34:09, which is somehow just a hair faster than the 8:34 pace.  I thought computers were supposed to be accurate.  Oh well.  That is really 8:32 pace, which is exactly 30 seconds slower per mile than the 5k I ran this past Saturday.  That's good considering I kept that pace for another full mile.

Now, the test is whether I can keep from eating everything in the fridge tonight.  :O