Thursday, April 26, 2012

Speaking of Treadmills...

The "Run Less, Run Faster" plan is no joke. Sure there are only three workouts a week, but they are tough and seem way harder than the actual goal. With vacation last week, I kind of fell off the wagon, but this week I've committed to get back on track. I started on Monday by planning on doing a long run on the treadmill, but I just wasn't feeling it and couldn't increase the pace so I stopped at 4.58 miles. After reviewing my training plans I saw I actually had an easy 6 miler this week. Crap! I should have just kept going. Son of a...I decided to move that easy 6 miler to the weekend when my friends were running together and having a breakfast cookout afterwards (in 30 degree weather!). So the workouts I had left were a 10 miler at an 8:00 pace and a track workout of 3 X 1600 at 6:40 pace. The track wasn't earlier this week. I opted to do the 10 miler in the middle of the week.

Per usual, when I got home from work yesterday I took a nap. Yes, I'm an infant and I still take naps. Shut it! When I woke up my nap is was raining. Of course. I was going to have to do this run on the treadmill. I grabbed my water and gels and headed to the basement. My plan was to see how many miles I could actually do at the 8:00 pace (which, I kid you not, is faster on a treadmill than it is on the roads). The first mile was a warm up that I did right around a 10:00 pace. Then I did 2 miles at an 8:00. The next mile was around a 9:00 pace so I could take my gel. Three more miles at an 8:00, another mile at a 9:00 for more nutrition, and the last two miles at 8:00. Over all I did 10 miles in 1:25:22, for an 8:32 pace. For a treadmill run I think that's pretty quick.


But, it was hot in the basement and I got sweaty and I got chafed. Speaking of chafing...

A few weeks ago I bought myself a pair of racing shorts, aka bum huggers, aka boy shorts. This is the pair I bought, and they are a lot shorter on me than those. Mine hit me just under the buns and wear more like a pair of volleyball shorts. I have been too embarrassed to run with them in public just in practice so I've been trying them out on the treadmill in the basement. I've worn them twice, both times sans underwear, and I've got to say, they ride my lady parts. I don't like that. But am I supposed to wear them with underwear? I mean, seriously, my underwear are basically the same size as these. And that sweaty run caused my thighs rub together and chafe. I thought the whole thing about wearing these tiny shorts is supposed to help with chub rub. I'm just not sure about them yet. 

What's the longest run you've ever done on a treadmil?
What's the fastest you've ever run on a treadmill for a sustained period of time?
Do you wear tiny shorts for racing?  Do you wear undies with them?  Do you like them?

5 comments:

Anne said...

Personaly I find it akward seeing all those lady parts in a race.BUt maybe thats just me.

Unknown said...

Love the underwear posts. Here is my take:

I bought the teeniest zoot tri shorts on accident, because I apparently meansure inseam differently than they do. I wear those w/o underwear b/c you can't swim in underwear. However, when I went to the zoot booth in Boston, I bought some zoot shorts, no pad, and the lady there told me I should wear underwear. These were a tad longer than the teeny ones. I did the unthinkable and ran 26.2 in them in a race without ever trying them out, and aside from a minor seam chaffing on the outside of my leg (weird), I was fine (with underwear). However, as a former Team Aquaphor athlete, I pretty much bath my upper thighs in it prior to any race that requires shorts and not tights.

I have done some tempo runs on the treadmill that were pretty fast, but those were only about 5 miles long. I routinely run 10 miles on the treadmill with it set at 7mph, or 8:35 pace for the whole time. That's my treadmill pace, I guess. I did somem training at 8:20 last year to qualify for Boston.

Jford said...

I do a treadmill run at least once a week. I find it is easier for me to do interval work on it.

This morning I did do an 8.2 mile run on the dreadmill, wasn;t that bad.

rhino said...

No undies! Commando is always the way to go. Great work on your running--animal!

The Boring Runner said...

15 miles is as far as I've gone on a TM. Maybe 16.

I do wear shorter shorts for racing. But...ummm. not booty shorts. ;)