A new favorite speed run

I haven't done a whole lot of speed work since I transitioned to running two days in a row and taking a day off after the Freep Half in October. Once or twice a week, I was doing something I call "sixes and sevens," which is 0.75 miles at 6 mph, and 0.25 miles at 7 mph (on the treadmill, of course). Not too challenging, varied enough to be interesting, not so complicated I couldn't concentrate on whatever Netflix series is my current treadmill show.

Today, I decided to kick it up a notch, and increase each interval by 0.1 mph for 7 miles (I wanted to hit at least an hour). So I went from 6.0/7.0 mph for the 0.75/0.25 intervals, to to 6.1/7/1 mph, ending with 6.6/7.6 mph for a total of 7 times.

I'm not going to lie — I wasn't sure I could pull this off. I don't think I've run 7.6 mph (a 7:54 minute per mile pace) on a treadmill in years. But I decided eh, f--- it, I'll hold on for as long as I can, and the speed intervals are only for a quarter mile anyway. Verdict: Success! It was a great run and I cooled down feeling great and proud of myself for trying something new.

This speed workout plotted out.

I'm a cold weather wuss, and I expect to put in many more miles on the treadmill these next few months. I'll need fun and challenging speed workouts like this one to help keep it exciting.