Wednesday after work I set out to do four sets of 1 mile repeats on the treadmill. After warming up with a 7 or 8 minute jog, I began my first repeat at a 10.5 mph pace, about a 5:42 mile. I really hoped that I would feel comfortable at that pace, enough to even push it up a notch in the later part of the mile.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that 5:42 is pretty much my mile threshold and that there would be no speeding up beyond that point. I felt strong enough to hold my 10.5 mph pace for the second repeat, but by the middle of the third split I knew my miles were numbered and that the 4th was just going to be awful if I even attempted it.

So I took a quick break and negotiated with myself, mid-session.

I think this is something every runner has found themself doing at one point. You’re in the middle of a pretty hard training run; a weekend long-run, a fast tempo, or like in my case some intense repeats. You take a step back and make a deal with your body. If it will just allow you to get through most of the remaining work at hand, you’ll reciprocate by cutting the session a little bit early. Doesn’t that sound fair?

Anyway, I don’t know for sure that anyone else does this, but I do it all the time. Sometimes it feels great to stop a little early and know that you still did a good job. Usually though, by the time I finish most of the “hard work” I have enough left over to get through the last 10% anyway, so its more of a mind game than anything else. Long story short…

That’s how I finished my run on Wednedsay night. I compromised by agreeing to run my 4th mile as 2 seperate half-mile splits. And by the time I was done, I even had enough gas in the tank to do a third and final half mile.

J