Just Curious

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I think it would be a kick ass workout and a great way to monitor improvement from session to session.

Just thinking in through a bit: In each 30 minutes you run you will have raised the speed by 3 mph. Obviously depends on ability and starting speed, but if you started at 8 mph (7:30 per mile pace) you will be at 11 mph (5:27 per mile pace)in 30 minutes and then at 5:00 min pace in 40 minutes. It would go from easy to quite hard within 40 to 45 minutes.

any other comments, any ex-phys folks or coaches able to comment?

I gave this some further thought and was thinking that more than anything this workout would strengthen mental toughness. Physiologicaly I think it would be a hard stressor on the CV system. Because of the accumulated fatigue I am not sure how much a stimulous it would provide for the neuro musculat system.

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One of my fav things to do on a treadmill is a prog run like you say. I find it a great indicator of fitness and I use it as a regular check to see how things are progressing.

I start at 10kph (my treadmill is in kph rather than mph but you get the jist) and every 5 minutes I go up by 1kph. So after 10 mins I'm doing 11kph, 15 mins I'm doing 12kph etc etc.

If you do this for 50 minutes the last 5 mins are at 19kph which is just short of 5min/miling. The constant increase of the pace helps prevent boredom too as you have to work harder the more tired you get.

I can't offer an ex phys perspective, but that sounds like a fun workout to do, and it would definitely tax you mentally as well as physically. Sounds like you have nothing to lose by trying it to see how it works out.

OK what the hell, I am going to give it a try. Had 4Xmile planned today but I am intrigued to see how far I can go. I'll report back but I assure you my numbers will not be impressive. 41 year old rec runner. Current mile time is 5:54.

Our treadmill at work that goes to 12.5 mph is waiting to be prepaired. The other three go to 10 MPH. I doubt it will happen but if I get to 10MPH I will then increase the incline.5% per minute.

That sounds like a decent workout but what might really lead to improvement is to read Dane's book and hire him on as a coach. He only charges $100 a month and will tell you all about how great he is and all about his 52 quest. He may also show you some pictures of himself and tell you about his workouts. He is the man!!

Sorry, Don't know who Dane is.

So I did the workout. I guess I ended about where I thought I might but really had no idea since I did not know how to factor in the accumulating increasing fatigue.

I set the treadmill at 1.5 incline and started at 7MPH and increased .1 every minute. I crashed and burned at 9.9MPH. As far as the intensity. When I do a Tempo on the treadmill, I run at 8.6 for 21:43 minutes so I ended up going 13 minutes at above tempo pace. When I reached 9.0 I felt like that was a pace I could hold for 5K. At 9.5 I was really working and I knew I was quickly reaching my max This is when I first started contemplating quitting several times over the last 4 minutes. The last minute I wanted to quit so bad but was determined to finish out the whole minute. When I stepped off, I was 3 beats below my highest recorded max heart rate and was wiped.

It was a nice change from the usual and I could see doing this once a month over the next 4 months of winter for sure.

When, you say "crashed and burned", does that mean you collapsed and fell off of the treadmill? If yes, I can respect that. If no, it would be interesting to see what your workmates would think if you just kept running until your legs failed and you fell off of the treadmill. I know people get hurt doing like that, but if you have one of those safety clips it should stop the belt if you fall. I think that you can proabably do a bit better than you would imagine.

Crash and burn was definitely an overstatement. I quit, grabbed the side rails and put my feet on the sides of the belt when I felt that if I continued I might end up flying off the back. If it was a competition or someone was holding a gun to my head I am sure I could have gone longer. How much I do not know. Probably longer than I think I could. That is where mental toughness comes in. The body is able but the mind is not. I agree, it would be interesting to see co-workers reactions if I truly went until my legs failed LOL.