I hate that there aren’t many (any?) athletic tracks near to me that are open to the public, and certainly none that my friends would come with me to train on. I’m not so good on the knowing my own pace (looking down at my garmin whilst running can cause serious injury), or marking out 400m in a straight line, so most of my speedwork is done on a treadmill.
At my new gym, the treadmills are much easier to use with the ability to convert between KPH and MPH- yes! I have used this conversion table in the past, now it does it all for me!
I chose the 400m track setting on the treadmill to make my prescribed workout from my training plan even easier to follow;
8 X 400m at 5K pace.
I did a 5min warm up at 4mph at an incline of 4, then began my repeats.
400m @ 8mph
200m @ 4mph
and repeat 7 times, followed by a 5 min cool down, for a total of 6KM.
Strangely I actually really enjoyed this workout and but wished I’d been on a real track. I didn’t have any music with me (left my broken headphones at home, whoops) but it felt great. I even felt like I could up the pace for my 400m repeats next time.
I used my workout to test out my new Mizuno Wave Alchemy 12 trainers. I was really excited to try out a new brand, plus they were in the sale.
Unfortunately, I don’t think they are exactly right for me, they didn’t feel great across the toes. But I did love the lightweight feel, the support and the responsiveness of the shoe. Luckily, The Sweat Shop offer a 30 day exchange period, so I’m planning on swapping them for the Mizuno Wave Runner 16s!!
What shoes do you wear? All my past ones have been Asics, maybe I’ll try another pair of those too. Got to rotate the shoes, which means I need at least three new pairs, right?
I loved my Asics, then tried Brooks Ghosts which were nice, Nike Free’s which are good but then I tried Adidas Boosts …. I’m in love! I rotate them all now but will stick with Adidas Boosts for the near future.
Have you ever gotten your gait analysed with running specialists? I popped into Runners Need (I went to the branch on Great Portland Street) where they do free gait analysis by (what seemed to be) very knowledgeable staff who are runners themselves. I tried on Asics, Brooks and Mizunos but ended up with Saucony trainers as they felt the most natural on the TM. Would definitely recommend paying a visit if you want to try a whole range of different trainers before buying! My pal ended up with those Mizuno Wave Runners and loves them!
Yes I had my gait done at Asics last year, think I might try the wave runners and the brooks ravennas this week!
Hi. I just wanted to say I’ve just read through your blog and your a huge inspiration to me. I’ve recently taken up running again and I am running my first half marathon in Oct. You’ve really pushed me on to achieve my goals.
Thank you & keep up the good work xx
Thank you so much, best comment ever!!! Good luck in your first half, which one are you doing?
I’ve been training in Puma Faas 300 (minimalist type shoes) since last fall, and I am finally looking to switch out my shoes. I recently bought a pair of Merrell Road Gloves, and still haven’t tried them yet. I want to transition to shoes with a more barefoot feel.
I am also looking into getting a pair of Mizuno Ronin for a more traditional shoe/cushioning for longer runs.