Treadmill Test - attempt 1

I went to Gold's Gym on my lunch hour to do my treadmill test. I honestly thought my lunch hour would be sufficient for this test.

As I mentioned yesterday, Sasha P challenged me to run on a treadmill at 6.6 mph (just over a 9 minute mile pace) as long as I could until I collapsed. I thought I might be able to do a couple of miles at the most.

One year ago Leslie Peterson and I both set a goal of running a 5K on a treadmill in under 30 minutes (slightly over 6.0 mph pace) and I was dying for breath at the end of that 30 minute session. I know my fitness has improved this year - but I am not sure exactly how much.

Anyway, I warmed up on the treadmill for 1 mile at 4.5 mph, then kicked the treadmill into gear at 6.6 mph. The first quarter mile I felt really great and thought, "Wow, this is going to be easier than I thought." Then next half mile I felt like I was only going to make it about 1.5 miles before dying. I determined there and then to try and make it to 3 miles no matter how bad it felt (and it felt bad at that point).

About 1 mile into the treadmill test I started settling in and my body got into the groove. Yes, I felt like I was running fast, but my heart was not pounding and my perceived exertion level was not as high as I expected it to be.

Two miles into the test I began to realize that Sasha was right and my body was in better shape than I thought. I still thought 3 miles might be my maximum, but either way I was surprising myself and knew I had to end at the 3 mile mark to get back to work. As I finished the 3 fast miles - my body was starting to feel more stressed with my breathing starting to get harder and heavier.

I will wait another week and attempt this again. I am very happy with the results.