Treadmill Training = ICK!

So, last fall I registered for an April Half Marathon. It seemed like a good idea at the time and I was super excited to add a third race to my 2011 calendar. But then winter settled in and it took exactly less than one run to remember that cold weather running is hard for me! My lungs burn (this gets better after two or three weeks), my muscles never completely loosen up (this has yet to get better), and the fast (for me) running times that I enjoy on perfect fall days come to a screeching halt. In fact, after about 2 weeks of winter running I changed my goals from running for time to just logging miles. This worked just fine till January. Since then we have had this...

and this...

and this...

"This" came in not one, not two, but three big rounds of snow and ice, one of top of the other, with temperatures too frigid to fully melt it off. I can handle cold running (10+ degrees), I can handle sloppy, slushy running, and I actually enjoy snow running. But I'm a wimp when it comes to the icy and slick running we have had for the past few weeks.

Enter treadmill training.

I do not like the treadmill. I really, really don't. However, mid-January marked the start of "real training" for that April race. And by real I mean focused and purposeful, not just logging miles. So I got my treadmill serviced and calibrated (yay!) and went to work.

And this is what I have learned:

Treadmill Training = ICK!!!!

Yup. That just about covers it. And you can stop reading here...unless you are interested in particulars, in which case, I have broken it down into three easy steps.

1. Track repeats on a treadmill are HARD! (My most difficult to date - 3 (2x1200) repeats. Hideous.)

2. Long runs on a treadmill are HARDER!! (My longest to date - 9 miles. It's like going nowhere fast. Only not nearly fast enough.)

3. Tempo runs on a treadmill = DEATH (Or vomit. Whichever comes first.)

And that fully covers it.

Don't get me wrong. I am SUPER grateful to even be able to run, and to have a treadmill to train on, especially since it is less than 10 feet from my side of the bed. But this weekend I have a10-miler on the training calendar. So please, can the snow just melt already? Last week I had a dream that it did...that every bit of it melted in just one gloriously warm and sunny day!

I am still waiting for dreams to come true. ; )