A Treadmill Turnaround

I saw a gym ad on t.v. in the 1990s whose narrater said, "You're no longer a weak person becoming strong, but a strong person getting stronger." It wasn't very effective marketing, since I never remembered which gym sponsored that ad, but there is a lot of truth in that quote. After overcoming a string of injuries these last several months, it feels like I (hopefully) have turned a corner. I'm still not close to sub-20:00 form, but I have noticed a shift in my mentality during my last few workouts. What used to be painful struggles to finish interval and distance runs are now...still very painful and very much a struggle. But I have noticed a new level of certainty that I will complete each workout as planned, finishing even a little bit faster or stronger than I originally intended. One caveat to all of this is that the bulk of my training has been on the treadmill - a precaution I'm taking until I'm 100% ready to run long distance on asphalt again. Nonetheless, the last few treadmill runs have felt better than earlier ones I turned in last year. Hopefully I can translate this into faster performances on pavement. My recent workouts:

Feb. 2: 3 miles on road and grass

Feb. 5: Treadmill: 1.5 mile warm up, 3 x 800 m (3:15, 3:10, 3:07) Feb. 9: Treadmill: 2.5 mile warm up, 3 x 800 m (3:09, 3:07, 3:05) 1 x 400 m (90 sec.)

Feb. 12: Treadmill: 4 miles in 28:50 (7:37, 7:13, 7:08, 6:52)

Feb. 15: Treadmill: 2 mile warm up, 6 X 400 m (97, 94, 92, 90, 87, 82 seconds)

Feb. 17: Treadmill: 4 miles in 28:09: (7:34, 6:58, 6:58, 6:39)

Feb. 19: 3 miles on road and grass with several hill and speed pickups