A couple weeks ago, for various scheduling and weather-related reasons, I had to run indoors on a treadmill--not one of my favorite activities. One of the scheduled runs in my running club's winter marathon training (WMT) program was a 10-miler, and I was desperately looking for a way to avoid boredom. Here's what I ended up with that worked for me to mentally get through that 10-miler on the treadmill. I began at ~10:30 pace (5.7 mph), which is my current LSD pace in the Sunday long runs for the WMT program. After the first 1/4 mile, I increased the speed by 0.1 mph. Then, after another 1/4 mile, I increased the speed by another 0.1 mph. And so on until I got to 7.5 mph or 8:00 pace. I then reversed and went back in a similar way until I reached 5.7 mph again (with a few steps repeated to get to 10 miles total). With each increment or decrement of speed, I focused on that specific 1/4 mile, which went by pretty quickly. For some of the 1/4 miles, I counted my steps, coordinated with my breathing (one count per two steps). For others, I focused on form (e.g., landing on the balls of my feet behind the big and second toes). Thus, I got through that 10-mile run without too much problem, a workout that's as much--if not more--mental as physical!
What I did for that run is kind of like the WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) that is commonly used in my workplace, a project management tool to decompose the total work into smaller components, each of which and the sum total of which are then more manageable. And, some of the components can proceed concurrently. Long distance running as project management? To some extent. But, alas, one can't break a 20-mile run down to 20 one-milers and run them in parallel!
How do you pass the time on long treadmill runs?
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