Treadmill as pacer

I'm almost at the end of Week 15 in my training plan for the September 13 marathon. The previous week (Week 14) was the last one of hard workouts before the two-week taper leading up to the race. That Thursday was a 5-mile tempo workout, with two miles at either end, for a total of nine miles. I ran to the local high school track for the tempo part. Based on my PR paces for 5K and 10K, I was aiming for somewhere between 7:45 and 8:00. But, try as I might, I just couldn't do it and ended up with 8:07, 8:07, 7:58, 8:05, and 8:00. Given that fatigue is 90% mental--right? :)--I knew that, physically, I could have run faster. In fact, in Week 13, which had identical workouts as those of Week 14, I ran the five tempo miles at exactly the paces of 8:00, 7:54, 7:48, 7:42, and 7:48. It was raining that morning, and, uncharacteristically (!), I wimped out and went downstairs and ran on the treadmill. It was a hard workout, but I'd no problems keeping up with the moving belt. In fact, I barely noticed any difference in effort, from mile to mile, as I decreased the time by six seconds each.

In thinking about these two tempo runs, it occurred to me that a treadmill is basically a pacer ... of the strict kind. The kind that absolutely enforces the pace. Can't keep up? Off the belt! This strict enforcement, though, obviates much of the 90% mental work and results in a perceived effort that's lower than that on the track or road, for the same pace. This difference is one of the reasons doing too much training on a treadmill is not good preparation for actual races. The lowered perceived effort is also why pacers are so important, particularly in the latter segments of ultra races, when the mental work becomes harder and harder. In the Western States 100, for example, pacers are allowed beginning from the Foresthill aid station (Mile 62). In a recent article in Runner's World, Laura Beachy wrote about her first 100-miler, the 2014 Umstead 100 Mile Endurance Run. Of her "15-pieces of semi-wisdom," the one I like the best is "Pacers are electrolytes for the soul." Although I've not yet ventured into the ultra world, I feel I know exactly what she meant.