On the treadmill

I'm still trying to figure out if this could have been correct. Yesterday, we were at a hotel in Ohio, so I went for my run (which was meant to be a short run of about 6km) on a treadmill. I decided to run for half an hour, but was too into it to stop, so I kept on going. I'd been looking only at the time, not the distance, and I'd been doing a lot of sprints and intervals, playing around with how fast I could chug away on the little track, and for how long, basically pushing myself like I tend to do. At about 38 minutes, I checked my distance. I was really close to 6 miles, so I did a little more sprinting and got there, then cooled down for a minute or so, and clocked off the treadmill at just under 40 minutes, having run 6.2 miles.

Then I checked how far that was in kilometres. That's almost exactly 10km (9.977 to be precise.) Is that even possible?? Maybe it's easier to run on a treadmill than outside, because I've never clocked in at a pace like that outside: my race last spring got me across the finish line in just under 48 minutes. At first, I wondered whether maybe the treadmill was giving me the distance in kilometres, but that makes no sense either: I do know my own pace, and I was running much faster than that. Plus, we were in the States where no one measures in kilometres, ever. I spent all weekend translating distances for my cousins, who were interested in my training plans and the marathon and the triathlon, etc.

Anyway, after that run yesterday, I'm kinda interested in getting a used treadmill and sticking it my basement. I could do my speed/interval runs on it all winter, when it isn't safe to go sprinting around outside in the ice and snow. Outside in the winter is still great for long runs, or slower runs, and I love running outside all year long. But I could see the advantage of training on a treadmill. It reminded me of being on a spin bike. Not the same as a bicycle, but you're able to push yourself harder and in a more controlled way than when out on the road.

Wish I'd known how close I was to running a full 10km. I would have sprinted all the way to that finish line and clocked the time as my fastest ever. It felt like I was running fast. But it was hard to tell. Anyone have experience on treadmills? Are they just plain easier? Can you go faster?

:::

Training plan for the week (the week before the marathon!) ... I skipped the early swim this morning. I was way too tired. I could sleep all day if that were possible, actually. It was a draining weekend. I'm planning to spin tomorrow. Run Wednesday. And possibly swim Thursday. Yoga Friday. Short run on Friday evening or Saturday morning. Like, really short. The book recommends 3km. And then I'm going to run a really long way on Sunday morning.

I hope I'll make it.