I am writing to request membership. Last night I set the treadmill to 9.4mph and refused to stop until I reached 3.1miles, in 19:41 (quick extrapolation says 19:45 for the extra little bit).

I realise that using a treadmill with zero incline is a bit like running a slightly downhill road race wearing shoes with rubber balls attached to the soles. I also suspect that the treadmill is inaccurate in my favour.

Yeah.. it doesn't really work does it?

Yours sincerely
Treadmill Cheater

__________________
Goals:
Sub 20:30 5k - Rother Valley, 18 July - 20:13
Emigrate to NZ - August 4th
Sub 41:00 10k - Christchurch, NZ, Sept 2010
http://www.justgiving.com/garethevans5k

Still, that's a good time.. Would like to see how you fare on a 5k road race to compare!

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TARGETS
21,1k in < 1.30.00 (by December '10) (progress)
5k in < 21.00 (done, 20.05) --> 5k in < 20.00
10k in < 43.00 (done, 42.53) --> 10k in < 42.00

in my book it counts, welcome.

__________________
2011 Sturunner - <1:12:00 13.1 (Fulmar)
2010 Sturunner- sub 2:45 VLM (RichardSimkiss) DONE

*Gold medals aren't really made of gold. They're made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.*

I didn't know there was a sub 20 5k club, but welcome

__________________
Running Goals for 2010
1. Sub 5 minute mile(Done in 04:53)
2. Sub 17 5k (Done in 16:57)
4. Sub 1:20 half marathon
4. Sub 36 10k

I cant wait to join...

__________________
Sub 45 minute 10k challenge from Marcus, accepted Race day TBC
All pressure is self-inflicted. It's what you make of it or how you let it rub off on you. Sebastian Coe
http://paceendurance.blogspot.com/

Treadmill Cheater? haha

This has just shown you you can do it. A confirmation on road or track will only make things better but you've done it

Pindar... 1m14s away... How is your progress going?

Fulmar, Its not so bad, Im training comfortably at that pace now. I think what i need to do to crack it is to get to a race early enough for a good warmup, where the weather is ok, and so on, and then I think I can drive home for it. I have a lot on in the next month or so, so I expect i wont actually manage a 5k race till april, but Im doing a 5 miler in February, so i may take my pace from that and see how close I am. However, Im fairly confident Ill make it!

__________________
Sub 45 minute 10k challenge from Marcus, accepted Race day TBC
All pressure is self-inflicted. It's what you make of it or how you let it rub off on you. Sebastian Coe
http://paceendurance.blogspot.com/

Yeah I was just messing around. I do believe I can do it in a road race!

I found the psychology behind this run very interesting. I had no right to go sub 20 right now as I'm only just back to full fitness after my injury. However, because I had already calculated that I needed a speed of 9.4mph - and I had told myself that I can do mind over matter for 20 minutes - after a warmup I simply set the treadmill to this and decided that I wouldn't stop unless I HAD to, i.e. I would have to be in unbearable physical agony!

I close to agony after around 14 minutes and at one point decided I would slow down a bit once I reached 18 minutes, but the act of having to physically reach out and press the 'minus' button meant that all I had to do for those last couple of minutes was think 'Don't press the button! Don't press the button!'.

In this way, going sub 20 on a treadmill was more about mental strength and mind over matter than in a road race in my opinion, as to some extent you are being 'pulled along' by the pre-determined pace and all you have to do is cope with it.

__________________
Goals:
Sub 20:30 5k - Rother Valley, 18 July - 20:13
Emigrate to NZ - August 4th
Sub 41:00 10k - Christchurch, NZ, Sept 2010
http://www.justgiving.com/garethevans5k

Good, good I'll be folowing your progress.


This is very interesting... Thank you for explaining so well the whole process.

Fulmar, it makes me wonder about all those who are close to sub 40 10k. Could it be achieved by setting to the required pace on the treadmill and simply fighting the urge to press the button? It's a more external version of the usual mechanism of slowing down and in my opinion it separates the desire and the action by a step.

__________________
Goals:
Sub 20:30 5k - Rother Valley, 18 July - 20:13
Emigrate to NZ - August 4th
Sub 41:00 10k - Christchurch, NZ, Sept 2010
http://www.justgiving.com/garethevans5k

Evansg81... You have "played" with your mind and you came out on top.
I am not suggesting you do this but I would love to see the result of such a 10K attempt by you soon
This is discussed at least in one other thread but it's so true that far too often we are only limited by our minds...

Nice work Gareth and welcome.

That is actually pretty interesting. I am inclined to try that with the 5k. I did a 19:56 in a 5k race but that was before any of the 10k's or half. Its tough to get into the mentality to do a 5k now because I always want to be getting in the miles. However if I pushed for a new pb on that. Rested and then did a slow 5k it might actually work a bit like intervals.

Whatcha reckon?

ps go for the 10k (injury permitting) would be very interesting!

__________________
1 Raise £1500 for cancer Research... £2000 so far http://www.justgiving.com/Marcus-Evans
2 Do a half in sub 1:35 by Me Failed
3. Run a 1000 miles this year

Good stuff Gareth - that really was a test of mental grit and determination - and harder than running a sub20min 5k on the road IMO!!! The difficult bit being that when running according to your own pace, you might hit a rough patch where you struggle and the pace drops off a bit, but then make up for it at another point in the race where you feel stronger - with the treadmill set at a specific pace then it's relentless - regardless of how you're feeling you have to keep up

__________________
www.richardsimkiss.co.uk
'The minimum requirement to achieve something is to believe that it's possible'

I don't think Im close enough to go for sub 40 yet -it would be the same pace as last night for twice as long! I was dying to stop in the closing stages last night. I dont think that sort of mind over matter can last a further 20mins once at that point . My PB was 43:19 just before I got injured, and I reckon Im still a minute or two off that. But I do believe that anyone with a 40-42 should give it a bash!

__________________
Goals:
Sub 20:30 5k - Rother Valley, 18 July - 20:13
Emigrate to NZ - August 4th
Sub 41:00 10k - Christchurch, NZ, Sept 2010
http://www.justgiving.com/garethevans5k

Do you think it would make sense to start slower and go for a negative split once warmed up. IMO Its hard to start at a fast pace and keep it up where as if I build up I usually have enough left in the tank for a sprint to the end.

__________________
1 Raise £1500 for cancer Research... £2000 so far http://www.justgiving.com/Marcus-Evans
2 Do a half in sub 1:35 by Me Failed
3. Run a 1000 miles this year