Oh treadmill, how I love you

Well, I usually don't love the treadmill, but I have to this time of the year.  I forgot that last winter when I was a newbie, I ran the treadmill all the time.  In fact, I was scared to hit the pavement for a real run.  That is, until I had a 5k to run and thought that I better get used to running outside.  That was a big wake-up call because running outside was so much harder than the treadmill.  Fast-forward a year and I have run about five 5k's, an 8k, two 10k's, and a 15 mile race.

I decided that I would stop using the "it's too dark and cold outside" excuse and just go to the gym to run on the dreaded treadmill.  If I do go to the gym to run the treadmill, it's either early in the afternoon on my day off from work, or late in the evening around 8:30 after the evening rush of people has left.  Tonight, I decided to go to the South Charleston Rec Center.  I'm not a member of the rec, so it's $4 a visit, but I think it's very worth the money considering their treadmills have televisions on them, and they stay open till 10:00 at night.  My lame gym down the street has 3 treadmills and only stays open till 9.

I tuned into the Carrie Underwood special and started my run.  I needed to get a speed workout in, since the 5k is this coming Sunday and I haven't been running very much.  I did a 1 mile warmup @ 11:30, 4 x 1/4 mi @ 9:13 with 1/4 mile recoveries, and a 1 mile cooldown.  Actually, I did the first speed interval at an 8:48 pace, but that about killed me, so I droped it down a little, lol.  9:13 felt pretty comfortable, though, and by the end I was pooped.  It was probably my best and most productive run in a month.  It was a great workout.  I'll probably take tomorrow off from running, but if I feel skippy I may do the Wii Active or something at home after work.

Workout stats
Distance: 4 miles
Ave pace: 11:09
Ave HR: forgot the HR monitor on purpose, lol, it's been elevated since I've been a couch potato)