Treadmill Speed Work (I'm too dumb for the Kinect.)

Every now and then, something happens that opens my eyes.  Yesterday's recurring theme was speed-work.  Half-athoner mentioned it in a blog posting I read and responded too.  My friend Jeremy (he doesn't have a blog) and I talked about it on Facebook.

[caption id="attachment_1965" align="alignleft" width="298"] My feet at 9 mph.[/caption]

After a while (and in re-reading the Curvy RoadRunners Treadmill Workout From Hell), it occurred to me that I didn't have any speedwork going on.  Bad enough I am being lazy cautious and keeping my speed down, and only increasing it by .1 mph a week - but no speed work?  How is that going to make me any faster?  As I thought about it, I also realized that with this workout, I can't watch TV - so I don't have to worry about the fact that I haven't made a choice on a new show to watch while running.

So, off I went.  I figured I'd start slower to let my legs get warmed up.

• 1 minute - 5 mph (ahhh.. isn't this nice?)


• 1 minute - 5.5 mph (hmm.. could do this all day)


• 1 minute - 6 mph (seems about normal..)


• 2 minute - 6.5 mph (ok, not too different than normal.. 2 minutes because I stopped watching the clock)


• 1 minute - 7 mph (I bet I could keep this up for a while.. Wonder if I have been running to slowly.)


• 1 minute - 7.5 mph (Definitely faster than I am used to)


• 1 minute - 8 mph (Hey! this would be a 22 minute 5k! That was my goal last this year before my P.F.... Seems fast now.)


• 1 minute - 8.5 mph (LOOK AT MY LEGS GO!!!!!)


• 1 minute - 9 mph (Holy Crap! Don't fall!  Legs KEEP MOVING!!! OH CRAP OH CRAP OH CRAP)


• 1 minute 8 mph (huh.. This almost seems manageable after that 9 mph)


• 1 minute 7.5 mph (still a bit quick. but nicer)


• 1 minute at 7 mph (seems harder than on the way up)


• 1 minute at 6.5 mph (ahhhhhh......)


• 1 minute at 6 mph (phew! Made it.. Wait.. What do you mean I have to do it again?)


• Then I went back up to 8.5 mph, and back down to 6.

It was a nice workout, and to be honest - I am surprised at how sore I am NOT today.  I would have expected  a noticeable amount of pain.  I am going to dedicate one workout a week to some form of speed-work.  This is going to be th most popular for now - since I am treadmill running.. Anyone have any other treadmill speed workouts they use?

And on another note -

As any of you that have read for a while know - I have tried various "Video Game" exercise programs as well.  I figure it's always worth trying - as I like Video Games, and I like (some) exercise.   Well the latest attempt was with the Self-Defense Training Camp game on the XBox 360.

I may be too stupid to use a n Xbox 360 with a Kinect.  That is the only conclusion I can come too.  This is my first try at using it and it was NOT succesful. It just kept telling me to move back, or didn't belive I was actually moving despite its little man-image showing me lifting my leg.

I am going to try to figure this thing out.. So this isn't an official "product review"

I think I was better off running.  So I did.