Yesterday I went to the gym immediately before my Kung Fu class for my scheduled 2-mile run – the shortest distance I’ll run over the course of the next 3 months.

When I got to the gym, it was pretty crowded. The row of treadmills was full except for one that was out of service and another that had my name on it: Not only was it available and in working order, but it was between two girls who were both running.

I love running beside people who are really putting in effort – it pushes me to try harder. So this was perfect: The girl on my left was going 6.2 and the girl on my right was going 7.8 (yes, I peeked. I always peek, don’t you?). My usual starting pace these days is 5.5, so that’s what I put it on. I generally end up slowing to a 5.0/5.2 , and I average about 11:30 – 12:30 per mile.

Not yesterday, though.

After just 30 seconds or so at 5.5, I bumped it up to 6.0, where I stayed for a bit. It was tough, but the girls on either side of me kept pushing me. Not literally, of course, and not even verbally, because we didn’t talk at all. You know what I mean…

The treadmill I was on had a virtual track with a light that moved around it showing my progress; each lap equals 1/4 mile. For at least 2 of the 4 laps in my first mile, on the second half of the lap I bumped my speed up to 7.5.

If you’re not a treadmill runner and don’t have swanky technology that helps determine your pace (I don’t, and regular watches don’t count) it’s hard to know exactly how fast you’re going and get your precise pace for each mile. For me, 7.5 is fast. That’s an 8-minute mile. Recall that I average approximately 12 minutes per mile.

I’m happy to say that bumping up the intensity during that first mile got me my fastest (measured) mile at 9:27.

Of course, I couldn’t keep that up for both miles, but I was able to finish both miles in under 20 minutes! 19:28 total. So the second mile took me just 10:01, which is far faster than my typical pace, as well.

Believe me: By the end of that second mile I was dead. Clearly I’m not at the point where I can run at that pace for long distances, but it’s a start! It’s nice to see what I’m capable of.

The way my half marathon schedule is structured, there is one run each week that is much shorter than the rest (2 miles for the first 6 weeks; 3 miles for the last 6 weeks). My plan is to work on endurance on the other runs each week, and really push the speed on the short runs.

Just to see what happens.

For now? You can call me Flash :)

Due to the large quantities of snow dumped onto my city over the weekend, I am unable to run outside for the time being (we’re expecting more tonight, too…). And, due to the power outages that resulted from the snow, my gym was closed on Sunday. Which meant I wasn’t able to start my training for the half marathon until yesterday.

But start I did: My schedule called for 3.5 miles, which I completed, but holy hell: It was HARD. (that’s what she said…)

I believe I’ve mentioned that I’ve made excuses for not keeping up with my running lately. Well let me tell you, it showed on the treadmill last night. I was struggling, bad. I didn’t have to walk, but I had that belt moving pretty slowly for a while there.

Previously, I was at the point in my running that 3.5 miles wasn’t too difficult. It seems I’ve lost a bit of fitness in the last month or two. Blast!

It’s good that I’ve found this out now, and I’m certainly not going to let it stop me. In fact, knowing that I’m not where I was is just more motivation to get back there – and then surpass it. I’ve found that my running improves only through consistency, and I’m terrible at being consistent without a schedule.

And now I have a schedule for the next 3 months, so that should help!