I ran another workout on the treadmill last night (40 minutes, Zone 2 aerobic effort). This was much more of a slog but I got it done as planned.
However, I once again struggled to get to sleep last night, though there were confounding factors:
I had a lighter dinner with chicken, and an avocado in lieu of carbohydrate. The small batch of avos I got were not that great anyway, so tossing them probably won’t be much of a loss. But what some tout as a good evening or bedtime food ended up not being that at all for me.
I also have had decent results supplementing with an evening cup of tart cherry juice, which I had started drinking after reading that it may help with sleep. But last night I did forget to drink some. That might have been a factor, though I’m not sure.
Also, having now trained daily for about a week, and a scheduled rest day coming up today and Friday, I am probably trained out and due for some recovery. This can impact sleep regardless of training or diet habits.
So, though it could well be after all, I’m not convinced the evening training was a problem.
I’ll note yesterday’s treadmill session was at a different gym and, while tolerable, was decidedly warmer than Monday’s session. So the Monday gym (which is not my primary gym, itself not the best at A/C) definitely has a better A/C situation than the others, and that definitely was a factor in how the treadmill workout felt.
Still, training for Indy remains on schedule. After fading a couple of workouts last week, I’m once again on track with little ill effect aside from expected fatigue and soreness. I still am doing work break runs (though I’ll walk instead on today’s rest day).
A key will be a planned 10 miler this weekend, and the current plan is to attempt this on the treadmill at my primary gym on Saturday morning in lieu of outside in the Vegas heat.
My Stryd/Garmin tracking means it won’t be a problem if the gym treadmill has to stop after an hour and I need to reset it to continue, because I can continue accurately tracking distance and in-run pace. I also don’t currently have a problem with the break that will build into the long run.
Such a run is also, as avid treadmill users know well, good for developing mental strength. The monotony of a long treadmill run is tough to deal with as it highlights your in-run struggles more than the changing outdoors does.
For me, the bigger problem with running the treadmill has always been the physical difficulties: Getting hot, no wind resistance, struggling with that and the natural fatigue of a run, setting a sustainable productive pace, etc.
Tuesday’s workout aside, I have substantially improved treadmill pacing thanks to the use of my Stryd, and this pacing adaption alone has made longer treadmill runs more do-able.
So I’ll see what happens Saturday morning. Based on that I can determine what needs to happen on future long run workouts, whether I pursue going out of town to cooler climates for those, or continue running these on the treadmill. The only other workout I have between now and then is a Thursday speed workout, and obviously I’ll be work break running later that day, so I should be ready to give it a full effort.