Brian’s Treadmill Cutdown

I started doing this workout as a way to keep my mind off dreading a particular distance.  For example, if you increase your pace every half mile, you really begin to lament half mile increments.  So this is what I came up with to help:

First you need to decide how far you want to run. Lets say I want to get in a 7 mile run today (may be a bit of a loft goal for some, but it will help describe the breakdowns). You will see below how you can expand and contract the distance as needed.

Next figure out what your end pace is going to be.  For my example, my goal pace marathon pace is 8-minute mile or 7.5 mph.  Since I want to end my cutdown running faster than marathon pace, I am going to choose 8.0 mph as my end point.

I like to work in sets of 4 as they are easiest to keep track of and the math works out pretty evenly. Now work backwards to determine your starting point, starting from .25 x 4 = 1 mile, the next set would be .5 x 4 = 2 miles, .75 x 4 = 3 mile, and then we have 1 full mile left over to get to 7 miles for the day. So that one 1-mile will be our starting point. Now when we apply our ending pace of 8.0 mph to the last segment below and work backwards decreasing .1 mph per segement, we work out that the first mile we will run is at 6.8 mph.

A little confusing the first time you do it, I know. But I find that using this method not only helps you increase your speed, but because the segments get shorter as the pace gets faster, your mind will be more active and the run seems to go by quicker. Hope it works for you!

Now go run!