Question

Cassie:  You are completely right about varying it to make it more interesting.  If I want to hit the TM for 3-4 miles at a constant pace, I am less likely to finish than if I vary the speed or simply try to bust it out.

I'd be cautious about using other peoples speeds as a barometer of where you are but do use them as motivation.  There are too many variables that make everyone's speeds different.  People are different sizes, ages, time out from surgery, have different genetics.  There are a bunch of reasons but you are you. 

With that said, there are certainly things that are posted here that motivate me.  My goal is running at least a mile a day, every day for a year.  However, when Scott said that his goal was to average 3 miles a day that stuck in the back of my head.  When I am finishing up my workout, his 3 miles pops in to my head and I may go a 1/10th or 1/4 more, just because.  A few months ago Dan mentioned a 5K PR on the TM and a few weeks later I had a great TM workout going.  I thought back to his and decided to push the pace getting my own TM PR. 

You will also find out what your strengths are as you get more into racing.  I would think that my 5K and mile times are some of the quicker on here but I know that my marathon time out of 4 tries is down at the bottom (5:20 best time).  ...and every time I turn around Cassie is running another. 

SPEED -  To run fast, you have to run fast.  Cassie has explained the concept well.  Short stints to push your HR up and get your legs used to it.  Over the course of a few months your increments will get longer and you will get stronger allowing you to hold the speed for longer periods.

Jet that is awesome! I am SLOOOOOW. However, I am running a 15K this weekend with the wife and have not done any speed work in 1 month since focusing on Ultra training, so I will be curious to see what kind of pace I can hold. I would say running at 5.0 at 1% incline would be pretty close to running 5mph outside. Do some track workouts weather permitting. do 400M intervals or do speed / hill intervals as Cassie and Scott said on the TM. Speed, I have found, is almost equally increased by a great base combined with speed and hill work. Hills are NOT about speed, but strength, you will def improve both with time. Be patient and keep working hard.. YOU ROCK!!!

Jet,
I can't say don't compare yourself to others, because I'm guilty of that, but remember where you came from and honestly look at the progress you are making.  I find that I am my own biggest critic and I'm also the one responsible for being lazy.  If I want improvement, I need to work smarter and harder.  Get out of that comfort zone of 5 mph and start running at 7 or 8.  I can do it, just not for very long.  I need to build up that endurance and get my body used to running at speed.
It does get better.  5.0 was my speed, it's what I use as a warmup or a cooldown/recovery.

I find it very hard to grind on the treadmill and I agree with the posts about varying the speeds and incline. I do that almost every run.  It helps pass the time and I am able to break my run down into smaller segments.  It doesn't seem so daunting if I am able to do that.  I just think of it as four 3 minute segments for each mile.  So I never have more than three minutes left to run.  Then I change the run speed or incline.

The progression for me is slow, but I am getting faster.  Keep up the good work. You will see success.  It just never seems to come fast enough.

Scott

Thanks eveyone for the great advice. I did do intervals today of 3 minutes @ 5.5 then 3 @ 4.7. I had been doing that more regularly before, but stopped for I don't know what reason!

Seht, run at 7.0 seriously! Now that is a daunting number for me! I would be afraid to fly right off the belt and into the wall!! Maybe I will strum up the nerves to try that on Saturday! I will let you know.

Jet

Nice job with todays workout. 

You say that about 7.0 now, but just you wait!!!

BTW, whenever I run over 6.5 I wear the safety clip on the TM.  You never know what might happen and the last thing you need is that belt to keep spinning.