I've got a new dreadmill now - it's called a "light commercial" model (Cardiozone Club Max H RT) -  I'm not sure what that means - but it's rated for runners up to 500 lbs (the marketing pix show three runners running on it at the same time :) and the motor's good to a peak of 7 HP, so it should be able to withstand getting Pucketted for a good many years.

                                                          
I've been doing twelve mile repeat workouts on Wednesday mornings; this morning, I went a bit shorter for my interval session, as Ethel says that I'm still too tired to suit her; but I took most of that mileage out of the warmup. This left me with this workout, in runnerspeak:

 9 mi - 2 WU, 8x200@9.4/6.0, 4x400@9.1/6.2, 2x200@8.8/6.4,3x0.08@10.1/0.13@6.0, 0.5 CD

- that translates to this:

"9 miles total - 2 miles of warmup, slowly speeding up to a tempo pace, at which time I got off the dreadmill, stretched some, drank some water, and told Ethel that I was feeling nauseous and wanted to throw up - then got back up on the 'mill and ran 8 200 meter (1/8 mile) repeats at 9.4 mph, with a 200 meter rest between each one jogging easy at 6 mph, then did 4 repeats of 400 meters (1/4 mile) each at 9.1 mph, with a 400 meter rest between each one jogging easy at 6.2 mph, then did 2 repeats of 800 meters (1/2 mile) each at 8.8 mph, with an 800 meter jogging restt in between each at 6.4 mph - then I did three short bursts of 0.08 mi at 10.1 mph, with two 0.13 jogging rests in between them, and followed that with a half mile of jogging to cool down"

...at which point I got off of the dreadmill, walked in the house, and drank some milk with Nestle's Quick and some chocolate protein powder, and showered and dressed for work.

I reckon I'm going to stop running 40+ miles/week. That's been my standard for a good many years, but let's face it - it doesn't work. It isn't helping me to get faster, and it leaves me too tired to do much else. (Immediately my brain says "but...but...but you've been getting faster the last few months! maybe this will be the time that you really do get back into shape! don't quit now!") and  I hear my brain very clearly - gee, maybe it's right.

I sure do wish I knew why I was doing this - if I knew, then I'd be able to quit :)