The quest for getting to 10 mph on the treadmill continues to be interesting. I got fairly sick last week (the week of the 4th), and I could not run that whole week. I also did not do well running leading up to getting sick (I think my body was starting to fight the bug), so in all, I did not run for about 10 days. Enter this week. I decided I’d take it easy and run at 9.3 mph (I had been at 9.7). I was gasping for air by 10 minutes, dumbed the speed down to 9.0 mph at 12 minutes, and quit around 15 minutes. I just felt lousy. That was Monday. Tuesday and Wendnesday were busy, so I did not run. Thursday I managed to run for over 20 minutes by slowing down to 9.1 mph. What happened to my endurance? Shesh. Friday I got lazy and did not run (bad me!), but I finally managed 25 minutes of gasping along this morning. At 9.3 mph. Sigh. How do you lose 0.4 mph in 10 days? It takes me a month to train up to that speed, and I lose it in 10 days?
I’ll try to get back to 9.7 mph next week. Even if I manage that, I’ll still have lost 3 weeks of training time for getting sick again.
I don’t intend to sound dismissive or trite, but I wouldn’t worry about setbacks. Every long-term project has setbacks. No biggie (even if frustrating). I’m willing to be that you’ll be back to 9.7 mph by the end of this week (as is your goal) – it took 10 days to lose some of your speed, but the underlying endurance is still there and you’ll gain the speed back quickly.
I know of no reason you won’t make it to 10 mph – even in our late 30’s dotage. Keep plugging away, expect the occasional setback, and you’ll likely be at your goal before summer.