I’ve really been working on increasing my running speed during XIT classes, and it’s not unheard of for me to run at 7 mph for a minute while at a lower (2 or 4) incline. Today our boxing instructor decided to give us a treadmill challenge to tackle. We had to run for 45 seconds at any speed we chose but we had to increase the incline by 2 each round. So even though we started at 2 incline, we were at a 10 incline by the final round. Normally I would adjust my speed down as the incline increased to not push myself too hard, but today I wanted to see just how far I could push myself. I told myself that I would attempt to maintain my speed even as the incline increased. After all, I could always lower my speed if it was too much for me. I wasn’t too surprised when I easily completed the 45 seconds at inclines 2 and 4. But once we moved up to a 6 incline, I was pretty sure I would have to adjust my speed. No adjustments were needed though even at the highest inclines. It was really cool to see that my body could handle something that my mind thought wouldn’t be possible. I feel like a lot of people have a mental block when it comes to the gym and what they are capable of doing. Heck even I do it and I’ve worked out regularly for the last 10+ years. Don’t let yourself talk yourself out of trying something challenging, because you might surprise yourself.