One of the things I hate about cold weather is that it forces me inside on the treadmill. There is nothing worse in my mind then running and running and running on the treadmill staring at a TV thats got Judge Judy on it or CNN on a constant loop. I have tried to use that time to meditate, focus, be in the moment, whatever you want to call it but it just seems like time drags on and on. I often find myslef cutting my workouts short out of pure bordom, not because I am tired or out of steam.
So I wonder what can be done to make the treadmill fun. I have recently started doing interval training thanks to my Tri Coach Maria. She gave me some running workouts that allowed for 20 mins of warm-up or easy running, then 2-5 mins of running at 5K, 10K or FAST pace followed by a few moments of recovery. This seems to make the time go by as I am focused on the next interval that is around the corner.
I look around the gym and see everyone else just running along, usually with headphones on. I have to think that they are just as bored as me right? Or is my OCD just so damn bad that it forces me off the treadmill early. Looking around the web I find that many of the experts say work on speed, hill, or other work on the treadmill, keeping you away from the just get on and go for 2 hours mindset.
So I want to ask what you do from shooting yourself in the head when having to hit the treadmill instead of going outsid?
I figure soon enough the Atlanta weather will allow for more outdoor running, so I wont have to worry about this again until the weather gets bad or cold.
By then I will have forgotton probably how much I hate the treadmill.
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A great way to get through the torture of the treadmill is to make an awesome playlist for your ipod that is only for the treadmill. That way there’s at least one thing to look forward to!
If you are in a gym, does it offer a spinning class? You plan to run for 4 hours in the marathon. You will be doing some outdoor running at great length sometime during the week. Therefore you don’t necessarily need to do strickly running during gym time. I suggest splitting your time with other extreme endurance activity like spinning. You can start either with a spin class for 1 hour then go right to the t-mill or vis-a-versa. You could even make and exercise sandwich. Tread-spin-tread. The spin class will build your cardio big time but the important thing is the variety will keep it sane and interesting. You will still be pushing the limits for an extended period of time.
Thanks John. I will try the exercise sandwich. Sounds fun and will pass the time!
My new thing is to download college lectures from itunes (iTunes U). Everyone from Yale to MIT to Stanford puts lectures on itunes and it’s all free. Assuming you can find an interesting topic, it’s something that keeps your mind occupied. Been listen to Yale economist Robert Schiller for the past couple of weeks. He’s just slightly better than the teacher from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (bueller, bueller, …), but it works for me. Now if I can just fugure out how to keep the ear buds from falling out so often.
Well Shock, Im just happy your on the treadmill! As for the lectures, wonder what they have to download. I really would like one that gives me guidance on understanding what restaurant my wife wants to go to when she says “she does not care” when asked where she wants to go, but whatever my first suggestion is gets shot down. Hmmm
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