The dreaded treadmill

After last week's tough run in the cold, I could not will myself to do it again this week (welcome to the next three months in Pittsburgh!). But since I had been making such good progress running, I hated the thought of a layoff. So hello, treadmill, old friend!

For about three years now, Bally's has been trying to get me to come back. The $100 offer for a year's membership is pretty good, but I was hesitant to spend the money on something I would rarely use or stop using after a few months. The last one to two years I was a member at Bally's, I probably went four or five times. And my husband reminded me of this, saying instead of rejoining, I should just take a 100-dollar bill and burn it.

Then, about a month and a half ago, my mother-in-law generously bought us a family pool membership at a local hotel. My kid loves to swim (and pretty much has no other interests), so it seemed like a good idea. And I don't hate swimming (more just the bathing suit!), plus I figured the smaller exercise room would give me the chance to start lifting weights again or jump on a treadmill if I felt so inclined.

So I did yesterday. And IT WAS HARD! I could not believe how challenging running about 6 mph was, considering that pace was slower than my usual run mostly up hill. I did start on a 4.5 incline (no idea what that means exactly), and once I started getting into the 9-minute mile pace, I had to cut back the incline.

After running about 3/4 of a mile and being bored and willing the miles to add up, I decided to alternate between a fast (7 to 9 mph) pace for 15 to 30 seconds and a slower one (5 to 6.5 mph) for up to 60 seconds. As challenging as that was, it forced me to keep going and really pay attention to the time. No more boredom!

I was planning to run only two miles, knowing I was going to swim for 30 minutes after and I had already used the weight machines on my upper body. Unfortunately, all that frenetic running caused a wire on the treadmill to come loose, shutting the darned thing down after I had run about 1.75 miles. I tried to start it back up, but after a couple of minutes, I gave up and jumped on the older treadmill for a two-minute walk.

Because it is so darned cold (in the upper 20s and maybe 30 or 31), I am going to try the treadmill again next week. Hopefully that baby rights itself!