Yes, you read that right. Total mileage for this past week was only 26 miles - and 4 was on the bike. Why do you ask? Because we had 8 inches of snow (I know it is a small amount of snow compared to some of you) and the kids were out of school 3 days! I did not leave my house for 2 days, except for sledding at the neighborhood hill.
Needless to say, I am in withdraw. And as you can tell, did not blog for almost a week! My entire mood has shifted. I was even dreaming of swimming and getting out of the house. When Saturday's long run arrived, the roads and snow mounds made it too unsafe. I tried to run on the treadmill and was SOOOOO bored and I had great company! Only managed to get 8 miles and that was with 5 minute bike breaks every 30 minutes.
And I really need to figure out how to love running on the treadmill since we are getting more snow this week which means more than likely school will be closed again. I have no idea how I ran with kids before they both were in school all day. I think maybe running with a 6 and 7 year old in the stroller might be too much (if I even still had my double stroller) despite being an awesome workout pushing 80+ pounds of kids!
So friends... tell me...
how do I beat the treadmill blues? And before you tell me to watch TV... we do not have one near the mill and I do not have a portable DVD player. I also listen to my iPod and it still seemed like the miles took forever to go by!
9 comments:
the faster you go the quicker it's done ;-)
really don't have any concrete advice for you I hate running on the treadmill LoL!
Can you set up a music mix of your absolute favorites that will keep you moving? Do some kind of interval (or fake yourself out into thinking of it like interval) work? I am not a treadmill user, but I did used to log a tremendous amount of km's on the rowing machine every winter when I used to row. I think it was music that helped me start to dig it, and then varied workouts got me to almost (but not quite) look forward to it.
Wishing you the best with that!
I like the idea of pushing the double stroller in the snow with 2 'big' kids...
hmmmm....i don't have an answer. sometimes i use it as a mental test. i pretend i am on the last 6 of my next marathon. (the last 6 killed me the last time) i make my 11 year old talk to me sometimes. (not always interested). it is definitely hard. good luck with the snow. we are so right there with you. we are in school until the 24th of June at this point, so not good.
I hate the treadmill, too. So far I've lucked out and have been able to do all of my long runs outside and have only been stuck on the treadmill for speedwork and hills. My back-up plan, if I do have use the treadmill for a long run, is to download a funny movie to my ipod. I know I won't be able to see it too well, but hopefully the audio will keep me distracted enough. I also download a lot of podcasts to my ipod. I love This American Life and Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me from NPR.
I don't know either. I'm slow run/walking just 2 miles every other day so I'm on the bike trainer the rest of the time which is pretty boring too.
But I'm really grateful to be able to do that so I remind myself I could be rotting on the couch or in pain which usually helps me go 'just one more mile' (again and again).
You can do it! It is a mental test, but you're stronger than you realize so you can conquer the treadmill!
I play games with pace on the treadmill- like increasing by an mph every other minute or doing pickups in speed at certain intervals. That helps me out a lot! Also, downloading new music or making a new playlist makes me more excited to be on the mill.
And I can run outside because I go to the Mall which is well trampled by tourists so the sidewalks are all snow and ice free! Believe me...I'm not playing it fast and loose with my foot!
What about a laptop? If you have one, you could set it up on a bar stool (or something) taller and watch a movie. Otherwise, I would look into buying a TV to help pass time on the treadmill and bike trainer.
I've been doing interval workouts, varying the incline and speed to make it less boring. But, hey, if you figure out something better, please so share!! ;)
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