Saturday, December 01, 2007

Mommy at the gym and not the road

It is December! 24 more days till the big day. My children are so happy and trying so hard to peek. I usually find this time of year as an essential time to work out and remain sane. When I lived in NY I had to go to the gym because 26 inches of snow kept me inside. When I lived in TX-- 110 degrees kept me inside. During those times I ran on the treadmill, did the elyptical, and in TX I always went to a BodyPump class twice a week. I like the gym, but then moved to KY when the weather is almost always conducive to running outside and I never run inside. What happened was that I got slower. On the treadmill I always had the speed at 7.5 or 8 and ran for 40 minutes. Now I'm outside having a grand old time, but my speed has slipped drmatically. I was forced to the gym because of pouring rain last Monday and loved my time on the treadmill. I walked at 3.8 for 10 minutes, ran at 7.0 for 10 minutes, walked at 3.8 for 10 minutes, ran at 7.0 for 10 minutes and finished walking at 3.8 for 5 minutes. I'll get back to running the whole thing for 40 minutes, but this way I know I'm doing it and truly we can really do almost anything for 10 minutes. I think I'll break down and buy an MP3 player and keep going to the gym for a while. Speed means longer distance in the same time. I once ran 12 miles on a treadmill while training for the Houston Marathon. It was pouring out and I was too frightened to miss a run on the training schedule. It was hell.

3 comments:

carla said...

youre too kind (the comments on my writing style) and I found this post so interesting!
I had no idea about the treadmill/outside speed thing!

C.

Crumbs said...

Ever since I started long distance training, I've come to believe that the ultimate challenge would be 26.2 miles inside on a treadmill. I mean, if a gym hosted such a marathon, I think it would be in the Ironman category, for the sheer mental torture of it. I know I wouldn't be getting a medal!

Trice said...

Getting slower is my fault. You definitely do not have to be slower outside, but I know how far 5 miles is (and 10, and 15) from my house and am happy to just get there and have not used a watch in a few years. If I ran for time I would not be slower, but I mostly think about distance. Either way I need some accountability. I did buy that MP3 player and now realize I should have gotten an IPOD since downloading music takes a Ph.d.