Saturday, December 08, 2007

Run Indoors or Out?

This morning, I'm pacing around the house trying to decide what to do about my run. It's cold outside but the snow has stopped and so has that rain/sleet crap that we had yesterday. From my window, it looks like the sidewalks are all clear but I have no idea what some of the paths look like. I desperately want to run outside and not on the treadmill. I've been trying to get along with that thing, but seriously, it is hard to run indoors! Anyway, back to my problem: it's really cold which I can deal with but I have this crazy fear that is taking over about slipping and taking a bad fall that could mess with my half-marathon training and I just can't get past it. So I'm weighing that fear with the fact that if I run inside today, no way will I be able to get a 'long run' in which I really need to do.

How boring am I? Who spends their Saturday morning obsessing about things like this? Maybe I should just have another cup of coffee and look out the window later. Please tell me some of you have some treadmill tips for me! How, how, how do you do it?!

4 comments:

SeeMommyRunandBoxandCraft said...

I despise the treadmill!!! I swear I can't get more than 3 miles without flipping out even with music or tv or whatever. So...the way I break the 3-mile barrier is to do sprints or strides for 30 seconds to 1/4 mile in between slow pace. This doesn't mean you have to sprint as fast as you can. Just 5K or 10K pace is great.

As for this morning...I obsessed last night about whether or not to head to the lake and try out the trails. I opted not to go for fear of twisting an ankle during my marathon training!!! Instead I'm driving 3 hours tomorrow to Richmond to run in 50 degree weather! Crazy, right?!? But the opportunity was there, so I'm doing it. Oh, the things we'll do for a good long run. 18 miles here I come!!!

Anonymous said...

I totally know how you girls feel, my running partner and I hate the treadmill but the weather here has been so bad lately that it is difficult to go outside, and who wants to run laps in the gym, just as boring as the treadmill.

Kimberly said...

I like to have fun with th treadmill. Well, as much fun as you can have. I mess with the incline and the speeds, run certain speeds for two minutes. My trainer even had me running sideways and backwards (but only do those at slow speeds...you can boost the incline). It's still not the same as outside, but you can at least get a sense of accomplishment from your numbers...

Trice said...

All of the above advice is right-on. The treadmill is a necessary evil in bad weather.