A Good Treadmill Run?

I've been having such a hard time running on the treadmill so far this winter, and I've wondered if it was a bad idea to even get the gym membership. But I've had some breakthroughs, and I'm going to keep working on it.

I recently joined the Get Fit Runner's Club, and on their blog they've got a good article on Treadmill Training for Winter. I read this article Monday, then set out to do my own treadmill workout on Tuesday.

First of all, I dressed in cooler clothes. I wore my sleeveless tri top which also made me feel more like an athlete just wearing it so I think that, not only kept me cooler, but also helped me feel more into the workout.

I took the advice of Get Fit and put the treadmill on a 1% incline. This really helped a lot! It was so much more uncomfortable and unnatural feeling, and the treadmill was even shaking more, with no incline.

The next thing I did was try not to worry about the speed. I just started off nice and easy, then increased or decreased the speed according to my music, which is what I would do outside. I still worked hard, and I was still totally soaked by the end, but I didn't feel like I was going to throw up the whole time or anything.

I also brought some poweraid and a towel which were very nice to have. I think dressing cooler and having a drink helped a lot with not overheating in there.

I didn't worry too much about distance, and my workout got reset twice so I'm not sure exactly how far I ran, but I think it was between 5 and 6 miles in about an hour.

It was actually a really good run! I kind of had fun and felt good about it!

The best thing about this run was that it made my back feel better! I hurt my back last week shoveling snow. I do this every winter, I need to remember not to shovel, but I figured, I'm an Ironman, I can shovel a little snow! Then instead of being careful with it so it would get better, I let Pete practice his Krav Maga kick on me (I had a cushion of course). I lost my balance and fell down. I felt so stupid, and it made my back start hurting again. That was on Friday, then on Sunday I was stupid again and carried Mindy across the slushy street to church. It actually felt fine on the way over, but on the way back it hurt it again. Dang it! So, I wore my back brace for the next few days and was really careful after that.

I went swimming on Monday thinking that would make my back feel better since that's what I would do when I hurt my back 2 years ago in spin class, but this time it actually made it feel worse. It was really good to be swimming again, though! I did about 2,000 meters and my arms were sore from it yesterday! That's what I get for taking a couple months off swimming. I wanted to go again today, but then decided (in the middle of the night) that I didn't want to risk making my back more sore again, and I didn't want to get up that early anyway. What am I going to do today now? I don't know. Maybe I'll just run errands all day.