Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Treadmill?

That would be me! You see, for a statistics project class in my undergrad I had to keep track of something I did several times a day. I tracked how many times I tripped. Tripping and treadmills DO NOT mix! I can literally imagine myself flying off the back of one....the image plays vividly in my mind. This morning I piddled a little to long and got to the gym just 5 minutes after I normally do. That 5 minutes meant I didn't get an elliptical! Really, why are so many people at the gym at 6 in the morning. Don't people sleep? There was a bike available but I decided it was time to really test out my new shoes, the ones I got from Fleet Feet in Murfreesboro. Before today I had only used them on the bike and the elliptical. So I found a treadmill.
Let me back up, because I seriously don't remember if I mentioned this in a past blog and I am too lazy to go back and look. About a week before I made my 3 commitments I set a goal to be able to walk 3 miles at 3.0 mph by June 30th. Doesn't sound like much, but I was going much slower starting out because of my foot pain. I kind of put that on the back burner to focus on the metabolic training. I now really believe that was the perfect thing for me to do. There is no way I would have been able to do what I did today without some prior conditioning, not that what I did today was very impressive, but it was impressive for me where I am now, new shoes or not!

Okay, back to the Big Bad Treadmill. I walked for a minute at 2.5 mph, kicked it up to 3.0 for the rest of my warm up. NO FOOT PAIN... YAY!!!!! now for the real testing of my fear. I wanted to still do interval training. but I didn't truly rest for 20 seconds. Instead, I bumped it up to 4.0 for 20 second then back down to 3.0 for 20 seconds. I did this for 12 minutes. My heart rate made it into the 80%-90% zone easily. By the end of my workout, 3.0 felt slow. And NO FOOT PAIN!!!! Did I say that already? Oh, the last 20 second interval I did 4.1 for 10 seconds, 4.2 for 5 seconds and 4.3 for the very last 5 seconds! I had to jog a little the last 5 seconds. It was a little proof that I am not going to fly off the back.

So, tomorrow I think I am going to find me a Big Bad Treadmill. I'm going to mix it up though, Thursday I think I'll make sure I get there on time and get an elliptical.

I am postponing my recipe till Thursday. I wasn't planning on eating out for lunch but I got out of class early and was able to eat with my nephew, his wife and new baby, my sister and dad. They were in from New Jersey. I don't mind getting off track for something like that. Life happens. But I am not really hungry, so I am saving my fajitas for Thursday night. This is a victory in itself. Before I would have gladly eaten another big meal for dinner.




My dad and Aubrey
 

Today's question: Is there a piece of exercise equipment that scares you?

4 comments:

  1. Keep it up! I am back on the weight loss journey tomorrow. I had to take a side trip last week! :) So back to working out and counting my points!--Ellyn

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Ellyn! I think last week fell into the "life happens" category for you! The wedding was beautiful, by the way!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I was afraid of the treadmill at first too for the same reason, but now I love it! I don't even feel as funny walking on solid ground after using it. It occurred to me that I'm safer walking on the treadmill because there aren't things that will pop up to make me trip. Granted I can trip over my own two feet, but whatever. I worked my way up to 3.2 and usually do that for about 30 minutes and then go down to 2.8-3 for the last 15. It's such a great feeling to realize that physical activity comes easier when you work your way up! You're doing a great job :) Thank you for sharing it with us.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I find myself walking faster to my car after being on the treadmill! You have been an inspiration to me Karen. You are looking great! Not that you were not always beautiful!

    ReplyDelete