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?

New Shoes!

I would like to thank my dearest friend Leslie for going to Fleet Feet in Murfreesboro with me today! It was a GREAT experience! I was afraid to go in there by myself (so silly). I was afraid they would look at me like I was crazy for going into a running store. I obviously don't look like I run. I didn't know what kind of questions to ask. Leslie runs, she'd know. Lisa helped me and she was wonderful! Leslie told her I'm going to be training for a 5K. Lisa didn't act surprised or anything! She just said, "Wonderful!" She measured my foot sitting and standing, watched me walk, and asked me a few questions. I told her about the foot pain I was having, too. I walk with my toes pointing away from each other, the opposite of pigeon toed. If I point my feet straight I feel like I am pigeon toed. I also walk on the outside of my foot. This was extremely obvious when she watched me walk. She went to the back and came out with 2 pairs of shoes, a pair of Asics and a pair of Adidas. The Asics felt better but my left toe felt like it was hitting something.  She went back and brought another pair out. and I tried them on. Much better! Now, I have worn a size 9 for a long time, occasionally an 8 1/2. The first two pairs were 9s. I asked her if these were a 9 1/2 and she said no, they were a 10! I would have NEVER tried on a size 10 in a shoe!. She made sure they "broke" in the right place when I bent my foot, they did, and I decided these were the ones. They are quite bright. I think I'll just wear them when I walk/run. I'll get more time out of them if I do it that way anyway. I'm excited to try them out this coming week!

This week will be a booger for me at school. I may be gasping for air from drowning in technology and literacy articles and chapters but I'll be blogging (hey, it's technology)!

I definitely recommend Fleet Feet! They are wonderful!