A story of going from being a non-runner to planning for a marathon in three years...

Friday, January 8, 2010

Return of the Treadmill



I really, really wish I could have gotten a good picture of what it looked like outside at lunch time yesterday. The best I could do was the following photo out the window of my office:


Click to see full size


Yeah. It was snowing. A lot. And windy. And the sidewalks were kind of scary. So, although two people from our usual lunch running group braved the elements, I wussed out and stayed in.

This gave me two options: run on the treadmill at home after work or run on the treadmill at the gym after work. I decided on the treadmill at home. At least there I had a commercial-free episode of Bones to watch (aside: I am like two seasons behind on Bones so no spoilers, please!).

If I had run at lunch we would have done a minimum of 4 miles. So, that was my treadmill goal. A commercial-free episode of Bones runs about 42 minutes. Even though I run like a sloth on our treadmill I figured I should be able to finish 4 miles in that amount of time.

I'll admit. It was hard. See, I attended my favorite aerobics class on Wednesday night and I think I was the hardest working person in the room except for maybe the instructor. And after not working out for over a week, well, let's just say I was feeling it! In fact, I was still feeling it on Thursday when I started up the treadmill. My shoulders were sore and my calves were screaming at me! But, I made it through 4 miles. My first miles of 2010.

Kim asked me if I had any mileage goals for 2010. I've thought about it and my answer is no. I want to run the miles that I need to run in order to accomplish my race goals and that's it. Whatever that ends up as is fine for me. I would hate to get so tied up in hitting a specific overall number that I obsessed and stressed over making up every missed run. So, no set mileage goals. Maybe next year :-)

4 comments:

kristen said...

Way to get it done despite the change of plans. I agree, whatever it takes to meet my race goals is fine with me. I'm not going to put added pressure to meet some arbitrary number.

Frank said...

That's the best answer to mileage goals that I've seen. It's actually reasoned and doesn't set you up for injury and disappointment.

kilax said...

I remember what it looked like outside. It was nast!

I have been thinking about doing intervals on the treadmill to liven it up. They were talking about that in the Feb issue of RW (are you going to resubscribe?).

I think your answer to mileage goals makes sense. It could become too much and you would push yourself to injury! That is why I set mine low enough that I knew I would accomplish it if I ran a full. And if I don't? Oh well! No one would even care but me! (And even I wouldn't)

lifestudent said...

Man, this Chicago weather is sucking. We just heard on the news that we have milder temperatures coming. YAY!!!!!!!

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