Saturday, February 11, 2017

Great treadmill run. This is not a typo.

Oh, we can be heroes, just for one day
Today's run (treadmill): 3.5 miles
Yesterday's run (treadmill): 3. 2 miles
Tuesday's run (treadmill): 1.25 miles
Last Sunday's run (street): 4.1 miles

It snowed this week and the streets have been very unfriendly for runners. The treadmill likes to use these times to prove its worthiness to me. Over the years I have learned to appreciate the indoor option but that doesn't mean I particularly like it. Our FreeMotion machine has been a big improvement over the tortured Sole F63 it replaced and I am grateful for that. Today it was my hero.

I worked from home on Tuesday. Although I had an early video call, I managed to squeeze in a short treadmill run. Very short. But every mile counts and I'm counting that one. I worked from home on Thursday, but limited my exercise to multiple shoveling sessions in order to get through 13" of snow. It turned out to be a good leg and upper body workout, especially when digging out the huge snowbanks at the end of our driveway that were left by the town plows.

I stayed home yesterday because the Long Island roads were still a big mess. I dutifully hopped on the treadmill and cranked out a three miler, the same distance I would have done had I been able to run on the road. I approached yesterday's run like a 5K, starting easy and increasing speed as I went. The last half mile was run about two minutes per mile faster than I've been averaging this year.

This morning I noticed that the streets were relatively free of ice and snow. Unfortunately, the sidewalks were buried under three feet of snow, leaving no place to escape from cars on the road. I elected to run inside.

For those of you who are expecting me to write about how today's treadmill run was just terrible because treadmills are soooo boring I'm afraid I must disappoint. I put on the cable music channel and was rewarded with some great songs. I only wore my Kinvaras and compression shorts and set the treadmill's fan to "stun", so I felt cool and dry most of the way through. I didn't attempt the same challenging pace as yesterday, so the run felt much easier. Dare I say, enjoyable?

Even though I could have gone longer, I elected to cap it at 3.5 miles. Rather than duplicate Friday's progressively faster pacing that left me worn out by the end, I finished feeling energized. I liked that feeling and the treadmill is my friend. At least for today. Tomorrow may be a different story.

13 comments:

  1. As you know, the SUNY OW campus is plowed and runner-friendly. In fact, there were many friendly runners out today, as well as a couple of unfriendly ones. And your idea of good tunes, I find suspect. I'm picturing you running to...I can't even come up with a title because I have good taste.

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    1. SUNY OW is fine if you are training for a spot on the US Mountain Running team. I also get nervous when the road switches to one way with cars at your back. Plus I'm still afraid that that priest will yell at me.

      I guess if I was an 80's Club Kid who was musically programmed by Downtown Julie Brown I might attack artists that went anywhere beyond the superficial. I'd mention the artists who I listened today, but you'd probably be confused because they never appeared on an MTV video countdown.

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    2. Try Larry the a Duck. Downtown Julie Brown is from the '90s.

      I ran against traffic the entire loop yesterday. So :P

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    3. According to the interwebs, DJB was host of Club MTV from 1987-1992. I don't know who Larry the Duck is. Sounds like some weird folksy DJ from 1973 who spun tunes at the Plainview Library during Mommy and Me class.

      I don't know how you avoided the one way traffic at SUNY OW. Are the hills still there?

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    4. The hills are gone. Oh wait sorry, they're only gone for people who have conquered them....(damn!)

      Of course you fact checked Julie Brown. Too bad you don't work for our current administration. They could use a good fact checker like yerself.

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    5. I've been waiting almost ten years to learn to conquer hills. So far the hills are still winning.

      Of course I fact checked your comment. I've learned by now that anything you say should be closely verified. But I know, unlike the president, your loose grasp of facts is usually unintentional.

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    6. The hills are alive...wait no, the hills have eyes...that's not it, it's...its...the Benny Hill Show...(cue kazoo)!

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    7. The least funny BBC comedy ever. About as fun as running SUNY OW.

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  2. Impressive that you were able to maintain pace on the treadmill while running to so-called great songs like "Rikki don't lose my number."

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    1. Yes, that's a mid tempo song and fortunately I had more dynamic choices that day. Perhaps you could mail me one of those upbeat Debbie Gibson cassettes you listen to as you attempt to keep up with your Richard Simmons workout videos.

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    2. By "more dynamic choices", I presume you mean something from the Alan Parsons Project or Chicago.

      All kidding aside -- do they pave the Bethpage bike trail in the winter? Hoping to break out the bike this weekend, but the roads are still too dangerous.

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    3. Let's just say that my musical tastes were honed by years of listening to 60's and 70's rock, folk, southern rock, jazz, fusion, punk, pst-punk, new wave, early 80's synthpop, ska, reggae, classical and 90's rock (except grunge).

      They do NOT plow the Bethpage trail. It's very annoying. That you think snowy roads are dangerous gives me hope that you have a modicum of sense. Except for your blind hatred for Americas finest musical group.

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