A zap to the Sole



 Today's run (street): 2.5 miles

The recent change in seasons has reduced the humidity in the air and this is considered good news for runners. However, the consequence of dry air comes from running indoors, when static buildup plays havoc on your treadmill. That was the case this morning for my wife. She is a dedicated treadmill runner and rarely misses a workout. This morning, while adjusting the speed control, my wife felt a burst of static electricity that blew out some of the controls of the unit.

Our treadmill still works, but you can only select speeds of 2, 4, 6, 8, etc. MPH. My wife likes to do tempo runs on the machine and this involves multiple changes to speed and elevation during her workout. Today, she smartly adjusted to a higher incline to make up for slower belt speeds, but it's a compromise to her regular routine. We're hoping the Sole repairman can get to us quickly and restore the F63's controls to full functionality.

I rarely use the treadmill, preferring instead to run outside in the morning. When it rains I am forced to run indoors so I'm hoping that the weather stays dry until the machine is fixed. I had a great run this morning, the temperature was 57 and the humidity was low. I worked on my form and posture as I ran and tried to push my cadence to gain more speed. It's fall racing season so I'm also thinking about incorporating more core work in the days leading up to my next race.

I feel bad for my wife who will need to adapt her routine until the treadmill issues are resolved. She's dedicated to her 5:00 AM workouts but I'm not sure she'd be too keen on joining me on my 4:00 AM runs.

Saving time via the treadmill

Today's run (treadmill): 2.41 miles

I have a tight schedule this morning so I decided to run on the treadmill to save some prep time. Instead of putting on multiple layers, a headlamp, reflective vest, hat and other items  I geared up with just a shirt, shorts and shoes. I've been a little tired since coming back to work this week and I think it's mainly due to rising again before 4:00 AM. This has been hard after "sleeping in" until 5:30 while I was on vacation. I needed to get finished with my run before 4:30 AM today so I got up to speed quickly on the F63 and kept a moderate pace that felt challengingly brisk.

Treadmill workouts are far different than outdoor runs for me. Treadmill runs are endured while outside runs are enjoyed. I usually spend my first four or five minutes on the treadmill telling myself  "I can't do this" before I settle into the grim task of completing my planned time. It was hot and I was sweating but miraculously the timer passed 20 minutes and a ran a few more before finishing on schedule. If nothing else, today's treadmill run will make me appreciate tomorrow morning's street run all the more.

Sole F63 - a slippery situation, once again

Sole F63, equipped with special belt slipping feature

Today's run (treadmill): 2.3 miles at 9:08

You'd think it would be easy to figure out whether it's raining without actually stepping outside to check. At 4:00 AM it's really too dark to see rain out of a window and the audial clues from the skylight were indeterminate this morning. I had already resigned myself to running on the treadmill so I started it up without further investigation of the weather. As much as I love running there are different levels of enjoyment. At the top would be a beautiful, scenic trail with groomed paths and cool weather. Below that, but still desirable, are many other scenarios involving running on trails or roads. After that is the track which has its positives but, for longer distance, can be mind numbingly boring. At the bottom (for me) is the treadmill. I can't fully explain why, but I find treadmill running very tough. Perhaps it's the tedium of an unchanging view but it's also being locked into certain pace and having the road moving under you instead of the other way around.

An added dimension to my treadmill woes is a recurring problem with the belt slipping on on my Sole 63 unit. This is a new machine that we've already had serviced to fix this problem but I noticed it again today. Like last time, I could avoid slipping on the belt if I kept to the left side. However, the tread isn't so wide that I don't occasionally cross over to the "slip zone." I did my 2+ miles just to get them done and really started wishing for drier days going forward. I'm hoping to avoid this experience until the machine is fixed...yet again.

A little Sole and a lot of X1

My BH Fitness X-1

Today's workout: Treadmill and elliptical, 26 minutes

I haven't been on the elliptical for a while so I thought I'd return to using it this morning for a change of pace. I prefer running over most other workout options but I also recognize the benefits of cross training. The elliptical, with its no impact motion, along with some upper body resistance, provides a good workout. As a bonus, it's user powered so it operates fairly quietly compared to other gym equipment. As I prepared for my session I couldn't ignore our Sole F63 treadmill that now operates correctly since a technician realigned the belt and replaced the motor last week. I had not used the machine since this work was done so I was a little curious to re-experience running on the now-stable unit. I decided to run for about five minutes, just to confirm that the belt slipping had truly been cured. I hit the 6 MPH button and started running, edging the speed up to about 6.7 after a minute. The treadmill worked fine but I wasn't enjoying the experience at all. Unlike my wife who is able to focus daily for 45 minutes on this machine I could not wait to stop. No matter, with all the rain we're expecting this weekend I'll likely be spending a lot more time on it in the coming days.

After about five minutes I switched over to the elliptical, setting the resistance to generate 75 watts (medium high) and starting at a fairly fast pace. The treadmill warm-up helped me get to speed quickly and I continued for about 21 minutes. I've said before that the elliptical provides a deceptively effective workout. It doesn't seem as hard as running but the sweat index is often greater. I've compared my heart rate between a treadmill run and an elliptical session (of the same perceived level of effort) and noticed running definitely provides a more elevated pulse rate. Different benefits and different effects. That's why we cross train. I'm due to run in the city tomorrow with a friend (weather permitting) and I have a Central Park run scheduled with another friend, CK, on Tuesday. That walk in Central Park on Monday made me wish I was running that run/bike loop. Next week I'll finally get to do it.

Back to 4:00 AM street runs

Today's run (street): 2.35 miles at 9:18/mile

After about three months of weekday morning runs on the treadmill I returned to the outdoors for my 4:00 AM workout. I'll admit I was a little nervous about going back to the dark streets as I laid out my gear last night. Before, when I was doing these runs daily, it became a familiar routine. This morning it was almost like doing it for the first time. I much prefer to run on ground that isn't moving and our new treadmill is exhibiting some erratic behavior (more on that below) so my best choice right now seems to be running outdoors.

My run went well. I recently read in an article in Running Times magazine that early morning runs like this will yield slower paces. I ran in the lower 9:00 range but, as I've said in the past about these runs, it felt faster than that. I tried to run on streets that have higher inclines because my upcoming race is all about a big hill and I want to be ready. Along the way I encountered a person walking their dog, a surprise to see at 4:15 AM. It really was nice to be back outside and, unless we get rain, I plan to do it again tomorrow.

After a disappointing conversation with a cranky customer service person at Sole yesterday I was concerned about how the company would handle our issue with the slipplng belt tread. After submitting an online form my wife was contacted by the Sole support person who told her that our machine was part of a group that had bad motors (lucky us) and it will be replaced. I can't wait for that to happen! My wife continues to use the machine without much problem and until the motor is replaced I will too. But only if it rains.

Jerked around by my treadmill

Today's run (treadmill): 2.3 miles at 9:12/mile

The hill work I did over the weekend caused great tightness in my leg muscles on Monday. This morning that tightness was even more pronounced so I decided that the "hair of the dog" approach with more hill climbs would be the best way to deal with it. I had played briefly with the inclines on the new treadmill on Saturday and thought about running one of the built-in programs that included variable elevations. I had not read the treadmill's instructions to learn how to start a speed or elevation program so after a few tries I gave up and used the manual method to set my inclines. A few minutes into my run I began noticing that the tread belt slipped every twenty seconds or so. These slips felt as though the belt was jerking and suddenly pulling forward for a second. It wasn't so pronounced that it threw me off balance but it was concerning. The worst part was waiting for the next slip - nothing like feeling stress while running!

I decided to finish my run despite this annoying problem. I found the incline feature useful and varied the incline between 2% and 4% but backed off on that when the belt slippage became pronounced. The slipping and jerking may be related to inclines because it had not happened before I had used that feature. Unfortunately the slipping happens without an incline so there's no safe condition although it seems to stabilize when the speed is lessened. I sent a note to Sole and I'll report on what happens. It's really too bad, prior to this problem I thought the F63 exceeded expectations.

Sole F63 - A great first impression

Today's workout: 2.4 mile run at ??:??/mi.

The new treadmill arrived yesterday and the old treadmill is now sitting at the end of the driveway, awaiting Monday's trash pickup. My wife and kids were very excited to see my reaction  as I made my way upstairs to look at the new arrival. They had waited for me to get home so I'd be the first to use it, which was incredibly sweet of them. In truth, my wife should have had the privilege of doing the maiden run because she put far more mileage on the old unit. I expect this will also be the case with the new F63.

I ran a couple of minutes last night to get a feel for the treadmill. First impressions were that it was more elevated, sturdier, smoother and quieter than the ProForm it replaced. This morning I did a real workout, starting slow (just push one button to set a pace!) for a minute before locking in on 6.4 MPH. This translated to a 9:23 pace but it felt faster than that. My Garmin agreed with me, displaying 8:59/mi. The margin of error on the Garmin makes me believe my true pace was closer to 9:05. I'll recalibrate the Garmin tomorrow and compare that to the treadmill to get a better understanding of its accuracy. Aside from this discrepancy the running experience was very good. I appreciated the quiet ride, the fan, the metrics and the solid feel of the unit beneath my feet. After my shower I listened for the whine of the treadmill from my wife, who normally starts her run around 5:15 AM. Nothing. A walk down the hall confirmed she was running on it and I heard her steps louder than the treadmill's motor. My wife liked it as much as I did and she couldn't believe how quiet it was compared to the old treadmill. I think we made a great purchase and, with all the programs and elevations, there's still much more to experience. I really like the new treadmill but with the beautiful weather on the first day of spring, I'm still aiming to hit the roads or trails tomorrow.

The Sole of a new machine

Today's workout: 25 Minutes on elliptical

Two points to those who get my headline pun. The picture is a clue. This may be the only time I'll ever say this but I'm excited by the prospect of running on the treadmill tonight. If all goes according to plan we'll take delivery of our new Sole F63 some time this afternoon. This also means that we'll bid farewell to our present unit that has served us well since 1997. I'm not particularly sentimental about inanimate objects (is a treadmill inanimate?) but I'll certainly give some respect to our Pro Form L18 that has provided countless hours of service to me and my wife.

I debated whether I would work out today or save my energy for a rare evening run with the new unit. I decided that an elliptical session was a better option than doing a final run on old L18. Yesterday's run was great and that's the way I choose to remember my experience with that long-serving machine. It will be sad to see it out by the curb when I get home tonight. It will be even sadder still to see it in the guest room because that would mean the Sole delivery people couldn't be enticed to carry the old treadmill down to the end of the driveway. I'm always up for a workout but I wouldn't be thrilled with the prospect of moving a 250 lb. treadmill down the stairs this weekend.

I've already forgotten this morning's treadmill experience

I had a decent run on the treadmill this morning, 2.6 miles at a moderate pace. After the hard trail run on Sunday I planned to take it easy today. I did the first half of my run at around 9:50 and the second half at 9:10. There was nothing particularly interesting about this workout and I realized when I finished that, besides checking my Garmin a couple of times for pace info, I had almost zero recollection of the experience. I came off the machine hot, sweaty and energized but I couldn't think of anything notable about the run.

Although it's an important aspect of my workout routine, the treadmill only provides me with a one dimensional experience. Compared to road running or trail running (that are multidimensional in terms of visual and sensory experience) the treadmill provides little in the way of intellectual stimulation. True, you can make up for that gap by putting a television in front of the machine or by listening to music, podcasts or audio books, but those things aren't really about the running experience. I'm not against treadmills by any means. I just got the good news that our new unit is in transit to the delivery company and I'm eagerly anticipating its arrival. Our new treadmill has built in programs and lots of metrics to help distract from the tedium of running in place.

While looking at speed, incline, time, distance traveled, calories, pulse and pace falls way short of looking at trees, birds and other interesting things along the trail, at least these displayed metrics have something to do with running. No matter what (like anything new and technical) the new treadmill will provide me a new dimension, at least for a while.

Working out like the ancient Greeks

Last weekend I caught a few minutes of an interesting show about the ancient Olympics. The narrator made an interesting point about athletic conditioning, then and now. Back in ancient Greece there were no Bowflex or elliptical machines for training. Those tools were unnecessary because virtually everything back then required physical work. The average citizen's body was probably far better conditioned than his or her equivalent today and the athletes, using stones instead of free weights, were likely on par with today's best athletes. I thought of this as I attacked the snow at the end of my driveway at 4:00 AM this morning. It was the fourth time since yesterday afternoon that we went through the process of shoveling the driveway and walk. The town plows had succeeded in walling us in with icy packed snow but my wife and I, with our ergonomic shovels, have this down to a science and we cleared the driveway in time to catch the 4:30 news.

Neither my wife nor I plan to do our usual workouts today. We figured that all that shoveling is a good substitute for the exercise we get on our runs. I felt a kinship with the ancient Greeks who may have helped build their fitness by clearing snow so they could get their chariots out of their garages. That is if they even had snow. Maybe it was volcanic ash. Well, you get my point.

Since this is the year 2010 I have no choice but to rely on fitness equipment for my conditioning. After about 3,000 hours of service it is becoming clear that our treadmill is nearing the end of it's useful life. On the suggestion of fellow Runner's World blogger RunningChick I looked at the Sole models which are highly rated by Consumer Reports. RC and her husband did lots of due diligence before choosing the F80 and they've been very happy with it. My wife and I decided to buy a well rated but lighter duty model, the F63, that has some really great features. I'm excited to get it and we're hoping that our old but reliable (1998!) ProForm L18 will last a few more weeks until we take delivery of the new unit. Aside from the 100+ decibel wailing of the motor it seems to be okay.