Zenaida Arroyo

I know many people don’t like the treadmill.  In fact, many people HATE it and call it the dreamill.

While I do like my gym and have enjoyed most of my runs outside, there have been times that I wished I had a treadmill at home.  On many occasions I have questioned my sanity because it would be freezing or snowing and yet I was outside.  Also, the snow and ice makes a run or driving challenging so ideally it would be best to run indoors.  Other times it takes me longer to motivate myself and get ready for a run than the actual run (especially for my runs of 30-45 minutes).  🙂

However, I have also done a lot of runs on the treadmill.  I think the longest run I’ve done is either 14 or 16 miles.  During my summer break I would wake up later than usual and by then it would be too hot to run outside.  I remember one day running in the middle of the day and I almost passed out.  Not sure what I was thinking.  Or I guess I wasn’t thinking at all.  🙂

Here is what helped me make my runs more bearable:

• Listen to fun music.  I rarely listen to music while on a run but on the treadmill it is a MUST.  I have a variety of Spanish and English music and various playlists.  Depending on how I was feeling is the music I would pick.  However, my favorites are:

• Watch TV.  Sometimes music gets on my nerves so I prefer to watch TV.  I’ve watched whatever is playing on the television or a show on my iPad.

• Change incline and/or pace.  I did my runs at 0% incline but made sure to change the pace.  I would set a timer for 1:30/2:00 minutes or 3:00/4:00 minutes and then change the pace (I would have 3 different paces) at the sound of the buzzer.  Or I would change it after each song.  This would make the run a bit more exciting and made the time go by faster.

• Reward myself.  For me it would be a coffee, food, beer, or a new piece of gear.  Of course I wouldn’t do this for every single run but mainly on days when I had ZERO desire to run and needed some motivation.

• Thinking of that wonderful feeling after a run.  The most difficult part of a run is starting said run.  Once that happens then you get all of these good feelings and the result is a wonderful sense of accomplishment.  And then be ready to do it all over again.

• Break up the run into parts.  I never did a run without stopping.  Who wants to run 10 miles without stopping?  Not me.  For a run of that distance, I would run 2.5 miles, take a quick break, and run again 2.5 miles.  Then I would use the bathroom and/or get more water and repeat for the rest of the 5 miles.  Something similar could be done for 12, 14, or 16 miles.  The key is to not think of it as a LONG run of 12, 14, 16 miles but instead as short and quick runs with breaks in between.

So yes/no to treadmill?  What’s the longest you’ve run on the treadmill?

Linking up with Marcia, Patti, and Erika for Tuesdays on the Run.