Treadmill: (Re) Aquainted

A good night's sleep was not on the agenda for me last night. I tossed and turned most of the night and made the decision to skip my run in the morning and get an extra hour of sleep. Surprisingly, I didn't feel terrible this morning while I was getting ready for work so I threw some running clothes in my bag, thinking, if I felt like it I could make up the run during my lunch hour. I felt great about the decision (yes, I will break my inclination toward laziness) even if it didn't pan out.

However, running at lunch would mean running on the treadmill and it's been several months since I've run on the treadmill. When I'm running outside, it doesn't feel like exercise; it feels like a morning cup of tea - comfortable and familiar and an essential way to start my day off on the right foot. On the treadmill, it's different.

When I am running outside I hardly worry about my pace, time, distance or calories burned until I'm done and then I let myself think about those things. Outside, on the bike trails, I am more concerned with the sights and sounds around me, the temperature, the weather, and the way my body is responding as it warms up and I try to find my stride. On the trails, just the idea of being out in nature is enough to occupy my mind and sustain my body to get me through any run. Again, on the treadmill, it's different.

On the treadmill, I can't do anything but focus on time, pace, distance and even calories burned, no matter how many articles I've read about how these things, with the exception of time, can be wildly over- and under-stated on treadmill displays. Listening to music, reading and/or watching TV isn't enough to get me in the zone on a treadmill and I look forward to escaping in to my runs so it has been tough to embrace the treadmill. What's funny is that I started my running life almost solely on the treadmill. With the exception of my weekend long runs, training for my first marathon was done exclusively on a treadmill and then one day, a month after the marathon I got the idea to run home from work. Once I tried running home from work once a week, I started craving outdoor running more and more, always looking for other ways to incorporate it in to my routine.

Eventually, a year or so had gone by and one morning as I headed down to the gym for my morning treadmill run, I turned and went out the door instead. I was nervous on the darkened streets that day but as the sun came up over the office buildings, those nerves turned into excitement. I was giddy the rest of that day and from then on, I scorned the treadmill. I didn't want anything to do with it because it had never made me feel like those first early morning runs outside.

That leads me to today. Since I didn't have room for cold weather gear in my work bag this morning, I either skip my run or run on the treadmill. In the end, the run is always going to win out so I decided to stay focused on the act of running instead of the means by which I would be taking that run. I won't lie and say it was my favorite run. My body isn't used to treadmill running anymore but it was still another successful run. One more run that I had run yesterday.

Today's Daily Dozen:
3.45 mile run (18 mins. run/1 min. walk x 2 intervals) @ lunch hour

A good day for a walk

Outside? Inside? Outside? Inside?

I get an hour for lunch at work and I hate to waste it by surfing the internet the entire time (which is what I did at my last job with my 30 minute break). Lately, I've been eating lunch at my desk around noon and not actually taking my break until 2. I've been trying to take advantage of the gym in the office building; however, today wasn't a scheduled strength training day. When I pack my work bag this morning, I threw in some gym clothes, just in case.

All morning I was having an inner debate - should I stay inside and go to the gym or take a walk outside? On the one hand, the gym would probably provide a better workout but I was only going to do light cardio and I could just as easily do that outside, right? When it came down to it, I decided to brave the cold and wind and took a walk. As I headed down 7th Street toward the National Mall, I decided to head toward the Smithsonian American History Museum (SAHM). It has recently reopened after a 2 year internal renovation and, although I didn't have to time to check out the changes inside, I was curious to see what had changed on the outside.

I walked down to Independence Ave. and turned right, walking past the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, shaking my head and remembering the triceratops that used to sit outside the museum but was removed for safety reasons, looking across the Mall toward the the merry-go-round and the red Smithsonian Castle, and gazing off in the distance toward the Washington Monument as Marine One flew in for a landing, or at least, one of the helicopters that could have potentially been Marine One. I walked along with the large schoolg groups and the families who were braving the cold to see the Nation's Capital.

I finally got to the American History Museum, and as I circled the building, there weren't too many differences to make note of from the outside. I hope to make it inside one of these weekends soon to see all changes. It is my favorite museum in DC and I'm glad it is available again.

Unlike my path to the SAHM was direct - down 7th, right on Independence - I took a meandering path back to the office. I let the lights and walk/don't walk signs lead me back and along the way, I realized just how much history is within such a small space. I passed by the FBI, Department of Commerce, and EPA buildings, the Ronald Reagan Center for International Development, the National Theatre, Ford's Theater and the house Lincoln died in, the Spy Museum, and several other museums.

Although I never broke a sweat and it was colder and windier than I would have preferred, it was a lunch hour well spent even though it wasn't in the gym.

Today's daily dozen:
30 mins. recumbent bike
10 mins. stretching
10 mins. elliptical
1 hour walk
It was a good XT day but tomorrow, I work: Hill Intervals to the Max - 12% incline at a 4.0 pace with 2-3 minutes walk in between.