hittin' the treadmill

After the only exercise I got today was hauling Rowan up the toboggan hill (aka Beacon Hill) five or six times, I decided that since I was all clever and made coq au vin for dinner, which just sat in the oven for 3 hours, I could go to Crystal Pool with Stirling and Rowan for Rowan's swimming lesson, and do half an hour on the treadmill and then not feel bad about missing my run. I no longer feel like a wussie for not running outside, it's about -10C and there's more than 10 cm of snow on the ground, and people here do really half-assed jobs of shoveling their sidewalks so they're actually worse than if they didn't bother.

So I did day 2, week 6 on the treadmill, which is 10 min run, 3 min walk, 10 min run. Except I forgot that you can adjust the incline on those puppies, which I should have done, because it was waaaay too easy, so I just kept running (upping the speed to entertain myself) until the staff started yelling that the pool was closed. (not at me, just generally. apparently there is no PA system there) After I got off the treadmill my breathing was back to normal instantly so I don't think I was working all that hard, although the heart rate monitor on it said 160 - briefly - just after I stopped. Then it dropped really rapidly down to 150, 140... I dunno if it was just making up its mind or reflecting my amazingly awesome cardio recovery. I am guessing the former.

Anyway, it was fun for a change. The snow is supposed to stick around for a few days so I may have to hunt down another treadmill on Tuesday and this time I will remember the incline, and maybe push myself a little more. Tuesday's run is a straight 25 minute jobbie - which reminds me, I have to discipline the iPod because it crapped out on me today. I am starting to understand why my neighbour was so eager to give it to me for free - apparently it needs a complete wipe and reinstall of everything. I don't even actually like running outside with it, it makes me feel vulnerable and I think some of the songs I have make me run too fast and I get tired before I'm done. Plus, there is enough to keep me entertained and distracted outside. But on a treadmill, the tunes are good.

Also, I think I am going to give this blog a bit of a hiatus until the new year, since I am heading into crazy-busy holiday time and I am not going to attempt any progressions on any of my exercises, just to do a few pushups occasionally and run when I can to avoid backsliding. I am sure I will cook up some sort of new year's resolutions and then the blog will be all about that. I'm sure you can hardly wait.