Treadmill

I am avoiding the winter temperatures and darkness by running on the treadmill. I don't like it at all, but will continue to use it until it gets warmer outside. It's a battle between two things I dislike and picking the one that's less awful and safer. Treadmills inside are much safer than running in the dark. It's also less hassle because I don't need a ton of winter clothing to protect myself. I can run in shorts and a singlet.

Most articles on running will tell you to put the incline at 1% grade to simulate running on flat terrain. Because the motor will carry you part of every step, you need the slight incline to overcome that assist. I have a run scheduled in February that will involve hills, something hard to find in Chicago, so I'm setting the treadmill on an incline of 2%. This is such a small number, but it was surprisingly tough. My first attempt at incline put it up to 15%, but that almost killed me. That made me do a bit of reasearch to understand what that number actually means. Each percentage point is 52.8 feet rise over 5,280 feet (mile) run. The Tour de France doesn't appear to have anything higher than 8%.

I ran a full 5K yesterday and it took me 34:30. I'm not sure if that's because of the grade, or because of it being a treadmill. Whenever I took the speed over 10 minute miles, I ended up too close to the front and hit it. I think that was because I was afraid of falling off the back. I know that fear kept me from getting as full of a stride as I would like. I was afraid that if I tried for a higher back kick, I wouldn't get my leg back in time and I would go shooting into the wall. I think I'd feel better if the treadmill were longer.

I think that more time spent on the treadmill will make me more comfortable, which should help me bring that time down to something closer to 30:00, if not lower. My goal for an outdoor 5K time at the end of April is 25:00. I know that running on an inclined treadmill is hard to translate to flat outdoor running, but any improvement in my time will be a good thing. I know I will get in a few outdoor runs during winter, but since the bulk will be on the treadmill, I will use that to gauge improvement.

Finances and Fitness, part 2

Yesterday, I gave everyone some ideas on how to get fit without spending much money. Today, I'd like to share another one. If you're like me and dislike winter, you may want to look for a place to run inside. Treadmills are great, if you have a good place to put them. Buying one will be cheaper than a gym membership after a year or two, depending on the cost of the gym considered, how much you'd spend in gas getting to that gym and how often you use the treadmill at home. You can make the treadmill more affordable by using it as a desk, something I wish I had at work.

For those of us who can't get a treadmill because we're in an apartment, a gym membership may be the best answer. A standard gym membership will be at least $30 per month with a contract length of a year. Most health clubs have an initiation fee in addition to the monthly fee. If you live in a larger city, that monthly fee will probably be closer to $60, if not $100. The corporate gym that's closest to my job and has a location near my apartment would have charged me $45 per month, after my employer's discount. $400-$1,200 for a year of fitness is a luxury I can't afford.

I have found cheaper health clubs, though. The YMCA charges less than the discounted rates my job afforded me. In my hometown, their membership rates are about 20% cheaper that the other health clubs. Most locations of the YMCA have swimming pools, something not all health clubs have. Additionally, the YMCA is a charity that provides health and fitness services to children who might not have that any other way. I took swim lessons at my hometown YMCA, at no cost to my family.

For me, the YMCA wasn't really conveniently located, but the local park district had a fitness facility at the park across the street from the shuttle I ride home every day. The membership for the park district health clubs was even lower than the YMCA, too. I splurged and bought the GOLD membership, which lets me work out at every park in the city that has a fitness center. This cost me $82 for three months of access. That's less than I paid for a gym membership in 1993.

I will admit that the health clubs that cost $100 a month do have some really nice features not available for $27. The more expensive clubs may also have newer machines with private TVs. On the other hand, no one is using the park district health club as a singles bar. I have to bring my own towel, but I don't have anyone trying to sell me tanning or supliments. Each has their advantages and disadvantages. If $100 per month is within your budget and you like the amenities that provides, please don't let this discourage you from joining. I just wanted people who think all health clubs are outside their financial means to realize there may be something they can afford.

Day 10C--Goal Hit

I ran my four miles on the treadmill yesterday and did it in 44 minutes. That's an 11:00 pace, which is the best pace I've managed this year. It's also the longest distance I've ever run at one time. I actually kept the pace the same throughout most of my run. I finished the first half just shy of 22 minutes and the third mile right around 32 minutes. That was my fastest mile, but not by a huge margin.
I do hope to get in a short run or two this week, but don't want to push myself too hard, too fast. I feel great today, even though I pushed hard yesterday, but don't want to push so hard that I injure myself. I'm not sore at all and feel like the running is already improving my posture. I have been working on my core muscles a bit, too. I did a plank this weekend and held it for 42 seconds, even though the dogs kept running into me. I'm hoping to increase my plank on my non-running days. I've been reading that improving core strength can improve running speeds.

Day 9C--Treadmills

After some consultation with runners, I've decided to mainly work on increasing my distance before I start my official marathon training. I was told to shoot for being able to run between 6-8 miles before April 30th. That means I need to increase my maximum distance by 5 miles over the next 5 weeks. That makes goal setting fairly easy. I will try to run 4 miles this afternoon on the treadmills. Instead of the 5.4 mph pace I ran last week, I will set the treadmill at 5.5 mph. It's not much faster, but I do want to increase my speed a bit, while still increasing my distance. Plus, if I don't increase my speed a bit while increasing my distance, my runs will be taking hours and hours. At 5.5 mph, 4 miles will take me about 45 minutes. That means I won't get home from work until 6:15-6:30, an hour or so after I normally get home. If I can hit both of those goals today, I can do some shorter runs later this week and work on speeding them up.

Day 7C--Treadmill

Just as I had planned, I used the treadmills after work and ran a full 5K. I did pack some running clothes, but forgot my sports bra. I wasn't going to let that stop me, though. I may question that decision next time. I have some injuries suffered because of not wearing the proper equipment. I have some chafing on my arm and sides where my bra rubbed. I put some Neosporin on it today in the hopes that will help it heal. I may buy some diaper rash cream at lunch to see if that helps, too.
On the bright side, I ran 3.1 miles in 34:28 minutes, which is an 11:07 mile pace. That's my best pace this year and my longest distance since last summer. It's only two minutes slower than my race time last June, and better than my first 5K last April. I feel ok today, thanks to Jenni reminding me to take some Advil before bed last night. I was already starting to stiffen up and would have been in a bit of pain today without that.
On another good note, my fund raising is rolling along steadily. I'm at $300, or 30% of the minimum needed to guarantee my race entry. I'm trying to get some Twitter people with more followers to tweet my fund raising page, but no luck yet. I did have a friend post it on her facebook page, though.

Day 6C--Cold & Rain

I didn't run yesterday because it was cold & raining. The weather is equally bad today, but I brought running clothes to work, so I can use the dreaded treadmills. I don't totally hate treadmills, but they're not as enjoyable as running outside on the sidewalks. Treadmills help me with my pacing and speed, something I have a hard time with on sidewalks. I'm hoping that I can get in a full 5K tonight, regardless of my time. I feel like I need to start increasing my endurance a bit, with only 200 days until the marathon. I don't have any concrete reason for that feeling, just some fear that I won't be ready for the official training and thus the marathon. Now that I read it, 200 days seems like a really long way off.
My fund raising has stepped up a bit. I had raised about $85 when I went to bed last night and I'm now at $245. That's about 25% to my minimum to guarantee me a spot in the marathon and 16% of my goal. I don't like fund raising for the same reasons I don't like sales or collections. I don't like asking people for money or favors, and this combines both of them into one task. My efforts so far have been pretty passive; I've tweeted about the run and posted it as my facebook status. I've updated my avatars with T2EA images, my twitter profile with the donation link and made updates to my blog. The most active step I've taken is to create a note on facebook and tag people in it. I know I will have to be more active, but have four months to work up to that.