Treadmill Addiction

Posted by Steve ()

April 9, 2008

With all the rain we’ve had lately, my current trend is to stay indoors and run at home on the treadmill. Treadmill running used to be a chore but for some reason at the moment, I’m really enjoying the “dreadmill” as some people refer to it.

As you probably already know I’m a big fan of the Runervals series of workouts, and although Coach Troy Jacobson recommends performing these tough workouts just once per week, I’ll usually follow along at a less intense effort several times a week. The advantages are numerous:

I’m guaranteed a quality, structured workout
The 50 or so minutes passes really quickly – much faster than a random run on the treadmill
My legs are getting less of a beating than they would outside on the roads
My shoes seem to last longer
I don’t have to think about when to speed up/slow down – I just follow Troy’s instructions
I’m more likely to drink and stay hydrated on the treadmill
I was going to say “I don’t get wet in the rain”, but I usually end up walking off the treadmill as drenched as if I’d been running outside in the rain

So, tonight I’ve logged another 7 miles, which doubles my mileage for the week. However, it looks like I won’t be hitting 60+ miles for the week after all – I gave myself a rest day on Monday and I’m planning to run another 5k race on Saturday morning.
I do plan on running another 20 miler on Sunday though – probably my last long run before the Frederick Marathon on May 4th. Training is going well and I’m definitely going to taper correctly for this one – unlike last month’s Shamrock Marathon where I was still increasing my mileage the week of the race.

Posted in: treadmill