Treadmills

Not all treadmills are created equal; at least that's what I found out while at Meadowside and this was good news to me. K has a newer motorized treadmill that was easy to run on and I really enjoyed making my way through Week 7 of the C25K program while I was there. I found I was running a little faster than usual and it was nice knowing that the computerized speed and distance trackers are accurate.

What amazed me was that it seems that my own treadmill is not as 'off' as I thought. When I started this program the timer and the distance trackers were not working properly so I relied on my watch for switching between walking and running and didn't bother with the distance portion at all. I had no idea how far I was running during each session. Adrian played around with it and managed to get it working again so I no longer had to keep checking my watch - it all worked. What confused me was that I didn't seem to be going nearly as far as I should be with the program. While using K's treadmill I had a lightbulb moment.

K's treadmill measures speed and distance in miles and I was thrilled to find that I was doing more than two miles during my 30 minute run. In fact, my best distance was 2.3 miles, which converts to 3.7 km. Wow! This got me thinking. Not just about how nice it was to run on her treadmill, while it was nice. Perhaps my treadmill, though it says 'k' for speed and distance, is actually measuring in miles, not kilometres as I had assumed. Hmmm, that would mean I'm not as slow as I thought I was! Definitely something to look into.

This morning I dragged myself downstairs and got started on my treadmill. I was on a mission, one that I almost gave up after ten minutes of running because I just didn't feel I could make it through the entire run today (God gave me the strength I needed!). At the end of half an hour I had done 2.3 'k' - so, yes, I'm guessing it really is in miles! Yay!! This has given me such a huge boost. Week 7 was to run 2.25 miles in 25 minutes, not including the 5 minute warm up walk. I'm doing 2.3 miles in 30 minutes, including that 5 minute walk at the beginning.

I don't think having a motorized treadmill is in my immediate future, not that I'm bothered by that thought. It was definitely easier to run on and I was able to do half an hour fairly easily on it. This morning I found it hard to find a good stride on mine at first, having to use my own power to move the belt. Oh, and mine is on a slight incline which I haven't figured out how to change so that probably is contributing to the noticeable difference between the two machines.

It doesn't matter. I'm thrilled with the progress I've made since January. I'm excited that that progress is actually much more than I thought it was, all because of an assumption I was making. I'm happy that I've stuck with the program and have only two weeks of it left before I officially graduate. 3.7km in 30 minutes - woohoo!!!