sweaty treadmill
Tuesday evening was my first run on a treadmill in months. I cranked out 6 miles on the tmill.
What possessed me to run on a treadmill, you may wonder…Put simply, rain.
Lots and lots of rain convinced me to drive to the island’s YMCA and run on the dreaded treadmill. Or, should I say, dreadmill? Whatever.
You do what you gotta do, right? That’s what I thought as well. So, off I went and did a 6 miler. And, it wasn’t so bad…except for the balls of my feet which felt like they were burning due to the friction generated with each impact especially when I picked up the pace.
Running on a treadmill can be quite monotonous I’ll admit but you can get a great workout on one of those contraptions. I mean, running on a treadmill allows me to more easily focus on my stride, breathing, heart rate, pace, - over-all technique. This is something I have difficulty doing when running outdoors. There are too many distractions for me when I run outdoors but on a treadmill I find it easy to stay focused on my running technique. Also, I actually prefer doing speed training on a treadmill. Yeah, I’m weird, I know it.
This past Tuesday night as I ran on the treadmill I noticed that I continually landed on the outer edges of the forefront of my feet. So, I decided to change things up a little and focused on landing more on the mid-to-inner part of the balls of my feet. Doing that shifted my running dynamics fully. I noticed that each time my foot struck the treadmill conveyor belt my inner quads (vastus medialis) and inner calves (gastrocnemius) seemed to absorb most of the impact and, I felt I could deliver more power with each stride. I literally felt that each time I followed through with the leg that touched the conveyor belt it would propel me forward with more force than if I was doing this landing on the outer forefront of my feet. I could be completely off my rocker but it certainly felt like I had more power in my kick when I ran landing on the middle of the balls of my feet. You might want to test this out and let me know what you think. Seriously.
before the run on the tmill
My six mile run took me 50 minutes to do on the treadmill but it felt like it was a 2 hour run. That’s the thing with running a treadmill, the stop watch continues to run in real time but actual life seems to slow down considerably. It’s like taking a family trip to Disney World in a car when you were a child, – your father is driving a 100mph but you feel like you’re not getting there fast enough. That’s what running on a treadmill is like to me. I just cannot wait to get to the end. I never have that sensation when I’m running outdoors. When I run outdoors I enjoy the ride to my destination. That never happens on a treadmill.
Any way, I ran the treadmill last Tuesday instead of running in the rain and, I have no regrets. The next day, though, it was again raining after work but I ran in the rain regardless. Go figure.
Running Stats:
- total real miles for 2012: 661.79
- total treadmill miles for 2012: 63.26
- total miles run on grey bikilas ls: 292.77
Thank you so much for stopping by.
All the very best to you and yours.
Take care and God bless.
peace,
dh
08/11/2012
