Hello, my old friend....

It hasn't gotten this bad here yet....but around here its just a matter of time.

Time to say hello to this view once again



Yes, its that time of year again in my neck of the woods.   Its cold, its snowy, and sometimes just plain not fun to be outside.  Snow is covering everything, and between cold temperatures, long nights and sometimes hazardous road conditions I am becoming good friends with my treadmill again.  The up side of treadmill running / walking is being able to run or walk at any time of day or night, not have to bundle up and worry about bad weather or road conditions (not to mention I can crank my music if I happen to be listening to any ;cD)  The down side, well, it can be horribly boring as well.  The question then becomes how do you spice up your time on the 'mill?  Now I can be the queen of zoning out depending on what is going on in my life at the moment...getting lost in my own thoughts and before I know it my workout is over.  Other days it seems like my workouts take forever.  But I have figured out a few things to make that time on the treadmill seem to go a bit quicker.  Here are a couple of my favorite little tricks...
     The first is to vary my speed and incline throughout the workout.  For example, it I know I will be running for 20 minutes, I will warm up for 5 then start alternating a quicker tempo run for 3 minutes then 2 at a slower pace.  I use the same idea, but play with the incline when I walk.  You then tend to focus on that time where you're keeping that faster pace, or walking on that incline, enjoy the little break that the slower pace or no incline brings and before you know it you've done 2, 3, 4 or however many repeats and you are to your time to cool down.  It really does make the time fly for me.
      The second is to load up my ipod with some totally motivational music and crank it up.  My favorites right now?  Oh, there are so many and they are so varied :cD  I have everything from Earth Wind and Fire, to Lady Gaga, Taio Cruz to Linkin Park, Gorillaz to Mike Oldfield.  You name the genre and I probably have a song from it downloaded somewhere.  I don't have a workout mix, necessarily, but I think as long as it keeps you moving its all good.
      I know the Runner's World website has lots of other tips for treadmill workouts.  Definitely worth checking out, especially if you're like me and facing some serious time on that little, spinning piece of road in your own home :cD
   
So far my week has been pretty good, you can check out my interesting Saturday development on my other blog.  My exercise has been more consistent so hopefully that trend continues and I'll have a good report to share on Wednesday :cD.   Well, I am on my way again.  Everyone has the day off tomorrow and I'm looking forward to that.  Hope you all have a wonderful day!!

JaDee