Earmuffs make awful headphones on the treadmill

Today's run (treadmill): 4 miles

Hot tunes

I got an early start on my workout this morning due to the day's agenda. With the narrower roads and obstructed views of traffic in the neighborhood (all due to the huge snow banks) I thought it best to run indoors. Knowing that this would be a longer treadmill run than my usual weekday morning workout, I took my iPhone and some ear buds to keep me company. I'm not a fan of running with music for outdoor runs because the ambient noise on the trail or street is a far better sound track. That, along with safety concerns, prevents me from doing it. Indoors is a different story and I thought it might be a way to distract me from the tedium of the treadmill experience.

I can't wear Apple's white ear buds because they don't fit my ears so I jury-rigged headphones using a pair of 180's earmuffs. I loaded Pandora, started my music and then started my run. That worked well for about 20 minutes but the heat of the guest room plus the additional warmth from the earmuffs made it untenable. I removed my "headphones" and played the iPhone using its external speakers but between the sound of the treadmill, the fan and the music I found it too distracting. I spent the balance of my run without music and by the fourth mile I was really ready to stop. Treadmill runs are hard for me and I'd played with elevation and speed which made the challenge even greater.

I'm not confident that today's above freezing temperatures will melt enough snow to make it safe for a street run on Sunday so it's back to the treadmill for me tomorrow. I picked up a set of behind-the-ear headphones today so I'll give them a try if an indoor run is my only option.