Great treadmill run. This is not a typo.

Oh, we can be heroes, just for one day

Today's run (treadmill): 3.5 miles
Yesterday's run (treadmill): 3. 2 miles
Tuesday's run (treadmill): 1.25 miles
Last Sunday's run (street): 4.1 miles

It snowed this week and the streets have been very unfriendly for runners. The treadmill likes to use these times to prove its worthiness to me. Over the years I have learned to appreciate the indoor option but that doesn't mean I particularly like it. Our FreeMotion machine has been a big improvement over the tortured Sole F63 it replaced and I am grateful for that. Today it was my hero.

I worked from home on Tuesday. Although I had an early video call, I managed to squeeze in a short treadmill run. Very short. But every mile counts and I'm counting that one. I worked from home on Thursday, but limited my exercise to multiple shoveling sessions in order to get through 13" of snow. It turned out to be a good leg and upper body workout, especially when digging out the huge snowbanks at the end of our driveway that were left by the town plows.

I stayed home yesterday because the Long Island roads were still a big mess. I dutifully hopped on the treadmill and cranked out a three miler, the same distance I would have done had I been able to run on the road. I approached yesterday's run like a 5K, starting easy and increasing speed as I went. The last half mile was run about two minutes per mile faster than I've been averaging this year.

This morning I noticed that the streets were relatively free of ice and snow. Unfortunately, the sidewalks were buried under three feet of snow, leaving no place to escape from cars on the road. I elected to run inside.

For those of you who are expecting me to write about how today's treadmill run was just terrible because treadmills are soooo boring I'm afraid I must disappoint. I put on the cable music channel and was rewarded with some great songs. I only wore my Kinvaras and compression shorts and set the treadmill's fan to "stun", so I felt cool and dry most of the way through. I didn't attempt the same challenging pace as yesterday, so the run felt much easier. Dare I say, enjoyable?

Even though I could have gone longer, I elected to cap it at 3.5 miles. Rather than duplicate Friday's progressively faster pacing that left me worn out by the end, I finished feeling energized. I liked that feeling and the treadmill is my friend. At least for today. Tomorrow may be a different story.

Musically mindless on the treadmill

Rock on, but watch your back

Today's run (treadmill): 3.3 miles
Yesterday's run (treadmill): 3.4 miles

Happy President's Day. While my Runsketeer buddies were doing 8-12 mile runs out in the freezing cold this weekend, I took the path of least resistance. That would be the treadmill, and it's probably more disinterest than resistance. I've bashed the treadmill enough this weekend, so no more complaining until next week.

I've determined that watching scripted TV shows doesn't work for me when I run indoors. I have a lot of trouble concentrating on the dialog and plot. I do better with news but they run the same stories over and over. That repetition eventually becomes tedious and the commercial breaks are frequent and long. However, I think I've found my solution: music.

Instead of watching the news yesterday, I switched to one of the cable music channels. I listened to 70's music which didn't require any concentration. Perfect. I occasionally switched to a different station when a slow ballad came on, because faster tempo songs better matched my stride rate. I did the same this morning and had to admit that listening to music made the time go by much faster.

I used to listen to music when I ran outdoors, but I stopped due to safety concerns. I also used to listen to Pandora, but the Sole treadmill would pass along big shocks through my headphones. Our FreeMotion machine is far better behaved and I can probably go back to doing that without fear of electrocution. Plus the treadmill has big speakers that would negate the need for headphones.

In the case of my source of music I'll probably end up following the path of least resistance once again and stick with the cable music station. It's easy and there's no commercials, unless you count the ads for geriatric home care and other products targeted to the 70's channel demographic.

Two-fer workout on a rainy day

Rainy day resolve

Today's workout: (Treadmill) 3.1 miles, (Elliptical) 15 minutes

Rainy day and Mondays always get me down. While I'm not looking forward to this Monday, or any day this week for that matter, I had to deal with the rain today. I was optimistic that I would be able to get out this morning before the torrent. But even at 6:00 AM, it wasn't a situation fit for running. I had little choice but to use the treadmill, something I hadn't done since last October.

We're coming up on our first year with our FreeMotion treadmill and I have to admit that it's a pretty good unit. I had some bad experiences with it early last year, but that was due to pushing too hard during a run and severely aggravating my disc injury. The FreeMotion is far more stable than its predecessor, the Sole F63, and it feels more solid, like a hotel treadmill, than a home unit.

I was curious to see how it felt to run on the treadmill after so much time away. The experience of going from street running to treadmill running isn't that pronounced, but it is different. I set the speed to my usual pace and set my mind on running three miles, the longest I can go on a treadmill before going insane.

Once I reached that milestone (get it?), I hopped on the elliptical for 15 minutes of cross training. It was a good workout on a day when I had no other option but to stay indoors. I got through my rainy day and tomorrow I'll deal with Monday. I won't get a chance to work from home this coming Friday, so this may be a relatively low mileage week.

97% of a good run

Unhappy ending

Today's run (treadmill): 3.3 miles

When does a tenth of a mile make all the difference in a run? Today it was in the final 10th of my treadmill workout. It's been a lot of time since my last run because my business schedule is sucking up all my bandwidth. Today I worked from home and managed to get back to running, although I had limited time this morning.

It was my fourth run on our new treadmill and I continue to appreciate it compared to the old one. The Freemotion running experience is far better than the Sole's. Besides the much quieter motor and stable tread that doesn't jerk underfoot, the Freemotion unit feels more substantial and the running less tedious. The time - and mileage - seem to go by a lot faster.

So I had 97% of a great run and 3% of a really bad one. It was my own fault. The three weeks I spent exclusively on the elliptical helped heal my chronic sciatica. My return to the treadmill last week re-aggravated that injury. I hoped resting from Monday through Thursday would reverse the damage and, to a degree, it did. But I pushed too hard today and that set back my progress.

I only aimed to cover three miles and felt good running at a moderate pace. With half a mile left to go, I began increasing my speed. Everything felt fine and I decided to cover 3.25 miles. By the time I was on the last quarter, the speed felt challenging. At the 3.2 mile point I felt a searing pain in my upper hamstring/glute region and I knew I'd pushed too hard. Y'ouch!

I thought I'd seriously hurt myself. I immediately reduced my speed and stopped the treadmill. Walking felt painful and I hoped it was a temporary situation. I took Ibuprofen and hit the shower. I certainly did myself no favors today. After living with the result all day, it doesn't seem as bad. I'll see how it feels tomorrow morning. I may substitute a run for an elliptical session rather than further aggravate the problem..

First run: Freemotion 850 & Saucony Triumph ISOs

The new new things

Today's run (treadmill): 3.3 miles? I forgot to check!

I listened to the weather on my way home from the office last night and was disheartened to hear that we'll be facing below-zero temperatures and more snow this weekend. But then I remembered that we have a new treadmill and suddenly all was right in the world. I was very happy after that, and even happier when my wife reminded be to swing by Panda to pick up our Chinese New Year dinner.

With all the snow and ice we've had this year, options for running have been limited. This was made worse with the failure of our treadmill. The only choice I've had this month has been the elliptical machine. While I've come to really appreciate the workout, I've missed running a lot. I work from home on Fridays and that gave me my first opportunity since January 25th to actually run. Not only would I be using this treadmill for the first time (the minute I spent on it the day it was delivered doesn't count), but I'd also have my first run in the Saucony Triumph ISOs.

I was curious to see how I'd do after three-plus weeks away from running. Did the elliptical sessions preserve my fitness, or would I find myself overtaxed? I plugged my phone into the sound jack and started up a podcast. The very large built-in speaker amplified the voices well enough to clearly hear over the motor. This is so much better than earbuds, which I despise. I stepped up on the new machine and immediately appreciated the quiet, shriek-free experience.

The Sauconys felt good underfoot. They are well cushioned but don't feel heavy. The Freemotion's deck suspension feels more responsive than the Sole's. I took it fairly easy to avoid aggravating muscles that are not used to running. Running felt surprisingly good and the first mile went by quickly. I thought the Triumphs felt more comfortable and ran a lot better than the Kayanos.

It's really great to be able to run again after almost a month and I was pleased that I got through today's workout without feeling like I've lost fitness. I may find it a bit tougher when I finally return to the road. Overall, I should do fine. I know I'll eventually disparage the idea of treadmill running, but for now, it's great to have that option again.

The Sole's last laugh

Kicked to the curb

We all know that what goes up must come down. That goes for our old treadmill and it didn't go without a fight. The good news is that our new treadmill was delivered tonight. That was the easy part. The hard part was getting the old Sole down the stairs and out the door.

The two guys who came to assemble our new Freemotion 850 agreed to remove the Sole and carry it to the curb. We were happy about that, because there was no way we could have done it ourselves. I was excited to be just minutes away from having a working treadmill and getting rid of a bad memory. The guys got the old machine out of the guestroom fairly quickly. Then the trouble began.

It was pretty tough to watch. Our hand-built wooden stair rail took a lot of abuse, but it held up well. The other side didn't fare as well. The rollers on the tread bed punched through the drywall leaving a couple of rectangular holes that will need to be patched and painted. It could have been worse, but it wasn't good.

New and improved

The guys set up the new treadmill and called us upstairs. At first I was taken aback by the size of the machine. The Freemotion's console stands half a foot taller than the Sole's and the frame is at least three inches longer. It's a substantial machine that (when you're standing on it) feels a little like a fitness center treadmill.

I ran on the new treadmill for a minute to make sure it worked. I'll wait until I do a real run before sharing my impression, but I will say, so far, so good.

New treadmill: Signed, sealed, but not yet delivered

Emotion for FreeMotion

Today's workout (elliptical): 50 minutes

The absence of a working treadmill prompted me to obsessively research replacements for our Sole F63. It's always a good idea to look at the models around your price range and then find the best value based on your requirements. That doesn't always guarantee success as evidenced by our Sole. Despite its high recommendation it didn't live up to its hype.

My starting point was to consider every treadmill brand in the universe (except for Sole) and work backwards from there. I am fortunate to have resources for research that aren't available to many people and quickly learned that most treadmills priced under $1,000 are really a crap-shoot. I was told that I should be willing to pay $2,000 or more for the quality that I'm expecting. I decided to reject that and focus on machines that are reasonably priced and structurally sound. I don't need built in fitness programs because we never use them, so why pay for them?

After coming close to pulling the trigger on a LifeSpan TR2000e that I could get for the price of a 1200i, I decided to wait until I had a chance to try out a few in person. We went over to Sports Authority to see what they had to offer. Big box retailers tend to stock the same brands: Bowflex. NordicTrak, Pro-Form, Sole and HealthRider. We had a Pro-Form treadmill before the Sole and we currently have a Pro-Form elliptical. Pro-Form equipment can be a good, inexpensive choice, but they sometimes feel cheap and rickety.

Sports Authority sells FreeMotion treadmills, a brand whose commercial grade units are often found in fitness centers. After looking at the Pro-Forms, we concluded that we'd do better paying a little more for a middle-tier FreeMotion 850 model. The differences in construction between this unit and the similarly-priced Pro-Form were noticeable. For example, the salesperson pointed out how the FreeMotion has shock absorbers all along the tread bed, while the Pro-Form only had them in the middle. That could make a big difference in how long the rollers will last.

I liked that the 850 had a basic interface but was iFIT compatible for people who want fitness features and device connectivity. I also liked the feel of the bed when I ran on it and the fact that this unit can incline  up to 15% and decline 3%. There was free delivery for treadmills at that price and we opted to have them assemble it. A 20% off coupon that I got for buying a box of Girl Scout cookies outside the store made it a pretty good value.

I spent 50 minutes on the elliptical this morning. Although it's a tedious workout, the session went by fast because my daughter kept me company the entire time. My wife and I are anxious get the new treadmill as we both view the elliptical as an occasional cross training tool rather than a primary means of working out. But until we take delivery, it's going to be our only option.