Today, I found myself in the gym at Northwood Stadium, making use of the treadmill. I just didn't have it in me to go out and run in the cold again, but I really needed to fit in a long run today to keep up with my training. So the gym and the treadmill it was! The song that greeted my when I pressed shuffle on the playlist was Amarillo... the one with Peter Kay from Comic Relief a few years ago. If you haven't seen, check out the video, mostly filmed with everyone on treadmills in front of a green screen. I just kept thinking of Ronnie Corbett falling over, which probably didn't help my treadmill running style.
Earlier in the week, the frozen footpaths had sabotaged our usual Tuesday night club session for Potters Trotters. On this occasion,we sought refuge on the Athletics track, which had a few snow drifts on it, but was much less treacherous than the pavements.
So within the space of a couple of days, I've tried out two different training options and I'm not sure either one of them is really for me.
I found running on the treadmill incredibly monotonous, unsurprisingly really, but at least I was warm whilst running, for the first time in about two months. I did get into quite a good running rhythm after a couple of miles and it was good to be able to manage my running pace. When I run outside, I'm not very good at sticking to a particular pace. I think I speed up and slow down as I am distracted by the world around me. On the treadmill, that couldn't happen. I also deliberately varied the elevation and the speed settings to stop me getting completely bored. I think the experience was improved by the relative emptiness of the gym - I was the only person in there for most of the time! But the worst part was definitely the jelly legs at the end of it - for about an hour afterwards, I felt like I was on one of those automatic walkways at the airport.
Running round the track on Tuesday night, however, was just a different kind of monotonous - running in circles is not much more interesting than running on the spot. I used the track session to undertake some "speed" training. After my warm up, I ran two fast laps then a slow recovery lap, which I repeated five times. It was a good place to do this kind of session, as I didn't have to keep looking at my watch to know if I'd run far enough at the fast pace. I did get a bit confused with track etiquette, especially as to who was running in the inside lanes, and generally tried to keep out of the way of everyone else on the track, which wasn't always easy. The worst part of this session was the cold - it took me until Wednesday evening to feel warm again.
All in all, I think I prefer running outside and not in 400m circles - I think I'll stick to my usual outdoor running routes along the canal towpaths or through the parks as long as the temperatures start increasing and the snow stays away... otherwise the gym might just be getting another visit.
Earlier in the week, the frozen footpaths had sabotaged our usual Tuesday night club session for Potters Trotters. On this occasion,we sought refuge on the Athletics track, which had a few snow drifts on it, but was much less treacherous than the pavements.
So within the space of a couple of days, I've tried out two different training options and I'm not sure either one of them is really for me.
I found running on the treadmill incredibly monotonous, unsurprisingly really, but at least I was warm whilst running, for the first time in about two months. I did get into quite a good running rhythm after a couple of miles and it was good to be able to manage my running pace. When I run outside, I'm not very good at sticking to a particular pace. I think I speed up and slow down as I am distracted by the world around me. On the treadmill, that couldn't happen. I also deliberately varied the elevation and the speed settings to stop me getting completely bored. I think the experience was improved by the relative emptiness of the gym - I was the only person in there for most of the time! But the worst part was definitely the jelly legs at the end of it - for about an hour afterwards, I felt like I was on one of those automatic walkways at the airport.
Running round the track on Tuesday night, however, was just a different kind of monotonous - running in circles is not much more interesting than running on the spot. I used the track session to undertake some "speed" training. After my warm up, I ran two fast laps then a slow recovery lap, which I repeated five times. It was a good place to do this kind of session, as I didn't have to keep looking at my watch to know if I'd run far enough at the fast pace. I did get a bit confused with track etiquette, especially as to who was running in the inside lanes, and generally tried to keep out of the way of everyone else on the track, which wasn't always easy. The worst part of this session was the cold - it took me until Wednesday evening to feel warm again.
All in all, I think I prefer running outside and not in 400m circles - I think I'll stick to my usual outdoor running routes along the canal towpaths or through the parks as long as the temperatures start increasing and the snow stays away... otherwise the gym might just be getting another visit.
Comments
Post a Comment