Ah yes, who doesn't wake up at 6am on the 2nd full day of vacation to run? Oh, sane people, got it.
I got up, didn't wait my proper half hour before stretching, and went down to the hotel's fitness room. Thankfully, I was the only one in there. I say that mostly because it took me well over 5 minutes to figure out how to work the stupid treadmill. I've only been on a treadmill a few times, walking exclusively, and I've only been on one type of treadmill. This one, of course, was not that type.
I was supposed to run 15, walk 5. I read all the instructions on the archaic treadmill, and tried to set up my profile and time properly. It took many tries. I finally had it setup (I think) and took off. I had no idea what speed to put it on and, as I predicted, running in place felt nothing like real running, so I couldn't even gauge how "fast" I was going. I started off running almost on my toes, but kept upping the speed until I settled into a normalish running stance.
I couldn't figure out how to change the screen to see the distance I was going, so I left it on a countdown of the time for the whole run. I was afraid I may mess up the time if I even tried to screw with it. I did enjoy having minutes AND seconds to watch countdown for a change.
Pretty shortly an older woman came in and got on the other treadmill. They were set on an angle, so I could see her screen. She had her pace set higher than mine and she was WALKING. SEE!! I hate running!! I don't get the point of it!!! Of course, I freaking upped my pace immediately. I felt like I was going pretty slow the whole time, but I also knew 15 minutes was quite a leap in the plan from the 13 I just did [yesterday]. I also had no idea what the elevation would do for me, if anything, being inside.
I was concerned about further messing around with my schedule, and doing two runs in a row, but these two days were spent entirely sitting in the car, so I think not only was it a good idea to get back on track, but it was darn near a requirement to survive the long sit in the car. Oh, and if I skipped today, I would be doing the run in the desert tomorrow, somewhere between Vegas and Sequoia National Park. Ouch.
The 15 minutes flew by and I felt fine, not breathing nearly as hard as normal. Thankfully the treadmill automatically gave me a 5 minute timer to cooldown, so I didn't have to mess with setting the timer again. I figured out how to check the distance shortly into my cooldown, so I have an approximate distance for the run, and the run/walk. By the time I was finished, I wasn't nearly as red-faced as usual, but I was just as dizzy (I think that had more to do with the treadmill - they make me terribly dizzy), and my left ankle hurt. Argh, didn't I just get over this with my right ankle!?
So I did the 15 minutes, but I wasn't nearly as excited as yesterday, because it just felt like I cheated my way through it. Treadmills...bah. Compared to the first attempt, I should be glad I ran a full 9 minutes longer today, regardless of the pace. *Shakes head sadly at the first try.*
One other little note: I'm pleased to report my car sickness regimen of peppermint oil, wheat saltines, and gingins worked like a charm yesterday as we crossed the Rockies.
Time: 6:30am; Run 15, Walk 5
Weather: Indoors
Distance: 1.8K (1.12m)
Elevation: Oh, you know I set it as 100% FLAT!! (Maybe this is why it seemed so easy?!)
5K/10K: 1:00:18/2:07:27 (ouch, 2nd worst ever!)
Run Time: 15 mins
Distance: 1.58K (.98m)
5K/10K: 52:04/1:50:03
Oh, and now that I am home posting these, I have my stats spreadsheet and see that yesterday's 5K/10K times were the best I've had (for the full run/walk). Yep, kansas is the perfect state for running, gazing at the stars, and otherwise, avoiding like the plague.
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