The Christmas holidays aren't all about Christmas in our house, they're mostly about birthdays! I am very lucky that my family don't allow my birthday to be lost in all of the festive fun, and I try to ensure that our eldest daughter has a non-Christmassy birthday too.
My mum and dad-in-law are always very generous, and with the money they gave me this year I bought a second hand treadmill. I have never been a gym girl, so have no experience of running on a treadmill and expected little of it. I have struggled to get out for the weekday runs, so I thought this would be the answer to running in the dark, or not running at all.
So, today was the day that the treadmill was fired up for a proper run. That is, a run-run not a ooh-lets-play-with-the-new-toy-run in pyjamas and reindeer slippers. It was certainly easier to get ready for, I slung on a t-shirt and shorts with my trusty Brooks and not the 3 layers I have been accustomed to in recent weeks. Within a couple of minutes I realised that a)this was harder than I thought it would be and b)I was too hot. Luckily for me, the only other person in the room was my 11 year old, who was nominated as drink bottle holder, when I decided to take off my t-shirt. An excellent idea. However, missing in the thought process was to get off the treadmill... with the t-shirt half over my head, I heard my daughter say "Mummy! You're going to...." The words 'fall' and 'off' coincided with my bottom-first exit off the treadmill with a little squeal as I tried desperately hard not to do some kind of backwards roll.... Had this not been the third time in as many weeks that I have fallen over, off or into various household objects it would've been hilarious. I will settle for slightly comical and hope that as many things come in threes, that I have had my lot and I will stay upright from now on!
Back to the treadmill. It was boring as hell. I really missed the distractions of running outside - the Christmas lights, gardens, houses with lights on and curtains open. I found I needed to focus on something very still (in this case the plug socket as there was little else to look at), as the bouncing made me feel like I was on a boat. I now understand why gyms have air con; I was hot. Really, really hot. Running in my dining room was similar to running in the summer when it was airless and stuffy. It was very strange not being able to adjust my pace without pressing a button, and I really noticed how much I vary despite having quite a consistent pace recorded on both my Garmin and RunKeeper. The time I was running for dragged, I think the boredom of looking at a white wall made this worse, compounded with the display ticking away right in font of me. I was continuously changing the display mode so I didn't fixate on the time. At the end of my run I slowed right down to a gentle walk, but this didn't prevent the feeling of still moving once I had stopped. Despite all of this I ran 5km in 24minutes 35seconds, which is my fastest time by over a minute. I'm not going to get too excited by this though, as I'm pretty sure this wouldn't translate onto a road run and I'm not claiming a PB until it does.
The best news is that I didn't cough after the run. Tomorrow I will run outside again and this will give me the answer The Boss needed today - am I well enough to embark on a rigourous sub 2hour Half Marathon training plan over the next 8 weeks?
Keep your fingers crossed....... but don't fall over!
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