The best laid plans of mice and men are often COMPLETELY waylaid by alcohol overconsumption and impending snow storms. Waking up at 7am on Saturday morning to meet Greg for our 11 mile run, I was met with the painful realization that I was still entirely drunk and in no way fit to brave the bitter cold without dying. I convinced myself that I'd go for a shorter run in the afternoon when it'd warmed up and I no longer had the bed spins. False. Knowing that the rest of the weekend was guaranteed to be equally shambolic, I rainchecked my long run till Monday.
Well I paid for my inebriation induced laziness last night when I had to run 10 miles on the treadmill. There are few things more mind-numbing than doing a long run inside, in my opinion. I completely acknowledge that the treadmill can be a great tool for shorter tempo runs, interval training, and of course hill work. The ability to maintain a consistent speed or adjust hill gradations is very helpful for completing specific workouts. But running over 5 miles at a turtle's pace? No thank you. However, be it weather or time constraints, at some point every runner has been forced to resort to the dreadmill to get in those important miles during training.
In order to avoid watching the clock tick down every minute of a 2 hour run, I have to find new ways to trick myself into gutting it out every long treadmill run. Awesome iPod playlists are a must; shuffling between Paul's Eurotrash dance mix, angry white girl music, and Lady Gaga definitely makes the miles go by faster. Inside runs are now a chance for me to catch up on reading the Economist or study for Arabic class. Anything to keep my mind distracted...
What gets you through those long dreadmill runs when outside isn't an option?
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What gets me through those long indoor runs? Laughing at you singing along to angry white girl music. And audio books. And podcasts.
ReplyDeleteI have absolutely no idea to what you are referring...
ReplyDeleteHey, singing helps regulate your breathing. The real question is if you also incorporate the requisite dances when certain songs come on (I'm thinking Miley, Single Ladies, etc).
ReplyDeleteRunning on tredmills is a test of my non-existant willpower, although I can generally run a specific TIME amount better on a tredmill than outside...
Also next time you're procrastinating, send me the info on the NYRR half we've been drunkenly talking about lately!