Monday, December 18, 2017

HELP! JANE! STOP THIS CRAZY THING!

            The first years of my running life were largely untethered—I didn’t belong to any running community so I didn’t know how or what to do in order to get results. One thing I got right was following a build-up plan in the back of a beginner’s book on running that had like a 12-week training plan that got you up to running for 30 consecutive minutes. I’ve been a runner ever since.

            But this time in my life was in Clay Center, Kansas, population 4,500. There was a county hospital that had a very good fitness/wellness center that was about 1.5 miles away from my apartment. So I’d get home from work, run up there, crank a few miles on one of four treadmills, and run home. Each treadmill had its own overhead TV so the miles flew by as I watched a basketball game or whatever. I would always try to figure out whether I’d get done by the end of the half or game—it helped with my need to have numbers to crunch.

            I was always persnickety about running outside. Too hot? Too cold? Too windy? Time to get in the car and drive up there. Eventually I got married and lived in a neighborhood that didn’t have easy treadmill access. The more I ran outside and committed to running, the more incredulous I became as to how I did the treadmill thing.

            With that as a backdrop, meet Astro:


            Astro is our new state-of-the-art NordicTrack 1600 treadmill. It does everything except get you a beer. About a month ago Mrs. Woodrow decided a treadmill would be a good play. It does make sense, as the weather has turned cooler and she has knee problems that the more forgiving surface can help with. Many things in our home get names (in addition to the dog, Beasley). Our charcoal grill picked up the name R2D2, The blender is the Bass-O-Matic 6000, our cars are named Sparky and Scooter, and so on.

            Anyhow I’ve been running on there about three times a week since we’ve had it. I can run on the beach, in Italy, or in Austria due to our subscription to iFit. It also lets me program my run before I begin. Yesterday I ran in my neighborhood without leaving the house. I recognized everywhere I ran, it just didn’t recognize elevation so I played with it a little. It also has me running on the wrong side of the street because the Google Maps camera faces behind the car. So I’m running in one direction but the pictures it shows indicate the car/camera are going in reverse.

            There is also a 400m track for speed/tempo days. I don’t use this much since it gets a little monotonous especially with these other features. It has a 1/8” plug so I can plug my phone in and listen to podcasts safely which I don’t do on the road.

            The only concern I have at this point is that my legs don’t feel as energized after a treadmill run as they did after I ran on the road. I’ll get used to it because I’m just barely scratching the surface on this. I tinkered with the elevation on my 3.4 miler from yesterday and I ran about as fast as I have recently and my legs felt a little charged the rest of the evening. I’m not really sure when I’ll run in my neighborhood again— having a treadmill is a time saver plus we have some adjustable hand weights for me to do walking lunges and shoulder presses.


            Never thought I’d say it but I’m a treadmill guy once again.