A Quick Fix for Improving Your Treadmill Runs

Brrrrr! It is so cold here and snowing! I usually hate snow but I was actually kind of excited for it this time since it’s been a while since I’ve seen snow fall. (Not even when I was in Utah!) Usually my strategy for Southern snow “storms” is to wait unit all the crazies (i.e. bad drivers) have left and gotten off the roads, because generally the roads aren’t as bad as the drivers on the roads. (This was my work parking lot a little before 5 PM. Everyone else had left around 4.)

But today, that strategy failed me. I got stuck coming home! Each way to get into my neighborhood involves a steep hill and my car got stuck because the road had turn into a sheet of ice. I called John and he was luckily close so he came to push my car to the point where I could gain traction and go a different way. I finally made it home, but it took about 45 minutes (for a typically 7 minutes drive) and was a total pain, still sliding and my car spinning out everywhere. I miss my Corolla! That thing was great in the snow!

Anyway, let’s talk about the treadmill shall we? I’ve been using it a lot this winter because I’ve totally lost my thick skin since moving to the South. Last Saturday, I hit the treadmill for a run. I started out around 7:45 and started getting wicked side cramps, something I’ve been struggling with lately. Slowing down, walking or stretching hasn’t helped the past few times so I tried something weird – I kicked up the pace to 7:15…and the side cramps went away. I didn’t want to keep that pace for long since I wanted to run a little bit longer than normal and also play with the incline, so I held that for about 3 minutes and then slowed the pace down to 7:45. I increased the incline to 1.5 (yowza) and increased my speed every 5 minutes. I ended at a 7:08 pace for the last 5 minutes and averaged about a 7:30 min/mile.

I ended up having a great run and glad I found a side cramp solution! I’ll have to test it again to see if it’s really a solution. Might have been a fluke.

So about the whole incline thing: I’m terrible about never using incline because, well, it’s hard! I hired a running coach for John for Christmas and one of the things his coach — Chuck Engle of Marathon Junkie — requires is never running on the treadmill unless you use a 1.5 incline. It seriously makes a big difference in the difficulty! So I’m going to use incline on the treadmill going forward since it helps simulate the outdoors more and the natural resistance (air, non-moving road, ups & downs) you feel out there vs. the treadmill. Hopefully it’ll strengthen my hamstrings and glutes a bit more too.

After the run, I chowed down on some quinoa + pumpkin seeds + flax oil, and then John and I headed over to Hoots Roller Bar & Beer Co. to pick up my goodies for being a backer (including my first growler!). We were both still starving and were both randomly craving french fries. We went to First Street Draught House and demolished all of this food – regular fries, sweet potato fries and baked wings. ha! Not healthy at all but you just gotta live sometimes. And it all tasted amazing!

I’ve been getting pretty sick when I have my favorite wheat & hefeweizen beers lately, so I experimented with a dark beer. I had a taste of the Founders Breakfast Stout at Hoots and looooved it. I have never liked dark beers but I really liked this one, so I ordered a half glass at First Street. And I didn’t have any stomach issues! I don’t know why dark beers wouldn’t bother me like lighter beers – anyone have a theory? I’ll have to try it again to see if it’s really a type of beer I can handle but so far, so good.

Do you like or hate snow?

Do you use incline on the treadmill?

What’s your favorite style of beer?