Day 5 - Going nowhere

Day 5: Ambitious again, but it is raining. I decided to try my old treadmill hill interval workout at the gym. The principle is constant speed, with several .5 and 1.0 mile hills at an 8% grade, and five .2 mile hills at a 10% grade in the middle. I used to cover this 8.2 mile routine at 6.2mph when I was in really good shape. Still very sore, I cautiously set the treadmill speed at 5.0 mph.

Just as I was stretching and getting ready to run, I realized I fogot my iPOD. I generally don't listen to music when I run, because in my neighborhood running with headphones is like asking to get run over by a teenage driver who is texting instead of watching the crosswalk. I want to hear the traffic before it hits me. But on a treadmill, the boredom is stupefying, and the odds of getting run over are somewhat less. Now I would have to fight still-sore muscles AND stupefying boredom. I survived to the last hill interval, a 1.0 mile 8% climb, and then I had to drop the speed further to 4.0mph - more like waddling than running. Still, I managed the entire 1 hour and 40 music-free minutes it took to cover the 8.2 miles. Actually I covered no distance, because it was a stupid treadmill. But the work got done. Pretty proud of myself. But I will really feel it tomorrow (again).