Join me as I travel around the country to fulfill my goal of running a marathon or half marathon in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia!

Friday, August 5, 2011

How to Overcome Boredom on a Treadmill

Can I first say that I am blogging from 36,000 feet in the air? How exciting is that?! It would be much more exciting if it didn't cost me $12. Anyways, I'm on my flight to Portland and thought I'd recap my indoor half marathon.
In the clouds! I think we are somewhere over Utah or Idaho at the moment.

I'm not really sure how we survived before iPhones. I might have died on Saturday morning had I not had my iPhone and its Netflix app. My dilemma was that I had 13 miles on my training plan, but: I'm struggling with the heat wave in DC, I despise getting up at 5 am on Saturdays to try and beat the heat, and I hate treadmills. Basically, it's a no-win situation and/or I'm a ginormous baby. I texted The Almost Runner to cordially invite her to my funeral just in case I died of boredom. She politely accepted.
I took the lesser of the evils, which was the gym. I jerry-rigged a little home entertainment system on the treadmill. If there had been anyone else in the gym at 11:30 am on a Saturday they might have questioned whether I actually had a home or if I was planning on spending the night in the gym. I got one of those plastic magazine holders and a towel to make my eye-level platform for resting my phone. I set up my water bottle, towel, gu chomps, and cliff shot blocks. I had my training plan paper in front of me to. There was nothing else to pretend I had to do in order to procrastinate any longer. I pressed the start button on what would be a long run. 

RLRF calls for a slower pace on this run so I ended up doing it at about a 11:10 pace. I stopped twice to stretch and refill my water bottle. I think I drank a lot more water than in a usual half marathon - probably just because it was in front of my face.

Here are some tips for your netflix choice when running on the treadmill. Unless you want to end up like this...
source
...I suggest that you NOT pick a sad or funny movie. I don't care if this eliminates a lot of your choices. Nothing is worth flying off a treadmill. However, if you are more coordinated than I and you desire a more challenging work-out, then maybe crying or laughing while running is something you would like to try. I shall stick to random, grade B movies that I've never heard of such as 2 Days in Paris. It was actually kind of funny. I almost face planted a couple times. 

My other suggestion is to have your phone fully charged. Watching movies will drain your battery quicker than the cast of Jersey Shore disgraces America overseas.
Sorry Snooki, those are not welcome at the Coliseum.


What's the longest distance you've done on a treadmill?
How did you stay entertained?

16 comments:

Marisa @ The Pace of my Life said...

I get pretty bored on the treadmill too and my longest run on there is seven miles. I am curious to see what kind of suggestions you get.

Christine said...

I think I've maxed out at 8-9 miles on the treadmill, but typically I would warm up for 3 miles, spend the next 2-3 doing speed work and constantly playing with my pace with a 3 mile cool down.

The only thing I found I couldn't watch on the treadmill was downhill skiing. Made me SUPER dizzy!

Richelle said...

I think the longest I ever ran on a treadmill was 8 miles. I listened to music. :)

Stephanie F said...

I'm so glad you didn't die. That would've been bad for me from the view of anyone going through your texts afterwards...

Julia said...

the longest distance i have done is 12 on the TM. i felt crazy at the end and was so freaking glad to be off that thing. now i am not sure I could do more than 10. lately i have been reading books on my ipad. hope i dont get tired of that or i dont know what i would do! haha!

Jennʻs Adventureʻs said...

I start with a regular routine w/music and once that gets old I move on to TV and cross my fingers for solid shows to watch or my favorite--a marathon!

Margot (fasterbunnyblog) said...

Jeez louise...I don't think I've ever done more than 5 on a treadmill! But if I were watching a really good movie maybe I could run longer haha.

Keri @ Blue-Eyed Runner said...

I have done a couple 20 milers on the treadmill when training for boston and it was veryyyy boring...

Kurt @ Becoming An Ironman said...

I've only ever made it 4 miles on a treadmill thus far, but once I'm back in action I plan on testing that.

The treadmills at my gym have hookups for an ipod and/or mp3 player and full touch screen displays. So I can hook up my ipod with movies loaded on it and they display on the personal tv. I'd like to do a couple 1-2 hour runs just to know that I can.

It's so much easier to run outside, but I think the mental training on treadmills is worth it.

Anonymous said...

Intervals keep me "engaged" on the treadmill...if I don't do something like that = i mentally check out / could fly off! :/

Vanessa @ Gourmet Runner said...

I've done 15 on the treadmill. The gym I used to go to had big TVs to watch, so that kept me busy. Honestly, I kinda liked it--lots of people watching!

Britt @ Chicago Runner Girl said...

I did 16 on the tready in the winter when everything was covered with ice here, it sucked. I hate that damn thing.

Erik Ammon said...

Holy Cow! That's just awesome! I don't remember the last time I ran on the treadmill. We had an elliptical trainer for a while and 2 miles was the most I did and I hated it. We sold it after about 6 months. Congrats on a long run on the treadmill!!

Little Miss Runshine said...

Oh dear! Long runs on treadmills are dreadful! I think I can last an hour but that's about it! I usually watch say yes to the dress, four weddings, or some cheesy show haha. I can't lie....I watch Jersey Shore. It annoys me but I just can't not watch it!

Fruit Fly said...

I haven't run on a treadmill ... boredom being a major reason, and mostly not having access to one since I am too scared to join a gym or the YMCA.

**I love the Jersey Shore. I can't help it. I used to hide this fact. Now I just embrace it.

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