With the snow following me back from Scandinavia this week and without the benefit of Martin’s running spikes, I opted for a run on the machine this morning.
On a scale of enjoyment, running on your own on a machine compares poorly to running with friends in interesting places, so my aim today was to get on and off as quickly as I could.
I set my goal as 45 minutes, dialled in 7mph and got on with it.
What can I say? The cheese plant waved gently at me as my head bobbed up and down. I got the stitch after about 25 minutes and I couldn’t shake it. I needed my mental stamina to finish. I counted down the minutes rather than watching the distance increase, amusing myself by trying to do mental arithmetic to see whether I needed to increase the speed to get an average of 7mph… the machine takes long seconds to get up to speed initially.
And failing at the arithmatic: 60 minutes divided by 7 is…? The seconds make it a complex calculation to do… and to then compare with the current time/distance equation, especially when you’re running… and especially when your body is rebelling.
I was about 6 seconds adrift at the 45 minute stage, covering 5.24 rather than 5.25 miles and thus averaging 6.98mph. But who cares… I was just glad to have finished.
It’s still snowing outside, harder now and I’m hoping that trains, planes and automobiles will all be running on time as required this week!