Monday, August 29, 2011

New treadmills at the Payne Center

The kids are back on campus and the gym is full again.  This will last a couple of weeks and then it will be back to normal.

On the plus side (and a big plus) is that we got all new treadmills in the Payne Center.  I think that I am one of the few people that doesn’t absolutely detest running on the treadmill.  I think it is because of the way that I approach the contraption.  Just as with swimming, if I start a treadmill session without a plan (you plan to fail) then I will run fairly easy and get bored.  If I get bored then my perceived exertion starts to sky rocket.  Before long I have shut the beast down after only a couple of marginal miles. 

So we got much needed new treadmills.  The last set lasted 5 years – they were brand spanking new the month I started at USM.  But they really started to wear out after the first 4 years.  I stopped using them.  First they would automatically shut down when you were running fast – fast for me is mid 6’s.  You would be running along on your tempo and bam the treadmill would power down.  I assume the motor would get hot.  After it completely shut down you could fire it back up and get a another mile of so and then it would happen again.  I started to make a game out of it – treadmill random fartlets.  Not my ideal workout but it was manageable -  I could still run my comfortable 8 minutes per mile paces and listen to a podcast for an hour.

treadmill

However, then the belts got sketchy.  Even though the maintenance was kept up the belts would start to stick a little bit.  You would be running along and then bam – belt stick as you planted your foot.  It was almost like running on ice.  I stopped using them just as when I lived up North I did not temp fate and run on ice (snow is okay – ice is a no no).

People still used the treadmills mostly for faster walking or slower running but not me.  It just was not fun.  That meant that I used the indoor track when the outside weather did not permit (rain or 100+ heat index).  Running in the rain is not so bad but starting in the rain is difficult for me.  And running in the heat has it’s place but it is almost impossible to get a quality workout when you can not cool yourself.  You can work hard and run yourself into the ground but you will not get the muscle adaptations that you are looking for.

Don’t get me wrong, e are lucky to have an indoor track.  But it is an 8th of a mile.  That is a bunch of laps and even more turns for 6 miles.  Still, it has it’s purpose and I have spent a lot of time on the oval this summer.

But now we have new treadmills and I got to break on in on Friday!  Nothing too harsh but I did some mile repeats in the 6:20’s.  There was no belt slipping and the machine didn’t even break a sweat.

I now have my trusty treadmill to add back into my repertoire of workout devices!

4 comments:

Kurt @ Becoming An Ironman said...

When I used to go to Planet Fitness nearby, their treadmills used to do the same thing - if I ran too long at 9.0mph or faster, they would shut down on their own. As you know I'm sure, I can't even express how annoying that is.

Hopefully the new mills run smoothly for another good 4 or more years!!

Pounds To Miles said...

how do I ask this?............. You've been running inside? As in an air conditioned environment? Really?!

Tri-James said...

lol - I run in the mornings or the evenings outside but lunch is better inside. Although I have run several times at the high noon it was almost always a mistake. You can run when it is very hot but you can not run well. Your body just needs so much fluid just to cool itself that you can not recruit the necessary muscle fibers for a quality session.

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