Wednesday, February 18, 2009
The Treadmill
1:59 PM
The other day I mentioned that I bought a treadmill. Wow. People at my work asked how I liked it and how did I do the first night with it. I responded "Listen. I know this may come as a surprise to all of you but I'm really not in good shape." Laughter ensued and I told them how I really just spent the first night walking and getting used to it.
Last night I was trying to dial it in and get a baseline to work with. I like walking on my breaks at work. Because of my leg I walk pretty slow. It doesn't feel that way to me until I am walking with someone. Last night I played around with the speeds and my best guess is that I walk at about 2.6 mph. I would guess that most people walk at about 3.5 or so. I also did a timed mile. One of my long term goals would be to do a consistent 10 minute mile. My long long term goal is to run the Beat the Bridge race with my wife and actually beat the bridge which would require running 2 miles in under 20 minutes. I think this is probably achievable but 2010 would be the earliest I could try. If I can handle 5 mile walks (the race is 8k) I wouldn't mind participating in it this year. My short term goal is to hit a 15 minute mile.
Last night I did a 17:45 mile but I know I can do a little better. I was having a difficult time keeping a steady pace due to my unfamiliartiy with the new machine. I would go too fast and then have to compensate by slowing down and then speed up and so on. After I realized the treadmill will tell me what my mile pace is I was able to even out my walk. Tonight I can choose one speed and just maintain it in order to hit a 17 minute mile. From there I can attempt to increase my speed in 0.1 mph increments over the weeks to see if I can hit a 15 minute mile. Once I can do 15 minute miles and I am familiar with the pace I can see how long I can do it. 8k would take me about 1 hour and 20 minutes unless I can keep a very consistent pace. So I may have a shot at participating this year. Who knows. I am going to start posting my times to track my progress.
Last night I was trying to dial it in and get a baseline to work with. I like walking on my breaks at work. Because of my leg I walk pretty slow. It doesn't feel that way to me until I am walking with someone. Last night I played around with the speeds and my best guess is that I walk at about 2.6 mph. I would guess that most people walk at about 3.5 or so. I also did a timed mile. One of my long term goals would be to do a consistent 10 minute mile. My long long term goal is to run the Beat the Bridge race with my wife and actually beat the bridge which would require running 2 miles in under 20 minutes. I think this is probably achievable but 2010 would be the earliest I could try. If I can handle 5 mile walks (the race is 8k) I wouldn't mind participating in it this year. My short term goal is to hit a 15 minute mile.
Last night I did a 17:45 mile but I know I can do a little better. I was having a difficult time keeping a steady pace due to my unfamiliartiy with the new machine. I would go too fast and then have to compensate by slowing down and then speed up and so on. After I realized the treadmill will tell me what my mile pace is I was able to even out my walk. Tonight I can choose one speed and just maintain it in order to hit a 17 minute mile. From there I can attempt to increase my speed in 0.1 mph increments over the weeks to see if I can hit a 15 minute mile. Once I can do 15 minute miles and I am familiar with the pace I can see how long I can do it. 8k would take me about 1 hour and 20 minutes unless I can keep a very consistent pace. So I may have a shot at participating this year. Who knows. I am going to start posting my times to track my progress.
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