Conquering the dreadmill

It's every runners worst dream: motivation is diminishing and the cold is only making it harder to drag your ass out of bed.

Then it appears, the single tredmill covered in dust in a corner. They offer many things, but inspiration and an exciting view just isn't one of them.

Sadly, when the cold arrived and my workload grew mountainous, it became hard to run; to find the time to head outdoors and breathe. But down the hall from my boyfriends apartment, is a small home gym. Completely equipped with a single tredmill, small incline plane and as many weights as one could possibly need.

I am back. My athletic, motivated, get-up-off-the-couch-no-matter-what-the-weather self, has returned. While the indoor gym is not the best solution, it is providing an outlet for my energy and gives me a chance to de-stress in a safe and healthy environment. I've been pre-occupied, as my readers may have noticed, and became swamped with work — completely unable to function as there was no way to get away from it. But here it is, black and a little clunky in a small, closet of a room.

Lately, for the past two weeks, I have started exercising for 30 minutes to an hour every day. The workouts vary slightly each day, just to keep things interesting. Music blares in the background from a specially chosen playlist of upbeat and fun songs that will keep my energy pumping.

Here's how the workout usually goes:

Tredmill: 2 x 15 minutes high intensity.

Squats: 2 x 20 (don't wanna be too sore)

Crunches on incline plane: 4 x 20 (surprising how little the amount is but how sore you'll be the next day)

and

Push ups: 2 x 20 (I have a messed up rotor cuff and am not supposed to do push ups)

The push ups are interesting, normally I wouldn't do them as they damage my shoulder but I've added an interesting twist. In the gym is a small weighted ball, similar to a balance ball but smaller than a medicine ball. Putting one hand on it, and the other on the ground, I'll do one push up; then while in plank position, roll it to the other hand, procede to do another push up with the second hand on the ball and first on the ground. It's quite a balancing act.

We'll see how this workout goes, I've just signed up for a Resolution Run with Tri and Run Sports on January 1. That'll be the test for the tredmill workout. This is one race that I will not miss.