Hamster Wheel

Saturday pm, 4.25 miles on the treadmill

We went up to Lake Tahoe to ski for the weekend, and I figured I'd get a
few miles in on the treadmill while we were there. My lifetime
treadmill mileage stood at somewhere under 2 miles, and was pretty much
limited to trying on shoes; I've always thought that treadmill running
seemed hopelessly boring, but with snow on the ground, I didn't have
much choice in the matter.

It can be harder to fit in a run on vacation than at home, but after a
day of skiing, then Indian food for dinner, getting Silas to bed, and
letting C soak in the hot tub, I headed down to the gym for an iFartlek.
This is a workout created by Ian to break the deadly monotony of running
while going nowhere. I started at an 8 minute pace with my iPod on
random, then increased the pace by a click or two with each new song.

I was right. It was boring. I made a deal with myself that I would run
at least 30 minutes or 4 miles, and began increasing the pace by an
extra click to get it done with faster. I tried closing my eyes, but
nearly ran off the side. The gym was hot and humid, and I was
breathless. Finally, I was almost done - with the next song, I would
click down to 6:30 pace and ride it out. Of course, the next song was
Angel of Death by Slayer, which is brutal to run to and 4 1/2 minutes
long. I made it to the first guitar solo, then had to click down to an
easy pace to cool down for a bit. About this time I remembered that I
was at 6300 feet elevation. After a bit of a cooldown, I'm done with
treadmill running for this year.