Treadmill tips and the return of the serving size bowl of salad.

I used to hate treadmill running but now I love it! Speedwork and interval workouts are much easier for me on the treadmill.

My other trick on the treadmill is to break up songs into sets and count down. Like 4 x sets of 5 songs each.

Thursday night = tempo run (on the treadmill) while watching the Vampire Diaries!

Janae that salad looks awesome, I love putting pretzels on my salad as well =)

Have a great weekend! (p.s. I’m voting for you!)

You now have 90 votes girl!
I’m going to tell everybody I know to vote, vote, vote!

Perfect tips as I have been doing a lot of treadmill running lately! Love the conversion chart especially!

Congrats on being nominated on the Fitness website. I actually voted for you yesterday before I even read this!

The weirdest thing in my car right now is probably lost baby socks and Hot Wheel cars.

I throw things away the second they expire. My husband thinks I’m crazy, but it’s a mind thing. To me, if it’s expired, it’s bad.

I’m voting for ya :)! I’m a fan of treadmill running- its kind to my joints :)

A garden hoe has been sitting in my car for about a year. I live in an apartment, I have no yard. There is no explanation for this.

P.S. voted for ya! :)

Just a quick comment about incline. I was told that I needed to run at a 1 or 2 % incline to equal my pace outside so I did this for months and eventually my calves and hamstrings were so tight and overstressed I couldn’t run anymore. After some time in PT I am getting better and learning to stretch better but she told me to leave the incline at 0.

Her reasoning:

Your speed inside isn’t going to be that different than outside and you probably are not going to be doing the majority of your training inside anyway. You do not run uphill the entire time outside and if you were to do that you would be hurting your muscles by not giving them a break from that training and that is what you are doing when you run with the incline on the treadmill ALL THE TIME.

I agree that hill work is good and fun – but you gotta get a good mix in.

Maybe not everyone would get hurt doing this, but I sure did and it sucked so I will avoid the incline for now unless I am doing hill work later on once I am stronger.

ps I TOTALLY agree with this:
If you can run miles on a treadmill just think how easy it will be mentally when you are free to run outside again:)

Mentally a 5k SUCKS on the treadmill but if you can get used to that, you can kick it out outside no problem :)

The most random thing I have in my car are some muddy leopard print rain boots. I had to buy these because one of my clients lives on a farm where he owns horses and goats and its full of mud. I also have a ton of bobby pins around my car….but I always leave them in there because you never know when you may need one.

Thursday for me included going out to dinner with some gals from church. Ate the most delicious goat cheese and french bread combo….my mouth is watering now.

When I am running I do like to run on the treadmill….but that’s different if I have someone to run with. Then I’d much rather be outside!!

What an awesome chart, Janae! Thanks for posting it.

I think the things in your car seem pretty funny. Hmm the most random thing in my car is probably a cooler with an ice pack (may still be frozen!) from a trip I took at the end of January. :)

haha! that totally sounds like my car… i collect all sorts of things throughout the week. i finally decide i need to clean it out when i can’t find anything in it anymore. :) great treadmill tips! i definitely have to have a distraction like tv and/or music, and i really like to do intervals to make it interesting!

I have a rental car right now so it is pretty clean but usually you do find some clothes and shoes in it.
I throw away dairy products as soon as they look/smell bad, but some other things at the expiry. My husband is the worst for eating things past their due dates. Yuck!
Vampire Diaries and meal planning night :)
My secret on the tmill is switching up the speed and incline every few minutes to make the time go by quicker.

1. I am terrible about abiding by expiration dates. I’ve been told that I have an interesting interpretation of what still passes for edible. I view expiration dates as suggestions.

2. I also joke that my car is going to be featured on an episode of Hoarders because, while I clean it out often, there is always the weirdest stuff in there. Tons of clothes (for donation!!) were replaced by a stack of towels and 50 bananas (I was cheering for people for a mud run!!) and then there was about 100 rolls of toilet paper (I like to stock up!!). There’s always a good reason but I’m not someone who immediately takes weird things out of my car. And then I drive coworkers home who are exposed to my car-hoarding. :)

Bobby pins in my car always fall between the seat and the console, which is essentially a black hole. If something falls down there you’ll never have it again. Most random thing in my car right now is probably a champagne cork, and I also have a fire extinguisher in there. Before I cleaned it I had about 3 pairs of shoes, a pair of socks, a million empty water bottles, and a ton of gum wrappers. I also still have a criminology book in the trunk of my car that’s only been there for about 4 years.

I go by taste when things expire. Expiration dates are just there as a guideline anyway, right?

I love cottage cheese on my salads too–especially when you stir everything up! So good!

I always manage to get a huge bag of garbage when I clean out my car, too. Tons of granola bar wrappers and receipts from the gas station.

I’m freaked out about stuff expiring and usually toss it before it expires to be safe! Andy gets mad when I do this lol.

Thursday night = fend for yourself dinner night. Last night I had eggs, green beans, and apple sauce for dinner. Followed by two apples with PB. Random!

Thanks for the treadmill tips!! And I’m voting for you now!

Voted! I had to register for an account just to vote but your blog is like crack for my eyes. Seriously, one of the reasons I started my blog was so I could start commenting on your and other running blogs instead of lurking. I love your writing, you should consider writing a book someday.

I have dog leashes, muzzles, and other dog-related stuff in my car, not to mention dog hair and slobber everywhere. I need to get my car detailed. I throw stuff out as soon as they expire! I thought I would hate the treadmill but I really enjoy it because I can catch up on my Hulu.com shows, plus it’s nice to put on shorts instead of bundling up to run outside. Thanks for the treadmill chart, I’m downloading it!

Thursday night = Waffle Night. Went with cinamon waffles last night! It’s also “catch up on TV my husband doesn’t like” night since he goes to play basketball with his friends.

I am personally not a treadmill runner, I’d rather run outside in a foot of slush (and often do). Yesterday I went to the Olympic Oval and that was my first time running indoors in about 10 years… but we had a discussion about treadmills the other day on my training blog and a friend of mine (who is a very knowledgeable runner / coach / and one of the best master’s runners in Utah) had the following to say about the benefits of using a treadmill for certain workouts – he makes some good points so I figured they were worth sharing:

-For cardio vascular fitness it is just as effective to run on a treadmill.
-For acclimating to heat stress they are great.
-From a neuromuscular standpoint it’s a tradeoff. On the positive side, your legs get dialed in to a specific rate of turn-over. On the negative, you don’t have to do the explosive push off the ground to propel yourself forward.
-If you don’t use music or entertainment you can build great mental focus on a treadmill.
-They are best viewed as a tool. You think of a tool in terms of what it can do for you, not what it can’t.

We have a safe in our car at the moment. We cleared out our old storage unit and it is so heavy to move and we are lazy. I might win for the most random item…

I am diligent about dates, especially dairy and meat. Medication and sunscreen…not so much.

I just agree with everything you said. Maximize the number of distractions and it gets enjoyable. Also use a good treadmill that is nice to your knees.

yarn is random, if you don’t knit ;) maybe it was left over form one of your moms cool crafts?!?!? :D I love her crafts.

the most random thing in my car right now is bodyspray – I say that b/c I haven’t worn perfume or body spray in a long time. I find I don’t need it – I really only used it when I was a dirty smoker – and it’s been ONE YEAR of non-smoking!!!!!

I did my first treadmill run last week for the first time in probably ten years. Physically it was fine, mentally it was super hard because I didn’t have all the distractions I usually have when I run outside. That said, I am looking forward to more treadmill runs because my husband is buying me a treadmill for when the weather is too nasty or for when I can’t get out of the house. I am super excited. I’ll be watching this post for more tips for my treadmill runs.
Oh and I totally keep things until they go bad. In my mind the expiration date is more of a suggestion and not so much a rule.

My car is filled with all of my aerboic class stuff (cases of CDs, multiple Ipods and docking stations, 5 notebooks with choreography/ideas, 12 towels, 3 pairs of Nikes, 1 pair of spin shoes, and too many magazines to count). All those items are in organized bins in my trunk, though!!
Treadmill run = NO!!!! I power walk at 4.5 max incline 3 mornings a week while reading/watching TV, but I just can’t run on it.

Ummm….last week I was cleaning out my car and found Christmas wrapping paper and Christmas presents. One of them was definitely a tin of fudge from a student…OOPS!

I typically go by smell/taste on most things.

Thursday night is ZUMBA night (every night really), and last night it was regional champtionship game night at our school. We lost by 4, but are still going to sub-state. :)

Random thing in my car? Hmmm prb some kind of old apple core in the back somewhere. I throw out stuff by smell or date. I have no tips other than I need good, jamming music to run on them!

Already voted for you – was reading Fitness magazine on the elliptical (favorite distraction while on cardio machine = fitness, fashion, and gossip magazines – very shallow, I know) – saw the article on voting for a blogger, turned toy husband on the elliptical next to me and said “I have to vote for hungry runner girl in this fitness blogging award thingie!” This is the first time I’ve posted and I have to tell you I love your blog – it motivates me, makes me laugh, and makes me feel normal about my love affairs with running and cottage cheese!