Ladies and Gentlemen it is time to come clean. I have a very serious confession to make. I suffer from a rare but serious condition....A fear of the TREADMILL!!!
I know what yall are thinking, seriously Ryan....a fear. And while it isn't one of those things where I can't see them or anything crazy, I literally find it almost impossible to workout on one.
I think it mostly goes back to being self conscious. When I was extremely obese I wouldn't run on one because it sounded crazy loud and shook with each strike of my foot on the belt. I also have a history of being shot off of the end of the treadmill. And although that memory still makes my friend Ashley who happened to be on the machine next to me at the time laugh hysterically...it has haunted me for almost 10 years.
So in this time of the dreaded plateau that I find myself in, I have finally had to give in to the fact that I am also in a fitness rut and need to switch it up to continue on my journey. In my quest to set new fitness goals it all kept coming back to running. Run a 5k people would say, train for a tough mudder, or what about a half marathon. I would shoot those suggestions down in a heart beat because the 300 pound girl inside me was thinking are you NUTS?! I CANNOT RUN, and it's winter, training for a run means the treadmill....so I was out on that deal!
In the past my excuses for skipping the dreaded running machine included my boobs, "They're just too big and flop around when I run", my knee "It can't handle the impact", and well "It's Hard!"
My husband spends about 5 hours a week on the treadmill, and he loves the way he feels after a great run. After weeks of not so gentle encouragement from him, I finally decided it was time to try it out. I made it my goal to run 1 mile on the treadmill with out stopping. I thought that was an easily attainable goal because I usually run 2 miles or more on the elliptical each day when I am not in a high intensity cardio class. So about 2 weeks ago I took my first jog on the treadmill. Keeping my incline on a 2.0 and my speed around 5mph off I went. The first 5 min were easy...fun even. My boobs are no longer an issue, in fact they pretty much don't move at all in a sports bra. My knee, still hurts a little but after being checked out by a doc I found out it is a ligament issue...not a cartilage issue. Plus my iPhone was blaring one of my favorite Pandora stations and I got in a good rhythm. Before I knew it my mile was up, and I had done it!!
The rest of that week I ran every day, getting faster and stronger. This week I have even experimented with intervals on the treadmill, different inclines, and even got up to 7.5 mph sprints. And you know what, the Husband was right!!!! It has made insane improvements already. Yesterday I decided to get back on the elliptical to see how different it felt after my 2 weeks of treadmill running. It was a breeze! I ended up going about twice as fast on it and ran 4.39 mi in 35 min.!!! And still felt good enough to take a yoga class and do abs!
The moral of my story is that sometimes we need to take risks even if they seem small. Getting out of our comfort zone can make you feel empowered and successful. I no longer feel like I can't do something that it seems so many enjoy. I no longer feel restricted to the elliptical and stair machines. I still don't know if I will be signing up for any long runs any time soon, I will keep y'all posted!
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