Monday Monday

I went to the gym this morning and used the Woodway Curve non-motorized treadmill again. I spent about one hour on it this morning and have come to some conclusions.

1) Running on this thing feels like running uphill, on sand or through sludge.
2) One mile on this thing feels like 1.5 miles on a regular treadmill on an interval pace setting.
3) Running on this thing is so much harder than on a regular treadmill.

I ended up doing 4 miles in about 55 minutes. Normally in that time span I could probably turn out at least 6.5 miles on a regular treadmill at an 0.5% incline. I would likely be tired but on the non-motorized treadmill my heart rate was very high and I was really tired, like I ran 8 miles on rolling hills. It is really hard to sustain a running pace for an entire mile. I had to stop often because my heart rate was high. So from here on out, I am going to quantify my miles on the non-motorized machine as being either hill runs, intervals or 1.5 miles for every mile that I do. I am going to give it a rest on that machine until Wednesday as I plan to run 5 miles on the regular treadmill in the morning and one hour of spin during my lunch break. I am still intrigued by the non-motorized treadmill and will continue to report on my findings.

Today, I am also going to record everything I eat just for the heck of it. I haven't done this in a while so this evening I will post about that.

Also, I know people normally do this on Friday's but here is a list of my 5 favorite things lately.

1) Starbucks Ready Brew VIA in Vanilla - I love this stuff! It comes in these single serving packs so they are really portable. Just add hot water. They are also lightly sweetened so no need to go looking for sugar. I normally can get 2 servings from one packet since I don't like my coffee too strong.

 
2) Silk French Vanilla Creamer - This creamer is the reason I started drinking coffee again. I don't like my coffee black and for years I just stopped drinking coffee because I could not use the creamer and I can't stand non-dairy powdered creamers. I know soy and liquid non-dairy creamers have been around for awhile but I just noticed them recently and they have made my tough mornings a lot easier. I am not a daily coffee drinker, I only drink it before a long run or on race day. It helps to make those ungodly early start times just a little bit more bearable.

3) Ray-Ban aviator glasses - I have a thing with aviator sunglasses lately and this is my current favorite pair. I originally saw these at a Sunglass Hut at an outlet mall but I didn't want to pay full price so I went online and found these much cheaper at Optics Planet.

4) Jif Single Serving Peanut Butter - These are awesome because they are the perfect serving size for on-the-go snacking or to make a PB sandwich. If you are like me and love that freshness that you can only get when you first crack open a fresh jar of PB then this is for you because you get that freshness every time you peel open one of these cups. I love these and carry them around with me everywhere.

5) Vegetas' Sweet Potato Corn Tortilla Chips - I've been snacking on these lately because they have a much better flavor than regular corn chips or even the blue chips. They are amazing with hummus and guacamole but then again what isn't amazing with those two things.