Designing your workout or treadmill area for success.

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It is no secret that I have been doing a ton of running on the treadmill since I moved. I have a love/hate relationship with the treadmill or the 'dreadmill' as some people refer to it. I love it because it means I can run during the day when Griffin is napping without a babysitter or late at night when it is too dark and not safe to run outside. Not long after I began my many miles on the 'dreadmill', I soon realized how it received such a name, as the seconds seemingly took hours to tick by...

I have about an 8 x 8' space to store and use my workout equipment and there is no window as it is in our basement. I finally realized I needed to find a way to enjoy the space more because the blank walls and staring at a muted TV screen tuned to Dr.Phil on the other side of the basement wasn't working anymore. Honestly, it probably wasn't ever working. I run because it makes me happy, and those runs weren't achieving that, they were just something I wanted to get through. So the following are the ways in which I changed my space to be more successful for me.

1. Find a worthy distraction...
I've recently become obsessed with Netflix Canada and binge-watching entire TV series. It's so easy to lose yourself in the show and let the minutes tick by on the mill, exactly what I needed! It started with Breaking Bad and now I've moved onto House of Cards and Orange is the New Black.
I use my iPad, but there are treadmills that have access to Netflix, isn't that awesome?!

Did you know that if you were on the treadmill for a whole season of Orange is the New Black, you could burn 4, 995 calories? Whoa! A whole series of Breaking Bad could burn up to 38, 000 calories on an elliptical! Can you guess where I'm going to be when the new season of #OITNB comes out in June?

2. Make yourself comfortable.
Do something to make the space extra special. Get yourself a nice yoga mat for any floor exercises and some nice soft towels.

3. Surround yourself with inspiration.
Post pictures or quotes that inspire you. I also hang my race medals and bibs on the walls surrounding the treadmill.

4. Be prepared and be organized.
Set your alarm for when you're going to workout even if it is not in the morning. Have your hydration choice in a bottle ready to go in the fridge. I prefer Skratch and I keep it in a jug which I bring down to the basement with me when it's time for a workout. I like to pretend I'm going to 'the gym', it makes it harder to skip your workout for doing something else at home.

5. Track your progress.
Post a calendar or keep a journal and log your workouts, it adds a feeling of accomplishment for me. I got out of the habit of tracking my runs on dailymile a while ago and now that I'm doing it again, I really think it's helping keep me motivated. It's so satisfying to see the total mileage rise as the week/month progresses.

It's silly, but just a few small changes can make your space more inviting and easier to keep yourself accountable.

Do you workout/run at home? How do you keep yourself accountable and stay motivated?

Buying a Treadmill

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When we moved I came to the realization that I wasn't going to make it through another winter of training without a treadmill. I've avoided it thus far by running before Cody goes to work and in the evenings which worked okay at our old house. There are 3 major problems with running early in the morning and late in the evening at our new house:

1. It's dangerous, at our old house we were in a populated area with lots of street lights and sidewalks so I felt relatively safe with my reflective gear on. Where we live now is pretty close to the "middle of nowhere" and it would be difficult for a car to see me in the dark even with all the reflective gear that I own.
2. Bears. As much as I love seeing wildlife, I really don't want to worry about it when I'm running.

As seen on my run in Whistler earlier this summer.

3. Hills. Essentially we live on a small mountain, so to get to our house there are several hills, no matter where I go I'd have to come back up all those hills to get home. As much as I "love" hill training, I don't want to do it every day...

As seen from the top of one of the hills heading up to our house.

So that's how a treadmill turned into a "moving expense" and I began the search. Typically I prefer to shop online, but in this case I decided I better head into a store and have a look at the so-called "dreadmills" in person.

Here are my tips for buying a treadmill:

1. Treadmill salesman are similar to car salesman and they will definitely feed you their sales pitch, so do your research before you go and have some models in mind.

2.  Have a budget. Obviously everyone wants the best of the best, but keep in mind that there are treadmills for every budget. You may not need all the bells and whistles there is to offer.

3. Consider the space. Is it necessary or more convenient to have a folding treadmill. Measure your area before you go to the store.

4. Lastly, consider the extras: Do you need a treadmill mat? What about delivery or warranty? I asked the salesman if he'd throw in delivery or a $100 treadmill mat, and happily I got the mat for free which will protect my flooring. I would also definitely consider the warranty, the brand will likely have one for the motor but you may want to consider an extended one through the dealer, there's a lot of moving parts and things that can go wrong and service calls can be expensive.

I ended up going with the one I had in mind which happened to be on sale!

It was delivered the day we moved in and though running on a treadmill is a lot different than the roads, I'm very happy with it. I also like having a place to display all my medals as inspiration. Don't get me wrong almost all of my long runs are still on the roads but for weekday 5-8ks and speed work this is where I'll be.