Dreadmill | TooTallFritz

This week has been a bit crazy. I’ve been all over the board as to where I’m going, what I’m doing, and which problem has my main focus. Quite frankly, I feel like I’ve done a ~~half-assed~~ poor job with everything. And yes, half-assed is a real word, at least according to the Urban Dictionary:

1.	*half-assed*
	*Doing an activity only partly, or without one’s whole self involved; doing something without caring, or without putting anything into it.*

On Monday, I went to Running For Kicks and did “half” of their fun run. Yes, I stole Gail’s photo again off the Running For Kicks facebook page.

I did 3.05 miles in the “hills”. Since none of my girls were around, it was a bit difficult to find a partner at my pace. Fortunately, Chuck took mercy on me and ran some 8:45s with me before I spun out and raced home.

On Tuesday, I did a speed workout with half of my attention capacity, the other half was back at my desk with my deadline work. I also had half the amount of energy I needed to MAKE IT HAPPEN. And of course, I had half the time I would have liked, so it was super important that the dreadmill work WITH me and not against me. And while I wasn’t as happy and cheerful as this chick below, I did okay.

It was a very systematic workout that allowed me to zone out and not have to focus on too much of anything ~~other than NOT getting thrown off the back of the treadmill~~. And while I DO NOT recommend you do as I do, I will put my workout below just incase you need a starting point for increasing your speed a bit. I’m supposed to be running much faster ~~with longer intervals~~, I just can’t seem to muster it at the this point in time. Therefore, I do what I can do on the given day ~~and refuse to beat myself up over not being better~~. All of the following was done at a 1.0 incline.

1 min walk @ 4.0 mph
3 min jog @ 5.5 mph
2 min SPRINT at 8.5 mph which was ~~within seconds~~ quickly downgraded to 8.0 mph
1 min walk @ 4.0 mph
1 min jog @ 5.5 mph
2 min sprint @ 8.1 mph
1 min walk @ 4.0 mph
1 min jog @ 5.5 mph
2 min sprint @ 8.2 mph
1 min walk @4.0 mph
1 min jog @ 5.5 mph
2 min sprint @ 8.3 mph
1 min walk @ 4.0 mph
1 min jog @ 5.5 mph
2 min sprint @ 8.4 mph
1 min walk @ 4.0 mph
1 min jog @ 5.5 mph
2 min sprint @ 8.5 mph (much better this time but still HARD for me!)
1 min walk @ 4.0 mph
3 min jog @ 5.5
TOTAL = 30 MINUTES!

Then yesterday was my normal Wednesday night run with the F’N Running Club. I was very excited going in, even showed early to log some miles.

The sun was shining and I even had to scramble for a pair of sunglasses….thanks, Michael for letting me borrow your toddler “Mater” glasses! However, I soon realized that I was only half focused. I had scheduled our local Virtual Run/Walk for Sherry Arnold shortly before I started running and the entire situation was just weighing on me. Not just the horror of what happened to Sherry but of the fact that bad things happen to good people ALL THE TIME. And it sucks. Then the memories of past runners who didn’t make it home flooded my memory: Chelsea King (age 17) from CA in 2010. Patrick Mizwicki (age 14) from Lincoln Way East in 2011, a nameless woman, who has probably been forgotten by many, who was killed on our local suburban trails circa 2007/2008. All traces of that news article has been swept away ~~because I REALLY looked for her name~~. A lot weighing on me lately so I wasn’t my normal cheerful self by the time the FNRC showed up. But we had a great turnout so that was awesome! Left Back: Kathy (who always looks glamorous and “made-up” to me), Lori (newbie!), Diane, Dawn, Aurelia, Rick, Maggie – MagMileRunner, Me & Brian. Front: Jeni – Sparkalish Roar & Meg.

It was good run but it’s hard to get those girls to slow down under that 8:45 mark. I was dragging but made it thru. My total for the day was 10.26 miles. But I’m feeling it. I have some soreness and not in a “good sore” type of way. I need to rest today, and possibly tomorrow, so I can be ready for the weekend.

If you can make it out to our Virtual Run/Walk for Sherry Arnold (and every other missing/murdered/dead runner) then please come and join us. We will be running in Frankfort, IL at 7:30am on Saturday. Everyone is welcome; I’m even bringing my daughter. I will do a brief Runner Safety talk before the run. I’ll be brief, I promise! Feel free to run as little or as far as you like….just come. If you are not local, then print the bib HERE and do it on your own or get a group together in your area. If you send me photos, I will post them all!

Happy Running, Amanda – TooTallFritz

Today was INSANE. Thank goodness I wore my SuperWoman costume under my work clothes!

In my ~~I’m never going to be an Olympian~~ real life., I work for a law firm in an intense deadline oriented field. To top that off, we are a very small firm. Like it doesn’t get any smaller than us, short of the lawyer not having a staff and doing everything him/herself. Meet our staff….. Me, Myself & I. And yes, I wear that goofy hat IN the office all the time. Okay, not really.We do have an attorney who occasionally helps us out and we made full use of his law degree today by sticking him on the photocopy machine to free me up so I could still pound out docs, then the guy whose name is on the door could proof/sign….then off they went to our “helper” to copy so I could file everything prior to the deadline. Yep, it’s a glamorous life. And although the helper attorney was very kind about helping out, I’m pretty sure he wanted to shoot me.

In the midst of the ~~chaos~~ filings, I ~~disappeared~~ slipped out for some ~~interval work at the gym~~ lunch. I am very lucky in that I have a small but full gym in my building which is free to its tenants. I don’t use it much unless it is CRAZY cold out or sleeting or….well those are about the only reasons. I’m not much of a gym rat and tend to only use a gym for its pool (and this gym doesn’t have a pool). However, since today was my first of many “speed play” days, I took it to the gym and the DREADmill. Thanks goes to Frogger for giving me some direction!I am not a DREADmill runner. I can never get the speed right. I’m either going too slow and bumping up on the front of the machine and/or annoyingly stepping on the front guard. I know you have somebody at your gym who is CONSTANTLY stepping on the guard and I’m sure it drives you as crazy as it does me to hear that non-stop slapping. Well, it drives me just as crazy to be the one doing the slapping. If the machine isn’t too slow, then it is too fast and trying to flip me off the back. I must look ridiculous. And when I’m on the DREADmill, I sweat like I have never ran before in my life.

I try to look like this:

But yeah, we know that I don’t. In fact the DREADmill is so much of an effort for me both mentally and physically that I always need a shower before going back to the office. Good thing the shower at the gym is nicer than ~~mine at home~~ most locker rooms.

Then back to work I went for more ~~chaos~~ fun. Very short workout. I did some speed play with slow jogging in between. I was on the DREADmill for less than 25 minutes. Shortest.Workout.Ever. But it’s in the done column and I didn’t want to do too much too fast. This was a test.

How do you feel about the DREADmill? Are you the graceful swan or the slapping idiot? Or do you just skip it all together? Tell me! Or feel free to give me pointers!

Amanda – TooTallFritz