Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Finally I broke the treadmill :-)

This mornings workout- 20 box jumps, 20 squats, 20 push-ups, 20 sit-ups, run 1 mile. 2x through. The weather in DC was crappy this morning, spitting rain and 39 degrees. In order to do my best at avoiding pneumonia I opted for the gym and the dreaded 'mill. Like most people here (I suppose?) I don't have access to a dedicated crossfit facility, and my gym, while really a pretty decent facility, is not set up to facilitate what we are trying to do. The space where the have the boxes is on the 3rd floor, and all of the 'mills are on the 1st and 2nd floors. I was relieved to see they actually acquired some real iron "boxes", which means no more stacking aerobic steps and wedging them in place with 45lb plates.

So... I warmed up on a bike for 5 min (the ERG was taken) and went upstairs to get busy. I realized I had forgotten my watch, so I tried to time myself as best I could on the wall clock (amazing how pushing yourself 'till the verge of puking can make you forget what the clock said when you started). I did the 20/20/20/20 in exactly 2:20 both times, then ran a 7:28 and 6:46 respectively. Apparently I should have run harder on the first round. But... the highlight of the morning: On my second run I had to use a different treadmill than round one because, of course, someone was using it to walk while reading a book. So I hop on the next 'mill over and start up, increasing speed every 30 sec or so. As I closed in on a 6 min pace I realized it was out of balance and it started to vibrate pretty significantly. It was borderline safe, and my water bottle was close to being tossed out of the holder, which happened to be my self-determined threshold for stability- if the bottle got tossed I was going to hop off (I may be mildly crazy, but I have no desire to become a poster boy for treadmill safety). But... faulty equipment be damned- I had a workout to do. Then, as I crossed the 6 min pace and got into the 5's the foundering treadmill couldn't keep up and began flashing a warning message about how it couldn't maintain the pace. Secretly I was hoping it would have started smoking and burst into flames, because then I would be known as "the guy who runs so fast he smokes treadmills and bursts them into flames". But, no luck. I had to settle for my 6:46 and informing the girl at the desk that treadmill #34 is wounded, possibly mortally.

500m swim tonight (although this one may get OBE)

3 comments:

  1. That is excellent!! I bet you'll still be known as the speedy guy who almost put #34 to death. Good for you and nice workout...way to stay focused throughout a crisis!

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  2. I have this workout tonight - hopefully I can do as well. I doubt I will be breaking any treadmills though.

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  3. i've always wanted to break a treadmill. Keep pushing for the smoke and flames

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