So I'm in the YMCA gym waiting for a treadmill to pound out my first hill attempt since I sprained my left ankle. I am wearing my bondage brace just in case and the frigging gym is hot! Must be a save the electricity campaign going on at the Y. All the treadmills are full and I strike up a conversation with one of the Mother’s from my Daughter’s gymnastics team, who is also waiting. We do a deal. She only wants to run a mile so to prove that the age of chivalry is not dead I graciously allow her to go ahead of me as long as I get her treadmill. Deal! Then suddenly a treadmill stops. I say stops but the bloke walking on the machine has been ambling along for so long at such a snail like pace I’m not sure the thing was even moving at all. And the state of this ancient monster looks like it could have been used by the Crusades while jousting around in the forests waiting to rape and pillage at the Siege of Lisbon circa 1147. I make a mental note to avoid this one at all costs.
The gymnastics Mum pulls a face and reluctantly gets on. Then the bloke on the end treadmill next to where I’m standing tells me he’s only got one more mile to go. So buoyed by this confession I slowly stretch my sore ankle knowing he’ll be off pretty soon. I notice he has the track at an angle and is lumbering along in a style befitting a hippo swimming. Then he slows it to a walk and I get ready for his exit. Suddenly it speeds up again and off he lumbers, arms flapping wildly. He does this two more times and I get exasperated. Then he notices the spinning instructor has arrived and thankfully he quickly departs. Now I’m all for people exercising any way they please, but this bloke was obviously just trundling around waiting for the spinning class to start!
Anyway I’m off at 6 mph on a 0.5 incline to simulate a flat surface. After one mile my ankle feels okay and I raise the incline to 1.0 for 1/2 mile. I feel a twinge from the instep which stays. My ankle doesn’t approve of inclines. At the half mile I lower the ramp back to 0.5 for a 1/4 mile and then raise it to 1.5 and so on until I complete a ½ mile at 2.0. My ankle is in some discomfort by this time and valiant thoughts of getting back to running the Savannah Bridge this Saturday coming are fast vanishing. And the gym is hot which in itself is not such a big deal as I always work up a good gushing type of honest sweat, but today it’s more like a torrent. My tangerine vest and light grey shorts are soaked through. I finish with a straight level mile. The hill repeats have crushed me! Before I sprained my ankle I was up to 14 including the Savannah Bridge at a 5.5 grade! But I’m not disheartened, just glad to be off the dreaded treadmill!
So I'm in the YMCA gym waiting for a treadmill to pound out my first hill attempt since I sprained my left ankle. I am wearing my bondage brace just in case and the frigging gym is hot! Must be a save the electricity campaign going on at the Y. All the treadmills are full and I strike up a conversation with one of the Mother’s from my Daughter’s gymnastics team, who is also waiting. We do a deal. She only wants to run a mile so to prove that the age of chivalry is not dead I graciously allow her to go ahead of me as long as I get her treadmill. Deal! Then suddenly a treadmill stops. I say stops but the bloke walking on the machine has been ambling along for so long at such a snail like pace I’m not sure the thing was even moving at all. And the state of this ancient monster looks like it could have been used by the Crusades while jousting around in the forests waiting to rape and pillage at the Siege of Lisbon circa 1147. I make a mental note to avoid this one at all costs.
The gymnastics Mum pulls a face and reluctantly gets on. Then the bloke on the end treadmill next to where I’m standing tells me he’s only got one more mile to go. So buoyed by this confession I slowly stretch my sore ankle knowing he’ll be off pretty soon. I notice he has the track at an angle and is lumbering along in a style befitting a hippo swimming. Then he slows it to a walk and I get ready for his exit. Suddenly it speeds up again and off he lumbers, arms flapping wildly. He does this two more times and I get exasperated. Then he notices the spinning instructor has arrived and thankfully he quickly departs. Now I’m all for people exercising any way they please, but this bloke was obviously just trundling around waiting for the spinning class to start!
Anyway I’m off at 6 mph on a 0.5 incline to simulate a flat surface. After one mile my ankle feels okay and I raise the incline to 1.0 for 1/2 mile. I feel a twinge from the instep which stays. My ankle doesn’t approve of inclines. At the half mile I lower the ramp back to 0.5 for a 1/4 mile and then raise it to 1.5 and so on until I complete a ½ mile at 2.0. My ankle is in some discomfort by this time and valiant thoughts of getting back to running the Savannah Bridge this Saturday coming are fast vanishing. And the gym is hot which in itself is not such a big deal as I always work up a good gushing type of honest sweat, but today it’s more like a torrent. My tangerine vest and light grey shorts are soaked through. I finish with a straight level mile. The hill repeats have crushed me! Before I sprained my ankle I was up to 14 including the Savannah Bridge at a 5.5 grade! But I’m not disheartened, just glad to be off the dreaded treadmill!