Tune Into You

Running With No Destination

When I think of running on the treadmill it was my impression that this would be easier in comparison to running outside. On a treadmill, you can control incline, speed and in many cases temperature. This past week the weather sucked so I was forced to do my running inside... We even got in one spin class that was a blast!

Day 1 I ran on the treadmill for half an hour. Easy right?  Wrong!  I had the incline up to 2 (not high at all) and then kept it at a speed of between 5 and 8.  I struggled through the run and only ended up going 2.9 miles (including my warm up).  I decided to give it another shot for hill training because well hill training is not fun even without rain. Any advice on treadmill running?  Does anyone else lack motivation on a treadmill?

Day 2 I ran on a hill training setting for 3.2 km.  Doesn't that sound like a pile of fun! You are wrong once again however I felt a tad more motivated this time because I knew that I just had about 30 minutes of fun ahead of me.  These hills were easy to prep for and I was cheering myself on like a champ! I made it through without even cutting out early! I have found that raising my knees a little higher when running hills helps (Thanks for the advice mom!). Does anyone have any other tips on pacing yourself or keeping speed without losing drive post hill?

I did feel a little under motivated when I started and I have came to the conclusion I am much happier running outside.  I like running with a destination! I like knowing where I am going or being surrounded by beauty not machines, televisions and fans.  I have found that as I run more frequently it is a great escape from technology and really get the chance to focus on me.  I think this is why I dislike the treadmill so much.  I am surrounded by technology and my soul doesn't get as much out of my run.

So my moral of this is I like running outside however hill training on a treadmill is tolerable!

My quote for those runs would have to be "Tune into you." Thats what I needed to do and really to each their own but I tune best into myself in nature.  How do you tune into you?