Today is Day Three of the Twelve Days of Fitness Blog Challenge. I know the last few days have been some of the busiest of the year for many of you. That's why I'm especially proud of the ladies who have started and stuck with this challenge despite all the changes in routine that come with the holidays. If you want to make me proud too, you can still join in on the fun! Sign up for the challenge through my Facebook group by clicking HERE>>
Catherine's Day Three Workout:
My Day Three Workout consisted of a run on the treadmill and a no-equipment interval circuit that I created for those completing the challenge.
When I got to the gym around 5 PM, it was jam packed. Whatever happened to people waiting until January 1st to start their fitness routines? Geesh! I'm all about people getting started with their fitness routines early, but only if they are part of the challenge, you know?
Luckily, the one treadmill that was open when I arrived was the new Precor one I'd had my eye on during Wednesday's workout. I rarely complete workouts on the treadmill because I LOVE running outside. Even when I do use the treadmill, I never use any of the pre-set workouts. However, I was very curious about this new machine and thought it would be fun to try it out.
How could you not want to try a treadmill with a welcome screen like this?:
With that picture of the great outdoors I couldn't resist! Or at least I couldn't resist it over the other older models. Instead of hitting QUICK START, I opted for the WORKOUTS tab. Here's what I got:
I was not prompted to do anything else, but I'm somewhat of a control freak so I had to click on the workout options on the right of the screen. The first option was for Duration. Clicking on this let me set the length of my workout. I entered 35 minutes since I had promised my parents that I'd make dinner. OK, OK....I also HATE running on the treadmill! But for the sake of the challenge and to avoid re-spraining my ankle due to icy winter weather conditions, I continued on.
In addition to the Duration tabs, I was able to enter my Personal Info. When I clicked on this button, I had to enter my age and weight. Being a woman I didn't want to do this, but I know that it was only asking so the machine could make a more accurate calculation of the total calories I was about to burn. Plus, I took 10 lbs off my actual weight. This is the one time I'd tell you to lie about your weight to a health related "professional." That's because most treadmills overestimate the number of calories you burn. The less you weigh, the fewer calories you burn. The 10 lbs is just something I do to try to get a more accurate reading. However, compared to my heart rate monitor's calculation, the treadmill computer still overestimated things by 10%. Something to be aware of when you're working out!
Finally, I was able to enter a Target. No, the treadmill was not trying to take out an early New Year's Resolution maker with this option (rats)! Instead, it wanted to know if I preferred a distance or calorie related target. Given my distrust of the treadmill math's skills, I had no choice but to choose a distance target. I decided to enter 3.5 miles and got back to my workout.
Here's a screenshot taken during my actual workout:
Don't ask me how I didn't fall off the treadmill while taking this photo, but I'm glad I didn't because my family already thinks I'm crazy! The small indents in various blocks are due to me trying to wave my husband over so I could borrow his cell phone. Lucky for me he mostly came close to my treadmill during the hardest segments! I wasn't sure how these intervals would play out when I started, but they were resistance instead of speed intervals. I love speed intervals on the treadmill (love being a relative term here-if I have to use the treadmill, I always opt for speed interval to pass the time), but HATE resistance intervals because I HATE hills too. Needless to say, this was a great workout.
I had the machine set to 7.0 mph once I entered all of my optional stats (Duration, Target, Personal). Truth be told, I did take a few breaks to wave over my hubby and when my heart rate hit over 180 bpm (I'm trying not to overdo things as I get back into running after a 3 week break for my ankle). When my workout was complete, my average pace was 8:57 even though 7.0 mph is a pace of 8:34. The inclines ranged from 0 degrees to 9 degrees (whew! was that hard).
Remember how I selected my own Duration and Target? I wondered which one would be favored. Well, turns out the duration was favored, which was a little bit of an unpleasant surprise to me when I got to my target and was still running uphill! I'm not sure if this would have been different if I wasn't able to hit my distance goal during the duration I had selected, but that's a test for another day!
Here is the screen I was shown when my 35 minutes were up:
Once I was done I returned my husband's phone and tested out an interval workout I plan on sharing with my blog challenge friends later in the challenge. The interval workout took me 20 minutes to complete and burned 220 calories - not too shabby!
Did you complete a workout today? Share your thoughts with a comment below:
For some inspiration check out the posts from some of the blog challenge members:
Diatta completes a run that ends up looking like a familiar shape (to me). See what you think by visiting her page HERE>>
Tonya gets started with the challenge HERE>>
My MOM(!) wrote her FIRST blog post EVER for the challenge (so proud!) Check it out and cheer her on for me HERE>>
LaShandra shares her third full day HERE>>
Nadya talks about her Day Three and shares an inspiring story about the benefits of fitness HERE>>
