I have conquered the treadmill!

I have never really enjoyed the treamill. The reasons I love running are to be outside, be with friends, etc. I only run on the treadmill when I have to. Most of the time I get bored and don't want to finish a planned workout.

So, when Sarah agreed to do our 15 mile run on the treadmill, I was really nervous that I wouldn't be able to complete it. My friend Amy let me borrow her IPOD to watch a movie. I set the treadmill to 8:48 pace and turned on the movie. I wore my Garmin so that I could keep track of my heart rate. I started with the movie King Arthur. I had a hard time focusing, so I switched to Brother Bear! Surprisingly the movie had a good music soundtrack and I really enjoyed it. About 10 minutes from the end, the battery died. At this point Sarah's back was hurting a little so I thought we wouldn't do the whole workout. I didn't have music, so I just tried to keep focusing and get as much in as I could. When I got to mile 12, Sarah told me she had her mp3 player. It was amazing how that pumped me up!! I actually did finish 15 miles and could have kept going.

So, now I know I can run on a treadmill! I am grateful Sarah was willing to do this with me. My heart rate was in the 170-180's until mile 11 when it hit 190, then it stayed in the low 190's until the last mile.

So, hopefully the next time we do this workout it will be outside and my heart rate will be lower. :-)
My trial week was a success. I am happy with how it went. Now I need to stay consistent with my mileage so I can do better in one month.