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The Treadmill Torture Test

The terrible weather left me with no choice but to submit myself to what I’ve been dreading the most: a one-hour treadmill run, better known as “The Treadmill Torture Test” in The Bull Runner’s world.

Dressed for a 10k outdoor run yesterday afternoon, I was headed out the door when the rain started to pour outside. Had it been a light drizzle, I would’ve proceeded with my run, but these rain droplets were BIG, the kind that made large thuds on the rooftop, and the same ones that would feel like a deep tissue massage on my shoulders. Angrily, I went for Plan B.

I headed back to my bedroom to change into my pambahay running gear—the running outfits that never make it to the roads or the gym—such as the short shorts that I once wore which had my son exclaiming “It’s nice. You look like you’re in your underwear!” or old race singlets that don’t fit too well. Then, at snail’s pace, I headed downstairs for the treadmill.

The treadmill. I’ve been using it much more often lately due to the rains, but I hadn’t exceeded 35 minutes on it. A run on the treadmill, for me, is like having coffee with no sugar, eating ice cream with no rainbow sprinkles, or watching a movie with no popcorn. It’s pure drudgery. But, this time, with the Mizuno Infinity Run coming up, I was forced to set my emotions aside and run like a machine on this…er…machine.

The first 15 minutes went by in slow motion. I swear I could watch each tiny droplet of water slide down the sides of the Gatorade bottle before me. It didn’t help that the television was hijacked by the kids who were with me in the room. No Oprah or MTV for me, it was a Fairly Odd-Parents marathon. This was torture. How could I survive one hour on this thing?

The next 15 minutes, surprisingly, went by quickly. My kids and I chatted while I ran. I even had a chance to do a little bit of speedwork as I rushed upstairs for some band aid. I increased the pace and incline once in a while to vary the training a bit, but most of the time, I ran at a comfortable pace. There were absolutely no signs of pain, so the run was quite enjoyable.

Before I knew it, I hit 45 minutes. Woah, that was quick. I ran 10 more minutes and started my cool down at 55 minutes. When I reached 1 hour, I toyed with the idea of doing more, but I decided against it.

1 hour on the treadmill wasn’t as dreadful as I thought it would be. I guess I passed my “Treadmill Torture Test” with flying colors.

Posted on 06.04.09 to 05 Training. Tags: . Subscribe to follow comments on this post. 27 comments. Add your thoughts or trackback from your own site.

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27 Responses to “The Treadmill Torture Test”

  1. arg..i hate treadmill..i bought manual treadmill (they are usually always incline) for the sake of including uphill training on my runs (there’s not much uphills here in dasma cavite) but its been seating on the garage for more than a month now useless..everytime I use it, it gets very boring eh….i wish i have the same passion as yours to continue using treadmill..because i’m thinking of selling it na hahhaha!

    Sam
    The Running Ninja
    http://www.therunningninja.com

    The Running Ninja said on Jun 04 09 at 11:23 AM Reply

  2. good for you you’ve got a treadmill at home…i have to settle with my cycling trainer (not even running related) due to the rains…but last night, i couldn’t stand it anymore…after dropping the groceries in the car (powrplant closing 9pm) and the kids and wifey at fully booked…i did my intervals at every floor, no people there except for the maintenance, the rest of the crowd were at the movies or in the cafes…in my crocs and jeans…hahaha see you at infinity!

    mond said on Jun 04 09 at 12:23 PM Reply

  3. congratultions…..you passed the test indeed….how’s this for a more dreadful treadmill test?,,,,running on a treadmill for 5 hrs to simulate a full 42km run ‘coz you are in the middle of the sea and the only means of running on a long distance is the treadmill??….yeah…crazy stupid but that was me doing it while i prepared for the botak 42km held last 17 of May..and boy,,i did finished it in 5hrs…..now i love the treadmill…hahaha

    sherwintommy said on Jun 04 09 at 12:27 PM Reply

  4. Congrats on passing the T3 (Treadmill Torture Test)! Of course I prefer running outside but with a weather like this, I just think that more than torture it’s an “endurance” test. I think like this, if I can run an hour on a treadmill with relative speed, then I can run much faster outside. And with full time work and erratic schedule sometimes of going to the gym, it’s been an invaluable part of my training. See you at the Mizuno Run! :-) And oh, thanks for the iamninoy runner link. I have signed up and hopefully I can pick up the shirt tonight or tomorrow night.

    Alfred / El Kyoshi said on Jun 04 09 at 2:15 PM Reply

  5. Jaymie – Last Tuesday we went all the way to UL to train and it started raining. So we ended up running in the rain. There were a lot of people.

    Regards Mark & Tiffin

    m8parco said on Jun 04 09 at 3:14 PM Reply

    • Yes sir, running in the rain especially in the track is really good.

      Did it again tonight, speedwork while it was pouring. Sweet.

      Mari said on Jun 04 09 at 10:42 PM Reply

    • kasi may kasama kayong may “balat” remember? hehe…

      hi jaymie! i dont like the treadmill also but i have to give credit to it for the fact that i learned to appreciate running initially by using it sa gym… yun nga lang once you experienced the road, ayaw mo na talaga super sa treadmill. see you tomorrow!

      kulitrunner said on Jun 05 09 at 10:07 AM Reply

  6. I like that – Treadmil Torture test. ha ha I feel that way to and whenever I pass the treadmil, I feel like it’s staring me down and I shudder. The other day I positioned the treadmil in front of a full length mirror so I could watch myself run (and not be too bored). ha ha It kinda worked…

    P.S. We have the same treadmil!

    Mai Mai said on Jun 04 09 at 3:44 PM Reply

  7. Haha good one Jaymie! I’m not a treadmill fan myself. At the gym I’ll get too distracted by what the next person to me is watching. :) With this weather though, guess we have no choice!

    Regards,
    Luis
    http://gingerbreadrunning.blogspot.com/

    Luis Arcangel said on Jun 04 09 at 3:50 PM Reply

  8. i love the treadmill… i do two 1-hr hamster sessions every week at the gym (or at home pag tinatamad). :) maganda rin sya pampa-taas ng eq… hehe.

    schlagger said on Jun 04 09 at 4:24 PM Reply

  9. Hay, it was raining this morning as well. I was thinking of hopping onto the threadmill but tinamad na din coz I wanted to run on the road instead. I ended up turning on our home laptop and watched torrent-downloaded sitcoms back-to-back until it was time to take a shower before heading to work.

    Hopefully there’ll be no rain tomorrow morning, my last chance to prepare before Mizuno. Otherwise, it’ll be the threadmill torture test.

    daytripper said on Jun 04 09 at 5:42 PM Reply

  10. AAAAHHHH!!! The rains are also killing me. I refuse to go to the gym to run. But you know it was also too hot lately so I kinda welcome the rain too. I just wish it rains either morning or evening so I can run at one of these times.

    Mayi said on Jun 04 09 at 5:50 PM Reply

  11. I know how you feel!!!

    RunMommaRun said on Jun 04 09 at 6:47 PM Reply

  12. What’s wrong with The Fairly Oddparents? haha. Maybe if they switched to Spongebob, you’d run longer. ;)

    janine+ said on Jun 04 09 at 8:00 PM Reply

  13. Heyyyy, Fairly Odd-Parents is kinda cool. haha. See you all on Sunday. =D

    Ricardo Martinez said on Jun 04 09 at 9:54 PM Reply

  14. wow! congrats on the treadmill. before my first ever road race, i tried running 10k on the treadmill and it was so boring. but since its the wet season, i might go back to the good old boring treadmill para lang mag-run.

    by the way i watch the fairly odd parents with my kids. and Timmy Turner rocks! =)

    Rod said on Jun 05 09 at 12:03 AM Reply

  15. Jaymie,

    Good for you. I tap out at 20 mins :)

    Javy said on Jun 05 09 at 8:18 AM Reply

  16. Congratulations for passing the treadmill test.
    Fortunately for me, the treadmill is a friend. I agree running in the treadmill does test your patience, but as schlagger stated, it raises your EQ (and IQ too if I may add). I remember training for two 25K New Balance Powerraces on treadmill alone, without MP3 or radio, running for an hour or two. I almost went crazy trying to amuse myself. I would have solved the days concerns, jogged my long-term memory and watched my condo neighbors go out for an errand and come-back, and I was still not done! But for EQ and IQ training alone, the treadmill is worth it. :-)

    ricov said on Jun 05 09 at 8:44 AM Reply

  17. Great article!

    Funny thing, because I also ran on the treadmill last night – rain is a party pooper. Around 40 minutes, tapos 5 km lang daw? Sometimes, I wonder if the machines are calibrated properly. Because I don’t know if the distance is accurate, or the speed.

    Anyway, I’ve seen you a couple of times sa Ultra. Even minsan sa Powerplant. Hiya lang magpakilala. =O

    See you at Mizuno, and at Animo Sprint!

    WENCY

    Jael Wenceslao said on Jun 05 09 at 2:02 PM Reply

  18. I trained Boston Marathon 2009 on a treadmill,it was a matter of necessity,not choice,with my plantar facitiis ,winter in Alaska ist like anywhere in lower 48 the road just never get cleared and the temp -27c or -17F. I log 50mile a week 4 days aweek. Jaymie if you want to hit time specific mile repeats, a treadmill keep you on pace.I listen to music and just enjoy the rhythm of running and focus on that. Good luck on your training.

    Raffy said on Jun 05 09 at 3:12 PM Reply

  19. What a dilemma. I dislike both running in the rain and running on a treadmill, so I end up hitting my punching bag and jumping rope instead.

    Jumping rope could actually be fun. Try mo! :)

    marga said on Jun 05 09 at 3:38 PM Reply

  20. I actually like the Treadmill.. I do my runs twice on the Treadmill because of my erratic work schedule… Whatever time I decide to run… the Treadmill is there… I do it in the gym though so there are other people running on other machines.. Luckily, my home gym has a full straight row of Treadmills so you can pace yourself with the others.. Kaya lang pag runner ka ikaw yung pinakamatagal sa Treadmill… Umuusok na yung treadmill tumatakbo ka pa rin… :) Given a choice though, outdoor run is still so much better.. And… it seems that you can run faster outside… Don’t know if this is a fact or it just feels like it… I always do better time on a race comparing it to the gym…

    bankrunner said on Jun 05 09 at 9:40 PM Reply

  21. Believe it or not, I used to do 24km+ in the treadmill (consistently). I got through several episodes of Top Gear or SNL. Movies don’t work for me as my attention span starts do diminish after an hour or so. haha.

    Don said on Jun 05 09 at 9:43 PM Reply

  22. threadmill ?
    when i started running in college during the 80′s di kilala yan treadmill . . . mahal kasi.
    at the time people went jogging ? (di na yata ginagamit yon).
    because “running” is cheap and very basic.
    running during a drizzle (ambon) is pure bliss , while running during the rain is “survival”.
    i used to live in pandacan, regular route is quirino ave, right to roxas blvd, right to ayala bridge, right to san miguel, right to nagtahan. . . .then left to pandacan.
    free water stop at aristocrat. . . . wala pang “hydration belt nun”?!?
    runnning that route is survival, kasi . . . ang daming open manhole along the way. . . baha na.
    one miss . . . you die ?

    my mom used to call running as “nagsusukat ng kalye”?!?
    hindi yata nagagawa sa treadmil yon?

    anyway, just keep on running.
    mandie

    mandie said on Jun 06 09 at 10:17 AM Reply

  23. Hi Guys,

    I want to get a treadmill since its been raining almost every night and haven’t run since first week of May. Can you recommend what brand I should get? Really confused and its a big chunk of money. Thanks.

    Carlo

    carlo lagdameo said on Jun 15 10 at 1:55 PM Reply

  24. I don’t mind running on treadmill especially now that I learned that the camber of the deck of our facility is causing me pain in the shin and knee. Treadmill will be my best friend while I am out here in the oil field.

    runningdad said on Sep 05 10 at 7:50 PM Reply

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