Boredom Busters

This is my workout room in my basement. Scott painted the cute stripes on the wall about 5 years ago. There’s a small TV with a VCR, a DVD player, & DISH with DVR. It should be easy to workout – cute room, lots of fans to keep me cool, all of Scott’s trophies from his childhood to inspire me to accomplish great things. And yet, I am still pretty uninspired whenever I hop on the treadmill.

You may or may not know that I am not crazy about running outside when it is below freezing & windy outside… or raining… or too hot… or … you get it! I tried running on the treadmill the other day. I had a little snack, wore cute clothes, took my iPod with me, & settled in with last week’s Biggest Loser episode. They were even running a marathon – inspiring, right??? Eh, not so much! I lasted for 3.5 long agonizing miles before bolting out of the house to run the final 2.0 miles on the road.
It was not so many months ago that I did almost all of my cardio workouts indoors. This is just a small blip in the road – spring will be coming in a month or two – but I need to prepare for next summer when the blast furnace gets turned on again outside! I collected a bunch of different workouts online & have linked them here so I can remember them when I need them, & so I can share – maybe you will do some & let me know your favorites. Most of these workouts include interval training – alternating bursts of higher intensity with lower intensity workouts. Interval training burns more calories, improves aerobic capacity, and alleviates boredom. Great benefits!!
Here are a few workouts to try:
The bike, elliptical & treadmill cross training event
The 2000 calorie workout (treadmill, one week, assorted workouts)
Run/Walk: The 20-Minute Treadmill Hill Workout
20-minute 300-calorie workout
Lindsay Price’s Treadmill Workout
Burn 500-calories with Treadmill Intervals
And Fitness Magazine’s 25 Best Cardio Routines including a couple of the above
Running Planet’s Treadmill Hill Workouts
Runner’s World Treadmill Workouts
And from the vaults of my memory, here’s a happy workout that will let you know you’ve torched a ton of calories. Walk at a comfortable & brisk pace. At 1 minute, increase the interval by 1.0. Add 1.0 for each minute until you reach 10.0. Then decrease by 1.0 each minute until 5.0 & then start back up & then all the way back down again. Walking at 10.0 is difficult enough for me that a walking workout is plenty for me.
And after we have done all of this running we can stretch - http://www.runningplanet.com/training/dynamic-flexibility-stretches.html.
Happy running, jogging, or walking! My next adventure is the Tybee Island half marathon. It  is just two months away, not that I am stressing out or anything!