My Journey With Health And Fitness – Back To The Dreaded Treadmill

This past week at 2 gym classes it has been brutal on my abs. We have done some pretty intense ab workouts and I have really been feeling it. So today, the instructor decided to torture me (ok, I acknowledge she had no idea my abs were sore). At the end of the class she had us do a new form of Bring Sally Up, you laid on the mat and every time they said bring Sally up you had to raise your legs then for bring Sally down you did leg drops (bring you legs down but you don’t let your feet hit the floor). Of course while doing this you have to maintain you core which means keeping your back flat on the ground. By the end of that exercise my abs were absolutely on fire! Good thing I am not doing a class tomorrow.

I was listening to the weather forecast for the weekend and realized there was very little chance that I would be out walking 1st thing this morning (read 5am). I kept my fingers crossed but when I got up at 4am I could hear the rain pounding down. Damn, I thought, I’m going to have to hit the treadmill. Now we had prepared for this because our garage is in a bit of mess right now owing partly because of stuff loaned to our recent election campaign that has not been properly put away yet. As well, all the cushions off of patio furniture were on the treadmill (because I really do prefer it to be a storage space). I had also asked my husband to set up our ExPat TV box on the TV in the garage so that I could watch something good while walking on the treadmill.

Why do I hate the treadmill so much? Because it is boring! I so much prefer being outdoors, taking in the sights and listening to a good book. There is nothing better than walking along our promenade people, dog and various bird watching while I am getting my steps in. On the treadmill you are just plodding along in place with nothing in your view changing. Ok, it helps if I can find a good distraction on the TV but unfortunately my husband forgot to hook up the ExPat TV and our Ruko on that TV decided not to work. My only option was to listen to a book and sadly the one I currently have on the go is really not that interesting. On top of all of that the treadmill only likes doing one hour at a time so I couldn’t get my 2 hour walk in before the gym. Dammit, I hate that thing.

Things were looking up by time I got home from the fitness centre, it had stopped raining so I got in an hour walk outdoors which made me happy. But here’s the reality, it is that time of year when the weather is turning south which means I am just going to have to be prepared to reorganize my schedule to get 2 hours in on the treadmill if necessary. Not ideal but as much as I hate that thing it will help me keep going until the end of December when I go back to Mexico. It’s only for a couple months and I will whenever possible get my walks in outdoors.

So, I’ve got it in my head that I am back on the dreaded treadmill if need be. Hopefully that need won’t be too much.