Trapped in a Fat Chick's 30 Minute Treadmill Workout

What I did and why

Today, I slept an hour past my alarm. I've been having this problem lately! It's getting worse and worse! I didn't have time for a workout before work and I didn't have motivation to go for a walk during lunch or breaks. I came up with three options....1) Do a DVD when I got home. 2) Go to the gym on the way home and use the treadmill. 3) Go for a walk outside in the beautiful down that I live in, but I'd be all by myself since hubby would be at work. I packed my sweats and my sneakers and planned for the gym. I thought about it all day long. I asked my husband for his opinion and I asked a friend on Facebook. They both suggested going for a walk outside, but I've really been wanting to get to the gym. I picked the gym. I didn't have such a good time leaving work and getting to the gym. It took me four times of unlocking the front door and my office door before I had everything. I even made it down to the end of the street before I realized that I didn't have enough gas to get home and I had left my wallet in my office. I finally made it to the gym and I could tell from the parking lot that it was packed. I almost went home, but I didn't! I went inside and it was packed, but there were only two people on he treadmills. Yay!!!!

The Workout

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you already know that I'm a sucker for charts and graphs. With that in mind, you know that I can't just walk on a treadmill going the same speed for the entire 30 minutes. That's just not in me to do! I want to see what different things do to my charts and graphs! 

Minutes 0 through 5 - The treadmill starts off at .5 miles per hour. It's like it's not even moving. The first five minutes I spent gradually getting up to 2.5 MPH with a -% incline. I pumped my arms and waited for my BodyMedia device to register a minute of activity! It took far too long for that to happen! I could breathe fine. 

Minutes 6 through 10 - I walked at 3 MPH with a 0% incline. My shins were on fire after that! I was getting a bit out of breath.

Minutes 11 through 15 - I walked at 2 MPH with 0% incline to let my shins rest up so I could try the run. I felt good. I got my breathing under control. 

Minutes 16 through 20 - I kicked that machine up to 4.5 MPH and I ran! It wasn't pretty and it killed my shins, but for one minute and 50 seconds, I ran! I'm sure I sounded like a herd of elephants on that treadmill, but I ran! I could even breathe while I ran. I started to wonder if my shirt had gone up in the back and if people could see my underwear, but I ran! For a minute and 50 seconds, I ran! My shins were KILLING ME!!!!! I stopped running and went down to 2 MPH with a 0% incline. I was a bit out of breath, but I wasn't gasping for air after the run. I didn't chug a gallon of water. I stopped running because my shins hurt. I didn't stop because I couldn't breathe or because I was going to fall off the treadmill. That is a non-scale-victory for me!

Minutes 21 through 25 - I walked at 2 MPH and kicked it up to a 15% incline. I hate inclines. I started to feel like I needed to hold on, so I dropped down to 1.5 MPH but that felt too slow. I kicked it back to 2 MPH and just held on. When I hike, I use my hiking poles, so in my head if this little experiment was about making me a better hiker, holding on was like using my poles! I was out of breath, but I didn't want to die. 

Minutes 26 through 30 - I walked at 2 MPH with a 0% incline. I tried to pump my arms more at first and then let it slack off so I could get my cool down going. 

BodyMedia Screen Shots

I was pretty surprised that I only got 3 minutes of vigorous activity. I thought that 3 MPH would get me to vigorous. Maybe if I had done more with arms it would have gotten me there. I thought I was pumping that as hard as I could! I burned more calories and had more minutes of vigorous activity with my last Jessica Smith YouTube workout. Since I can't run for more than a short period of time, I think I might be better off giving up this treadmill thought process and stick with my DVDs. I'm not done yet with my treadmill experiments though. I want to see what happens if I grab a medicine ball and toss it back and forth from hand to hand or lift it up and down over my head while I'm walking or push and pull it out in front of me. I don't know the people at the gym so what do I care if they think I'm a nut job. The bottom picture is how many calories the treadmill thought that I burned. It came pretty close to the BodyMedia device. I love the arc of the workout here. It's such a crazy design. Oh Oh Oh!!! I almost forgot to mention this.....Drum roll please........ I hit 20.2 calories per minute during that little run! I've never actually gotten to 20! I've gotten to 19.8 or something close, but never 20! Woot Woot! I need to work up my endurance until I can run for like 5 minutes and then take a breather for maybe 5 minutes, or I could do run 1 minute walk 1 minute intervals since intervals are all the rage. That seems annoying on the treadmill though. Maybe 2 minute intervals. The good news is that I ran and I sound like I want to run again. Yay!