Exercise

My weight ticked up instead of down, I ate Pringles and felt bad, so off to the treadmill for me. As usual, a few days away results in a slower pace, but I did mix things up a bit by adjusting the incline about halfway through from 4 to 5. I wasn’t trying to make it more challenging, per se, it’s just that 5 is one of the presets, so it makes it easier to get started. I just press 5 and incline is set!

If I adjusted the pace up from 6.5 to 7 I could do the same there, but I suspect that’s the really awkward point between walking and jogging, and so I’ll probably continue to tweak that manually at the start of workouts.

Overall, not awesome results (BPM was disconcertingly high, pace was weirdly slow), but I actually did it instead of eating more Pringles, so go me¹there are no more Pringles. It’s also possible the steeper incline for the back half threw things off. We’ll see next time!

Stats:

Speed: 6.5
Incline: 5

Pace: 8:51/km (8:49/km)
Time: 48:43 (47:05)
Distance: 5.50 km (5.34 km)
Calories burned: 478 (335)
BPM: 130 (120)

I did today’s workout while listening (for the first time in many years) to the album that blew up Styx–Kilory Was Here. As an album, it’s not that good. It manages to take itself too seriously and yet not seriously enough, and a lot of the songs have odd rhythms to them. It’s theatrical, but slight and at times cringe worthy.

That’s okay, though, we’ll always have Paradise Theater.

As for the workout, my pace after the first km was a weird and perhaps incorrect 8:28/km. I guess I was just that pumped listening to “Mr. Roboto” (note: this is a bad song, there must be some other explanation). My overall pace was still a zippy 9:01/km, so it was a much better workout than last night’s.

I am the modern man.

Stats:

Speed: 6.5
Incline: 5

Pace: 8:51/km (8:49/km)
Time: 48:43 (47:05)
Distance: 5.50 km (5.34 km)
Calories burned: 478 (335)
BPM: 130 (120)

I was lazy and/or doing other stuff today and as the clock ticked toward midnight I feared not my coach turning into a pumpkin, but breaking the completion of my daily activity rings.

This would not do.

And so at the late hour of 10:53 p.m. I did a 30-minute workout. I felt a bit tired, but muddled through with a pace of 9:17/km (below the estimated pace the treadmill had of 9:13/km) and a higher BPM as my body clearly wanted to nap instead of work out. Still, I did it and there’s that. I also returned to an incline setting of 4 to get mah burn on.

Stats:

Speed: 6.5
Incline: 5

Pace: 8:51/km (8:49/km)
Time: 48:43 (47:05)
Distance: 5.50 km (5.34 km)
Calories burned: 478 (335)
BPM: 130 (120)

Today’s treadmill walk started with a bit of a debacle. While poking at the iPad sitting in the tablet holder, I put my other hand on the shelf holding the fan and put just a little too much pressure on it, causing the shelf to pull off from the wall. I tried to reseat it on the two screws that hold it in place, but only succeeded in dropping one of the screws behind the treadmill, in the corner. I fished it out, proceeded to do the exact same thing, then said, “Screw it!” (geddit?) and jury-rigged a temporary fan holder by stacking the two laptop/eating tray on each other. It didn’t really work well.

After this, I opted to skip videos and just listen to music, but since I already had the iPad up, I streamed Scissor Sister’s album Ta-Dah and followed along with the lyrics. The album is just over 51 minutes long, so that’s how long I worked out. I also made another change–keeping the incline set to zero, to see what impact it had on BPM/calories burned and such. Here’s the verdict, based on my sample of one:

BPM: No difference
Pace: Slower, but not dramatically so
Calories burned: Noticeably lower. At 30 minutes, I had burned 225 calories, a little over two-thirds less.

I’m undecided at the moment, but may go back to an incline of 4, which feels like a good medium between the extremes. And the math checks out.

The workout itself went fine, and I never found myself flagging, though I did slow a bit through the middle section.

Stats:

Speed: 6.5
Incline: 5

Pace: 8:51/km (8:49/km)
Time: 48:43 (47:05)
Distance: 5.50 km (5.34 km)
Calories burned: 478 (335)
BPM: 130 (120)

In which I keep nice and dry while another atmospheric river dumps Emmerich-levels of rain outside. Today I watched another pair of videos, coming in at a little over 30 minutes. I toyed with keeping the incline at zero, but ended up going with 4 again. Maybe I’ll try zero next time–not because I think it will be easier, just that if it makes no difference in terms of the workout, I’d rather run the treadmill flat.

For some reason, my active calories dropped significantly. Weird. I did lose 1.5 pounds a day ago, maybe that’s throwing the calculation off somehow?

Stats:

Speed: 6.5
Incline: 5

Pace: 8:51/km (8:49/km)
Time: 48:43 (47:05)
Distance: 5.50 km (5.34 km)
Calories burned: 478 (335)
BPM: 130 (120)

Why am I going on the treadmill so much all of a sudden? Secret New Year resolution? Beats being in the rain/snow/hellfire? Finally gave into the guilt of seeing the treadmill just sitting there, sad and alone? All of the above?

Whatever it is, I did another workout today while watching Let’s Game It Out’s videos on Police Simulator and Raft. Both served well for my 34-minute workout, which was almost fun or something. Weird! So far, I’m liking funny videos for working out. It adds a nice flavor to what would otherwise be horrible and monotonous, more so than listening to music, I think. Music is nice for outdoor walks or runs because you have scenery and trees and stuff.

Stats:

Speed: 6.5
Incline: 5

Pace: 8:51/km (8:49/km)
Time: 48:43 (47:05)
Distance: 5.50 km (5.34 km)
Calories burned: 478 (335)
BPM: 130 (120)

In which I watch another pair of Let’s Game It Out videos and need to pace myself, so the schtick doesn’t get old. I used the handy YouTube queue to select two that gave me a 32minute workout. Fun!

I managed to improve my pace by a wee bit again, and my BPM was essentially the same. Calories burned were down, but the workout was five minutes shorter. Overall, a groovy, sweaty effort.

Stats:

Speed: 6.5
Incline: 5

Pace: 8:51/km (8:49/km)
Time: 48:43 (47:05)
Distance: 5.50 km (5.34 km)
Calories burned: 478 (335)
BPM: 130 (120)

In which I walked for an extra seven minutes because I was watching funny YouTube videos and couldn’t stop.

First, the channel is called Let’s Game It Out and here’s a link to his time in Gas Station Simulator. I love this absurd, game-breaking humor, and his voice is perfect for it.

Curiously, my overall pace was faster and my BPM lower while watching these videos. Maybe laughter is the best, uh, workout medicine.

Anyway, I’m just happy to have done this three days on a row. Go me! Also, it’s snowing again today, and I’ve now reached my “That’s enough snow, thanks” level for the winter, making treadmill workouts more appealing than they ought to be. The winter, by the way, that is only 18 days old. Ugh.

Stats:

Speed: 6.5
Incline: 5

Pace: 8:51/km (8:49/km)
Time: 48:43 (47:05)
Distance: 5.50 km (5.34 km)
Calories burned: 478 (335)
BPM: 130 (120)

Yes!

For the second day in a row, I got on the treadmill for a half hour workout. I actually forgot to sync the workout on my iPad, but that was okay, since I planned on watching YouTube videos instead of listening to music, anyway. Then I realized I hadn’t lined anything up, so only watched a 5-minute TechQuickie with Riley Murdoch, who has the best-fitting name in the history of the universe. Seriously, I can’t explain it, but he looks exactly like a Riley Murdoch.

Anyway, I listed to music for the remainder and kept the settings same as yesterday, so the results are also pretty much the same, except I started at top-speed instead of ramping up to it, so covered more distance and such. My legs are perhaps just starting to feel the effect of this sudden exercise.

Stats:

Speed: 6.5
Incline: 5

Pace: 8:51/km (8:49/km)
Time: 48:43 (47:05)
Distance: 5.50 km (5.34 km)
Calories burned: 478 (335)
BPM: 130 (120)

Last night, we got a big ol’ dump of snow, the third so far of winter. The previous snow is still here, so it’s a bit of a mess with compact snow under the fresh stuff. I didn’t really feel like going for a walk in it. Underscoring that was the forecast, calling for warmer temperatures, followed by freezing rain, then old-fashioned rain. I did not relish being caught in freezing rain while ankle-deep in snow.

And so I did something I haven’t for a very long time–I did a workout on the treadmill. Woo!

It’s been in the upright position for many months, so I wasn’t even sure how well it would work, but after adjusting the bike and a rolling set of drawers to make room, I set it back down into its “You may now sweat profusely while operating” mode and set off. Which is an odd thing to say in relation to a treadmill, perhaps, since you never go anywhere.

My intention, after thinking about it, was to do a 30-minute or 300 active calorie workout, whichever came first. The latter occurred at 30:56.

Because it had been so long since I last used the treadmill, I chose to be conservative on the incline, only taking it to 4 instead of my usual 10. I did ramp the pace up to my usual 6.5 after a few minutes and kept it there.

The results are interesting. My last recorded treadmill walk was on February 18, 2021–yes, almost a full year ago–and I’ve included them in brackets in the stats below. As you can see, leveling out the incline didn’t really affect the workout in any negative way, and in some respects they were better, with a lower BPM and better overall pace. It would seem I’d gained little by taking it all the way to 10. Maybe it’s a metaphor for not trying for perfection.

Anyway, it was good to get back on the treadmill, surprisingly enough, and I’ll make an effort to do this more often when the weather is poop.

Stats:

Speed: 6.5
Incline: 5

Pace: 8:51/km (8:49/km)
Time: 48:43 (47:05)
Distance: 5.50 km (5.34 km)
Calories burned: 478 (335)
BPM: 130 (120)