Observations from an easy treadmill workout

47 days to the marathon! My biggest training accomplishment today was remembering to throw my water bottle into my gym bag so I’m not constantly hopping off the treadmill to fill up the thimble sized cups that are available at the water cooler. Not that I really needed the water today with my short and slow walk, but building the habit of having water handy means I don’t need to think about it in the future.

Another variation I tried today was to work out on an empty stomach before lunch. Somehow I seem to have this fear of starving to death during a run, and try to avoid running on a completely empty stomach. But since an easy day was planned, it made sense to force the body to work off of what was in long term storage. This worked out really well, as I had more energy after the workout than before it started. Of course, that might also be the result of having a meeting just before the workout.

On the downside, the fitness room was packed during the lunch hour, and the TV had the noontime news on. This is not life affirming. I couldn’t hear the stories over the noise of the equipment, which made me more aware that the images on the screen were quite vivid. There’s somebody getting punched in the face. Here’s the security video of an armed robbery. And finally, a car running down a bunch of bicyclists (I found a print version of the story here). These are traumatic events you might witness firsthand a few times in your entire lifetime, so by my count I had a lifetime of trauma condensed into a 30 minute capsule. All while I was trying to have a positive workout.

So the plan tomorrow is to do another easy workout in the morning before breakfast. Hopefully I’ll have my water bottle and there won’t be any news on.