I know I usually post workout posts on Mondays, but this isn’t exactly about how my workouts went this week. I’ll still do that post on Monday, but I wanted to share some thoughts I had during my workout yesterday.
I try not to daydream while working out since I know that if I’m not paying attention that I could hurt myself. Of course, there are some times that my mind does wander a bit and I start thinking of something random. Usually, this happens when we have a long endurance challenge and I want to take my mind off of what I’m doing. It’s a good way to distract me when we have a long row or a long run/bike. But sometimes, my mind goes to random places even without needing the distractions.
Yesterday I was done with my cardio and working on the rower when I started to think about when I was using the treadmill. It’s been a long time since I’ve been on the treadmill and I have no intention of using it again for a while. Honestly, I’m much happier using the bike than I was on the treadmill and I’ve gotten to a place where I don’t think of the bike as the easier choice. And I’ve stopped worrying about if my nausea is going to kick in during the treadmill and I’ll have to switch in the middle of a block. My stress and anxiety about my nausea are a bit less now that I don’t have to think about if it will be a treadmill day or a bike day.
When I used the treadmill, I had a very different experience when I was power walking and when I was running. Running was actually much easier on me for some reason. While I didn’t have the stamina to run the entire time, I preferred my running time. I didn’t have balance issues and I didn’t feel like I was modifying what I had to do. I did have some occasional pain, but I was working through it. But when I was power walking, I couldn’t do it normally. I don’t know why walking causes more issues with me with balance than running does, but that’s what happens. I had to hold on to the rails while power walking so I didn’t step off the side of the treadmill belt. My coaches told me I could go slower so I didn’t have to hold on, but I would have to go so slowly that I wouldn’t be getting much of a workout done at that speed. So I held on even though I knew that was also not letting me get a full cardio workout in.
I was thinking back about the first time I used the bike and how much I didn’t really care for it. So many people think of the bike and strider as options to use when you are injured or having a day where you need to go easy. And I was one of those people before I was using the bike regularly. It took time to get to where I am now with being happy using the bike, but I’m there now and I don’t see that changing.
And reflecting on what I had to do on the treadmill made me even happier with how I can do on the bike. There are a few changes I make on the bike when I’m nauseous, but I’m not really modifying how I use the bike. I just go easier on things and I don’t have to have bad form or do something that makes my time on the bike not as hard as it should be. I rarely use the handles on the bike and instead I sit up straight, so my posture is probably better too. I’m not totally sure my cardio is as hard on the bike as it was when I was running, but I know that it’s better than when I was power walking. And I’m trying to make some changes on the bike that will make it harder and make me work harder to get a better workout in.
I’ve had moments where I’ve thought about how much happier I am on the bike, but this was the first time where I had a long moment where I thought about it and only had positive thoughts. There was nothing negative when I was thinking about my time on the bike. The only thought that wasn’t completely positive was how I was thinking about how silly it was that I didn’t think the bike would be enough for me. But I mainly thought about all the good things that have happened for me since I stopped fighting the idea of using the bike and really embracing it.
Next month at Orangetheory, we’ve been told there will be a lot of focus on our base pace. I’m excited to see what I can do because I’ve been at the same base pace on the bike for a while now. I know I can probably do more, but it’s hard sometimes to push myself. But I need to do that because I need to figure out the perfect way to make my workouts harder without being impossible. And I know if I was on the treadmill that I would be increasing my running speed. So I just need to do the same on the bike and see what I can do.
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