I live in Indiana, where the winters are cold! For some reason I decided to take up running last November, just as the mercury starts falling. Even though it was a pretty mild winter by most standards, once December came around the idea of running into a bitter winter wind didn’t do much to motivate me to keep going with my new running hobby.
I started wondering if I should get a treadmill. Maybe it would deprive me of an excuse not to run on cold and/or rainy days. Maybe I would get extra motivation knowing I had paid for the darn thing and should really get to using it. I was discussing this with someone at my company holiday party (my husband’s boss, actually, even though it was my and her husband’s company party), and she mentioned they had a treadmill they never used that we could buy for cheap. Perfect!
So for a year I’ve been using a Pro Form 770 EKG treadmill. It was great for what I needed it for – to keep me from giving up on running in the beginning. Once spring came around last year I went back to running outside, and due to the exceptionally (and horrifically) dry summer we had, I never had reason to use it again until temperatures started dropping again this fall.
As I’ve progressed in my running (and learned more and more about it via my Runner’s World subscription), I use techniques such as fartleks to increase my speed. These are easy to work through when running outside because I just need to listen to my Nike+ to tell me when I’ve reached a quarter-mile to change speed. However, on my treadmill I found it cumbersome to have to manually adjust as needed. So I started looking around for an upgrade – something to give me more programs to choose from, in addition to some other advancements like better shock absorption (although I had no complaints about that with my Pro Form).
My search ended recently with the purchase of the LifeSpan TR 1200i. It has 17 programs, each with 3 levels, as well as 2 customizable programs. It also has a USB port where you can store workout data and load onto your PC for use with the LifeSpan Fitness Club.
I’ve only used it twice so far, but I like what I’ve seen so far. Assembly wasn’t too bad. When the box arrived it was all torn up and shredded like it had been attacked by a puma, so I was worried about the condition. But once we got it out of the box we could see there wasn’t any damage. We managed to get it into the basement, and as I mentioned assembly was pretty straightforward. I did it all myself, but there are two bolts at the bottom which just spun around as I tried to tighten them that I’ve tasked my husband with securing.
I’m excited to get some more time/mileage on it! It’s the perfect companion to my “Daily Show” viewings! 😉
Sew Good Run 