When Treadmills Revolt and Walking

Temporarily out of service. This is what my treadmill has informed me; I guess that whole saying of, “If you don’t give something a break it will devise a method of its own to get one” is true. Actually, I know that’s not a saying but I’m making it one…sounds legit.

runner on treadmill
Actually, I canΒ  breathe a sigh of relief because my lovely tready is actually only getting work done on her and didn’t interrupt any actual miles that needed to be logged. But she’s been finicky and throwing up error messages the past week and so, my friend, the Fit Guard diagnostic man is on the job!

This has been going back and forth for weeks, working through the web of phone calls between companies, people, repeating the same thing over and over to the next person. Diagnosis: walking too fast for the cool-down. What?

Okay, the deal was that after I’d finish my run, I’d stop it (of course make note of my final stats, I’m not anal about those at all), get a drink of water, then return and just do a short cool-down walk. Well apparently if you start walking faster than the treadmill as it ramps up it stages a revolt. Random story that I guess is just further proof running is better…walking is nothing but a headache and will cause you problems. πŸ˜‰

I jest, but actually on Wednesday I went out to join a friend who is part of a 5k training group. The people who meet up are in various stages of fitness, but mainly JUST starting out and to them a 3 mile race they have coming up sounds like an epic distance. For which most of them are walking it. It’s fun to hear them talk about their goals, watch them beam when they finish and see the Garmin tell them they clocked 2.88 miles.

One of the ladies completed her fastest mile yet and we all know how good a new PR feels. She was in the more advanced group and alternated between walking and jogging. It was a nice change of perspective for me; many of my friends or people I talk to are ‘runner runners’ and to them 2.88 miles would be a warm-up. Their PR’s would be minutes faster, but you know what, everyone is in a different stage and point.

The thing is, I remember being that lady thinking that finishing 2.88 miles WAS a marathon. The first time I ran a whole 5k I was on cloud nine. It was refreshing to be among some newbies. Anyways, sometimes it’s really easy to always have our sights set on ‘one-upping’ ourselves; we get lost in only looking forward to the next goal, the next race, getting a faster time, that we forget to enjoy the moments of our accomplishments.

runner on track

Juuuuust a quick peek though! πŸ˜‰


Sometimes it’s necessary to just take a quickie sneak peek behind you (I know, this is breaking a cardinal rule in racing, never look back, you can’t let them see your weakness…lol) and see how far you’ve come. Just a quick peek though, we can’t let those egos get out of control…haha. πŸ™‚

1) What’s the ‘worst’ error type message or even that’s happened to you on a machine?
This isn’t mine, but I like the story of my friend who was doing 800’s on a treadmill, but halfway through his last one the treadmill shorted out because he was going too fast…haha. Love it!

2) Are you kind of a fast-walker?
I don’t mean to, but I guess my ‘normal people walk’ is quicker and it annoys my family sometimes if we’re out shopping.

3) What’s the last thing you did that you were proud of? It can be anything, not just running related. πŸ™‚

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6 Replies to “When Treadmills Revolt and Walking”

  1. I get errors at the gym all the time. Most of the machines just say “PLEASE STOP!” if you’re going too fast. When a machine is broken, the gym puts a sign on it that says “This machine is out of shape.” So lame.

    I am a fast walker. I HATE when people in front of me are walking as slow as ever and I can’t get around them. Frustrates the heck out of me!

    I am proud of a recent 5K PR! I signed up for a few little races this year for fun and during a training run I finished in 23:33 but had to stop at a few stoplights along the way. I’m thinking it could have been under 23 minutes if the stoplights weren’t an issue. This is fast for me so I was happy πŸ™‚

    • CONGRATS!!!! omg, i’m so sorry this reply is just WAY to late in coming, kinda a crazy weekend, but reading this put a huge smile on my face…PR’s always do that. πŸ™‚ ya, ditch those meddling stoplights and i KNOW that busting 23 min’s is in ur future. πŸ™‚ i am soooo going to be stalking u about ur progress though…just so ya kno. πŸ˜‰

  2. I haven’t gone to a gym before! But the worst kind of error message if there’s NO error message. That’s my computer. We have fun… bashing each other up. I’m a fast walker… and even faster cyclist– when I’m cycling on the road with cars whizzing past me. I get annoyed super easily by slow cyclists blocking my way and stuff. Must change! And be safer. πŸ˜€

    • haha…wanting to bash my computer, been there, wished i’d done that!! good luck my not happy techie friend. πŸ™‚ haha…u should just mow over those slow cyclists that get in ur way. πŸ™‚

    • like i said to christina…i’m soooo lame and sorry to have been late upon my comment replies but a huge CONGRATS if yelled your way!! vanessa, 18, is huge!! i’m off to blogstalk about the big run and also find out wat yummies u noshed on…running all them miles grants liberty to some treats!! πŸ™‚

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