Midweek: the terrible Tumble treadmill travesty

Wow. Another treadmill session, another shocker. Despite me having once got a sub-25 minute 5K time on a treadmill, the last couple of times I've hit a gym, I've had a nightmare on them. Last night, it was at Tumble while Daughter the 1st was doing her gymnastics.

Let's keep this brief. I fumbled around on the treadmill's settings, trying to choose an interval programme, but when it started, it was taking an age to get up to speed. After a few minutes of that, I gave up and went to a manual programme, trying to maintain a 5:00/km pace... but instantly found it incredibly hard. Was it the urgent whining of the treadmill that made me feel like I was having to sprint, or was I just being found out for being unfit? Whatever it was, I ended up using the fact that I needed the loo to stop after just 2 kilometres. Weak. 😞

On returning from the loo, I got back on, but chose a more sedate pace of around 5:30/km. Again though, I didn't feel I couldn't sustain it. I was sweating like crazy and really struggling. This time, I bowed out after just 10 minutes and less than 2km. And that was it. I was ruined.

No matter the reason, this was definitively not the way to prepare, mentally or physically, for a weekend parkrun. I'm left at a pretty low ebb, but I need to focus on converting that negative energy into a determination to do better on Saturday. Here's hoping I feel better in the morning... 🤞

Addendum: am I actually avoiding flat parkruns at the moment to avoid learning that I'm not doing as well as I thought? Maybe. If so, I might be best advised to just bite the bullet and take on Blyth tomorrow. It's about the flattest I can think of (other than the Town Moor). But then, I know a work colleague is doing Whitley Bay tomorrow and I do miss being there with people I know. As ever, we'll see. Maybe I'll only know once I set off in the car. 🤷

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