On Tuesday I went to the gym and used the StarTrac elliptical after my swim because I wasn't feeling a run outdoors with the heat. First of all, I must be super fast because according to the StarTrac, I ran 7.76 miles in 20 minutes!!! Ok, maybe the machine was not quite calibrated correctly...
Then on Wednesday instead of hitting the track by myself, I chose to do my sprint workout on the treadmill. I did a one mile warm-up and then 4 x 400m sprints - first two at an 8 min/mile and second two at a 7:30 min/mile, with a 400m jog at 10 min/mile in between each.
So, where do the mind games come in? Well on both of my machine workouts, I had to play mind games to keep from getting bored. On the elliptical, I challenge myself to stay above 90 RPM for the minute, and if I fall below that, then I have to stay above 95 RPM! It's good motivation for me. Then on the treadmill, I promised myself that if I didn't ever touch the "speed" button and slow my planned pace down, then I would be able to enjoy 15 minutes in the sauna.
What do you do to distract yourself when you're stuck on a machine?
