Andrew Schrauben

Today was another treadmill day. As a general rule I dislike running without going anywhere, but sometimes it can be fun. I did a tempo-ish run today where I started at a 9:00 pace, then a 7:30 pace, then a 7:00 pace, then a 8:00 pace, capped off by sustaining a 6:30 pace during minutes 25 to 32 of a 35 minute run (the last three minutes at 9:00). I have to remind myself, though, that running on a treadmill is about 10% easier than in the real world of the great outdoors.

Speaking of "real world", some of my co-workers apparently aren't in it. Here are some examples of oddity:

One lady came into the fitness center and hopped on the treadmill next to me. She walked for all of THREE minutes before leaving again! Some workout.

A couple years ago I saw a guy run for 15 minutes on the treadmill in his work clothes! Shirt, slacks, loafers and all! If only he was wearing his labcoat, too...

Another guy, when using the treadmill, lets the belt get up to speed before hopping on at a full run! He would run five minutes, then hop off with the belt still whizzing! He would do this over and over. I was surprised he didn't fall on his ass, but I kinda kept hoping he would. :)

The strangest was a guy about my age. One early morning (6am and still dark) I was lifting weights while he rode the reclined exercise bike on level 1 (this particular bike I would ride at level 12 or so; it goes up to 20) for about 15 minutes, hardly breaking a sweat. Suddenly I hear the bike revving up to an insanely high RPM and I look over to see him pedaling as fast as humanly possible - still on level 1 - all while grunting as loudly as those dudes on the World's Strongest Man competition. I thought for sure he was going to spontaneously burst into flames! Then he abruptly stops and heads for the shower. As he walks past me he looks at the falling snow outside and comments: "It's gonna be a frightfully chilly day in the Hundred Acre Wood!" I'm sorry, but when there are two men alone in a fitness center and they speak just once, they should not be referring to Pooh Bear!