It doesn’t look like this cold weather is letting up anytime soon, so for those of you stuck on the treadmill, like me, I thought I would post some of my favorite ways to beat the treadmill blahs.

1. Listen to music or watch TV.
   I can sometimes zone out to my treadmill playlist. There are a few songs, in particular, that actually make me run harder and make me feel like I’m flying. I also have a tendency to mouth the words along while listening to music in the gym, which may be awkward. I don’t really care. Anything to get through the miles!

   But I get visually bored sometimes when just listening to music, and it gets me out of my zone. It helps to close my eyes, but that’s just not safe on a treadmill. (Although I do it for short periods.) In those times, it may better to put on a TV show or movie. The treadmills at my old gym had headphone plugs right in the machines where you could pick which of the TVs to listen to. My new gym is older and doesn’t have such technology. They make you tune into radio stations to listen to the TVs. I don’t even know how you do that in this day and age, but the average age at my gym is like 90, so…

   Sometimes I will put a movie on through my phone. I really like running to “Tangled” because the music helps me get that “I’m flying” feeling with the bonus of having something to visually focus on. Probably other musicals would do this too, but “Tangled” is the only one I have stored on my phone.

2. Play games with yourself.
   I mentioned this on Monday, but one thing I like to do is play a counting game. I start at 1 and count to 100. If I look at the treadmill display before I get to 100, I automatically have to up my speed 0.1. However, if I get to 100 without looking at it, I have the option to raise my speed 0.1, lower my speed 0.1, or stay the same. Then I start the count over. It’s a great way to pass the time and keep you from staring at that pesky clock!
3. Change something. Anything.
   Another thing I will do is change something every minute. Sometimes it’s my speed. Sometimes it’s my incline. Sometimes things go up. Sometimes things go down. It keeps the workout from getting too monotonous, but can be kind of draining because you have to constantly stare at the timer (which is why I prefer the counting game).

   If you are running with music, change something at the beginning of every new song. If you are running with the TV, change something for each commercial.

Speaking of treadmill blahs, has anyone ever tried this app out? I don’t have an iPad or a laptop I could haul to the gym, but it seems kind of interesting.