This summer I have spent a lot of time on the elliptical machine up in the bonus room of our house. It was a good way to heal and recover after my marathon and calf injury in June. It's also been what I've done on Tuesdays and Thursdays all summer. I used to take my daughter out in the single stroller on those days during the school year (since those are Rick's days to run in the morning). I tried using the double stroller in the beginning of the summer, but it just seemed to go better for everyone when I used the elliptical machine, so I stuck with that.
Do you sweat a lot on your indoor machines? I DO!!! One day, I just had to take a picture of the drops/puddle of sweat after an hour on the elliptical. Now this is only at 6 miles an hour!!!! I am sweating a lot outside on my runs too--to the point of being able to wring out my shirt and shorts at the end of most runs. I've also dealt with chaffing issues under my sports bra all summer. Ahhhhh, summer with its heat and humidity!
So here is the set-up for my cross training. I do not belong to a gym. Years ago, Rick and I bought this Naulitus elliptical machine at Costco and knew we would pay for the machine and then be saving the money we would spend on a gym membership (we used the gym mainly to cross train anyway). We have done that! Now we each use this machine a few of times a week (I use it on Sundays for 30 minutes and an hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays). We have it positioned by the window on the back wall of our bonus room facing the t.v. and a display of various running awards and pictures. We don't have cable, and this little t.v. is the only one in the house that picks up NBC, so this is where I've watched the Olympics this year.
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| Elliptical machine |
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| Sweat--Yuck! |
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| What I see when I cross train |
I just read this in Running Times: "Physiologically, what training in heat does is to increase the efficiency of sweating. Partly that's by increasing the number of sweat glands used by the body...But heat acclimatization also causes runners to start sweating earlier on, before their core temperatures rise significantly. In essence, your body has learned to anticipate what's coming and starts cooling itself earlier on. 'Most people think sweating means you're out of shape,' Harber says, 'but the better sweaters are [actually] in better shape.'"
ReplyDeleteJust think of it as your body being more efficient. I know I do! :)
Julia,
ReplyDeleteI am glad you posted that. I had also heard that but couldn't remember where or if I made it up. :) I guess all of these warm runs are really helping afterall!
This is great! I love reading when people get their money's worth out of machines! I have a free weight set, but need to move it to our new house. That's really my main XT. I don't do much else indoors, but might use an elliptical this winter. I'd rather run in the rain though!
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