Rain rain go away

It's been cold and rainy here the past two days.  That means cardio has taken place on the treadmill at my apartment's little gym.  I personally find running on the treadmill to be extremely boring so this is what I try to do to avoid looking at the mile or time display every five seconds.

First of all, if you can cover the display, do it! This won't allow you to look down in 30 second increments and for me usually I'm surprised at how long or how far I've gone when I eventually look.  I usually cover the display with a magazine, which provides a great distraction.  Next use your willpower not to look at any of the clocks or if you can't resist the urge, tell yourself that in 20 minutes you can sneak a peak at the display you have now covered up.  Then it's all about distractions.  Personally the best workouts I've had on a treadmill are the ones where my mind is totally consumed with thinking of something else.  Preparing for interview questions was the best!  Some people like running without having to think about anything but on a treadmill my mind always focuses on the boredom of treadmill running.  Other distractions include the television, magazines (with lots of pictures), and of course great running music.  I wish I could read a book while on the treadmill but it's too hard for my eyes.

Unfortunately the treadmill I ran on the past couple days did not have the option of covering the display so I only ran 3 miles each day due to extreme boredom.  I did have a breakthrough thought while running yesterday- three miles is a piece of cake!  After 3 (just under 9 min. mile pace) I was barely breaking a sweat and physically didn't feel tired at all.  A year ago a 3 mile workout was a huge accomplishment and now it's just a typical workout on an easy day.

I was slacking in the arms/abs department but I got in a really solid 20 minutes of arms in yesterday.  I was the only one in the gym so I took the time to figure out some of the weight machines and then did a circuit both with the machines and the free weights.  I'm a little bit sore this morning so I know it was a productive session.