As I reported recently, I had a definite breakthrough in my pool swimming last time, comfortably extending from my usual 1km swim to 1.25km, an extra 10 lengths over my usual 40 lengths of the pool.
At the same time I had been bilateral breathing – breathing to alternate sides, only every third stroke, which makes for a more hydrodynamic shape in the water, but obviously requires a little more fitness as you are effectively swimming on less oxygen overall compared to breathing every second stroke.
This time out I decided to see if I could match the distance, retain my bilateral breathing, but instead of five sets of 10 lengths of the pool (5*250m) I did three sets – 2*500m, then 1*250m.
I managed this with no real problem, and as you can see below this made more than 12 minutes difference to my overall time, as there was significantly less resting involved between sets.
It didn’t change my pace, which remained constant, but it still represents a clear improvement in stamina.
Running break
Meanwhile, yesterday, my treadmill run did not go so well.
Having made a clear breakthrough in swim stamina, I had decided to increase my treadmill run routine from 4 mins running, 1 min walking to 5 mins running 1 min walking. This was going absolutely fine through the first two sets of 5 mins, but then as I was just getting into the third set, quite out of the blue there was a loud crack and the treadmill platform seemed to just break!
It felt like it was mostly on one side, so I’m not sure if the base split or just fell away from the frame, but either way, it was instantly both unsafe and unusable. I was very lucky that the rotating band didn’t stop suddenly or I’d have been thrown off and possibly injured. As it was, I was able to step off safely, but obviously that was the end of my run.
I’ve only had that treadmill for two years, and it really hasn’t been used that heavily. Since I record all of my runs on my Garmin app as I do with my swims, I could see exactly how many times I’d run on it and it was just over 70! My runs are typically around 20 mins, with 10 mins warm up / cool down.
I have also used it a number of times walking, sometimes while I’m on business calls, and I don’t bother to track these – but I’d be shocked if it was more than another 70 times, never more than 20-30 mins. That’s still only 140-150 uses over two years.
Of course, these things do have a weight limit, and I deliberately hunted out one of the highest – this one is rated at 265lbs – which is one of the reasons was so expensive, just shy of £400 – and I have never exceeded 200lbs in the last two years, usually my weight has been between 240-255lbs.
While it’s obviously out of the standard “one year warranty” UK consumer law states that an item must be “fit for purpose”, and “as advertised”, and for a treadmill that would certainly mean more regular use than I have put it through. Clearly they were being optimistic with its weight rating!
I bought it through Amazon and raised this last night after the event, and they have referred it to their “specialist” team as it’s out of warranty. Hopefully, they can resolve it soon – given the cost it’s not something I could readily replace.
I can obviously still take walks outside, and even potentially run, but with the UK’s dire wintry weather, it’s far from ideal. Fingers crossed they’ll resolve it soon. Meanwhile, at least I have swimming to fall back on!
It’s just incredibly frustrating as I’d painstakingly built my fitness back up and was ready to increase my running time, so I’m just hoping Amazon can offer a replacement quickly before I start to lose my run fitness.
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