Tag Archives: treadmill videos

Another Treadmill Virtual Vacation

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I’m sorry that I don’t know ‘where I was walking’ this morning on the treadmill. It was stark and beautiful, with lots of sheer rock cliffs, stone paths both next to and into the cliff themselves. There was scrub type brush over much of it and lots of red dirt. Stone fields with the towers people make balancing one rock on top of another filled one part of the video. I felt myself mentally trying to walk around the towers. 😜

I really wish the talented folks who create these videos used on exercise equipment would have a title or label or something telling you where you are. Some of the paths are becoming very familiar now. I recognize that people will come out of a cave-like area, or that a boy will be taking a walk with his dad and his dog. There is one video where a woman is walking down the sidewalk in the city and drops her beautiful red shawl. I hope the video people let her know about the shawl. MUCH too pretty to lose!

I am getting more relaxed as I walk on the treadmill now. I get a little wonky from time to time, but mostly I’m relaxed with my arms swinging comfortably by my sides, not having to correct a lot to stay on the path. I’m only a bit winded these days, sitting down for a bit on a bench at the gym to make SURE I’m not going to suffer “postural hypotension” and faint like I did once, scaring poor Brian to death. He doesn’t look at me like I’m a time bomb anymore. 😄

After I finished walking through all the cliffs and stone fields this morning, I definitely needed to drink from the bottle of water I carry!

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Treadmill Travels 2

The Puente de la Mujer is a rotating footbridge for Dock 3 of the Puerto Madero commercial district of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is of the cantilever spar cable-stayed bridge type and is also a swing bridge, but somewhat unusual in its asymmetrical arrangement.

One of the wonderful videos I get to watch while I walk my mile on the treadmill in the mornings is of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

There is a really impressive waterway for ships that we walk along, getting closer and closer to this amazing bridge. The whole thing swivels out of the way when a ship needs to go through!

There are paved trails and naturals trails through wooded areas, sandy beaches, mountains, and more in this video. I traveled across the Plaza de Mayo with its beautiful buildings. Buenos Aires is a stunning city, even when you’re only ‘traveling’ on hiking paths!

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Mind Games

Be Well

You already know I’m weird; but, as Elizabeth Barrett Browning said, “Let me count the ways….”

I’ve been trying to re-train my brain and body on the treadmill in an effort to improve my sense of balance that was impaired when I was in the hospital in February.

I can walk without holding on to the bars now – a big difference from when I started in June (I think) walking every morning for half an hour. I’ve increased my speed and I’m starting to tweak the incline %. The reason I say I’m weird is that I feel like I’m playing Mind Games.

Someone has gone to a great deal of trouble, time, and expense to provide videos on the treadmill screen you watch I guess to make the time pass more quickly or distract you from the fact you’re exercising. The videos are beautiful, shot in all different locations, made so you feel as if they are walking right there with you.

I’m probably more prone to react to the videos than others. I’m trying to figure out where the video was shot, trying to absorb the glorious views they provide, and more. They are leading me down various paths – some on city sidewalks, some deep in the woods, some on the beach…

Since I am walking without holding on to the bars, my brain reacts each time the location changes, or the path winds and turns, goes up stairways or hills. I find myself trying to mentally and physically avoid the rocks in the paths so I won’t fall on my head. I’m trying not to lose my balance as we go through a squeakily narrow place or are plunged into the darkness, or twist and turn. My brain and body react when the camera approaches a place where there is clearly no place to go, and THEN THEY KEEP GOING OFF THE EDGE WITH THE CAMERA!

The really good thing is I never get bored, even when the video is a repeat of one I’ve done before. I’m improving on looking ahead, rather than down at the path all the time, taking in what is BESIDE the path now. I’m learning not to panic when the camera angle changes, straightening out the path in my mind rather than grabbing the bar in knee-jerk fashion.

You would THINK I would be intelligent enough to remember that I am in a gym, walking on a treadmill, NOT in a forest, or walking off a cliff – but INSIDE this weird brain, I’m experiencing the places they’re taking me, holding my breath as I negotiate yet another several sets of steps built into the path, step over debris, around people, make another abrupt turn in the path that runs over a creek…

So, I admit I’m weird. And I’ll try to use that to my ADVANTAGE as I try to regain my stamina and my balance.

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