Reading on the Treadmill

Hey friends, I’ve had  a ton of questions about how I run and read on the treadmill at the same time. I thought it would be kind of fun to do a post about how I do it, and some quick tips that make it easier for me to do that!

Here’s a quick back story on how I started to run and read at the same time. I was chatting with a co-worker at the clinic I work at, and she said that she walked on the treadmill and read books at the same time. Well… at the time I was pregnant with my daughter and feeling HUGELY unmotivated, but knew how great it made me feel and good for the baby’s health…. so I decided to give it a try. And voila!! I now love doing this because it feels really productive, and also passes the time feor me so fast.

Here’s a couple supplies that make this so much easier:

• Clothesline pins (1 or 2)
• Towel
• Reading glasses, or large print books
• Patience!

I knew off the hop that I would need some sort of aid to help me keep the book open. I first started with elastic bands, paper clips, and then moved on to the clothesline pins and they are definitely the best!

I use the towel to sort of cradle my book so it doesn’t go flying off the treadmill. I’ve tried it without the towel, and it is a mess. The book slides down on one side, or slowly starts to close, so the towel is my best option!

And the reading glasses or large print books are a great place to start trying to read and exercise at the same time. Most people tell me that they can’t read and exercise at the same time because they keep losing their place or the words get all jumbled up. The glasses or large print makes it SO much easier to follow along.

Patience. This is key! If you are wanting to start reading while exercising, you may have to slow down a bit in the beginning. I for sure did, and at first I was kind of annoyed that my pace had slowed, but the time flew by so fast that it didn’t really matter to me after awhile. As time went by, I slowly increased my speed by small increments and before I knew it my pace was back to normal.