Why you should save cardio for the end of your workout (or not drink water while you're on the treadmill)

I always run on the elliptical when I'm finished with my workout. Saturday morning, though, K and I went to the gym, and we did the treadmill for a warm-up.

Last night, I decided to run on the treadmill for the cardio portion of my workout. So tonight, I decided to beat last night's run. I was on track to beat it when I started feeling thirsty. Both Saturday and last night, I took a drink while I was running on the treadmill. It wasn't easy, but I had done it just fine.

I still had a good amount left in my running, so I grabbed my water bottle, unscrewed the lid and tried my best not to spill it all over myself as I drank and ran simultaneously. Somehow, though, the water didn't quite go all the way down my throat or in the right tube. I could feel myself choking, so I tried to figure out my next move.

I could hit the red emergency "STOP" button on the treadmill, but I'm not sure how that works. Does the treadmill immediately stop? Should I stop running as soon as I hit it? Or does it slow down? If I do stop running but the treadmill doesn't immediately stop, that would be bad.

Maybe I could lift myself up to stand on the sides of the treadmill that don't move. Only I had the water bottle in my hand. I needed both hands to do that. I needed a different solution.

I tried to hit the stop button and exit the back of the treadmill. But I was on the Woodway treadmill -- the ones with the cusioned treads. I started to trip, and I tried to catch myself. After several surely ungraceful attempts to not trip, I finally fell off the side of the treadmill. I didn't fall on my face or anything, though, and I jumped up quickly to do a damage survey.

No one was directly behind me, but two rows behind me and a couple treadmills over was this older man who had definitely seen my tumble. Next to him was a girl around my age who looked away after I stood up. I couldn't tell whether she'd seen me or not. Her face didn't hold the expression of a person trying very hard to hold back either laughter or concern. The man looked at me, somewhat shocked and unsure what to do.

"I'm okay," I mouthed. I smiled and held a finger to my lips as a joke to pretend nothing had happened.

A few treadmills down from me was this woman who looked to be in her late 30s or early 40s. "Are you okay?" she asked incredulously.

"I'm fine, thanks."

At that point, I looked down at my hands. They were really scratched up and bleeding. I guess in my final attempts to save myself as I was falling, I got my hand between the treadmill and the side. I left the treadmill and headed to the front desk, where I asked an employee for a Band-Aid.

I went back to the women's locker room and cleaned off my hands. I noticed I had lost a little bit of skin on my shin as well, but not bad, really. Both shins were slightly black from the rubber of the treadmill.

I had planned on going back out to finish my cardio. Part of me wanted to do it to show I was tough and could take a fall like that. I didn't need to run out of the gym like a dog with its tail between its legs. I'm hardcore, dang it! A little fall wouldn't get in the way of my cardio!

But I decided I should probably get home and clean my hand with peroxide. I didn't know how long it would take to stop bleeding. Still, I was kind of embarassed to be walking out of the gym. The people who'd just seen my tumultuous fall might see me leaving like a total loser. I held my head high, though, as I walked out, and I laughed at myself.

The good news is it doesn't hurt (my hand or my pride). I do have some vicious-looking scratches, though (on my hand, not my pride).




























The coolest part is that even though I probably looked very ungraceful and like a total klutz, through all that -- the choking, the trying to figure out what to do, the hitting of the emergency stop button, trying to catch myself about 50 times, falling and finally jumping up -- I didn't even spill my water.