Your typical winter day may bring howling winds, below zero temperatures, and icy roads. This presents many hurdles for athletes training through these conditions. Due to seasonal challenges, your run choices may be limited to running indoors or not running at all. Treadmill running can be an excellent way for an athlete to maintain and improve run fitness during cold months; much like your bike trainer allows you to improve bike fitness. The key to treadmill sessions is to make them have a purpose; simply running mindlessly is not a good way to maximize your time on the treadmill. Treadmill workouts can be broken down into three categories; strength, speed, and form. Another challenge for a treadmill athlete is boredom that may come along with essentially running in place for long periods of time. Use these fun and friendly workouts the next time you find yourself stuck indoors.
Strength Workouts- These workouts will focus on developing the ability to overcome resistance.
Progressive Hills
15 minute warm up
Then run at zone 2 pace, begin at 1% incline and increase the incline by 1% every 1/4 mile or 400 meters. After you reach your treadmill maximum incline begin to decrease the incline by 1% every 1/4 mile or 400 meters until you reach 0% incline.
Finish the session with 5 minutes of easy jogging.
Rolling Hills
15 minute warm up. Do the following set 5-8 times.
Set: 2 minutes @ 6 % incline, run at 70-80% of threshold
1-minute recovery @ easy jog, no incline
1 minute @ 7% incline, run at 70-80% threshold
2 minutes @ easy jogging, no incline
Finish the workout with a 5-10 minute easy jogging.
Form Workouts – These workouts will help you develop proper form and become a more efficient runner.
Cadence focused intervals
15 minute warm up. Run for 30 minutes at 75% of threshold. Your goal is to consistently monitor your cadence throughout the main set. Count your right foot steps in a 15 second time frame. Do this each minute. Your goal should be to have 22 or more right foot steps in 15 seconds. This would indicate a cadence of 88+. Finish the workout with a 5 minute easy jog.
Speed Workouts – These workouts will help you develop good foot speed.
Fast to Faster
15 minute warm up include 3 x: 20 of some fast paced surges. Do this set 3-5 times.
¼ mile as easy jog
¼ mile as tempo pace (around half marathon pace)
¼ mile as faster than 5k pace
5 minutes cool down easy running
Broken 8 minute intervals
15 minute warm up then do 5 x 8 minutes as follows:
#1 2 min @ 75% of threshold, 4 min @ 85% threshold, 2 min @ 90% threshold
#2 1 min @ 75%, 5 min @85%, 2 min @ 90%
#3 3 min @ 75%, 4 min @ 85%, 1 min @ 90%
#4 1 min @ 75%, 3 min @ 85%, 4 min @ 90%
#5 2 min @ 75%, 2 min @85 %, 4 min @ 90%
Finish the run with 5 min of easy jogging.