Learn to Love the Treadmill
I’ve been hearing this a lot lately (well, I hear it a lot every winter): “dreadmill session”, “mental block on the treadmill”, “struggled on the treadmill”, “forced to run on the dreadmill”, etc., etc., - you get the picture. And I get it too - the treadmill can be a really challenging setting to complete your run, especially a longer run. But it doesn’t have to be that way; it is actually possible to like (love) the treadmill. Here are a few tips on how to enjoy the treadmill more, along with some sample workout ideas to make the time go by faster.
Download a good playlist or podcast. Let’s start with the basics. Something like Much Dance 2000 or whatever playlist you love that you might not admit to loving - that’s your ticket. Crank the volume so you can’t hear yourself panting and zone in. Boom! Treadmill running is already fun!
Get creative with the workouts/incline. Running for 60 minutes (for example) on the treadmill is daunting, but if you only have 2 minutes to focus on, the time goes by quicker (obviously…because 2 minutes is less than 60 minutes!). So, rather than going into a treadmill session with a “60 minute run” on the plan, break it up into smaller chunks. Whether it’s a mix of fast running and slower running; running and walking; flat running and incline running; you name it - get creative. If you adjust the speed or inclination every few minutes, change your focus to just those few minutes at a time, rather than looking at the big picture 60 minute session. At the end of this blog, I offer some workout suggestions to get you going - keep reading!
Go with a friend! Even if you’re both plugged into headphones and doing your own workout, there’s something motivating about running beside a pal, knowing that you’re both grinding it out and putting in the hard work!
Go in with a plan! Nothing worse than starting your run on the treadmill without a plan. Those runs usually are the ones where we think we’ve been running for hours but somehow the timer suggests we’ve only been running for 4 minutes. Create an interval workout in your mind prior to stepping on the treadmill so you can sub-consciously mentally prepare for the work you’re about to put in.
Think of it as mental training. Take everything as an opportunity, right? During races, there will inevitably be portions where you test your mind’s strength, and we can strengthen our mind consciously by doing visualization exercises. A great example of a visualization activity (and an exercise on practicing positivity!) is to imagine yourself running on the treadmill. Imagine yourself having a great workout, running hard, feeling strong, and feeling accomplished for the rest of the day. Don’t imagine yourself dragging your feet, hating every moment of the session. Manifest what you want the outcome to be!
The treadmill is a great training tool - embrace it! Running on the treadmill is such a controlled environment so you can really use that to your advantage to maximize your training sessions. There’s no wind, no snow, no hills, it forces you to maintain a certain pace…it’s a machine asking for a science experiment! Sure, that’s not how we always want to train, but taking all the variables out of a training session can be really valuable sometimes to really work on pacework, running form (see next point), heart rate control, power control, etc.
Take it as an opportunity to focus on running form. Pick certain things to focus on, like running tall, powerful arm swings, strong core, etc. If you can, place a mirror in front of the treadmill so you can watch your form. This can be a great time to really hone in your running economy because there are no external variables to alter your stride (like wind, hills, snow, etc.).
And now for the fun part! Here are a few example workouts to try on the treadmill. I encourage you to get creative and make some of your own up. Let me know what you come up with! [‘ = minutes]
1/2/3/4/3/2/1’ effort on 1’ easy
2x10’ uphills
3-4x4’ on 2’ recovery
12x1’/1’
6/5/4/3/2/1’ on 2’ easy
2/4/6/4/2’ on half rest
5x3’ uphills (~8%) on 2’ easy/walk
Song workout: run for one whole song at a tempo pace, then run one whole song at an easy pace. Repeat until the playlist is over! (Or, ideally, after 6-8 songs/3-4 tempo songs)
Lastly: don’t forget to hydrate! With electrolytes too! Running on the treadmill is hard work and you often sweat a LOT. But then you carry on your day in the freezing cold winter so forget to hydrate. Try to be cognizant of hydrating throughout the rest of the day so you can wake up feeling like a million bucks to do the whole thing over again the next day :)