Are your roads covered in ice and snow? Try this treadmill speed workout

Running in the winter can be a challenge, but trying to do speedwork when the roads are covered in ice and snow is nearly impossible. As much most of us would prefer to run outdoors as much as possible, when the winter weather hits and you’ve got some speedwork on the menu, sometimes heading indoors is your only option. If the weather is forcing you inside, try this treadmill workout to keep your training on track.

The workout

Treadmill running can be quite dull, especially when you’re just steadily running mile after mile. Doing some structured speedwork instead can help break up the monotony and keep things interesting to take the drudgery out of treadmill running.

For many runners, the most difficult part about hitting the ‘mill is figuring out your speed, especially if you do most of your outdoor running by feel instead of tracking your pace with a GPS watch. This may take a bit of trial and error, so if you can, do a practice session in advance of the workout to play around with different speeds so you can figure out what works best for you. When you do this, try to establish what your easy pace should be, as well as your tempo pace and your top-end interval speed.

Warmup: 10-15 minutes easy jog

Workout: 2-3 x (3 min fast/3 min recovery//2 min fast/2 min recovery//1 min fast/1min recovery)

Cooldown: 10-15 minutes easy jog

*Note: if you’re relatively new to running, shorten the warmup to 5-10 minutes, and only do two sets. Advanced runners can add more sets if they wish.

posted Monday January 3rd
by Brittany Hambleton