Stuck inside? learn to love the treadmill and make the time fly by, with these workouts
The treadmill is occasionally a necessary evil. Whatever the reason you’re stuck inside, you can still fit in a challenging workout and make the time pass quickly. View time on the treadmill as an opportunity to mix it up in a controlled environment–no traffic lights to pause at, icy patches of sidewalk to navigate, or unexpected weather blowing in. We have a few workouts to take you into beast mode if you need to run inside on one of your harder-effort days.
Treadmill running is a great opportunity to practice running with great form (think relaxed, smooth running), and, by adding some structure to your workout, that seemingly endless hour will fly by. If you’re not sure what your 10K or 5K race pace is, try running at what feels like a hard effort, but one that you can maintain throughout all of your intervals.
Classic intervals for a speedy boost
Warm up with 10 minutes easy running
6-10 x 4 minutes at 10K race pace, with 3 minutes easy running to recover
Cool down with 5–10 minutes easy running
Feel free to tweak this one if it seems too easy, shortening your recovery time to 2 minutes.
Fast hill workout
This workout is great for building speed and strength, and mimics a traditional workout of shorter hill repeats. If you’re new to hill repeats, start with a 4–5 per cent incline; more experienced runners can ramp it up to 6–8 per cent.
Warm up with 10 minutes easy running
6 x 60-90 seconds at 5K-10K pace with 2-3 minutes of recovery
If you choose the shorter sprints, aim for 5K pace, for the longer sprints aim for 10K pace
Cool down with 10 minutes easy running
The 3–2–1 workout
Warm up with 10 minutes easy running
3 minutes at 5K race pace, followed by 3 minutes easy running to recover
2 minutes at 5K race pace, followed by 2 minutes easy running
1 minute at 5K race pace, followed by 1 minute easy running
Repeat the entire workout twice (except the warmup)
Cool down with 10 minutes easy running
Add another repeat of this workout if you’re an experienced runner and can maintain your hard effort throughout.
Follow a hard workout day with an easy running or recovery day, and hydrate well.
posted Monday December 5th
by Keeley Milne