Treadmill Tips

Treadmills are tough, I’ve yet to meet a runner who loves getting their run in on the treadmill…other than our store manager Patrick, that is. I thought I’d put together some tips to help you get that treadmill run done.

Just get to it

We all know how it goes. You’ve got to get a run in and the weathers crummy or the light has faded. You’ll have to hit the mill and you’re dreading it. Just like any other run it’s important to just get to it. Wasting time is not going to help. The first step is the hardest, so go on and take it. Set a goal in your mind whether it’s running for a set amount of time or covering a certain distance. Know that when you hit that mark you can shut her down.

Change the Pace

A lot of people run into trouble on the treadmill because it can be boring and repetitive. If you’re logging a 20 miler on the treadmill at the same speed for 4 hours you’re going to be bored, lets face it. However, if you take that same run and break it into chunks and mix up the pace you may find yourself having some fun! Ok well as much fun as you can on the treadmill…Mixing up the pace is a great way to take your mind off of the monotony of running miles on the mill and it can help build speed and quickness as well. Maybe if you know you’re stuck on the treadmill you run an interval session instead, plan on doing 4 x 1Mile with 2 mile warmup and cool down or something along those lines.

Change the Elevation

Have you seen these treadmills that mimic race conditions? You can plug in which marathon course you want to run and the treadmill will go up or down to simulate the course conditions. Pretty cool huh?! You can do this as well if you want to mix up your workout on the treadmill. Changing the elevation makes the workout a little tougher and allows you to simulate running outside a bit better. If you really want to do some research you can also mimic a certain course set up by looking at the elevation charts. I’m more of a quick-start kind of guy, but in order to simulate wind resistance of running outside folks suggest putting the treadmill up to 1% grade.

Distract yourself

Now I’m a huge fan of this. I’ve got playlists and podcasts set up for the slog on the treadmill. I’ll sometimes even prop myself up in front of the TV throw on a movie or an episode of Fixer Upper and log some miles. Most of the time I preach awareness of your surroundings but sometimes you’ve got to just let your mind drift especially when you’re forced to log those miles on the mill. Whats your favorite thing to do when running on the treadmill? Are you a music person? Movie person? Do you just stare at the display watching the miles tick by?

Don’t worry about those around you

When you’re stuck running miles at the gym you’ll see folks crushing weights, hitting up the stationary bike, the elliptical and even those goofy stair climbers. The best thing you can do is ignore them and focus on what you’re trying to accomplish. Every run has a purpose and you've set your intention, checking out what those folks are doing isn’t going to help you out at all.

Just do you.

Cheers,

Coach E