Treadmill training tips and workouts – when it’s too hot to run outside
Runners will often turn to the treadmill during the winter, but with a heat wave suffocating large parts of Canada right now, many are jumping on the ‘mill. Here are some treadmill training tips and two killer workouts from two-time Canadian marathon champion Matt McInnes.
Runners will often turn to the treadmill during the winter, but with a heat wave suffocating large parts of Canada right now, many are jumping on the ‘mill to avoid the sticky, uncomfortable conditions outdoors.
To help you get the most of your hot-weather treadmill running, here are some treadmill training tips and two killer workouts from two-time Canadian marathon champion Matt McInnes.
Top 5 Treadmill Training Tips
- The treadmill offers great footing and reliable “weather,” allowing you to run as hard and as fast as you want.
- Eliminate treadmill tedium by varying the pace, incline and effort.
- There are lots of bells and whistles on treadmills: Ignore the calories, watts and other extraneous details and focus instead on just two variables: pace and incline.
- To account for the lack of wind resistance indoors, set the incline at 1% to match the equivalent pace on flat ground outdoors.
- A good rule of thumb: Each time you increase the incline by 1%, the effective pace feels about 10 seconds per kilometre faster.
2 Tremendous Treadmill Workouts by Matt McInnes
Start and finish each workout with your usual warmup (for example: 20-minute jog and strides) and cool-down (15-minute easy jog).
The Ripsnorter
Why is it called the Ripsnorter? At the end of it you’ll be breathing out of your left ear!
- With the incline set a 1%, start at the pace of a typical moderate run (for example 6 min./km for a 50-minute 10K runner).
- Ramp up the incline to 9% (which will now feel like 4:40/km) for 1 minute.
- Adjust the incline back down to 1% for 1 minute.
- Repeat this 10 times.
- You can experiment with different paces and repetitions, but it’s a good way to simulate a series of 400m repeats on the track.
The Frog in a Pot of Boiling Water
By the end of this workout, you’ll be running at a pace that you would not have thought possible from a cold start.
- Start the pace of a typical moderate run.
- Increase your pace by 0.5km/hr. every 2 minutes (or 0.3 miles/hr. if your treadmill pace is set in miles).
- How long is the workout? You decide. An appropriate starting pace will allow you to get to 20 minutes without significant exertion.
- You’re unlikely to last longer than 30 minutes. Unlike frogs, humans eventually jump out of the pot.
Portions of this article appeared in the Nov/Dec 2009 issue of Canadian Running.
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