Whenever anyone used to mention a treadmill workout, I would get the urge to curl up in bed and go to sleep. However, treadmill runs don’t need to be dreaded or boring. In fact, running on the treadmill can be a nice supplement to outdoor winter running, which can be slow because of snowy and icy road conditions. One or two treadmill workouts a week can help maintain fitness levels through the winter months.

Ideally, you should have some idea of what you will do BEFORE you get to the gym. Proactively planning your workout will keep you from painfully slogging through two miles before surrendering to the sofa.

If you have:

20 minutes – Warm up for five minutes with a walk/run combination on a 1 incline. Then increase speed to comfortably hard pace (slightly slower than 10K race pace) for five minutes while increasing incline to 2. At 10 minutes, increase speed 0.5 to 1.0 mph and incline to 3. At 15 minutes, increase the incline to 4. Then cool down for three minutes.

Example:

0-5 minutes – 4.5 mph, 1 incline

5-10 minutes – 7 mph, 2 incline

10-15 minutes – 7.5 mph, 3 incline

15-17 minutes – 7.5 mph, 4 incline

17-20 minutes – 4.5 mph, 1 incline

30 minutes – Warm up for five minutes with walk/run combination. I usually set the incline on a 1 or 2 and leave it alone. Increase speed to a comfortable pace that you can sustain easily for at least 30 minutes. After five minutes, increase speed by 1.0 mph. After five more minutes, slow down by 0.5 mph. Repeat the pattern of speeding up by 1.0 mph for five minutes and then slowing down by 0.5 mph for five minutes until you are ready for a cool down. Sometimes I throw in a surge right at the end, but only for one or two minutes.

Example:

0-5 minutes – 4.5 mph, 1 incline

5-10 minutes – 6.0 mph, 1 incline

10-15 minutes – 7.0 mph, 1 incline

15-20 minutes – 6.5 mph, 1 incline

20-25 minutes – 7.5 mph, 1 incline

25-27 minutes – 7.7 mph, 1 incline

27-30 minutes – 4.5 mph, 1 incline

And ladies, in case you need a little extra motivation during the holiday season, a new magazine for women runners will make its debut in January 2009. The St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Women’s Running used to be Her Sports + Fitness before it was re-branded to focus specifically on running.

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Leslie Patton
I moved to the Chicago area about two months ago to start graduate school at Northwestern. So far, so good. More