Two Laps - First Edition
Updated: Jan 17, 2020
Old Man Winter has arrived - here we come treadmills
Many of us are settling indoors with the coldest month on average, January, setting in. Trying to keep pace with our running schedules or desires, can become just as difficult as tip toeing around those large pools of ice, coated with a dusting of snow. As a result, many of us turn to treadmills to keep pace with our runs and workouts. A treadmill can be just as challenging as the conditions Old Man Winter brings in many ways. For example, keeping your sanity while staring at a workout screen that keeps your pace and time, but seems to get slower and slower at keeping track of both with time, while your internal heat cranks up like an oven. Despite, the mental and physical challenges, running on a treadmill is the better option at times during the winter to hit desired times and efforts. Here are a few ideas to help fight boredom and monotony, while getting in a strong workout, and continuing to stack those bricks.
1. Vary your incline - sticking to 0.0 for the duration of your run will use the same muscles foot strike after foot strike. Moving the incline both up and down (if you can) promotes other small and large muscles to be used. The greater the incline, the greater the size of the hill, or climb. Hills promote strength, deepen our cardiovascular engine, and improve our running mechanics.
2. Vary your speeds - utilize slow, medium, and fast speeds during a run. When we run a distance race, we use all of these speeds. Depending on the length, some more than others. In order to run a complete race and be able to run all these speeds at any given time for any given length, we must practice it.
3. Snowball it - a progression run or "snowball" is one that requires us to get faster as the workout progresses. The biggest benefit of starting slower and ending faster is, race execution. The best execution for a race (even sprinting) requires an equally strong, if not stronger, second half.
Here is an example workout Coach Pooley did on a treadmill that hits all three suggestions, incline variation, speed variation, and progression.
-15 min warm up
-9 x Progressive 2:00 on @ incline 4.0 x 1:00 recovery @ incline -2.0
1st 2:00 on - 6:27 ppm, 9.3 speed x 1:00 recovery @ 7:30 ppm, speed 8.0
2nd 2:00 on - 6:22 ppm, 9.4 speed x 1:00 recovery @ 7:30 ppm, speed 8.0
3rd 2:00 on - 6:18 ppm, 9.5 speed x 1:00 recovery @ 7:30 ppm, speed 8.0
4th 2:00 on - 6:15 ppm, 9.6 speed x 1:00 recovery @ 7:30 ppm, speed 8.0
5th 2:00 on - 6:11 ppm, 9.7 speed x 1:00 recovery @ 7:30 ppm, speed 8.0
6th 2:00 on - 6:07 ppm, 9.8 speed x 1:00 recovery @ 7:30 ppm, speed 8.0
7th 2:00 on - 6:03 ppm, 9.9 speed x 1:00 recovery @ 7:30 ppm, speed 8.0
8th 2:00 on - 6:00 ppm, 10.0 speed x 1:00 recovery @ 7:30 ppm, speed 8.0
9th 2:00 on - 5:56 ppm, 10.1 speed x 1:00 recovery @ 7:30 ppm, speed 8.0
-5 min cool down
-50 mins total & 7 miles
PS: I thought I did eight reps and not nine. I blame that missing round number 10th rep on lack of sleep!
Happy Running! Keep stacking those bricks. ~Coach Pooley
