Treadmills didn’t come easily to their present-day status. Nearly twenty years ago, they were considered tinny, cheap, noisy contraptions that cluttered up a basement and didn’t serve much purpose. I didn’t know any serious runners who owned one.
And if you did, you didn’t admit it. The ethic of distance running virtually demanded that you run outdoors, no matter what the conditions. It was supposed to, among other things, put us in touch with our roots. No roofs overhead for the dedicated runner.
Fortunately, that attitude has largely changed. Just as cross-training doesn’t make us less of a runner, neither does treadmill running. The advantages of working out on a treadmill, especially from a safety perspective, are too obvious to list. (The day before writing these lines, I heard of a well-known Canadian runner seriously injured when he was hit by a snowplow while running.)
Of course, once you buy a treadmill or decide to use one at a health club, you still have to figure out what workouts are best suited to the treadmill. This chapter should help.
Back in 1980 Benji Durden had a secret. The soon-to-be Olympic marathoner was sneaking over to the exercise physiology lab at Georgia Tech University in Atlanta to do workouts on a treadmill. “I didn’t tell other runners I was using a treadmill,” recalls Durden. “They would have thought that I was strange. Heck, even the lab guys thought that I was a little nuts.”
Today, however, thousands of runners are doing their hills and speedwork on treadmills, instead of on the roads or track. Still, two basic questions keep popping up, mostly from first-time users. Why should I use a treadmill, and how do I use a treadmill? Some coaches, fitness directors, and some of the world’s fastest treadmill trainers provided answers.
Are you one of those runners who thinks treadmills are only good for rainy days? Well, running on a treadmill offers other training benefits you may not be able to get on the roads. There are many reasons to consider using a treadmill.
Cold. It’s January in Michigan, and the scenery looks like outtakes from Ice Station Zebra. So you head to the rec room, pop a National Geographic special about the Fiji Islands into the VCR, then step on your treadmill for a six-mile run.
This is the most obvious reason to use a treadmill. Severe winter weather not only can make it tough to train outside, but also can be dangerous. You probably know someone who prided himself on running every winter day, no matter how miserable the weather was—that is, until he hit an ice patch and ended up on the injured list for two months. “I don’t mind the cold too much,” says Minnesota’s Bob Kempainen, a 1992 Olympic marathoner. “But if it’s slippery, I’ll get my 10-mile run in on a treadmill. Why risk it?”
Heat. Severe heat is another reason to hightail it to the health club or wherever there’s a treadmill inside. Masters runner Carol McLatchie, who lives in Houston, where you can melt your outsoles during the summer, has her treadmill on the back porch next to an air conditioner. She does several summer workouts a week there. “The air conditioner is just a small window unit,” she says. “It gets the temperature down to 80 degrees. But that’s a lot better than the 95 degrees outside.”
Job. Job restraints present other reasons why many train on a treadmill. Sometimes a quick 30-minute run on the company treadmill at lunch is the only way to fit in a workout between meetings. Durden, who coaches several runners by fax and phone, remembers a particularly busy month when he lived on the treadmill in his office. “I did 23 days in a row on a treadmill,” he says. “I was afraid that if I went out on a long run I’d miss a lot of calls. It was either that or take a cellular phone with me. And I didn’t know how well the cellular phone would work when it got all hot and sweaty.”
Precise pace. World-class masters miler Ken Sparks, Ph.D., an exercise physiologist at Cleveland State University, likes treadmills because they’re precise. “They give you a much more evenly paced workout than running on a track,” he says. “For instance, if you’re doing 400-meter repeats on a track in 90 seconds, you might run the first 200 in 43 seconds and the second in 47. On a treadmill, you can’t do that. Each 200 will be exactly 45 seconds.”
Budd Coates, health promotions manager at Rodale Inc. in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, and four-time Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier, recalls an evening workout done on a treadmill while watching his baby daughter. “I didn’t get a chance to run during the day because of work,” says Coates, a 2:13 marathoner. “So I brought my daughter in and sat her down next to the treadmill. And the rhythmic sound of me pounding on the treadmill put her to sleep.” (Coates, however, cautions parents: “The belt of a treadmill is like a spoke on a wheel. It’s a temptation for kids to put their fingers and hands in there, so be careful.”)
Hills. Hill workouts are a special feature of treadmill running for McLatchie and 2:34-marathoner Joy Smith, Houston denizens who otherwise would have to drive 90 minutes to find an incline made by Mother Nature. Even Durden, a Colorado resident, prefers to run hills on a treadmill.
“You can duplicate your hill sessions from week to week almost perfectly,” says Durden. “If you want to do a two percent grade and a one percent recovery, you just punch some buttons. It’s very precise and easy to do.”
Race-course workouts. Computerized treadmills come with built-in programs that can take you up and down hills or increase the pace and slow the pace during your run. They also let you program your own courses.
Colorado’s Matt Carpenter has trained on his treadmill to get ready for the Mount Washington Road Race in New Hampshire. Carpenter programs in the exact grade of the ascent and sets the pace at slightly faster than the course record. One year, Carpenter won the race but missed the record by 33 seconds on a day when rain made the footing slick. “You can’t put mud on a treadmill,” he says with a shrug.
McLatchie and Smith ran up and down hills before the 1992 Boston Marathon at precisely the grade and length of the Newton Hills, including Heartbreak Hill. Ditto for the U.S. Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials. Even though the Trials were held in Houston, McLatchie and Smith didn’t want to beat themselves up running the mostly concrete course several times before the actual race. So they programmed their treadmills with the last 6 miles of the race, where freeway ramps provide the only hills on the course.
“We ran that workout on the treadmill once a week for three months before the Trials,” says McLatchie. “We would run outside to fatigue our legs, then hit the treadmill for the six-mile program. During the actual race, we felt that our legs knew those hills.”
Avoiding the lonely road. Finally, treadmills come in handy for beginning runners and those who don’t appreciate the loneliness of the long-distance runner.
“The treadmill, especially one in a fitness center or health club, provides a comfort because instead of venturing out on your own, you’re surrounded by a room full of people,” says Scott Kinzer, manager of several fitness centers for Procter and Gamble in Cincinnati. Similarly, treadmills are useful for runners who are wary of a solitary jog through the park.
World-class Masters miler Ken Sparks recommends treadmill training to come back from injuries or avoid them altogether. “First of all, there’s less pounding of the legs on a treadmill than on the roads,” says Sparks. “That’s because the treadmill belt gives when you land on it, unlike concrete and asphalt. Second, there’s no side-to-side slope on a treadmill as there is on roads. That slope forces you to overpronate (your feet rotate too far inward on impact) and can lead to shinsplints, Achilles tendinitis, and knee problems. And third, on a treadmill, there’s no lateral pressure on your knees and ankles as there would be if you were running around a track, and lateral pressure can lead to injuries.”
Like a new pair of running shoes, a treadmill needs to be broken in—or, rather, you need to be broken in to the treadmill. “The first few times on a treadmill, start off slower than you think you should,” says Durden. “You need to get accustomed to it so that you don’t feel awkward or as though you’re going to fall off.”
Adds Smith, “You don’t just do a 12-mile runon it right away. You need to get used to the rhythm of the treadmill. Most runners can get used to it fairly quickly, but for some, it’s pretty tricky.”
Take McLatchie’s husband, Jim, for example. “Jim has been periodically banned from the McLatchie treadmill,” says Carol with a laugh. “He just can’t get the hang of it. He keeps falling off it and getting beat up. One time he fell off and was lying half-stunned, pressed against the wall, while the belt was whipping around and thumping on his leg. Finally, he reached over and unplugged it.”
That’s an extreme-case scenario. In reality, learning to run on a treadmill is like learning to ride a bike. Once you get the hang of it, it’s easy.
Still, there are other things that you need to know about treadmills. “When I’m on the treadmill, I always have this feeling that I’m going faster than on the roads,” says McLatchie. “I just don’t have the visual cues, like scenery going by, and that throws me off a bit. Another sensation is that when I stop, my equilibrium is off. Something is still moving. It’s like I was out at sea, and now I’m on land again. I have sea legs for a few minutes. But you get used to those things.”
Here are some other ways to make treadmills enjoyable and worthwhile.
Overcome monotony. The monotony of treadmill training is a big complaint among runners. And dedicated treadmill trainers won’t argue with you on that point. Instead, they’ll tell you how they’ve gotten around it. World-class marathoner Ken Martin blasts music on his stereo system while on his treadmill. Durden watches videotapes from previous Olympics. McLatchie’s treadmill is next to a window that looks out on her backyard. Smith has a full-length mirror in front of her treadmill so that she can monitor her running form.
Another option is to schedule your treadmill sessions for peak hours at the health club—so you can socialize, or at least have something to look at. (But be aware that most health clubs have a time limit on treadmills, usually 20 to 30 minutes.) No matter where you are on a treadmill, don’t look at your watch. “If I look at my watch, time seems to go real slow on a treadmill,” says Carpenter.
There’s one surefire way of avoiding monotony on a treadmill. You simply take your cue from Peter O’Toole in Lawrence of Arabia, who, after putting out a match between his fingers, explained that “the trick is not minding.” And how do you not mind a treadmill workout? Throw in a little pain.
“I never get bored on my treadmill,” says Sparks, who treadmill trains alongside garden hoses, rakes, and shovels in his garage. “That’s because I know that when I step on my treadmill, I’m going to be doing an intense speed workout.”
Similarly, marathoner Don Janicki’s treadmill sits isolated in his basement. “I know that when I’m going down there, it’s going to be a tough workout,” he says. “I actually look forward to it.”
You can do practically any outside workout inside on a treadmill. Prior to his 2:09:38 second-place finish at the 1989 New York City Marathon, Martin logged all his long runs on a treadmill. “I’d just get into a nice rhythm and stay controlled,” he says. “I also thought it was good because I had my drinks right there beside me, so I didn’t have to stop to drink, and I could practice drinking on the run.”
But Martin’s may be a special case. Many runners can’t tolerate a two-hour easy run going nowhere. Other workouts, such as tempo runs, hills, speedwork, and specially designed racecourse sessions, are more suited to the treadmill. Says British distance coach Brian Scobie, echoing Sparks and Janicki, “It’s much easier to get through a workout on a treadmill simply by structuring it.”
Run efficiently. Durden still remembers a structured tempo workout he did on a treadmill in 1980. “It was at a lab in Missoula, Montana, where they were testing shoes for Nike,” he says. “In two days, I ran 14 workouts of eight minutes in length at a five-minute pace. I was extremely efficient on the treadmill. And two weeks later, I made the Olympic Team in the marathon.”
Smith often covers 10 to 12 miles on her treadmill, but she breaks up the monotony by throwing in two or three two-mile tempo runs (runs that start easy, build up to a steady speed, and then finish at an easy pace).
Coates likes to set the treadmill at a five-minute pace and cruise for 15 to 25 minutes. “It’s actually kind of relaxing,” he says. “You don’t have to check your splits, and you don’t have to concentrate on keeping your pace. Because if you don’t go at a five-minute pace, you’re off the back of the treadmill.”
Make speedwork count. Sparks has been running speed sessions on a treadmill since the late 1960s, when he was a graduate student under David L. Costill, Ph.D., director of the Human Performance Laboratory at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. “I didn’t have much time back then, and some of my workouts would actually be jumping on a treadmill and running a four-minute mile, then jumping off,” he says.
Nowadays, on his homemade treadmill, Sparks clicks off 63-second quarter-miles with a one-minute jog in between. But don’t try this at home—or at the health club. Most treadmills won’t go faster than a 75-seconds-per-quarter-mile pace.
Therefore, you might want to limit your speed sessions on a treadmill to longer repeats, say, 800s or miles.
Choose your hill workouts. “Treadmills can really give you quite a workout,” says Janicki, who does hill sessions on his treadmill. Most treadmills allow you to raise and lower the incline for both uphill and downhill running. You can very easily change the slope for short, steep repeats or set it at a particular grade for a long, steady climb. Also, many treadmills come with charts that convert miles per hour to mile pace at certain uphill grades, so you can determine your effort at different treadmill inclines.
A dirty, little secret: I’ve never done a long run on a treadmill. I think that 40 minutes is about my record. I’m sure that I could go much longer, but I just don’t have the inclination. For long runs I’ll still take the outdoors, even the frigid, icy streets outdoors. I just slow down. I’ll go as slow as it takes to make the run feel safe.
Otherwise, I’ve grown totally addicted to treadmill running. Oftentimes, I find myself running on the treadmill on days when it would be perfectly easy to run outdoors. Why?
Because I like “going for the burn” on a treadmill. I do interval training—fast/slow running. Or I do 10 to 12 minutes of treadmill running, then an equal time on a stationary bike, then more running (or weight lifting or rowing or stair climbing). I enjoy the variety. I like exercising one part of my body for a while, and then another part. I keep running at the center of the workout but explore other possibilities.
My fast treadmill running serves a purpose, too. It helps me hold on to my leg speed. During the winter I don’t do much (or any) fast running outdoors. So a few bursts of speedy running on the treadmill keep me in touch with faster running.