It’s just a tool!
The dreadmill. The deadmill. Love it or hate it. Sometimes when it gets dark and cold and slippery out we all end up on the treadmill. It’s not uncommon for people to have personal treadmills in their houses, but usually we are going to a club or gym to use a public access treadmill.
At the risk of writing an article that everyone else has already written, let me give you my tips on treadmill usage. It’s timely and you can use what you like and discard the rest.
If you google this topic you will find that it is covered extensively in the blogosphere. They will talk about how a treadmill is a safe, predictable and convenient alternative to battling the elements. They will tell you to watch your form, dress properly, warm up well and whatever you do “Don’t hold the hand rails.”
I’m going to try to come at it from a slightly different angle. I’ve trained on different treadmills all over the world. When I say trained I mean speed work, temp runs and long runs. Love them or hate them, the dreadmill is just another tool to become proficient with. It’s another one of those things that you have to approach with ‘the beginners mind’ and learn from it what you can.
First thing to understand is that it’s perfectly ok and useful to do some workouts on the treadmill. There’s nothing wrong or bad with running on the treadmill. Go ahead. Run. It’s ok.
Much of the discomfort or reticence we have around treadmills is in our heads. If you figure out some basic strategies you can roll those treadmill workouts seamlessly into your training.
The second important thing to remember is that the treadmill is different than running outside. Not bad. Different.
What’s different?
The motion of your running is slightly different on the treadmill than the motion of your running on the road. It’s probably most similar to running on a track, a bit similar to running on the road and not at all similar to running on a trail. When you first transition to the treadmill you may find the running difficult or be sore in weird places because the motion is different.
Tip #1: Be careful when you transition. Take it easy if you’ve never run on the treadmill before or you haven’t run in a while. Back off a bit and make sure you warm up well. Just because there’s a snow storm clogging the roads doesn’t give you license to hurt yourself. Don’t make a bad decision in your enthusiasm.
Tip #2: Focus on form. One of the things the treadmill is really good for is working on your form. You can slow it down and really concentrate on how your feet are hitting the deck and how your posture is. In many gyms they have mirrors and you can actually watch your form. You can also video your form and share with your coach.
One of the tricks I use to practice form is to run in my socks and slow it way down. This way I can get the proprioception of my feet hitting and grabbing the deck. The treadmill deck is more forgiving than the road so it’s a safe place to do this.
Another thing you can do is practice different cadences with your form. You have a clock right in front of you so you can simply count the foot strikes for 15 or 30 seconds and get an exact answer.
Tip #3: You don’t have to watch Fox News. One of the things I hate in my life is that there are TV monitors hung everywhere I go blaring some stupid crap I don’t want to watch. One option people don’t realize is that you can switch them off. Seriously. I will ask anyone there “Are you watching this?” And typically they’ll say ‘No’. If you reach behind the TV there’s a power button you can press to turn the whole works off.
People will be shocked at your chutzpah but it’s simple. The next people who come in won’t think to switch it on either, they’ll just assume it’s broken. By the way – you can usually do the same thing with the lights. Gyms, by and large, have horrible florescent or incandescent lighting systems. Sometimes you can switch a bank of lights off and it won’t harsh your mellow as much.
Tip #4: Treadmills are all different in the way they are programmed and we typically don’t get the user manual but they are usually programmable. This makes them great for doing set workouts, like intervals. Typically one of the menu options is “Custom Workout” or “Custom Intervals”. If you can figure out how to use this you can have it change paces automatically to pull you through the workout or at least be able to press one button to switch from run speed to jog speed.
Tip #5: Figure out your speed and pace conversion before you start running. Before you get on start the thing and speed it up to the various paces you intend to use so you know what the display is going to look like and what the miles per hour or Kilometers per hour conversions are for your paces. This will save you from having to figure out what a 7 minute mile is in the middle of a work out.
Tip#6: Do a crushing long hill workout. Treadmills typically can’t mimic downhill, but they do a great job of mimicking up hills. When I was training for the Mt. Washington Road Race I did a workout where I set the elevation as high as it would go and then varied the pace to try and keep up. Sure the paces I was ‘running’ were embarrassingly slow, but my legs thanked me for it when I got out on the hills. There are few places in real life where you can find a 30-40 minute continuous uphill but the treadmill does it no problem.
Tip #7: You don’t want to fight other people for the treadmills in the gym. The best times to go are super early in the morning, 10:00 in the morning, 3:00 in the afternoon and late at night. These are the off peak hours and you can focus on your workouts without having to deal with some yahoo watching the Real Housewives at full volume. You can make a deal with your boss to take an early or late lunch and it will save everyone time in the long run.
Tip #8: Every treadmill is different. Run by effort if something feels off and you can’t maintain your pace. After a while most runners will find the treadmill running is easier than outdoors running effort-wise. Most runners will default the elevation to 1.0 to make it equivalent.
But, when you first transition or if you’re in a strange place you may find that the paces on the display don’t correspond at all to what you are felling effort wise. If it feels weird the treadmill could be broken or poorly calibrated. Sometimes the gyms will scrimp on the maintenance and the poor machine will be within an inch of its life. If it doesn’t make sense, just throw a towel over the display and run by feel.
That’s it. Don’t fret over the treadmill. It’s just another tool like a pair of shoes. It’s not going to make you or break you. Figure out how to take your emotions out of the relationship and use it for the things it is good for. The treadmill can be a useful part of your training.