Surprisingly Enjoyable Long Treadmill Run

by Megan

Hello readers! 

I hope you're managing to stay warm despite our frigid temps outside. I have decided to run the Eau Claire Half Marathon this May, which is the first half I've run since I was pregnant with my oldest child back in 2015, so I'm very excited and a little nervous.

I have started my training program, and a few weeks ago had 8 miles on the schedule for Sunday.

The distance didn't make me nervous, I mean, I always tell myself I can go as slow as I want, but the weather was below zero degrees. I would definitely call myself a fair weather runner, my cutoff is 15 degrees--anything under that and I'm staying inside. 

While some runners find the treadmill boring and tedious, I've actually become very fond of it. However, this run would take almost 80 minutes, so I knew I had to come up with some sort of game plan to keep things interesting.

Playing with the speed and incline helped distract me (along with watching Tidying Up with Marie Kondo on Netflix!), here is what I did:

  • 0-10 minutes: Warm up (slow, very easy pace)
  • 10-17 minutes: Slightly harder pace
  • 17-20 minutes: Slow pace
  • 20-25 minutes: Faster pace than before
  • 25-27 minutes: Slow pace
  • 27-30 minutes: Faster pace than before
  • 30-31 minutes: Slow pace

Repeat that as long as you need to. I did up to 60 minutes then went by quarter miles (instead of time) and played with the incline, while running at a fairly easy pace:

  • 0-0.25 miles: 1% incline
  • 0.25-0.50 miles: 1.5% incline
  • 0.50-0.75 miles: 2.0% incline
  • 0.75-1.0 miles: 0.5% incline
  • 1.0-1.25 miles: 2% incline
  • 1.25-1.50 miles: 3% incline
  • 1.50-1.75 miles: 1% incline
  • 1.75-2.0 miles: 3.5% incline

So, for those of you who are also training for some longer distances and don't want to run when it's freezing, try this workout. I won't say the time flies but it gets the job done. I also find it helps train you mentally, so that come race day, being outside with all the fanfare seems a lot more enjoyable. 

Happy running!


Share this article:


Related Posts