Training for a marathon on a treadmill can offer several advantages. Depending upon where you live, the Winter months can make it challenging, or even impossible to get your miles in. If you live in a relatively flat area, then you aren’t getting any practice running up and down hills.
That can end up making a huge difference in your time. These are just two reasons you might consider adding treadmill workouts to your usual training routine. Let’s look at some treadmill techniques that can really boost your speed and endurance. As with any other type of marathon training, look to slowly build up your miles and change up your routine once in a while to avoid stagnation.
Table of Contents:
Tempo/Long run
You can always perform your usual routine on a treadmill. Most outdoor runners initially prefer the changing scenery they’ve become accustomed to, but running on a treadmill can actually be better for your knees.
Interval
Interval training is useful for building up your speed. Essentially, you run fewer miles at a faster pace. Let’s say you average 10 minutes per mile during a marathon. Utilize interval training and practice running 5 to 10 miles at an 8 minute pace. One of the benefits of treadmills is that most modern models automatically calculate useful figures, such as your speed and distance traveled.
Fartlek
Fartlek runs are fun because they change things up. For a Fartlek run, you alternate between sprinting and jogging for random amounts of time. One of the most common methods is to grab some headphones, put your favorite playlist on shuffle, and run at the tempo of the whatever song comes up. An example Fartlek run might look like: Fast Jog-2 mins, Sprint-1.5 mins, Fast Jog-3 mins, Slow Jog-1 min, Sprint-3 mins, etc.
Endless Uphill & Hill Circuits
If you live in an area devoid of hills, you will be in for a shock after you run your first hilly marathon. Your times will vary greatly, even with proper training, but hill can decimate your time and your body if you are inadquately prepared for them. Many modern treadmills have a built in hill setting where you can adjust the gradient of the tread. Two common hill routines are the endless uphill workout, and hill circuits. As the name suggests, the endless uphill workout is pretty much the same as your normal tempo run, except you are running uphill. Hill circuits are fun, and some treadmills have a hill circuit function built in, but if yours doesn’t, then don’t worry. You can make your own hill routine by manually adjusting the gradient of the tread while you run. Try running uphill for one minute, then flattening out for a minute. Repeat this 20 times. You can vary the gradient of the climb, the time, or the number of repeats to customize your own hill circuit.
