Running against 15% incline on treadmill

12.20. that included a couple of walk breaks. Calves burned like fire after.

try the 15/15 challenge. 15% incline for 15 minutes. if you manage 1.5 miles, respect

I believe Mt. WA actually averages about 11.8% grade (sorry to be nit-picky but that race is near and dear to my heart)....7.5 miles and 4700' of vert gain is 4700/39,600'...rise over run).When I was in 58-min shape for a Mt. WA ascent I found the treadmill set at 12% incline on 7.6 mph for 5-6 miles was much easier than the actual race (for obvious reasons being no wind resistance and less push-off force). Altitude becomes a slight factor near the summit as well. The Uphill challenge (15min all-out at 15% incline) is probably the best indicator of Mt. WA performance. I'd bet someone with good climbing ability and 5km fitness of around 14:00 could cover over 2 miles on that. I'd work up into the incline first with some tempo (LT) workouts at 8-10% incline (much more manageable to actually run a decent speed) so you don't strain your calfs/achilles as 15% is a real dig!

RunHarwell wrote:

I know I know, treadmills suck. But I OCCASIONALLY like to get in a treadmill run when I'm at the gym (on top of my road running, of course). I'm curious if anyone here has run against the 15% incline on a treadmill, which is usually the highest it will go. What have your times been for a mile? 5K? And please no speculation on what you WOULD run. Mt. Washington is between 9-11% to give you a comparison.

can't be done at 15 percent.

ekw wrote:

12.20. that included a couple of walk breaks. Calves burned like fire after.

A little bit faster than me. Nice work.

Great analysis. Thanks

I used to do treadmill runs at 15-20% grade. (I know that typical treadmills in gyms, at least in relatively modern times, max out at 15%.) I don't think that I really cared about the distance I was doing. It was all about time, intensity, and running form. I could do ferociously hard interval workouts, long runs, or anything in between. I felt that running on such grades helped my racing form, since I was running on my forefoot the whole way, and most importantly allowed me to train through many injuries, since sharply uphill running substantially reduces impact shock on key parts of the running body (and on a treadmill, you don't have to beat your body up on the downhill). Obviously, you need to be careful until you have developed sufficient specific strength and fitness in the posterior calf muscles through the Achilles tendon to the insertion at the heel bone.

By the way, I did not get the same benefits at significantly lower grades, like 8-10%.

If you are a flatlander, DO NOT do the workouts suggested in this thread until working up to them. If you are used to running outside with no hills and then see if you can get 2 miles in 15 minutes, no matter you're shape, you're risking injury.

I would also like to emphasize that I don't know whether my workouts would be practical for much slower or heavier runners. For me, it was easy to get up on my forefoot and just sort of bounce up a steep incline for long periods. If I were heel-striking, landing flat-footed, or allowing my heel to drop all the way down to the running surface, it might overstretch the calf muscles and injure the Achilles tendon.

Using a grade of 15% or more on a treadmill is very similar to the kind of workout that Arthur Lydiard used in his transitional period between base training and faster training and racing. You should focus very much on your form, not your "speed" over the running surface. You should be springing up the surface, not just slogging or trudging with your head down. (Seb Coe, among others, used steep incline training, keeping his form upright and strong. As I recall, his father would drive him back down to the bottom to begin the next uphill run to eliminate impact from downhill running. In laboratory testing, there have been indications that the mechanics of running on a steep treadmill incline may be somewhat different from the mechanics of uphill running on ground, but I think that the benefits can be just as great, and besides, not everyone has a coach, father, or other helper to drive the athlete back to the bottom after every uphill repetition.)

It's actually about 11.95% grade with those 4700' and 7.5 mi figures (sorry to be nit-picky but slope calculation is dear to my heart). The denominator, the "run", is the horizontal displacement and not actually the distance ran. I mean no disrespect, it's a common misconception and isn't significant at lower grades like Mt. Washington. But at steeper grades, for example, many believe a 100% grade is vertical, whereas it's actually 45 degrees.

I'm curious what workouts avocado did?

I know Avacado...had some phenomenal marathon results.

My goal is to see Marathon type heart rates but on the treadmill running steep grades with a little impact .

I've been doing one minute on at around 6 mph and one minute off at about 4.5 repeating that for one hour.

This gets my heart rate close to marathon pace for the on one minute .

I think I can build that into probably 7 mph and 4.5 miles for the off.

Maybe even just do two minutes on two minutes off or something like that .

The goal would be to mimic a quality Kenyan style workout on the treadmill at 15% with no impact.

Also maybe just some One hour runs at five or 5.5 at around 15% it seems to elevate my heart rate nicely close to tempo running effort .

Interesting thread. I'm training for an offseason stair climb/tower race right now, and I've been training with a 15 incline.

My workouts now, about 19 days out, have two parts:

(1) 70 minutes on the treadmill, at between 6.0 mph and 7.0 mph, 2-4 incline

5-10-minute break

(2) approx. 40-minute incline workout. I start with 6.0/15, which I've been able to maintain for three minutes, then I finish the first 10 minutes at 5.0. To say these 10 minutes are grueling is an understatement. Then I drop to 3.5/15, and raise the speed 0.1 for each minute until I get to 5.0, then drop it back to 3.5 again for a second "lap."

I've had some stubborn weight for a while, which has started to melt away once I added an incline component to my training plan.

S. Canaday wrote:

When I was in 58-min shape for a Mt. WA ascent I found the treadmill set at 12% incline on 7.6 mph for 5-6 miles was much easier than the actual race (for obvious reasons being no wind resistance and less push-off force).

That's because 7.6 miles is farther than 5 miles, and Mount Washington is not an even incline all the way, i.e. some sections are greater than 12 percent. Push off force is the same, and makes no difference, unless you're slipping on the course.

Perhaps just run for an hour at 12 percent, and see how much distance you can cover in the hour.

I just did a workout where I started at level and increased .5% every minute until I hit 15% incline. I then went down .5% every minute to 6% and then back up to 15%. Once I got to like 6% at 10 minute pace, I would slow the treadmill down .5 mph each time I increased the incline. This kept the effort fairly even though once past 12%, it gets pretty hard. The sweat just starts pouring off of me. I gained 3,400 ft over 7 miles.

When I was at 15%, I was running at 4.2 mph.

The following day I did a downhill run where I finished at -3% at 6:40 pace so there was more than 7 minutes per mile difference in pace.

Not quite your question, but For certain injuries, I crosstrain by walking on a treadmill at 15%... I usually do around ~20 min/mile for 2-3 miles

It doesn’t make me breath too hard, but you’ll be fairly sore the first few times of just walking.

Yes, I am!

I can do it for about 30 minutes now but not faster than 5.2 km/hour!

My current 5k time would be about 22:30

The only time I go that high of an incline is during a VO2 test. Last year I dropped out at 16% and 8mph, just over 16 minutes into the test (alternates increasing speed or incline every minute). I couldn't imagine trying to run for any extended period like that even at half the speed. I've down treadmill runs at 5% and those seemed to mess me up.

S. Canaday wrote:

When I was in 58-min shape for a Mt. WA ascent I found the treadmill set at 12% incline on 7.6 mph for 5-6 miles was much easier than the actual race (for obvious reasons being no wind resistance and less push-off force). Altitude becomes a slight factor near the summit as well.

Since this wasn't from Sage's registered account I don't think it was actually Sage. He also could have referenced very specific results to the OP's question. See him race Max King on a treadmill at 15%:

Anyone have any idea on records for 15 min at 15% incline. Planning to attempt this in a couple weeks. Per the youtube video it looks like Sage ran 1.92 miles in 15 minutes. Has anyone run faster?