Tread god

Training Advice/Discussion Marathon

4 years ago 10/14/2019 2:27pm EDT

I wanted to get some thoughts on doing sub-elite level workouts on a treadmill. I train mostly by myself and run all my workouts before work, so I'm typically getting out the door by 5:45 on days when i have high volume workouts planned. I know a lot of the pros use treadmills for their workouts and I've tried it out for threshold/cruise intervals. I like the way it allows me to control the pace and set the speed to an honest effort during rest intervals. It also just makes running hard in the early morning much easier until you really wake up about halfway through. For faster stuff like 800s or 1000s at 5k pace, I'll just go to the track. Am I losing anything or sacrificing the quality of my workouts if I use the treadmill? I set the incline to 1.5% based on research into equivalent pacing vs. outdoor running. I'd like to take a shot at 1:06 for the half this fall.

4 years ago 10/14/2019 2:31pm EDT

re: High level training on treadmill

High level training on treadmill wrote:
I wanted to get some thoughts on doing sub-elite level workouts on a treadmill. I train mostly by myself and run all my workouts before work, so I'm typically getting out the door by 5:45 on days when i have high volume workouts planned. I know a lot of the pros use treadmills for their workouts and I've tried it out for threshold/cruise intervals. I like the way it allows me to control the pace and set the speed to an honest effort during rest intervals. It also just makes running hard in the early morning much easier until you really wake up about halfway through. For faster stuff like 800s or 1000s at 5k pace, I'll just go to the track. Am I losing anything or sacrificing the quality of my workouts if I use the treadmill? I set the incline to 1.5% based on research into equivalent pacing vs. outdoor running. I'd like to take a shot at 1:06 for the half this fall.

Treadmill running can prove beneficial for the reasons you've mentioned, and it can even allow you to acclimate to faster paces that you might otherwise struggle to attain on your own on the track. I would recommend inserting fast intervals at the end of runs. Hopefully your treadmill reaches at least 14 MPH.

4 years ago 10/14/2019 9:33pm EDT

re: High level training on treadmill

High level training on treadmill wrote:
I wanted to get some thoughts on doing sub-elite level workouts on a treadmill. I train mostly by myself and run all my workouts before work, so I'm typically getting out the door by 5:45 on days when i have high volume workouts planned. I know a lot of the pros use treadmills for their workouts and I've tried it out for threshold/cruise intervals. I like the way it allows me to control the pace and set the speed to an honest effort during rest intervals. It also just makes running hard in the early morning much easier until you really wake up about halfway through. For faster stuff like 800s or 1000s at 5k pace, I'll just go to the track. Am I losing anything or sacrificing the quality of my workouts if I use the treadmill? I set the incline to 1.5% based on research into equivalent pacing vs. outdoor running. I'd like to take a shot at 1:06 for the half this fall.

For threshold stuff, I'd suggest skipping the incline and set the pace based on effort, or heart rate if you use that. Usually, my treadmill pace is a little faster than what it would be on the track. I'm old AF and figure that the faster treadmill tempo is good for working on my turnover.

4 years ago 10/14/2019 10:18pm EDT

re: treadloaf

treadloaf wrote:
I set the incline to 1.5% based on research into equivalent pacing vs. outdoor running. I'd like to take a shot at 1:06 for the half this fall.

.[/quote]

Your research is flawed.

If you are going to do a lot of treadmill running, I would suggest running at different inclines and different paces. It is very easy to overtrain when you are getting constant feedback on pace especially if you think a constant 1.5% incline will be comparable to running outside. Do you always run outside on a windless day on a flat course? Of course you don't.

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