Chandi Schwab
Most people will agree that running on the treadmill can get pretty boring and monotonous. I used to be in that category myself and refused to run on it because I loved and was used to my outdoor runs. I now use the treadmill quite a bit for my speed training, and am hooked. When conditions are unsafe or unfavorable to run outside, treadmill running is a great alternative, and there are many ways you can make it more enjoyable. There was so much I wanted to share so at least read the Bold because it is all important.
Run with a friend: If you and a friend belong to the same gym, get her to run on the treadmill next to you. You can motivate each other and provide distraction to make your workout time go by faster. And one great thing about treadmill running with friends is that you don't have to be the same pace, so you can run with friends who you wouldn't normally run with outside.
Try an interval workout: Rather than running at a constant pace, mix up your run with hard and easy segments. It can be as simple as: A five-minute warm-up followed by three sets of four-minute intervals (two minutes of hard running and two minutes of easy running), followed by a five-minute cool-down.
Mix it up with strength-training exercises: After a 5-minute warm-up, run at a comfortable pace for five minutes, then step off the treadmill and do two minutes of strength-training exercises, such as crunches, push-ups, side-crunches, lunges and dips. Try doing four sets of running/strength-training.
Zone out:Unlike running outside, treadmill running doesn't require that you pay close attention to your surroundings and watch out for cars, cyclists, dogs, and other hazards. You don't even have to think about your route. So running on a treadmill gives you a chance to lose yourself in the rhythm of your breathing feet or your pounding feet. Try blocking out everything around you and enter a peaceful, relaxing state.
Do a pyramid workout.: The time flies by during this treadmill workout because you're paying so much attention to your interval times. After a 5-minute warm-up, run hard (5K pace) for one minute, recover one minute; run hard two minutes, recover two minutes; run hard three minutes, recover two minutes; run hard four minutes, recover two minutes; run hard five minutes, recover two minutes. Then work your way back down the "pyramid" and run hard four minutes, recover two minutes; run hard three minutes, recover two minutes; run hard two minutes, recover two minutes; run hard one minute, recover one minute. End the workout with a 5-minute cool down.
Listen to music:Although using headphones while running outside is not safe, listening to music on the treadmill can be a great way to combat boredom and run longer. Choose motivating songs and create a play list for your workout -– it will help prevent you from continually checking the clock to see how much more you have to go.
*The treadmill is a great alternative to running outdoors, but here are some pointers to keep your runs safe and effective.
Use a slight incline: Set the treadmill inclination to 1% to 2%. A gentle uphill better simulates outdoor running and will reduce your risk of injury.
Don't make it too steep: At the same time, don't set the incline too steep (more than 7%) -- this may lead to Achilles tendon or calf injuries. Also, don't run at an incline of more than 2% for your entire run.
Don't hold onto the handrail or console: Some people assume that they need to hold onto the handrails when walking or running on a treadmill. The handrails are only there to help you safely get onto and off of the treadmill. When running on the treadmill, practice proper upper body form by keeping your arms at a 90 degree angle, just as you would if you were running outside.
Make sure you warm up: Run or walk at a slow, easy pace for 5-10 minutes. It's tempting to just jump on the treadmill and start your workout, but you should allow time for a warm up.
Don't forget your cool down.: It's also easy to hop off the treadmill when your workout is done and your heart rate is elevated. Spend 5 minutes doing a slow jog or walk at the end of your run and allow your heart rate to go below 100 bpm before you get off. Cooling down will help prevent dizziness or the feeling that you're still moving when you step off the treadmill.
Don't lean forward.
Make sure to keep your body upright: It's not necessary to lean forward because the treadmill pulls your feet backward. You need to pull your feet from the belt before they are driven away by the belt.
Pay attention to your stride.: Keep your stride quick and short to help minimize the impact transferred to your legs. Try to maintain a mid-foot strike to make sure you're not heel striking and sending shock to your knees. You may need to exaggerate the heel lift because the lack of forward momentum means your feet won't be moving in a circular path.
Work on improving your stride count.: The more steps you take per minute, the more efficiently you'll run. Elite runners run about 180 steps per minute. Determine your stride count by counting how often one foot hits the belt in a minute and then doubling that number. Try to improve your stride count during your run by focusing on taking shorter, quicker strides and keeping your feet close to the belt. This exercise will help you deal with boredom on the treadmill and even improve your outdoor running.
*There are pros and cons with running on the Treadmill
Pros
Speed Work/Interval Training: Successful interval training depends upon running the repeats at a fairly precise speed and at a precise distance. It is hard for most runners to accurately judge pace while training at the track and becomes even more difficult when training on the open road. When training on the track, you at least know the exact distance you are running, but on the open road, it is all guesswork. There are some fairly accurate GPS training watches available that use satellite information to give you your pace and distance. These have proven to be fairly accurate, but are still not as precise as treadmill running.
Easy Runs:Most competitive runners like to run fast. They love their speedwork and tempo runs. But you cannot run hard and fast all of the time. Your muscles need time to rest and recover. Without that recovery time, you will not be able to complete your harder workouts at an optimal pace and quality. Running easy is hard. In fact, running easy is one of the hardest things to do for many runners. Easy runs are necessary to allow your muscles to recover from hard, intense or long running sessions, but it can be very difficult to run at a pace easy enough to allow for muscle recovery. It can feel very slow and therefore many runners have a tendency to perform their easy runs at too fast a pace. The treadmill fixes this problem. Once you determine your easy pace, it is a simple matter to set the treadmill at that pace and jump on. As long as you don't give into temptation and increase the speed of the machine, you will stay at your easy pace for the duration of the session. Maintaining an easy pace on your rest days will allow your muscles to stay fresh and will improve the quality of your harder training runs and avoid over training problems.
Hill Training:Hill running is one of the best and most efficient workouts for building running strength, running economy and improving race performance. The problem is that many runners live in areas that have few hills, if any. So, what do you do if you live in a hill challenged area? Simple - get on your treadmill. Most treadmills will elevate from 1 percent to 12 percent. Some elevate as high as 15%. There are some newer models that also decline 2 or 3 percent, which would be great training for races with some downhill sections, such as the Boston Marathon or trail races.
Long Runs:The term long run brings up visions of running long distances in parks, on roads or urban trails. There are many great benefits of doing long runs on that type of terrain. However, more and more runners are doing at least some of their long runs on the treadmill. Many do all of their winter long runs on the treadmill to avoid weather related problems. Running on a treadmill for two or three hours sounds boring. But for that matter, so is running outside for long periods of time. When doing long runs on the treadmill you can watch television or listen to music to help alleviate boredom.The quality of your long runs can also be improved by running on the treadmill. The precise pace control will allow you to keep the pace down when necessary. It will keep you from running too fast during the first part of your long run. It will also keep you at a quality pace if you are doing goal pace long runs. It can be very difficult to maintain that quality goal pace in the later stages of your long run.
Injury Prevention/Rehabilitation: Running on concrete and asphalt day in and day out places a lot of stress on the connective tissues in your legs. This can lead to potential overuse injuries. High quality treadmills that are produced today give you a stable, but more forgiving surface. Treadmills are available in a fairly wide range of surface softness. The firmness of the treadmill is determined by a combination of the running deck and the suspension system. Some are designed to more closely mimic the firm asphalt or concrete surface of the road and others are designed with a lot of "give" in order to provide a very soft ride for heavy runners or those with injury problems. There are even some machines available that are adjustable to different levels of shock absorption.
Mental Toughness:The sport of running is a solitary activity that requires self- motivation, discipline and commitment along with both physical and mental toughness. These are all attributes that must be learned and practiced. Running on a treadmill is comfortable, efficient and safe. But, it is not psychologically easy. It is really quite difficult to run and maintain pace on a treadmill. This is due, in part, to the perception that you are not going anywhere. You do not have the psychological cues that you are making progress, such as the wind in your face and the objects and scenery moving by. You also do not have other runners around you to keep you motivated.
Since running on the treadmill is usually a solitary activity, it helps build self-motivation and commitment. Running and maintaining your pace on the treadmill builds a mental "toughness" that will help you in your races and outside training runs.
Great For Beginners:The treadmill is ideal for beginning runners. Many new runners feel a bit intimidated by the sport and by more experienced runners. There is no reason for them to feel this way, but many do none the less. The treadmill gives these beginners a great place to start and to gain confidence in themselves so that feeling of intimidation melts away. Most new runners start with walking. The treadmill is a great tool for incorporating those first running steps into a training program. It is very easy to add in very short surges of running. The treadmill provides them with a stable, level and dry surface in which to practice those first running steps.
Cons
Lack of Specificity: One of the "laws" of training is the law of specificity. This simply means that your training should be as specific as possible to your training goal. In other words, your training should match your goal as closely as possible. You are training to run outside on the road, trail or track and run races, not to run on a treadmill. Treadmill training has been proven, in scientific studies, to have very similar physiological effects, to outside or free- range running. In simpler terms, treadmill training gives you very similar training benefits when compared to free-range running. However, even though the physiological effects are very similar, it is not specifically the same as running outside. There are physical differences, which include lack of wind resistance, lack of changing terrain, running on a moving belt, bio-mechanical differences and psychological differences.
Lack of Wind Resistance: When running on the treadmill, you are obviously running in place. You are not running through the air. When you run outside you are running through the molecules of the air, which create resistance. The faster you run, the more of an effect the air resistance has on you. Studies have estimated that air resistance creates an increase in your running workload of between 2% and 10%, depending upon your running speed. The faster you run, the more of an effect the wind resistance has. You can compensate for the wind resistance by elevating the treadmill, one or two percent.
Running Bio-Mechanics: In addition to the wind resistance problem, there is some evidence that running bio-mechanics are different when running on the treadmill. There have been very few conclusive studies done on the running form differences between treadmill and free range running. The studies that have been done have presented some rather conflicting data. Here is a brief summary of the reported running mechanics problems that have been associated with treadmill running.
Stride Length: There have been reports of stride length being both longer and shorter than outside running. One study on the effects of treadmill running came up with some very interesting data. The study used one group of subjects that were very experienced runners and compared them to a group of new runners. The results showed that the more experienced group had longer strides when running on the treadmill, compared to their same pace when running outside. The interesting part is that the inexperienced group had the exact opposite result. They had shorter stride lengths on the treadmill than they did when running outside. More research is needed to determine why this happens and if it happens consistently to a large group of runners.
Longer Support Time: Support time is the amount of time that your support leg spends on the ground. Some runners tend to spend more time on their support leg when running on the treadmill. In order to maximize your running efficiency your support time should be kept at a minimum. If your support leg is on the ground longer, you are probably not running as efficiently as you could be. This increase in support time is probably caused by an unconscious desire to provide a more stable running base on the moving and somewhat unstable treadmill.
Less Forward Lean: Some studies have determined that some athletes run with less of a forward lean when running on the treadmill. This can cause more energy being wasted on up and down motion and less energy focused on forward momentum.
Running Surface:The even and soft surface of the treadmill is an advantage in many ways, but it does present one major disadvantage. When running outside you encounter uneven surfaces, stones, soft areas, hard areas, dry areas, wet areas and various combinations of these surfaces. So you aren't gettting the true training that you would need for your actual race, and are more prone to injury because you haven't built up your muscles tolerance to those things.
(Running planet.com)
Hopefully this has answered some of your Questions, If you have any more please leave it in the comment box and we will try to answer it for you!
No comments:
Post a Comment