Actually look forward to indoor runs with these tips on how to make treadmill runs more interesting.
Welcome to another great Wild Workout Wednesday Link Up where Annmarie from The Fit Foodie Mama, Jen from Pretty Little Grub, and I bring you workout ideas, motivation, inspiration and recipes to try. Join us each week by reading along, linking up and grab the button to proudly display on your blog/in your posts!
I love running outside. The fresh air, the sound of my feet hitting the trail and the ever-changing scenery just make me so happy. Unfortunately, running outside isn't always an option. When I was in New York City, ice and frigid temps sometimes forced me indoors. Now that I'm in Austin, the heat is a deterrent.
It's those crazy hot and humid days that make me grateful to have access to a treadmill. I also enjoy throwing in a few treadmill runs when marathon training to get in some lower-impact runs. Yes. I used "enjoy" and "treadmill" in the same sentence.
You see, I don't view the treadmill as being as dreadful as so many runners do. In fact, I think the treadmill can be fun! Rather than hopping on and feeling like you're running nowhere fast, try one of these ways to make your next treadmill run more interesting.
1. Catch up on your favorite show
This is one of my favorite things to do if I have a longer, slower run on the calendar. I love catching up on shows I've fallen behind on, shows Will won't watch with me or my favorite classic sitcoms. Putting on a show gives you something to look at and focus on while you're running. It also allows you to watch TV without feeling like a slug.A word of warning, though: if your treadmill is in a shared gym, be careful as to the type of TV show you watch. I once put on an episode of Girls. There's a lot of nudity in that show, and there was me, watching Lena Dunham flash the entire gym. Whoops! I tend to like humorous shows for short runs (or 2 strung together) and fast-paced dramas for longer runs. Some of my favorite treadmill shows are Friends, How I Met Your Mother, My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Game of Thrones (gotta watch the nudity on that one, too).
One of the best ways to make a treadmill run fly by is to break it up into smaller chunks, and one of the best ways to do that is splitting your run into speed intervals. After all, one of the best features of a treadmill is that you can control your speed. I like doing this two ways. The first is to put on music, pick a steady easy pace and then sprint whenever the song I'm listening to hits a chorus. This way, you change up the time your sprinting with every song and focus on something other than the fact that you aren't running anywhere. Alternatively, you can do set timed intervals. Lately, I've enjoying sprinting for 2 minutes and recovering at an easy pace for 1 minute. I do that 7-10 times, depending on how much time I have. You can also do a ladder workout, like this one.
You can also make things more interesting by changing up your incline. Start flat and increase your incline every minute or two while tryingto stay at the same pace the whole time. Alternatively, you can switch between running at an incline and running flat for specific intervals.
If you're really not a treadmill fan, don't make the treadmill your entire workout. Rather than doing cardio-only, mix it up with some weights. Warm up at an easy pace for 5 minutes. Then hop off the treadmill and do a weight circuit. Hop back on and sprint for a minute. Hop off and do another weight circuit. The workout combos are endless, so you shouldn't ever get bored.
The treadmill is a great way to push yourself to go faster or further because all the stats are right in front of you. If you want to go faster, try to increase your pace by .1 or .2 mph each week. If you want to get better at hills, make the incline steeper or run longer with each run. Hop on with a goal to challenge yourself, and the workout will automatically be more interesting than the last one.
Want more ideas? Check out these 20 Boredom-Busting Treadmill Workouts.
Let's Chat:
How do you make treadmill runs more fun?