How To Run Faster And Have More Fun On The Treadmill

The best way for active runners to stay in shape during bad weather is by running on a treadmill. Treadmills allow anyone to run indoors and are a vital part of my running. Instead of running in seven degree weather or during a big thunder storm, I can run on my treadmill. However, the thought of staring at the same wall and not seeing anything different for 30 minutes (or even hours) sounds too daunting for many people.

In addition, pushing the pace on a treadmill is also difficult. What I have realized is that when I get comfortable with a certain rate, boosting the rate makes me feel an overwhelming amount of discomfort. Even though I could easily run at the same rate off of the treadmill, running on the treadmill and boosting the rate makes me feel like I'm going a lot faster than I really am.

One day, this was starting to become too much for me. I decided that I needed to change my ways so I could run faster on the treadmill for a longer period of time. I have big goals for myself including running a mile under 4:30 next year, and if I do not get enough practice, those goals will not happen. In addition, the practices need to be challenging. Few of my practices on the treadmill were challenging until I decided to run on the treadmill differently.

These are some ways to run faster on the treadmill for a longer period of time. The most important thing about these methods is that they prevent you from getting bored. If you are struggling to run faster on the treadmill and are very tired of looking at the same picture on the wall, here's what you need to do.

Materials:

• Treadmill
• Phone or computer with internet

Instructions:

1. Warm up. Do some stretches before you get on the treadmill and then run on the treadmill at a comfortable pace for 5 minutes.

2. Run at your normal rate. My normal rate for a long distance workout is 4 mph. It does not take me 15 minutes to run a mile. That just means the treadmill moves at a rate of 4 mph.

3. Set the incline to 12. If you feel like you are about to fall, do not set the incline to 12. You will not do the entire workout with a 12 incline. All you need to do is run at the same pace for 5 minutes with the incline set to 12. Then, set the incline all the way back down to 1. You should be running much faster than you were before you set the incline to 12.

4. Gradually pick up speed. Every 5-10 minutes, increase the rate that you run. If you are running at 4 mph, go up to 5 mph in 5-10 minutes. As your workout comes towards an end, increase the frequency that you do this.

5. Listen to the original Rocky song. This one works wonders. I was able to get to 10 mph for 30 seconds by listening to the song. Before listening to the song, I had never attempted running on the treadmill when it was at the 10 mph pace. There are YouTube videos of the original song. In order to get the video to play in an infinite loop, add "repeat" to the URL so it looks like www.youtuberepeat.com/VIDEONAME