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For employment reasons I am stuck in Lincolnshire for a while, not renowned for fell, dale or even slight incline, i do however have personal access to a very good treadmill. Has anybody had to recreate decent fell runs on the dreaded treadmill before and what did you do. Suggestions for about a 90 min good run appreciated. Cheers.
Not bad for short interval training for up hills, but shit for practicing descending !!
However, these guys came up with an ingenious way of using treadmills !!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NINJQ5LRh-0
And yes I know we've had a link about this before, but it still makes me chuckle !:D
I sometimes go to the gym to cross train (i.e. not run) but often find the temptation of running too strong to resist. If that's the case then I end up doing one of two hill sessions:
1. Hill Repeats - 90 seconds with the treadmill set to 10% with 1 minute recoveries. On the flat I do about 16kph - for this session I'd set the speed to about 12kph and do 10 repeats. I find this a very hard session. If racing is 10/10 effort then this 9/10.
2. A constant 5K with a 6% incline at about 12.5 kph. Again I'm pretty knackered and hanging on at the end.
I'd find running for 90 minutes on the treadmill far too tedious, these are both quality sessions
that take about 30 minutes each (with a 5 minutes warm-up) and each is deceptively hard. At the start it feels easy but by the end I'm pretty much on my knees... good fun;)
I found i could run for an hour on the treadmill, but only by varying the pace a bit, usually up to about 17.5k/h by 40-45 mins and then back down. suppose you could do the same with the gradient.
but 90 mins? i'm not sure that's worth it really.
Quote:
Originally Posted by whiterhino
unlucky i have a few friends in Lincolnshire, i didn't get lost round there and if i took a wrong turn 6 miles later you knew about it..
enjoy the treadmill you should be able to set it up so it climbs upto a gradiant of 25%, as stated above no-good for going downhill but otherwise good to maintain fitness when all else fails..
I couldn't run on the treadmill everyday, but do like to do some speedwork sessions. There are no excuses about it being a very breezy day or the underfoot conditions being poor..........if you can't go as fast, you are the variable. (Sobering sometimes!)
Beware the altered biomechanics of running on a treadmill......no forward "push off" from the calf if you're on the flat and I have heard tell of hip flexor problems.
Try some good music and some reps (at least some incline).
GOOD LUCK.
There's the Stepper Machine in the gym too. Good for working up a sweat!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chugger
OK I've never used a treadmill, to train on so I have to admit I am talking from a position of ignorance.
However surely it would be much better to use the treadmill for your quality flat training (eg intervals - can you do those on a treadmill??, endurance runs, etc), & use a bike mounted on a turbo trainer to work on your climbing strength. Across the board most fellrunners use a bike to some extent to build their climbing muscles, so this is another option to consider.
NB do not use your best bike on the turbo trainer & personally I think a mtn bike fitted with a specific trainer tyre is better for a runner to use as the gearings are not so harsh so you use higher cadences rather than crunching big gears (though crunching does give you a lot more strength, but increases your injury potential & decreases your leg speed). Having said that I use my road bike on the turbo trainer & find it ok.
last 2 weeks ive trained on the hotel mill
had it up to 9% gradients and was gettin a good workout
i think there good for goin uphill but nowt else
and dont believe the calories burnt cos they lie:confused: