Treadmill Training

[Daleyboy1234]

Can't say I agree Rob. Up until mid February 2011 I had been a road runner for 30 years. I started training for the BG and did London late April 2011. Ran 3.16 with last 2 miles at 6.11 miling, best I have ever felt in the marathon and could have kept going quite happily. Only reason a ran so slowly overall was that I assumed that as this was after 10 weeks of running no more than 2 miles without walking, I wouldn't be able to handle 26 miles non stop running.

As a coach I have since tried to instil into all my athletes the benefits of fell training compared to the 'easy' option of running on the roads.

I have to agree, I live in Newcastle, but come from North Yorkshire, when ever I have been at home for a period of time and spent time running at home (around roseberry topping, captain cooks monument etc) for say a week or so, I find my road results have improved significantly. I always feel the climbing builds extra leg muscles that translate over into road results!

[Rug125]

I struggled to run more than 2 or 3 km on a treadmill without losing the will to live. However now use it at lunchtimes in the local gym to do a sharp interval session, literally just 15 mins running time. 5 mins jog warmup, ramp the belt up to 20 kph, 3 or 4 gradient then a 30 second blast. then rather than faff about lowering the speed, just jump my feet to the side and have a 30 second recovery. repeat 10 times and your done! Will need plenty of time to cool down and stop sweating though.. and you'll get some strange looks from other gym-goers!
Doesn't replace the need for building/maintaining that stamina base of weekly mileage but it's great when pushed for time and a different element to training.

[DrPatrickBarry]

I have just done Peris my hardest race by a long way and I have to say I finished it too strong. Just held back too much in the earlier parts of the race. It is easy to do that on climbs. Less severe climbs are actually harder because you cannot justify walking them. There is no shame in walking the climbs on Peris, so it does allow a bit of dossing.

[Trog]

I noticed an old bint on the treadmill at our gym the other day hanging on for grim death with a machine on quite an incline.

Tonight I thought I would see how steep they go. The answer was 15% which I think is between 1:6 & 1:7. It was rather steep as I batted along at 10 kph, I do not think I could have kept it up for very long.

Does anyone do any hill reps on one?

[Bad Magners]

I do !!!!! 8x3mins @8mph on 8% incline is a good session. Also running 5.7miles on 10% incline is the equivalent of doing 3000ft of ascent.Try doing that at 6mph !!

[LissaJous]

Does anyone do any hill reps on one?

I'm not sure I want to give away my biggest secret I used it to excess 2009-2010, and since then in smaller doses at certain times of year. 15% is fab and my drill is somewhat unique...

[that_fjell_guy]

Its like anything I guess. Use it right and its benificial to one degree or another. Reps, hill-reps etc etc - anything that builds leg speed or leg strength - would, I think be benificial. Particularly in lieu of anything else. With regards a fast road race being harder than a good fell race, again I'd say it depends on your mentallity throughout both events. I agree there's more opportunity to rest/recover in a fell race...the question would be if I'd don't take those opportunities will it be harder and will I be faster. For the record I take the rest option!

[JohnK]

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/video/vira...cid=spartandhp

[calen]

Treadmill training improved my speed significantly.

Better to do a mix of training if possible.

[Ferg]

Thanks for putting this thread up. I struggle to get out for the same reason, so rely on a treadmill at work. Some great tips for making it more useful and less mind-numbing!