Treadmill intervals?

trinewbie

Let me start by saying I hate indoor training of all kinds, most noteably the treadmill . With the darkest days of the winter more or less behing us, Im starting to dip the toes into some speedwork again. Due to a combination of work and life getting in the way of training, Im facing the propsect of having to do one of my run sessions a week on the treamill. Likely that this session will be my session of shortish pieces - 3-5 mins duration, maybe 6-8 intervals with anywhere from 60secs to 2 mins recovery.

Anyhow, do many people do sessions on treadmills?Do you find them benefical for leg speed? Do you find more recovery is required versus an outdoor session? I used to think that treadmills were hard on the legs do to consistantly smashing the same muscle groups - is there anything that proves this or says otherwise?

sconhome

I do a fair bit of my sessions on the treadmill.

Mostly they are the tempo and interval sessions where I can focus on form while running relatively fast. I've never had an issue transferring from treadmill to road either. With it being a sprung surface it should be easier on the body in terms of landing forces

nerraw1111

I've done a few sessions on the treadmill on really windy days. It's tough mentally but I didn't feel any better/worse from doing it outside. I think the max I did was 15 minute rep, followed by a 10 min etc.

It's actually pretty handy, no faffing around. Warm up, set the speed and do the session, and then home. You sweat way more and mentally, it's tough. Time seems to stop.

This covers the range of emotions. Classic clip from American Flyers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQQOEi92r-s

shotgunmcos

Treadmill intervals, yuck. The time it takes the belt to speed up bothers me

tunney

You can cheat a treadmill, I'd argue most do without knowing.

j0hn1

tunney wrote: »

You can cheat a treadmill, I'd argue most do without knowing.

?

trinewbie

AKW wrote: »

I do a fair bit of my sessions on the treadmill.

Mostly they are the tempo and interval sessions where I can focus on form while running relatively fast. I've never had an issue transferring from treadmill to road either. With it being a sprung surface it should be easier on the body in terms of landing forces

I understand the sprung surface will absorb shock but my concern was that there is aboslutley none of the variation in muscle group used when running outdoors, probably an invalid concern.

nerraw1111 wrote: »

I've done a few sessions on the treadmill on really windy days. It's tough mentally but I didn't feel any better/worse from doing it outside. I think the max I did was 15 minute rep, followed by a 10 min etc.

It's actually pretty handy, no faffing around. Warm up, set the speed and do the session, and then home. You sweat way more and mentally, it's tough. Time seems to stop.

The thing that is attracting me to the treadmill is the lack of faffing, can be done quickly after a pool session and isnt affected by adverse weather; I dont mind wind/rain but have badly snotted myself doing hard intervals on wet and icy days perviously.

tunney wrote: »

You can cheat a treadmill, I'd argue most do without knowing.

True - If its not set to an incline and your not pushing off then your cheating. TBH I wouldnt see the point in suffering a session on the treadmill, only to cheat.

tunney

trinewbie wrote: »

True - If its not set to an incline and your not pushing off then your cheating. TBH I wouldnt see the point in suffering a session on the treadmill, only to cheat.

Not so much the incline, I wasn't suggesting people do it deliberately but without knowing it - in much the same way that you can cheat most of the power reading turbos.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

I use the treadmill for some quality sessions when needs must. I always run with an incline of 2. The one thing i find with the treadmill is it does help with a faster leg turnover although i always seem to be able to push 5secs per km faster on the treadmill than out on the road, even with it fully calibrated etc. This is based both on rpe and i also use hr on it to ensure i am working hard enough on tough sessions.
A positive on its usage is controlled results and being able to measure LT & AT improvements. More difficult to do out on the road with varying terrain and weather, especially the way thats been the last few weeks. My advice is cooling is very important, you need a decent fan.
I actually think treadmill running is kinder on the legs and i always seem to have better form/run better the day after a treadmill session.
Glad i made the investment in one as i rank it up there with the turbo.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

tunney wrote: »

Not so much the incline, I wasn't suggesting people do it deliberately but without knowing it - in much the same way that you can cheat most of the power reading turbos.

You talking about micro breaks or people taking longer strides and letting the treadmill move a further distance between each foot strike?

Running with no incline at all is a waste of time imo

tunney

Paige Broad Leak wrote: »

You talking about micro breaks or people taking longer strides and letting the treadmill move a further distance between each foot strike?

Running with no incline at all is a waste of time imo

Yup

Podge83

Paige Broad Leak wrote: »

You talking about micro breaks or people taking longer strides and letting the treadmill move a further distance between each foot strike?

Running with no incline at all is a waste of time imo

The treadmill is a great tool for doing intervals. I disagree that running with no incline is a waste of time, but if you are running with no incline you need to realise that if your effort section is at 3.40 per k it doesn't equate to a 3.40 k on the track/ road. I'm not sure what the % adjustment is but you are cheating yourself if you use the times on a "flat" treadmill and equate them to times outside.

Its all about progress (similar to the turbo) - if your times/ power are getting better for the same session with the same settings over time your "on the road" performance will improve (although don't expect flat treadmill times to equate to the road)

In summary, without the incline its not as good but its not "a waste of time"

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Podge83 wrote: »

The treadmill is a great tool for doing intervals. I disagree that running with no incline is a waste of time, but if you are running with no incline you need to realise that if your effort section is at 3.40 per k it doesn't equate to a 3.40 k on the track/ road. I'm not sure what the % adjustment is but you are cheating yourself if you use the times on a "flat" treadmill and equate them to times outside.

Its all about progress (similar to the turbo) - if your times/ power are getting better for the same session with the same settings over time your "on the road" performance will improve (although don't expect flat treadmill times to equate to the road)

In summary, without the incline its not as good but its not "a waste of time"

Waste of time comment a bit harsh but you get what i mean, whats the point in having no incline set if the only reason is to fool yourself into thinking you are faster than you actually are.
You cannot replicate running on the road by using the treadmill but you can replicate it closer by having it at a 1 or 2% incline. Not to mention it tends to make you push off a bit more rather than float across the treadmill.

EC1000

Interesting thread as I did my first interval session on a treadie this week (a necessity these days due to kids etc.). Bought the Garmin footpod and calibrated it last weekend on the road as I will probably be doing this quite a bit for the foreseeable future and I dont trust the speedo on the machine.

First speedwork in a few weeks so aimed for 3m40s/km - the effort level seemed very low for this pace and I had incline at zero. Must go to plus 1 as advised above next time and see if the effort seems comparable to the road.