There ARE Benefits to the Treadmill

As I sit here this Saturday morning letting my breakfast settle so I can make my way to the gym to get a run in, I long for spring weather.  In Chicago the next few days, it is supposed to snow another 8 inches.  As if we haven't gotten enough yet!  And earlier this week one morning it was -16 degrees.  The winter has been brutal and it's now March and isn't over by a long shot.  I want to run outside so badly!  But as it has already started snowing here this morning and half the ground is covered in ice, I will settle for the treadmill.

As much as I'd rather run outside, there actually ARE some benefits to the treadmill!

1.  You can control what you are doing!

2.  You can set your pace.  It is sometimes hard when you're running outside to keep the pace you want.  My GPS watch gives an average over 20 seconds so as much as I really do like my watch it isn't super accurate.  On a treadmill if you want to run fast, you up the pace.  If you want to run slow and steady, you decrease it.  Easy peasy.

3.  You can add hills! I have a few go to hills in Chicago, but Chicago isn't the hilliest place in the world.  Arrow up the incline on the treadmill and you have your hill!

Build strength by running hill repeats.  This will help you with your PR's over the flatter Chicago courses.  Increase the incline and the speed that you run that incline as you progress.

Increase your speed by running sprints!  Shoot for quarter mile sprints, or sometimes I'll do them for a minute to 2 minutes so I can make it easy.  Start at about your 5k pace and as it gets easier bump it up.  Recover for 90 seconds at a slow jogging pace.

Have some fun! The treadmill can be boring!  Vary your sprint distances and speeds.  The shorter the sprint the faster you go.  Mix it up a bit, and add in some fun music!  Jogfm will help you pick depending on your pace, and I just downloaded the Rock My Run app:)  Happy running!!