The weather has been very cold/snowy/shitty and I unfortunately do not have access to an indoor track.
I am thinking about incorporating the following before and after my weight workouts (4-5 days a week)
Couple of sample treadmill workouts
10 x 60 seconds at 12mph with 40 second recoveries zero incline
15 x 30 second at 12mph with 30 second recoveries at 3% incline
I also hit plyos, circuits and partner assisted tows during the week as well as weights.
Looking for a winter workout schedule that will help gain fitness and running form until the weather gets better and I can hit a proper GPP outdoors. Basically an extended accumulation phase
Here is a basic breakdown of a typical winter training week:
1 - Legs/core/intervals
warmup
4 sets squats
3 sets stepups
3 x (ham curl, leg extension, calf raise)
med ball work
interval treadmill work
2 - upper body 1 weights/core
treadmill warmup
4 sets bench
3 sets incline bench
3 sets dips
ab work (10 sets)
cooldown
3 - strength endurance/circuits
treadmill warmup
partner assisted tows (5 x 15 seconds)
Circuit triples (3 x 3 exercises) x 3
cooldown
Personally I avoid treadmills like the plague. It’s really more of a superstition than anything, but I always feel that running on them would screw up my natural running mechanics, and screw up my force application on real ground. I have nothing scientific to back any of this up, and it might not even be true, but I prefer to use large volume bodyweight circuits as a replacement for tempo during the winter months.
Think about the motion. the treadmill is doing the work for your hamstrings, Its doing your pulling. I know some people that purchased them at a school and had there kids use them for the winter. When they got out to run normally on a hard surface there hamstrings could not handle that force and pulled. Now they say that money spent was a wayste.
Ingrid Kristiansen of Norway has spoken of running substantial hours during the winter months on treadmills. Heard her say so back in the mid-1980s in Oslo after she set a 10,000 record at Bislett. Treadmill would have to be significantl;y better than riding a stationary bike as an alternative to running.
I would agree with her there. I think the bike is a wayste, unles you have nothing esle to use, or you are just really trying to get off your feet to get blood flowing. Commonly misused by hockey players too.
In 1987 a woman I had coached to run 400m in sub 52sec took up training with her boyfriend, a world class cyclist who told her that their energy system requirements were basically the same and therefore he may as well coach her under the system he was using. He was a world championship time trial medallist, aiming to break the minute (I think).
She trained very hard and turned out for her national 400m championship, strangely, her first race of the year and the last on the domestic season calendar for 1986/1987.
She was the defending national title-holder, but clocked 55sec and was unplaced.
It is clear that whatever else she did in training, the bike super-imposed mechanics on her and when she stepped out to sprint, it didn’t take long for the hammies to wilt. It was the most embarrassing performance I have witnessed, very unfortunate for her, but a good lesson in training-specificity.
Then again, if you’re forced by injury or whatever to unload for a while but to maintain training, then doing some work on a bike can be useful - as a support, but not as a substitute for running.
