I am interested to hear your findings
Basically I am wondering if treadmill running is better than no running at all for a 6-8 week period till the weather warms up.
That is what it boils down to 
There is no dynamic component to stationary bike riding whatsover and I want to develop lactate tolerance as well.
Cheers,
Chris
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.
Let me know when you can Quik.
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.
That article hits some good points.
Re: Cycling for Track
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.
Thanks Tom, I checked that out last night.
It appears that treadmill running will be better than bike running at least. Not ideal by any means but ok.
For an extended accumulation period (~6 weeks) do you think it’ll be ok?
I am heading to australia/NZ for three weeks so I’ll have plenty of running opportunities down under
actually it’s really fast at least in my experience.
Last year, someone posted a link to another study. The information was GREAT. If someone still has that link, could they post it? 
It would be great if someone have any formula on how to calculate treadmill work for tempo for any given time.
You went way way back for this one man
I did this:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=charliefrancis.com+site+tempo
you can do it with the www in front to get slightly different results btw.
to get to this:
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?22026-More-Tempo-Alternatives
those high speed treadmills are really popular in the area im from. high school and college athletes from all over come to use them.
i guess you can say im pretty content in letting the athletes from other schools use them because charlie and others have spoken against them many times.
I don’t know if i would call them useless, but i certainly wouldn’t use them on any athletes
I saw that one couples of times already, the fact is that this program is for mid 10 runners, not a formula
You’re right but I’ve never seen a CF formula for treadmill tempo so let’s figure it out together. Perhaps start at 7 MPH for some and 6 MPH for others and work up.
I’ve never done tempo (or anything) on a treadmill myself OR have others do it but it is still another tool in the toolbox.
Anyone else see one?
Remember when CF (04 Van. Seminar?) said someone who had just bought an expensive treadmill machine asked him what should they do with it (from another seminar) and
CF said…Unplug it!
That was pretty funny.
I’ve been using a treadmill this season. I use it for no longer than 15mins at a time, usually with 300m runs and 100m walks. I find it useful as a quick warm up before weights, a tempo substitute for wet days (or if I just can’t get shore leave to train on a track), and for recovery sessions to loosen up before or after hard training.
what I like is that the results are safe, consistent and predictable. there’s no guess work. I know exactly how I will feel when I step off. in terms of disengaging the hamstrings or changing my running mechanics, I just don’t think I use it long enough to have any lasting effect (at my standard, anyway). I don’t see how a 15min session is going to be able to cancel out hours of training. if I want to have my hamstrings engaged there are a stack of other things you can do that are much more influential on that, I feel. I think sitting in the car to and from work is more detrimental to my running technique that a brief trot on a treadmill.
I suppose if I were a more finely tuned high performance vehicle I would be giving a higher priority to finding other ways of achieving the same effect, but I’m just a working dad weekend hobby schmo athlete, so I’ll take what I can get…
massively old thread lol
I think the hamstring activation or lack of is a good thing
Speed work is very posterior taxing, so having an excersie that will still work the cardio / flushing systems without to much engagment but still taking through good range of motion has to be a winner, further as rehab from hamstring injury being able to do a specific cardio such as a version of tempo has to also be good.
I have been personally rehabbing this way for the past 2 weeks, as its too soon to hit the track with full hamstring activation but i need the threshold work.
I also agree the few min of this work is not going to affect my sprint form negatively comparred to the hours and hours of track work or even gym etc
Quick tip: if it’s hamstring activation you crave, try sprinting on a trampette…
Very good point, I think maxV session take care of all the hamstrings activation