It doesn't matter if your goal is to lower your 5K or half-marathon time, or if you're simply trying to put an extra kick in your fitness level. If you want to get speedier, you need to include workout sessions designed to make you run faster. A treadmill is an ideal tool. The advantage in using a treadmill for any training is the ultimate control it provides to your workout. You control the speed and the elevation--except no downhills--and the surface is even. With a little experimentation, there are many ways to work speed into your training.
Equipment Warning
If you use a treadmill at a health club, you probably can skip this part. But if you're planning a speed workout on home equipment, make sure the treadmill motor is strong enough to handle your weight and speed. Many less expensive models are not. In addition, many home treadmills have a "power saver" feature, which is fine for walking and long steady jogs. But you may need to turn off the power saver for speed work. That will increase the load on your electrical circuit, so make sure there is enough amperage on your circuit to handle the increased load.
Building Your Workout
The easiest way to get speed work on a treadmill is by using a program pre-installed on your treadmill. If you're using a home treadmill, you probably can build your own program into your treadmill's memory, too. Plus, you can put together a workout as you go along, simply by speeding up the treadmill to an uncomfortable pace for a while or hiking up the elevation of the bed for some hill work. In most cases, a speed workout should cover a shorter distance than your normal training run.
Intervals
Interval training--periods of intense exercise interrupted by recovery periods--is the most common speed workout. Using a treadmill for interval training is ideal, because you must maintain your workout goals--or fall off the back of the treadmill. Plus, you won't go faster on the first repetition than you want. An example of interval training if you are a runner trying to lower your road racing times:
After a 10-minute warm-up, insert a 2-minute recovery walk before the intervals. Then do four 90-second intervals at a speed 12 to15 percent faster than your best race pace with 2-minute recovery walks in between, followed by four 45-second intervals at a speed 18 to 20 percent faster than your best race pace with 2-minute recovery walks, followed by four 20-second intervals at a speed 25 percent faster than your best race pace. For a more difficult workout, increase the number of intervals and/or shorten the recovery time.
Fartlek
Fartlek--Swedish for speed play--works especially well if you can't build a program into your computer. The idea is to stick bursts of speed work in between periods of running at slightly (maybe 5 percent) below your standard training pace. That will be your warm-up, cool-down and recovery pace. Some of the speed bursts need to be short and extremely fast; others should be longer but may be only a little faster than your training pace. Use variations in between as well. The best part about doing fartlek on a treadmill is that you also can throw in a hill whenever you want. And, show some guts. Sometimes throw in a hill or another speed burst before you've fully recovered from the last one.
Hill Work
Most treadmills allow you to change the elevation of the track whenever you want. Once again, the easiest way to get in hill work is to program the computer for desired elevation changes. But you also can do this manually, if you have the discipline to ignore your body's complaints. You'll need to figure out how the elevation levels on the treadmill translate to degrees of elevation. The most simple hill workout is to inject 10 steep 15- or 20-second hills every 90 seconds to 2 minutes of a training run. Don't forget a warm-up and cool-down period. The cool-down is especially important; your quads will be screaming for it.
Surge Training
In your normal training run, simply build in some long periods--2 to 3 minutes--in which you increase the pace to about 5 percent faster than your normal training pace. Settle back into your training pace for about 3 minutes, then surge again. A variation: maintain your training pace but increase the elevation for a 2- to 3-minute period.
Combination Workouts
In addition to blending hill work with other types of speed training, you also can do a set of intervals followed by a period of fartlek or dedicated hill work. The best way to keep your workouts fresh is to figure out different ways to test your body.
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