Running intervals

[Peano]

What are your thoughts about running occasional intervals on a treadmill? I'm aware of and agree with the arguments against running for endurance.

By intervals I mean this: After warming up, I run at about 50% max speed for a minute, then slow the treadmill to a brisk walk. I check pulse rate, and when it drops below 120, I run for another minute, a little faster this time. And so on until I'm sprinting more or less flat out. I do six or eight intervals, and that's it. Total elapsed time maybe 15 minutes.

On the faster sprints my pulse reaches into the 160s, and drops below 120 after a minute or so of walking.

I do this maybe once a week 1) just because it feels good and 2) because stretching out in a hard sprint is just different from squats, dead lifts, etc. I'm 68.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Why a treadmill?

[Greg C]

Why a treadmill?

My perspective on this is that a metered device like a treadmill, rower or bike allows for better incremental approaches to training. For example, I typically row 8x500m or 5x1500m intervals with set rest periods. I approach each set of intervals with an intent to maintain the entire set at least 0.5-10 seconds less than my last average time/500m. This allows for an incremental approach I would be less able to attain on a school track or some other outdoor format, and keeps me pushing a little harder each time. As I've been at this for a while, the smaller increment is pretty tough to maintain through the sets and also helps work the mental aspects.

[James72090]

In addition to that question i may only be 24 but two disc herniations makes running treadmills horrible, plus running outside offers a much better environment. I don't know if you have any past injury history but i would assume at 68 you have something that hurts and treadmills make you run funny, which makes weird things hurt.

[ColoWayno]

Why a treadmill?

Like Greg said, it's easy to track progress. That said, I still run the prowler in the summer months, but I lack the motivation to get it out when it's dark/cold outside.

So, the real reason, the treadmill is easy and in a warm dry place.

[Steve Hill]

I think that if you are going to insist on running, you should investigate Tabata intervals. Brutally short and painful, but easy to recover from and not very taxing overall (other than in pain).

[wal]

Like Greg said, it's easy to track progress. That said, I still run the prowler in the summer months, but I lack the motivation to get it out when it's dark/cold outside.

So, the real reason, the treadmill is easy and in a warm dry place.

Also you can watch the Friday night footy on the TV at the same time.

[drcube]

Unless you have a specific reason to use running as your modality for conditioning(ie you're training for a race or something), I highly recommend against it.

So what is the standard recommendation for people who want to improve their conditioning but who don't have access to a prowler or rower?

I work out in my home gym. I'm certainly going to get a prowler eventually, but I need to replace my shitty barbell with a good one first. And I'd like to maybe get to a seminar eventually. Not to mention a lot of other non-S&C-related purchases on the docket, and it's not like I'm wallowing in disposable income at the moment. So a prowler isn't necessarily my top priority yet. (Should it be? Is it that important?)

Nevertheless, I'd like to start doing some HIIT on my non-lifting days, and the most accessible thing to do looks like sprints on the street outside my house. I was also thinking about taking the wheels and handle off an old wheelbarrow, throwing some weights in there and pushing it around like a prowler.

Any other suggestions?

[mev20]

I think that if you are going to insist on running, you should investigate Tabata intervals. Brutally short and painful, but easy to recover from and not very taxing overall (other than in pain).

With only lifting and 3 months of Tabata sprints as training (2 times per week), one day I ran a little over 10 miles. I had intended to do a local 1/2-marathon as a test of the Tabata training and walked to the start only to find out I could not register with a credit card on the day of the race. I walked back home (maybe 1.5 miles round trip), picked up my phone and used the gps to measure the distance of an impromptu running course. I could have kept going for the 13.1 but I was (a) bored, (b) near a trail that would take me right back to my house and (c) hungry (there was a slab of good bacon at home) so I called it a day at somewhere between 10-11 miles. I don't recommend this, other than the Tabata sprints and the bacon.

[Peano]

Like Greg said, it's easy to track progress. That said, I still run the prowler in the summer months, but I lack the motivation to get it out when it's dark/cold outside.

So, the real reason, the treadmill is easy and in a warm dry place.

Yes. Convenience and temperature. And I can instantly check pulse rate, which is what I use to gauge when to begin the next sprint. (These are top-of-the-line Cybex treadmills with pulse handles, timers and all that.)

Where I live (an apartment complex), I really don't have a decent stretch outside to sprint. Also, where I live it gets colder than a witch's thorax in winter, and I don't like running in the freezing cold. Heat is fine, but not cold.

I don't do intervals to train for competitive running. It's just a change-up from barbells. I used to run a lot, but Rip and SS convinced me to concentrate on weight training.

Someone else mentioned that a treadmill makes you run funny. That hasn't been my experience. I think the trick is to get your form right, and I did that by running barefoot on pavement until it felt natural. Doesn't take long, and once you get that right, it's easy to replicate in running shoes.

I have found that running on a treadmill takes less effort than running on the ground -- which is just common sense. But even so, I can still max out on sprints on the treadmill.