Using the Treadmill to Do Your Strides

Here's the deal. You can find somewhere a treadmill that goes 12 miles an hour or has a 5-minute-mile pace. That's a 16:15 5k pace. Now for some of you out there, this isn't fast enough: you're a 15-minute 5k runner and the treadmill won't meet your needs. But for most people, the treadmill goes fast enough for them to do their strides. You can put on your racing flats and after you've run 15 minutes to warm up, you can start to do some strides by quickly bumping up the speed of the treadmill, holding your form for just 10 seconds, and then hitting the button to slow the treadmill down to a slow jog. But be careful: if you fail to keep up with the treadmill, a very simple thing will happen—you will fall and be spit out the back of the treadmill. Yikes! But the flip side is that in the middle of winter you need to maintain your speed and you need to do strides, and there is no reason you can't do them on a treadmill. It's even reasonable to think that you would do your easy run outside in the elements, and then come inside, quickly change into your racing flats, and do your strides on the treadmill. In the winter months, you need to maintain the speed you have, so use the treadmill as a tool to that end.  

Jay