Doing your long run on the treadmill can be as painful as sitting through a two hour Latin poetry reading the morning after your office holiday party. But unless you live in Florida, southern California, or on a Caribbean island, you are likely going to find yourself on the treadmill during this long, cold, snowy winter.
Don’t be tempted to cheat on your workouts by singing the treadmill blues. Here are a few useful tips from ZOOMA Women’s Race Series Coach, Gracie Updyke, to spice up your treadmill workout love:
1. Break your run up into shorter segments: warm-up, run, and cool-down. Varying the paces will help the workout seem more bearable.
2. Focus on your form and breathing while running on the treadmill. Keep your shoulders back and your hands sweeping past your hips in a flowing motion. (Glare straight ahead and repeat to yourself: “I am a badass runner.”)
3. Do a hill or interval workout on the treadmill. Every few minutes raise the incline or speed to break up the steady pace and add variety.
4. Get on the treadmill with a friend beside you. Gossiping while running is a tried and true method of beating the boredom of a long run.
5. Rock out to your favorite iPod playlist. But please save the karaoke performance until you get home.
Remember that treadmill running when it is too cold, rainy, or too dark outside, is better than missing a workout completely. And beating treadmill boredom helps improve your mental toughness. Go into your treadmill runs with a plan and start singing a different tune.
