Workout Wednesday: Treadmill Sprints

-by Lauren Brandon

People either love the treadmill or they hate it. I am definitely the latter. Running on the treadmill always seems like it is never ending and it can be a real struggle to get in the work that needs to be done. The treadmill can be a great tool though, not only to get in some hard efforts but also if you need to run early in the morning or late at night. The treadmill is also very useful for the times when the weather is bad outside.

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At this time next week, I’ll be running the marathon portion at Ironman Texas. I have put together my most consistent run block these past 16 weeks and I’m definitely excited to see what I can do. I’m so lucky to have my hubby and coach @barrettbrandon_ be so patient with my run progress these past years. I started out running in 2009 20-30 minutes 2-3 times per week. It has taken me a very long time to build up the run mileage while still being healthy, but we’re getting there! Ironman number 6, I’m coming for you! ? @nilsnilsen

A post shared by Lauren Brandon (@laurenbbrandon) on Apr 21, 2018 at 12:30pm PDT

If I know that I need to do a treadmill workout due to work or some other circumstance, then I plan a workout that is going to keep me engaged or that is “fun”. The following workout is a great one to do any time of the year. The intervals are whatever a hard pace is for you at the time. Make sure that you are fully warmed up before you start your intervals. If needed, you can descend the first few intervals (get faster each one) so that you build into the hard race pace and you make sure your body is ready to go for the rest of the intervals.

Workout duration: 60 minutes

Warm up: 20 minutes (10 minutes easy, 6x 30 seconds hard (build these) /30 seconds easy, 4 minutes easy

Main set: 15x 1 minutes hard/ 1 minute easy (for the easy part I like to put my legs on the side of the treadmill, stand for a few seconds while I put the pace down, and then jog easy for about 30 seconds before starting the next interval).

Cooldown: 10 minutes easy