Anyone try to do speedwork on a treadmill?

[escargot]

How did it go? I'd like to use a track, but I don't want to have to deal with getting hassled by cops or security.

[Coyote Mas Loco]

No open tracks in your area? What kind of speed work and how long of a workout?

I can do tempo runs just fine. Long reps at CV pace (pace what you can race at for about 30 minutes), pretty well but might back off a bit on volume. V02 (3K-5K pace) I'm a little more careful. Mile pace I'm very careful. Will do some pick ups or a few short reps (30-40 seconds) but not much more than that because it gets frantic and don't want to get flung off the machine.

[Richard21142]

In a previous life, I had a treadmill whose max speed was 4 minute mile pace.  The shortest speed workout I did was 800s.  My son-in-law would run 10 miles with every other mile at 4:45 pace. The problem with speed workouts on a treadmill is that it takes too long to get up to speed for 200s or 400s.

[escargot]

No open tracks in your area? What kind of speed work and how long of a workout?

I can do tempo runs just fine. Long reps at CV pace (pace what you can race at for about 30 minutes), pretty well but might back off a bit on volume. V02 (3K-5K pace) I'm a little more careful. Mile pace I'm very careful. Will do some pick ups or a few short reps (30-40 seconds) but not much more than that because it gets frantic and don't want to get flung off the machine.

They might be open, but I don't want to go anywhere where there are kids because everyone acts weird. I just want to work out and be left alone. I was thinking of the treadmill because it's there at least and because I'm a bit self-conscious. You know when you've done a lap sometimes people feel it's an invitation to interact when you stop for a minute which is something I don't want to do.

[escargot]

In a previous life, I had a treadmill whose max speed was 4 minute mile pace.  The shortest speed workout I did was 800s.  My son-in-law would run 10 miles with every other mile at 4:45 pace. The problem with speed workouts on a treadmill is that it takes too long to get up to speed for 200s or 400s.

It does have a problem picking up fast....you have to get it going and then jump on and that's risky.

[diablita]

I go to UNCA's track and nobody is weird and the runners don't ask to talk.  (Groundskeepers are another story but you won't have men chatting you up like that.)  When I go at 8 am it's us older people, when I go at noon or 4 it's students.  FWIW

When I do speed work on the mill it's often either a ladder workout or I push a pace for X minutes and then recover for X minutes.  The ladder could build on both the speed and recovery segments or one builds and the other doesn't, depending on the stimulus I'm going for.  In the case of the latter I treat the run as a variation of an "emom" (every minute on the minute") workout with the time interval being different depending on the desired stimulus.

[Ice Cream]

I do pyramids.  Increase the speed one notch every minute and then decrease again, one minute, one notch at a time.  It's the only way I can stand to be on a treadmill.

[Arrojo]

It does have a problem picking up fast....you have to get it going and then jump on and that's risky.

Too dangerous for jumping on.  But since it takes just as long to slow down at the end of the rep as it did to speed up to begin the rep, it kind of cancels out.

My TM only goes up to 10.0.  Not fast enough for hard core sprinting speed work.  But!  If I put the incline up to 10.0 also, now its a quality rep. So, for example if I want to do 8 x 100m at 90-95% effort, that works.

For distance running speed workouts, the 10.0 is just fine for me.  12 x 400m is a good TM workout. As noted above, it takes a few extra seconds to go from jogging to 10.0, but after 0.25 miles, I turn it back down to jogging pace and it takes a few extra seconds of fast running to get it back down and its a little further than 0.25 miles.  Good enough.

I only do this if the tracks are covered in snow.  Otherwise, I have plenty of tracks nearby to choose from.  If someone else is running, good for them.  Usually its walkers.  Depending on the track there are kids or high schoolers on the infield doing soccer or something.  Whatever, I am always older than their fathers and sometimes older than their grandfathers.  That makes me a role model as far as I'm concerned.