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Five Tips to Make Treadmill Long Runs Easier

I’ve talked about it more than once on this blog. I LOVE Friday morning long runs. It’s one less thing on my weekend to do list and now, while I’m triathlon training, it also allows for time swimming and biking with Bo.

However, sometimes things don’t go as planned. I woke up this morning at 5am, got dressed, ate a banana and peanut butter while sipping on Nuun. I walked out the front door at 5:15 and heard a loud clap of thunder and saw lightening in the distance. I am all for running in the elements, including rain,  but I do not like taking chances when it comes to lightning.

Knowing in the back of my mind that we have plans tonight and a Fourth of July BBQ and party tomorrow, the last thing I wanted to do was try and schedule my long run between those activities. While I have learned over the past few months that I can definitely bike with a hangover, I have no desire to run with one. I went back to bed for two hours and decided to pack my gear for a post work long run on the treadmill.

I can now say that I have run 13 miles on the treadmill.

imageWith a little bit of planning and strategy, it wasn’t as bad as I expected. Here are my tips for making your next treadmill long run a success.

5 tips for treadmill long runs

1. Break it 30 minute increments. For some reason, 30 minutes is a very manageable and acceptable time to run on a treadmill. It also means that anytime your eye sees the clock it sees a number that isn’t intimidating. Every 30 minutes I grabbed a sip of water and quickly restarted the treadmill.

2. Switch up your entertainment. For this run, I brought three forms of entertainment: music, television show and the World Cup. I listened to music for the first 4 miles, watched an episode of Mad Men for 5 miles and then watched the France versus Germany World Cup game for the final 4 miles. If you don’t have a television or iPad show option, changing playlists or genre of music can be a good option. Another idea is to listen to a podcast or audiobook half the time and then music the other half.

3. Don’t forget fuel and water. I kept a water bottle next to me on the treadmill but when I started to get tired around mile 11 I realized I forgot to bring fuel. Since my tank was empty for the final few miles my pace definitely suffered a bit as did my overall mentality.

4. Take advantage of the elevation button. Whether or not you’re training for a hilly race, using the elevation button on a treadmill can spice things up during an otherwise monotonous long run. Of course, be careful not to push the elevation too much if your goal is a long distance. One great tip that I found a few years ago is to download the course map for your upcoming race and use try to replicate some of the elevation changes during your run. You can find a lot of elevation maps by typing “elevation grade of <insert race name>” or “elevation chart for <insert race name>.”

5. Bring a towel. I didn’t think to bring a towel since our gym has paper towels readily available. Maybe it was the humidity or the fact that our gym isn’t air conditioned, but I found myself sweating more on the treadmill than I normally would outside! Two hours of sweat wiping later, my face didn’t appreciate the cardboard like paper towels. Next time I’ll bring a small towel to wipe myself down and cover the screen.

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A little over two hours later I was able to push stop on the treadmill and kick off the weekend. Thirteen miles is a new personal distance record on the treadmill and while I have no desire to do it again soon, at least I know it’s always an option when weather or scheduling gets in the way.

How far have you run on a treadmill?

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Geneva Triathlon Training – Finding Balance

I finished last week’s training feeling good about the headway I’ve made. I only logged one swim workout and one bike ride but with more than a month until my sprint triathlon, I feel okay. More importantly I finished the week feeling balanced and energized. I wasn’t overly sore but a few of the workouts definitely pushed me into the discomfort zone.

Last week’s workouts:

Monday: Oh the run from hell. I worried that this would shape my entire week as this after work 4 mile run was just plain horrible. My body was sore from overtraining the week before, it was super hot and I was exhausted. Sometimes running after work is a blessing but today it was a curse.

Tuesday: My body nor my mind were in swim practice but I pushed through and ended up finishing 1 mile in around 45 minutes including some sprints and mixed stroke work. The time in the pool definitely helped my soreness and my mentality more than expected.

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Wednesday: This was definitely my hardest speed work yet as it included the dreaded mile repeats. I surprised myself by really enjoying it by the end! The workout included 1 mile warm-up, 3 mile repeats (7:53, 7:51, 8:01) followed by a 1 mile cool-down. I was dead at the end but it felt awesome!

Thursday: Katie and I switched things up this week and went to yoga together on Thursday instead of Tuesday. The class couldn’t have been more perfect. It was 75 minutes of sweat inducing flow yoga including some long holds and lots of inversion practice on a rooftop! We laughed together and pushed each other to go a bit further in this practice and the results really showed. Both of us left the class smiling and feeling stronger!

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Friday: I’m starting to love these Friday rest days! There is nothing better than sleeping until 7:30 and getting to head to work relaxed with a homemade iced coffee in hand on a Friday.

Saturday: My mantra for this run was slow and steady. When talking to Theodora the other day I told her that my prescribed pace of 9:50-9:55 seemed so slow for long runs. I was tempted to try and push it even though that goes against the training plan. Luckily she told me to look back at DailyMile and remind myself how far I’ve come in the past 4 years. When I trained for my first marathon most of my long runs were around 11:30. This helped put my mind in the right perspective that 9:50 may be slower than my average runs are but I have never maintained a pace better than 11:10 for a marathon so hello – this is a fabulous pace. I checked my Garmin more frequently than normal to ensure that I maintained my goal pace. The rest of the time I zoned out to my music and took in the gorgeous views along the lake. The weather was perfect, I saw a few friends during the run and I had a wonderful lake day filled with rose, relaxation and friends greeting me at the end of 11 miles.

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Sunday: I woke up more sore than normal in part due to my long run but I think my sunburn exacerbated things. It took every ounce of will power to kick my butt out the door for a solo bike ride around 4pm. I told myself that I just had to clip in and do a few miles. If I was sore and miserable I could turn around and call it a day. This trick always works and an hour later I found myself returning home. The ride wasn’t perfect as I had to avoid the lake due to all the barbeques and people but I still logged a 17 mile ride by myself. My goal this week is to find a route that I really enjoy.

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Geneva Triathlon Training– Overdosing

I still haven’t figured out what to truly call this weekly training recap since I’m currently training for 3 events which all require a bit of a different focus.

  • Mt Blanc 10k trail race – June 28th – Chamonix, France
  • Geneva Sprint Triathlon – July 19th – Geneva, Switzerland
  • Berlin Marathon – September 28th – Berlin, Germany

Regardless what we title it, this week’s post definitely shows how much I overdosed on training last week. I let the amazing weather, great friends, positive peer pressure, and new bikes lure me outside one too many times in addition to my actual marathon training plan.  Monday morning was the first time that training for these 3 events at the same time stressed me out. In fact up until now I’ve looked at training for all 3 as a positive. I feel like both the trail running and triathlon training have helped be build a stronger than normal marathon base both physically and mentally. But, when I woke up Monday morning I realized just how much I pushed my body last week.

It’s Tuesday and my body still feels wrecked from last week’s workouts which isn’t the best way to start a new training week. I’m using this as a learning experience and making sure that I scale things back a little bit. At the end of the day, I want to enjoy these three races though Berlin Marathon is my primary focus. 

Monday: The 6 mile tempo run plan was 2 miles easy – 2 miles at 8:53 – 2 miles easy In the end I ended up running 2 warm-up miles at 9:45, 1 mile at 8:46, 1 mile at 8:56, and the final 2 miles at 9:40. Even in the late afternoon heat I felt strong and really enjoyed this tempo run.

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Tuesday: 1600 meter swim in the morning followed by 90 minutes of hot power yoga in the evening

Wednesday: My Speed workout plan was 1.5 mile warm-up followed by 4 x 400 at 8:08 pace sprints followed by a 1.5 mile cool down. I headed down to the lake for the speed portion since it’s convenient, straight and the views made it a perfect spot.  I was able to maintain 7:40, 7:20, 6:59, and 7:52 pace. Everything clicked for this workout perfectly and I ran the whole thing with a ridiculous smile on my face even during the painful minutes.

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Thursday: 2000 meter swim

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Friday: Rest day

Saturday: An incredibly beautiful 10k trail run through Chamonix valley plus another 10k of trail running and hiking through Les Praz.

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Sunday: A 29 mile bike ride including 3 steep climbs which definitely helped prepare me for the bike leg of the Geneva triathlon!

YOUR TURN: In preparation for this week’s long run, I’m on the hunt for new tunes. What song are you LOVING right now?

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