Last Updated on March 23, 2020 by Heather Hart, ACSM EP, CSCS
One of the reasons many runners choose to run on trails is because they love being outdoors. They love the feel of the fresh air in their lungs, sun on their shoulders, and the peacefulness of being surrounded by nature. Yet sometimes, trail and ultra runners have no choice but to hit the treadmill if they want to get in a run. If that’s you: don’t despair, I’ve got five fun treadmill workouts for trail and ultra runners to keep you motivated.
About These Treadmill Workouts for Trail & Ultra Runners:
Intervals:
Personally, I find treadmills a necessary tool, but admittedly pretty boring. I’m not one to say I loathe them or call them dreadmills, but I’m also not going to lie and tell you that they are nearly as mentally stimulating as a run through a single track trail.
For that reason, when on a treadmill, I love to use intervals to help pass the time. Not only do I get to change things up as I go, but keeping track of the time and pushing lots of buttons is wildly distracting.
Incline:
Since most treadmills stop at a maximum of 15% incline, I’ve only programmed the following workouts to that height. If you are lucky enough to have access to an incline trainer treadmill that goes upwards of 40%, feel free to adjust these workouts as needed.
Listen to Your Body:
If you are new to running or hiking inclines on the treadmill, pay attention to your form, and listen to your body. Avoid hunching over and leaning on the railings of the treadmill. Keep your core tight, with a slight bend at your torso. If you feel too much strain on your Achilles, knees, or any other body part: stop. Ease into longer workouts over time.
Disclaimer: I am an ACSM certified Exercise Physiologist & RRCA certified running coach, and believe all of these exercises to be safe for most runners. However, this workout should not be taken as a personal prescription. Perform all exercises at your own risk. Please check with your physician before beginning any new exercise routine.
Hill Climbing Transitions
In an ultramarathon, walking is pretty much a given for most of us mere mortals. Walking up hills helps conserve energy, and delays fatigue to the muscles. But, like anything, that walking has to be practiced in order to be efficient. In this workout, you’ll alternate between a half mile run at an easy to moderate pace, at 1.0% incline, with a quarter mile hike at a fast walk at a 15% incline.
Make it Easier Modifications:
If this workout feels too difficult, you have a few options.
- Cut the incline down to something more manageable, perhaps in the 8-10% range.
- Include a 1.0% incline walk at the beginning of the run portion, in order to allow your heart rate to recover.
Make it Harder Modification:
To make this workout harder, you can run some, or all, of your inclines instead of walking.
Ultramarathon Walking Interval Practice (No Climbing)
Another ultramarathon walking practice workout. However, this one doesn’t include hills. Using a treadmill to practice walking helps teach your body how to move forward at a faster, more consistent pace than you may naturally when told to simply “walk”.
Start with a five minute easy run to warm up your legs. Then, you’ll cycle through:
- 3 minutes of walking at a fast pace. This should be just on the threshold of where you feel like you could almost start running.
- 2 minutes of running at a moderate to hard pace. Stay consistent throughout the entire two minutes.
- 1 minute easy recovery walk or jog.
Make it Easier Modification:
You can make this workout easier by skipping the running portion, and simply walking 3:2 intervals, 3 minutes hard walk, 2 minutes easy, recovery walk. (Throw out the 1 minute interval)
Make it Harder Modification:
Skip the 1 minute recovery, and do your 3 minute walk, 2 minute run back to back.
Hills, Hills, Hills! (a Hill Ladder)
This ascending, and optional descending hill ladder workout will keep you so busy pushing buttons, you’ll be too distracted to notice the difficulty!
Start with a 5 minute easy run to warm up at 1% incline.
Then, increase your incline to 4% and run for one minute. At the four minute mark, lower the incline back to 1%, and run for four minutes.
Repeat this 1 minute incline / 4 minutes flat interval, except with each 1 minute incline, you’re going to increase the incline by 1% (see chart below)
Make it Easier Modification:
To make this workout easier, you can:
- cut your run interval back to 30 or 45 seconds rather than a full minute
- start at 2.0 for your incline, and increase only to 8.0
Make it Harder Modification:
To make this workout harder, you can:
- Start at a higher incline than 4.0%
- Once you reach your 10% incline, return back down the ladder (9, 8, 7% etc.
The Quad Burner
So far, we’ve had some great workouts for climbing. But what about descending? Running downhill forces your quadriceps muscles into an eccentric (shortening) contraction. If a race or a run contains a lot of downhill, you’re definitely going to feel it in your quads. But the problem is: most treadmills don’t have a downhill option.
So, we’re going to attack those quads by adding in some air squats!
Start with a 5 minute warm up at an easy pace. Then:
- 3 minutes of walking at a fast pace. This should be just on the threshold of where you feel like you could almost start running.
- 2 minutes of running at a moderate to hard pace. Stay consistent throughout the entire two minutes.
- Hop off the treadmill, and perform 1 minute of air squats. Keep your torso tall, butt back, weight in your heels (like you are going to sit down in a chair). Form matters more than speed. 10 GOOD squats in a minute will be more beneficial than 20 poor form squats that could injure you.
Make it Easier Modification:
To make this workout easier, cut your squat portion back to 30 seconds, and then recover for 30 seconds.
Make it Harder Modifications:
To make this workout harder, you could:
- perform jump squats instead of regular squats
- Bring your walking portion (3 minutes) up to an incline
The Long Climb
Nothing like an hour long hike to get the heart rate up! For this workout, you will have the treadmill at a 15% incline the entire time.
Start the first 5 minutes at a speed of 3.0 miles per hour (or, something that feels like a good warm up speed).
Every five minutes, increase your speed by 0.1 miles per hour. That seems pretty insignificant, but at a 15% incline, it catches up with you pretty quickly. Your hardest interval should be minutes 25-30. At that point, start decreasing your speed by 0.1 mph every five minutes.
Note: an hour of continuous hiking can cause your posture and form to fall apart quickly. Keep your core tight, shoulders back. Avoid leaning into the railings or hunching towards the console of the treadmill.
Make it Easier Modifications:
To make this workout easier, you can:
- Start at a slower speed, such as 2.5 mph, or wherever you feel comfortable
- Perform the entire workout at a lower incline, such as 10%, or decrease the incline as you start to fatigue
Make it Harder Modifications:
To make this workout harder, you can:
- Start at a faster pace than 3.0 mph
- Run the first minute of each 5 minute interval
- Extend this into a 90 minute or 2 hour workout, climbing and descending the speed ladder once again.
Have FUN!
The treadmill is not a sentence to boredom. These fun and functional treadmill workouts were designed specifically for trail & ultra runners. So even if you can’t hit the trails, you can get in a workout making you stronger for your next single track or mountain climbing session.
Bonus: Need some motivation during these long climbs? Check out my post 10 Motivational Trail & Ultra Running Films for Treadmill Distraction
Heather Hart is an ACSM certified Exercise Physiologist, NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), UESCA certified Ultrarunning Coach, RRCA certified Running Coach, co-founder of Hart Strength and Endurance Coaching, and creator of this site, Relentless Forward Commotion. She is a mom of two teen boys, and has been running and racing distances of 5K to 100+ miles for over a decade. Heather has been writing and encouraging others to find a love for fitness and movement since 2009.
Kimberly Hatting
Well, unlike you, I will admit to saying I loathe the treadmill LOL Ironically, though I don’t mind it as much for walking as I do for running. These workouts all sound like something I’d do…gotta have intervals to break up the monotony 😉 Thanks for sharing!
Dean
Something to try: on your hill climb, every 10 minutes, slow it to 2mph, spin around and walk backwards for one minute. It isn’t downhill, but a different muscle activation.
Thanks for your blogs.