As runners, sometimes we think throwing hills into our runs or pushing the pace a little extra in hard workouts can lead to more gains without consequence. In reality, every time you make your runs a bit faster, longer, or steeper, you have to ease up on something else or you risk burnout, injury, or simply not finishing the session. Balancing each element of your workout takes some planning.
But thankfully, David Siik, founder of Precision Run by Equinox and author of The Ultimate Treadmill Workout, has done the strategizing for you. Siik’s treadmill workout method packs in incline, speed, and distance, without leaving you overly fatigued or struggling to recover the next day. The extra payoff: zero boredom.
Siik’s method combines incline and speed, along with adequate recovery, to gain all the benefits of an interval workout that’s easy to follow. When you change one element in this workout strategy, you automatically adjust the other elements to manage your fatigue levels and maintain efficiency. For example, when you run intervals at a 1 percent incline, you slow your speed down by 0.2 miles per hour (mph) to prevent overstressing your body.
The pace for the run portions of this workout should be about 2 mph below your one-minute PR speed. For example, if your one-minute PR speed is 7 mph, run at 5 mph. This pace should feel like a 9 out of 10 for rate of perceived exertion (RPE), with 10 equaling all-out effort.
It should feel like you could repeat those intervals a few more times without the incline at the end of your workout if you had to. A shortcut to determining your one-minute PR is to first try running at 5 mph, then go off Siik’s easy guide: Put that one-minute PR pace setting to use with this workout. Your outdoor paces don’t always translate directly to the treadmill, Siik explains.
You might pace yourself differently because running in place on the treadmill can slightly slow down your times, especially if you’re used to using a GPS watch outside or going off marathon pace, for example, Siik says. That’s why he uses his “one-minute PR” method to help you determine your treadmill pace. If you go straight to a 9 out of 10 RPE in the very first interval of a 45-minute workout, you might hurt or overexert yourself, Siik explains.
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