Yes, it’s very hot. But, if it was very cold, nothing would change because it’s not always easy to run in difficult weather conditions. So unless you live in Los Angeles where spring reigns supreme year-round, sometimes the solution is very simple: work out on the treadmill.
But it’s boring running on a treadmill. Sometimes we run there for taking advantage of time spent “running from a standstill” to watch a TV series or listen to an audiobook, but the Hamster Syndrome is always just around the corner.
We are helped by a nice workout pattern I found on TrainingPeaks that includes many variations, all of short duration.
This workout is geared toward improving speed and aims to stimulate the neuromuscular system, and the author-Gale Bernhardt (the creator of the workout and a trainer of Olympic athletes, triathletes, mountain bikers and ultrarunners) guarantees that the benefits will be felt from the first run. Certainly it deserves at least one try!
Training
Warm-up and reference speed
We warm up for 10-20 minutes at a gentle pace (Zone 1) with an incline between 0 and 1% and then slowly increase our speed, which should still allow us to maintain a comfortable pace, and we will have identified our “Zone 2”. For the more experts, this is the same speed as in a marathon.
Repetitions
As you can see, they always run at the same speed (except for the last set). Between repetitions, get off the treadmill and insert a break ranging from 1 to 2 minutes while walking quietly. Breaking can also be done by reducing the incline and speed, but It’s better if you know how to safely get on and off a running treadmill (otherwise you can learn how to do it before committing to this exercise).
The Last Set
It might sound like the title of a tennis movie, but instead it’s just the last stage of training. In this case you return the incline to 0%, increase the speed by 1.5 km/h and maintain it until you feel the effort becomes higher and you approach the lower part of the anaerobic threshold (Zone 3).
Defaticamento
After the last set, walk for 5-10 minutes and then you can go for a well-deserved shower! ;)