How to Train for a Marathon on the Treadmill

What would you say about training for a marathon from within the confines of your home or gym? With a treadmill by your side, you can believably do so.

Why would you do so? The inclement weather makes it almost impossible to train outdoors.

Whether it’s bone-freezing chilling winter or the sweltering heat of summer, weather can derail your plans of training outdoors for a marathon.

Let’s discuss the various advantages of treadmill training for runners aiming for a marathon

Advantages of Indoor Treadmill Running

• The indoor treadmill training can give you some serious preparations for running a marathon.

• Engaging in treadmill running at room temperature ideally acclimatizes you for running a marathon in warmer weather.

• Practicing long run sessions on a treadmill at home allows you to try out your running tracks beforehand.

• Treadmill training provides safer indoor conditions that minimize the risks of any outdoor misadventures that normally occur in outdoor training.

• Indoor treadmill training prepares you for tough mental challenges that are confronted during the marathon.

• When you do a treadmill running for hours by gradually shifting to the higher levels, it makes you mentally strong and boosts your self-esteem.

• Treadmill simulates the actual marathon running if you don’t hold on to the handrails and keep running at customized inclination and speed levels for a fixed number of hours.

• With a treadmill, you can design your marathon strategy and practice it by setting specific interval times and interval speeds for the desired pace.

• Treadmill training is not limited by outside weather and day-night timings. You can practice running even in late nights or early mornings.

• Treadmill training allows you to manage your professional and personal work-life balance better. You have ample time to attend to your daily chores and yet hit the treadmill for long-running sessions.

The automatic treadmills provide various types of treadmill workouts for marathon training.

These treadmills feature an electronic panel that allows the runners to set a pace time and incline settings.

You can key in your desired settings and use the start and stop button for starting and ending your workout session.

Speed Interval Training

The speed interval training is the popular treadmill speed workouts for marathon training.

It involves running short intervals at a faster pace and taking recovery time in between by running at a slower pace.

The Interval training boosts the runner’s fitness level, makes him stronger and competent, and enhances his/her top-end speed.

It’s true that a marathon is not your typical 100-meter race and hence involves running at a slow and steady pace. This leads to the strengthening and training of the leg muscles in the slow pace range of motion.

When you shift gears and increase your pace, you increase the range of motion of these muscles that makes them apply increased force while running.

The interval workout also brings a refreshing change to the monotonous treadmill session by introducing shorter, fast-paced running during long marathon running.

How to Do Speed Interval Training

• Do warm-up with 10 minutes of jogging.

• Run for 2-minutes at 10K pace followed by 2 mins slower jogging. Complete four such sets.

• Do cool down a workout with 10 minutes of jogging.

• Once you are comfortable with 2 minutes intervals, increase the time intervals of 2 minutes to 3 minutes, and reduce recovery time to 1.5 minutes.

Hill Interval Training

Your marathon track may comprise upside and downside hills tracks or rough terrains. You can’t perfectly simulate such pathways on your treadmill.

Moreover, on most incline treadmills, you have only incline settings and no decline settings that make it difficult to simulate downhill tracks.

However, working on the incline settings is enough to provide you a good workout.

For hill interval training, you should practice running at an increased incline for a short duration, followed by running on a flat surface for recovery. Then repeat the cycle.

How to do hill interval training

• Do warm-up with 10 minutes of jogging.

• Run for 1-minutes at a 5-percent grade at marathon pace followed by 1.5 mins slower jogging at zero percent gradient.

• Run for ¾ minutes at a 6-percent grade at marathon pace followed by 1.5 mins slower jogging at zero percent gradient.

• Complete four such sets.

• Do cool down a workout with 10 minutes of slower jogging.

• Improve one set every passing week by gradually increasing the incline time by 30 seconds for every interval

Pyramid Workouts

This pyramid workout represents the pyramid version of speed or hill intervals workouts.

This interval training workout is marked by increased effort in either speed or incline to a defined target.

After reaching the target, intervals involve incrementally decreased effort until the end of the workout.

The pyramid hill workouts help in attaining the fast pace and strengthen the leg muscles in marathon runners.

How to Do Pyramid Workouts

• Do warm-up with 10 minutes slower running at 1-3% incline.

• Run for 2-minutes at a 5 km race effort on incrementally 6, 8, 10, 12 percent inclines.

• Run for 2-minutes at a 5 km race effort on decremental 10, 8, 6 percent inclines.

• Keep 1-minute walking recovery at a 1% incline between all repetitions.

• Do cool-down exercises with 5 minutes of slower running at 1-3% incline.

Tempo Running

The tempo running involves running at a fast and steady pace for a set time interval.

It increases the lactate threshold by building your stamina and strengthening your muscles to maintain a faster pace for an increased duration of time, similar to the race situation.

The tempo running builds up your pace at the desired targeted pace and speed, which you would like to attain on marathon day.

How to Do Tempo Running

• Do warm-up with 10 minutes of jogging.

• Run for 2 to 3 miles at a competitive and challenging pace

• Do cool down a workout with 10 minutes of jogging.

• Once you are comfortable with 3 miles intervals, increase the one mile every 15 days until you reach 8 to 10 miles.

Combined Treadmill and Outdoor Workout

By combining the treadmill and outdoor workouts, you can reap the benefits of both the worlds.

This way, you can continue with your training without any weather or schedule limitations.

Divide your workout routine between treadmill training and outdoor training.

It will prepare you for real-life marathon conditions by running on rough and hilly terrains that are difficult to simulate on a treadmill.

Even though a treadmill cannot give the environment of running on the outdoor terrains, it prepares you for the tough challenges and builds high endurance levels as required for running marathons.

Treadmill workout offers ideal training sessions for intense marathon training.

Runners combine the treadmill and outdoor training to maximize the running impact and build an ideal pace and strength for winning the marathon.