How would you suggest upping the speed on a treadmill?

oxoxgg
oxoxgg Posts: 3 Member
edited April 2018 in Fitness and Exercise
I am proud to say that I can now successfully run for a full hour at once. Went through C25K, then B210K, and used time rather than distance.

Slightly less proud to say that my speed for this is very very slow.

I've been told several times not to worry about speed, it comes with endurance. Now that I have a tiny bit of endurance, how can I work on getting faster? I don't want to be a speed demon, but I would like to maybe run at a speed the apps don't consider walking, lol. That won't be for a while, but it's a goal. Running for longer than an hour is not a goal at the moment. Maybe once my schedule calms down.

I'm thinking about turning one of my 1hr running days into a faster day (I'd just add a day if I had the time). Maybe starting at 1mph/1.5mph faster than my current speed and seeing how far I can go? Then use that as a base to start with?

What would you suggest? Other than "press the up button" or "I don't know, I don't use a dreadmill" which is what I get from my hilarious friends.

Replies

  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
    1-1.5 mph is a big increase. When I increase my treadmill speed, I usually do it in small increments, 0.2-0.3 mph at a time and running my usual distance at that speed but at more of a tempo run type effort. Then after it starts feeling easy again, I bump it some more.

    I'm not an expert by any means, but I do use and like my treadmill a ton in the winter and that is what works to me.
  • oxoxgg
    oxoxgg Posts: 3 Member
    peleroja wrote: »
    1-1.5 mph is a big increase. When I increase my treadmill speed, I usually do it in small increments, 0.2-0.3 mph at a time and running my usual distance at that speed but at more of a tempo run type effort. Then after it starts feeling easy again, I bump it some more.

    I'm not an expert by any means, but I do use and like my treadmill a ton in the winter and that is what works to me.

    Thanks! That will probably be more realistic! Can you expand on "tempo run effort"?
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
    edited April 2018
    I’d probably just shorten the run and increase your speed by maybe .2 at a time , definitely not 1-1.5 mph at a time. I’m also a treadmill user. I’m not running outside in the winter. Or the blistering heat for that matter.
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
    oxoxgg wrote: »
    peleroja wrote: »
    1-1.5 mph is a big increase. When I increase my treadmill speed, I usually do it in small increments, 0.2-0.3 mph at a time and running my usual distance at that speed but at more of a tempo run type effort. Then after it starts feeling easy again, I bump it some more.

    I'm not an expert by any means, but I do use and like my treadmill a ton in the winter and that is what works to me.

    Thanks! That will probably be more realistic! Can you expand on "tempo run effort"?

    This link is a good one to understand what a tempo run is and why it's a good thing to add to your training once you are running regularly.
  • oxoxgg
    oxoxgg Posts: 3 Member
    peleroja wrote: »
    oxoxgg wrote: »
    peleroja wrote: »
    1-1.5 mph is a big increase. When I increase my treadmill speed, I usually do it in small increments, 0.2-0.3 mph at a time and running my usual distance at that speed but at more of a tempo run type effort. Then after it starts feeling easy again, I bump it some more.

    I'm not an expert by any means, but I do use and like my treadmill a ton in the winter and that is what works to me.

    Thanks! That will probably be more realistic! Can you expand on "tempo run effort"?

    This link is a good one to understand what a tempo run is and why it's a good thing to add to your training once you are running regularly.

    Thank you!
  • lporter229
    lporter229 Posts: 4,907 Member
    edited April 2018
    You are doing the right thing by only increasing your speed for one run per week. When you do this, start off with a warm up at your normal speed and then slowly increase it until you are running at a slightly uncomfortable pace. You should be working hard, but not killing yourself. If it gets too tough, back it down, recover, then speed it up again. End your run with several minutes of a cool down at easy pace too. Continue to run the rest of your runs at your normal pace. You will eventually find that you can comfortably increase the pace in small increments (maybe 0.1-0.2 mph ) for all of your runs.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,673 Member
    What I did when I started running is warm-up with a mile or two of slow easy running, usually starting at a very slow pace and increasing the pace every 1/4 mile by .1 until I was at my comfortable pace. Then I would run significantly faster for 1 minute, then go back to my easy pace for a couple of minutes, then run fast for 1 minute, then slow it down again. The fast pace should be something you can do without needing to hold on to the TM handles. (i.e. When comfortable was 5.4, then my fast pace would be 6.0.) Usually about 5-10 fast short intervals was enough. I found that after a while the faster pace would not feel that difficult, and the pace that was my easy pace would be faster as well. I still do short sprint intervals, both on the TM and on the street. They help your form and they teach your legs to move faster.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
    Do faster intervals, even bursts of 1 or 2 mins at a faster speed before returning to your usual speed. It takes time to build speed. Congrats on doing 1hr though - that's fab :smile:
  • lporter229
    lporter229 Posts: 4,907 Member
    One more thing to keep in mind when you are working on increasing your speed: Not every speed workout is going to be easier than the last. You might have a great work out one day then the next time you try and do it, it's a struggle. This happens to all runners. We have good days and bad days. Put in whatever effort you are able to give that day and have faith that your overall fitness is still increasing. It takes some time and patience, so don't get discouraged by a bad session.
  • JMcGee2018
    JMcGee2018 Posts: 275 Member
    LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »
    Do faster intervals, even bursts of 1 or 2 mins at a faster speed before returning to your usual speed. It takes time to build speed. Congrats on doing 1hr though - that's fab :smile:

    I second intervals. If you liked the C25K program (which clearly you did), you could try following it again, but this time during the "walk" parts, run at your current speed, and at you "run" parts, increase your speed by maybe .5 mph. Start all the way back at Week 1 and work your way up from there. There are other structured interval programs out there, but this is one you're familiar with and like, so I'd start there.
  • jc1961AA
    jc1961AA Posts: 283 Member
    Also increase the incline, i never run on the treadmill with 0% incline, always a minimum of 0.5 to 2.0, this make it harder and when you reverse to fully flat you should find yourself going faster. One of the top drill to increase speed is hill running, brutal but it works
  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
    when i treadmilled
    1-2 days of interval speed workouts. with an increase of .5 for 4-5min or as long as you can stand
    1-2 days of interval incline workouts. by 1 to 2 percent
    (1 day of a shorter run with a .2 increase in speed instead of a speed interval)
    1 long run day-movie day!
  • LJay89
    LJay89 Posts: 91 Member
    You should be proud of the fact you run at any speed. Such a great achievement! I can probably go for 5 minutes before I need to stop!
  • oilphins
    oilphins Posts: 240 Member
    edited April 2018
    peleroja wrote: »
    1-1.5 mph is a big increase. When I increase my treadmill speed, I usually do it in small increments, 0.2-0.3 mph at a time and running my usual distance at that speed but at more of a tempo run type effort. Then after it starts feeling easy again, I bump it some more.

    I'm not an expert by any means, but I do use and like my treadmill a ton in the winter and that is what works to me.

    I've done 7 half marathons and run on a regular basis about 4-5 days a week and this is the perfect advice. A little at a time. If you're running at say 5.5 now and are comfortable and can run and hour, bumping it up to 7.0 is way too much and would be too fast to keep up for a long period of time. Try say 5.7-5.8 and see how far you can go. Eventually you will go longer at a faster pace but take it slowly until your ready.

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