For the last few winters, I have turned to the Peloton app to keep my treadmill workouts interesting. But with their recent plan changes (only 3 cardio equipment workouts included), I can’t bring myself to pay more per month just for the laziness of not wanting to create my own treadmill workouts. 

I prefer doing workouts on the treadmill just to keep it interesting. After spending way too many miles training for marathons on the treadmill, I can’t bring myself to do steady state runs on it any more.

So I dusted off my old training notebooks and reviewed some of my past treadmill sessions.

If you are in a similar boat and looking for treadmill workouts, here are my top 6 workouts that can be used for however long you want your workout to be. I have them written to be a 45ish minute run.

4x2

After a 10 minute warm up, ramp up our pace to be around 10k pace for 4 minutes, then back down to a jog (or walk) for 2 minutes. Repeat that 4 times, then cool down for 10 minutes.

2x2 (hills)

After a 10 minute warm up, increase your pace to a steady state run (think half marathon to marathon pace), and alternate 4% incline with flat incline every 2 minutes for the next 30 minutes. Slow it down to a jog to cool down.

4 min ladder paces

After a 10 minute warm up, add .3 to your pace every 4 minutes for the next 16 minutes, then decrease .3 every 4 minutes for the next 16 minutes, finish with a cool down.

4x4

After a 10 minute warm up, increase your pace to 5k pace for 4 minutes, then slow down to jog or walk for 4 minutes, repeat that 4 times. The recovery is longer here as you are working harder in the up tempo pace than in previous workouts. Finish off with a cool down.

½ mile repeats

After a 10 minute warm up, go to half marathon pace for ½ mile, then recovery jog or walk for 2 minutes, and repeat 4-5 times. Cool down to finish.

Taylor Swift Training

Use this play list and when the song is fast, run fast. When the song is slow, recover. It's how Taylor trained for her tour and I have found it a fun workout without too much thought required.

As you can see, I keep the repeats short. I find it hard to do up tempo paces over 4 minutes in length on the treadmill, my mind wanders too much and I just can’t stick to it.  Shorter intervals keep it interesting, let me work hard without getting bored. What are your favorite treadmill workouts?

Obviously I am not prescribing any of these workouts or setting paces. Do what is best for you. If you don't know what 5k/10k/half marathon paces, on the up-tempo parts just run at a pace that is hard but not a sprint. And go from there. Recovery can be a jog or a walk depending on your training.