Treadmill Workout of the Week: All About 3’s

It’s time for a no judgment check-in. Are you still keeping up with the goals you set a few weeks back? Or is your determination starting to wane?

One way to stay engaged in your training is to keep it fresh. Reinvigorate your routine with a workout you’ve never tried before or rotate in some old ones that you haven’t tried in a while. Notice how switching it up makes you feel.

The treadmill is a place where it is especially easy to get bored and start avoiding. It’s time to refresh your treadmill routine.

The following workout is the last week in our five weeks of treadmill workouts, created by USA Triathlon coach and Colorado Running Hall of Fame athlete, J’ne Day-Lucore. This set of intervals will allow you to play with pacing and understand the feel of your target race paces in a controlled way. Day-Lucore’s philosophy is to make every minute count, which is why the sets get progressively faster from start to finish.

Ready, set, treadmill!

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Treadmill Workout: Playing with Pace

Test out your 10K, 5K, and mile pace over the course of this 45-minute workout. By gradually getting faster over the three blocks, you are giving your body time to warm up and get into the pace for each zone. Each interval gets shorter as the pace gets faster, making it easier to keep your interest.

Focus on cadence as the speed increases by specifically driving your arms and legs backwards. Your legs should be pulling power from the hamstrings to keep the cadence high and strong.

Start warming up with a 10-minute jog building from 4.5 mph to 6.0 mph.

Main Set

• 3 x (3 minutes at 10K race pace or RPE 7, with 2 minutes easy jog recovery)
• 3 x (1 minute at 5K race pace or RPE 8, with 1-minute easy jog recovery)
• 3 x (30 seconds at mile race pace or RPE 9/10, with 1-minute easy jog recovery)

Cool down for 5-10 minutes with an easy jog. The whole workout should be completed in about 45 minutes total.

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