Survive Treadmill Running

jogalong-stroller, treadmill running

Image by Ales Krivec via Unsplash

Are you itching for spring to hurry up and get here so you can get back to running outside without wearing a bunch of layers and worrying about slipping and falling with every step?

I assure you, you’re not alone.

Running inside for any reason, weather or otherwise, is a tough pill to swallow for many runners. But when the alternative is to not run at all, sometimes you just have to suck it up and jump on the hamster wheel.

Make the Best of the Situation

If you’re going to be running on the treadmill, you might as well try to make the best of the situation.

If you’re looking for ways to spice up your run and limit the monotony of treadmill running, here are a few suggestions that might help you avoid the treadmill blues.

Podcasts:

I’ll admit to being biased because I host a podcast of my own, but I love listening to podcasts when I run.

If you haven’t jumped on board the podcast bandwagon yet, you really are missing out. No matter what topics are of interest to you, I guarantee there are several podcasts available (for free!) that you can listen to while you’re running.

I tend to listen to podcasts that aren’t running related, but that’s just me. If you want to listen to running podcasts while you’re running, there are plenty of options available.

Netflix:

Set your iPad on the display of the treadmill, plug in your headphones, and fire up a movie or television series to help you get through your time on the mill.

Odds are there’s a show or two that you never got into while it was on TV that you wouldn’t mind watching, but you don’t have the time to binge watch episode after episode in your daily life.

Or maybe that’s just me…

If you’re going to be on the treadmill, you might as well be entertained at the same time.

Audible:

In my younger days, when I actually did run on the treadmill on occasion, I would try to read while I was running. Needless to say, that didn’t work very well.

With an Audible subscription, you can download audio books and listen to them while you are running. There are tens of thousands of books available, and more are being added virtually every day. Fiction. Non-fiction. Pretty much any genre you would want, and most likely any book you want, is available on Audible already.

Click here if you’d like to try Audible for free for one month plus get a free audiobook download.

A Last Minute Reminder

If you’re going to try and distract yourself from the monotony of treadmill running with any of these options, make sure you remember that you are on the treadmill.

I know that sounds ridiculous, but I’ve talked to people on my podcast who have literally fallen off of the treadmill because they were so lost in the music/podcast/book that they were listening to that they just stopped running and shot off the back of the treadmill.

You don’t want that to be you.

Make sure that you’re always aware of what is going on around you while you’re on the treadmill, and if you need to stop, make sure you step off of the belt and onto the sides of the treadmill first.

By Denny Krahe

Denny Krahe is a Certified Athletic Trainer and Running Coach specializing in helping runners prevent common running injuries and being able to run pain free. He is also the host of the "Diz Runs With..." podcast.