How to Make the Treadmill Less Boring

I’ve never been a treadmill person, but something changed on a recent vacation. I wanted to get a few miles in every morning, but there was no convenient running route available. I thought I found a promising local park, but the reviews on AllTrails said nothing nice about it, only complaints about the mosquitoes and ticks, and a claim that there was a toll gate at the only parking lot. Also, it was 90 degrees out.

So I went to the hotel gym to see how much of my planned five-miler I could endure on the treadmill. I put on a good podcast, discovered to my delight that the treadmill had a built-in fan to cool my face, and found myself saying “sure, I could do another mile” four times in a row. I came back the next day, and the next. I’m as shocked as anyone to say this, but I kind of love the treadmill now.

Why you should learn to love treadmill runs

Now that I’m back from vacation, I’m a new person. Specifically, one who looks at the weather and says: hmm, that treadmill is looking pretty good right now. 

On a treadmill, you don’t have to worry about sunscreen, sun shirts, or sunburn. The humidity doesn’t suffocate you, and the wet bulb temperature no longer matters. In the winter, you won’t have to contend with icy sidewalks, snow working its way into your shoes, or negative wind chill numbers. 

You can have a water bottle by your side, without having to worry about how to carry it. The same goes for anything else you might want to have within reach—your snacks, your inhaler, a sweat towel. Plus, there are bathrooms nearby if you need them. 

Before you fall too deeply in love, it’s worth remembering that treadmill running feels different than running on the road. There aren’t any surprise hills, you’ll miss out on heat adaptation, and your feet will be hitting the ground at roughly the same angle every step. Getting outdoors (and, ideally, onto some trails) should still be a healthy part of your running diet. And don’t assume that your paces on the treadmill will translate to the outdoors—most runners find that treadmill running is physically easier, even if it’s mentally more exhausting.

Now that you’ve thought about the pros and cons, let’s talk about the how-to. What are the factors that turn a “dreadmill” run into something you look forward to? 

Settle in to the treadmill mindset

The first thing I want to highlight is mindset. Any distance you can run outdoors, you can run on a treadmill. And with the tips below, you’ll be able to do it without losing your mind. So have a little faith, okay? Get on the treadmill, hit “start,” and don’t immediately start asking yourself when it will be over. Tell yourself it’s time to settle in and get comfortable, because you’ll be here a while. You can handle it. I promise.

Provide yourself creature comforts

Since a treadmill allows you to have little amenities available, make sure to take advantage of the opportunity. Grab a big water bottle, a sweat towel, whatever you always wish you had on a run but can’t easily take with you. Want to feel like you’re really in the lap of luxury? Get a mini handheld fan or clip-on fan and point it at your face.

Distract yourself

Ask dedicated treadmill runners how they do it, and they’ll often say they watch their favorite TV show while they run. If you’re not a TV person, perhaps you’ll enjoy catching up on your favorite podcast, watching a YouTube deep dive, taking in a good audiobook, or listening to some great music.

Students are always telling themselves they’ll study or read on the treadmill. I’m not sure if anyone has ever done this successfully (it never worked for me), but visual distractions are absolutely fair game. In the days before smartphones were common, every gym had a rack of magazines that you could peruse while jogging. And don’t forget that there’s often some good people-watching available, depending on where exactly your treadmill faces. 

You can definitely double up on distractions. At one commercial gym I frequent, I can take in the following all at the same time: 

• The podcast in my headphones

• The music playing in the gym

• Two or more TV shows playing on the screens hanging from the ceiling (they’re on mute, with captions)

• The interactions of the various gym characters who populate the free weight area, which is in my line of sight

It’s busy enough that sometimes when I have a Thought (a rare occurrence when running) I need to hit the pause button on my headphones and stare at a blank spot on the wall to give it space to be heard.

Choose a workout that is treadmill-compatible

If you’re used to running outside, your usual workouts may not all translate to the treadmill. A few tips there:

• Don’t expect your watch to know how “far” you’re running. Go for time based, or watch the distance manually. 

• If your watch or phone is measuring your pace, don’t expect it to be accurate at that either. (Hilariously, I find that I can make my Garmin think I’m running faster by pumping my arms more aggressively.) 

• Don’t do workouts that expect you to change the speed or incline instantly. It takes time for those motors to gear up.

• Hop onto the sides of the treadmill when it’s time to end an interval. The treadmill takes several seconds to slow down but you can rest immediately. Step back on once it’s gotten back to your recovery speed. 

And my number one tip: break it up

You can do everything on the list above, and still find yourself wondering when the run will finally be over. (It’s been a minute and a half. Calm down.) What gets me through a workout—and what has proven essential to many runners—is breaking up the run into smaller pieces. Here are a few ways to do that.

Get off the treadmill

If you need to get in some kind of exercise, but don’t care about it being specifically a run, hop off the machine after 10 minutes and choose another. Jog for 10 minutes, bike for 10, do the elliptical for 10, and then get back on the treadmill to close it out. That’s an easy 40 minutes, and it will fly by.

If you’re open to mixing it up with some non-cardio, consider a structure where you go do something else, then come back to the treadmill. Peloton’s app includes “bootcamps” structured this way, and when I had a subscription to the app I really enjoyed using these for hotel workouts. You might be on the treadmill for 10 minutes at the beginning and 10 at the end, and doing some other exercises in between.

Give yourself trivial milestones

Those numbers on the treadmill are constantly changing (I’m thinking of the time and distance readouts), so play with them. A few examples: 

• I’m going to increase the speed by 0.1 when I hit the next half-mile.

• I’m going to take a drink from my water bottle every five minutes exactly.

• I’m covering the screen with a towel and I’m not going to check the distance until this song is over.

• I’m going to walk for one minute when I hit the halfway point in my workout.

• Every quarter-mile, I’m going to focus on a different aspect of my running form. 

• When the last digit of the distance is a nine (like 3.29) I’m going to count how many steps it takes before it changes to a zero.

These change-ups make each small segment feel like something you can get through—I can survive the next quarter-mile—and then before you know it you’ve stacked a bunch of quarter-miles on top of each other and you’re more than halfway through the run. But if you need some specific workouts, try some of the following. 

Workout 1: The easier easy run

This is a simple way to break up an easy run, or a long run. This was my go-to on the hotel treadmill. I didn’t know how I would fare with five miles, but I knew that I could do one, and I could definitely do less than one at a time. Here’s how you do it: 

• For the first mile, run your normal pace.

• When the distance counter hits 1.00, walk for one minute

• Run the rest of that mile just a smidge faster than your easy pace (say, 11:45 instead of 12:00)

• Repeat for each mile until done. If you miss one of the walk breaks because you were engrossed in your music/podcast/show, consider that minute of recovery to be “in your pocket” to be used whenever you feel the need. You might even make a game of seeing how many walk breaks you can pocket without using them.

Workout 2: The quarter-mile change-up

This is my current favorite when I have an easy run planned, but I don’t want to set the treadmill to a constant speed and slog through it. My gym’s treadmills show a graphic of a regulation track (a quarter-mile per loop) so I use quarter-miles for the segments. Feel free to create your own version that uses minutes, if you prefer. 

• First quarter-mile: run your normal easy pace.

• Second quarter-mile: bump up the speed by 0.2 mph 

• Third quarter-mile: bump up the speed another 0.2 mph

• Fourth quarter-mile: go as fast as you want, within reason

• Repeat for every mile.

So if you normally jog at a 12-minute mile, your easy pace would be 5.0 miles per hour. Start at 5.0, then bump to 5.2, then bump to 5.4, then maybe you’d like to hit an even 6.0 for the final segment. 

Sometimes when I return to the beginning of the cycle, I’ll add a little more: 5.1, 5.3, 5.5, 6.1 for the next mile. Play with this and create your own versions. 

Workout 3: Short sprints

This is one of my favorites for times when I want the speed changes to be frequent enough that I don’t have time to get bored. I cribbed this workout from a Nike Run Club guided run, but I like it enough I now just do it on its own. Put on a good spicy playlist for this one. 

• Warm up with an easy jog for 10 minutes

• Do 20 (yes, 20!) of the following: 
  – Run fast for 30 seconds
  – Walk (or jog easy) for one minute

• Finish with a 10 minute cooldown jog

The running speed should be substantially faster than your normal easy pace, but not so fast that you burn out after the first couple intervals. If you know your one-mile race time, that’s the ideal pace. If not, be conservative at first, and bump up the speed for later intervals if it feels too easy.

This (and other quick interval workouts) work best if you can find a way to switch quickly between speeds. Treadmill controls vary, but sometimes you’ll find one with a “HIIT” setting that lets you program in a run speed and a recovery speed, and then you can switch between them with the press of a button.

Workout 4: Wingate (even shorter sprints)

One of the original, true HIIT workouts was the Wingate test. Researchers discovered that the more people did this test, the better their cardio fitness got. It’s based around 30-second sprints, with nice long rests in between. Here’s the basic recipe: 

• Warm up as desired (10 minutes is good)

• Every time the timer hits a multiple of 5:00:
  – Run very very fast for the first 30 seconds. 
  – Walk or jog for the rest of the five minutes.

• Once you’ve done this four to six times, cool down with another 10 minutes or so of easy jogging

Workout 5: VO2max intervals

There are a lot of ways to do VO2max training. (And in truth, almost all cardio training benefits your VO2max in some way—especially if you are tracking it through a smartwatch or other device, rather than a lab test.) The following is one way to do it: 

• Warm up (10 minutes or as desired)

• Repeat the following three to five times: 
  – Run fast for four minutes (it should be tough but not impossible to make it the four minutes)
  – Recover (walk or easy jog) for two minutes

• Cool down (10 minutes or as desired)

Finishing your treadmill workout

If you’re at a public gym, it’s often expected that you’ll wipe down the equipment when you’re done with it. Spray some sanitizer on a paper towel, and wipe the treadmill screen and handles. (If there are drops of sweat on the treadmill belt, they’re pretty much impossible to clean off; don’t worry about them. Everybody should be wearing shoes anyway.) 

Sometimes people feel a little bit weird when stepping off a treadmill after a long workout. To prevent this, take several minutes to decrease your speed. Go to a slow jog, then a brisk walk, then a slow walk. This should help re-acclimate you to life on a steady floor.