Workout Wednesday: The Dreadmill

I absolutely loathe running on the treadmill.  While I can run for a while outside (although at this point, that "while" is probably like 35-40 minutes, max), I pretty much cannot run for more than 10 minutes on the treadmill.  My brain just shuts off.  It gets bored.  It does not want to be there anymore. 

Which makes it really hard to keep going.  

But, I've been trying to add some more cardio into my life lately, and the treadmill is probably the cardio machine in my gym that I feel gives me the best workout (not that I really have a ton of options - it's between the treadmill, bike, and elliptical.  I'd love a rowing machine).  And since I just started running again and even bought new shoes, I'm trying to get some bang for my buck.  It's still too cold/icky/dark out in the morning to go running outside, so I've had to be creative and come up with some treadmill workouts that are short and sweet, that keep me engaged, that mix it up, and that still get my heart pumping. 

Here's one of my favorites: 

You can switch this up anyway that you like.  You could play with the time for each interval (i.e. sprint for 30 seconds and jog for 30 seconds, sprint/jog for a minute each, etc).  Or, you could play with the incline. For me, I like to play with the speed - I slowly increase the speed of my sprints each interval to see how fast I can go.  I usually start off at 7.0 and end at 8.0 (or sometimes higher).  And I keep my jogs steady at 6.0 for some recovery time. 

Enjoy!

(P.S.- In my head, I'm saying "Sprint & Jog" like Ringo in this video)