The typical winter workout story: You plan to run in the morning or even after work, only to find it’s below freezing or sleeting or offering up a mix that makes an outdoor run impossible. Well, don’t worry, we got you covered. You can still hit your goal session for the day and gain similar cardio benefits to what you were looking to pick up on the road by moving your run workout indoors.
There are many ways to score run-like fitness advantages in the comfort of your living room—and these workouts won’t risk your safety. So keep these expert tips handy for the next time surprise bad weather stops you from hitting your stride.
Turn to the Treadmill
The most obvious option for subbing your outdoor run for an indoor workout is to simply take it to a treadmill. When you do so, you just want to consider some differences between treadmill versus outdoor running.
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For starters, running a 9:00/mile pace outdoors isn’t the same as running a 9:00/mile pace on the treadmill. “Treadmills can be hit or miss on calibration for pace,” says Jenna-Caer Seefried, a certified triathlon and running coach based in Calgary, Alberta. “I’ve seen some treadmills be off by more than a minute per mile and runners can either injure themselves from running too fast or not get the same benefits of the workout because they’re running too slow,” she adds. That’s why Seefried suggests using the pace on the treadmill more like a starting point for how fast you run, then dial it in with insights into your heart rate or rate of perceived exertion to mimic the effort you’d put in outdoors.
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If you have heart rate data, take a look at the range you typically fall in during your running workouts off the treadmill and use that to guide your runs when you step on the belt. (You can check past workouts recorded on your watch or Strava for this info.)
If you don’t track your heart rate, Seefried suggests paying attention to your perceived effort outside—a.k.a. how hard your run typically feels on a scale of 1 to 10. (This will change, depending on whether you were going to do a long run, a tempo run, or an interval run. So think about your plan, what your workout is meant to be today, and the effort level that goes with that run.) Then, play around with the settings on the treadmill until you find that effort.
Another difference when you move your run indoors: A treadmill locks you into a fixed incline and speed—something that pretty much never happens outside. In some ways, that effect makes treadmill running easier than outdoor running; in other ways, it makes it more challenging.
One reason treadmill running may feel easier is that you don’t have to deal with wind, terrain changes, or traffic. On the other hand, running on a treadmill can feel harder because it forces you to follow that set pace, says Steve Stonehouse, a USA Track and Field running coach and director of education for STRIDE, an indoor running studio.
You speed up and slow down without realizing it when you run outside. Your pace may dip a bit when you get tired and then pick up again when you get a second wind. But on the treadmill, you have to keep up with the speed of the belt—no matter how fatigued you are. So even if you don’t get the added weather challenges outside, you can certainly work on sticking with a specific pace inside and getting to know how you feel at that speed.
Stonehouse also recommends bumping up the incline on the treadmill to at least 1 or 2 percent to better mimic the demands of running outdoors on flat ground. And if you get bored whenever you take your workout from the road to the tread, consider creating a pump-up playlist, listening to a podcast, or watching your favorite show.
Try Other Cardio Equipment
Surprise bad weather offers a great opportunity to try low-impact forms of cardio, like rowing, cycling, the elliptical, and stair climbing. “You’re still getting the aerobic benefit—you’re just saving your body from the pounding on your joints,” Stonehouse says.
However, it takes a little know-how to translate your outdoor run to another modality. In other words, you can’t just move a two-mile run to the bike or rower. After all, a two-mile run takes more time and effort than a two-mile bike ride or rowing workout. And running at a pace of 9:00/mile is very different from cycling or rowing at that same pace.
Stonehouse recommends using time and intensity to guide you, as opposed to distance or pace. So, if you had a two-mile tempo run on the schedule, think about how long that run normally takes you to complete. Spend that time on your cardio equipment of choice and try to match the intensity of that run. You can use your heart rate or perceived exertion again to ensure you stay on track and challenge yourself in the same way that run would challenge you.
Do a Bodyweight HIIT Workout
If you don’t have an indoor cardio machine to use, you can still get an effective cardio workout with high-intensity interval training (HIIT)—that’s especially true if you were planning to do run intervals anyway.
Using bodyweight exercises as the basis of your HIIT workout can help you build muscular strength and endurance to support your running. “Setting a solid foundation can make all the difference for resilience to muscle fatigue in the back half of your race, and HIIT is a time-effective way to [build that foundation],” Seefried says.
The following 18-minute HIIT workout incorporates core work, and focuses on plyometric (or explosive) exercises. You’ll also activate the posterior chain (the muscles down the back of the body), and by focusing on jump moves, you train your body to handle impact, which can lead to a reduction in ground contact time and prevention of form breakdown when running, Seefried says.
To do this workout, follow the bodyweight exercises in order. Perform each move for 20 seconds, working as quickly as you can without breaking form. Rest 10 seconds between each exercise and round, and 1 minute between each set.
Set 1:
- Squat
- Squat pulse
- Reverse lunge with hop (right)
- Reverse lunge with hop (left)
- Repeat for 2 total rounds
Set 2:
- Deadlift
- Heisman Shuffle (high knees, stepping to the side)
- Repeat for 4 total rounds
Set 3:
- Skaters
- Calf raise
- Repeat for 4 total rounds
Set 4:
- Plank leg lift (right)
- Squat jump
- Plank leg lift (left)
- Squat jump
- Repeat for 2 total rounds
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Lauren Bedosky is a freelance health and fitness writer who specializes in covering running and strength training topics. She writes for a variety of national publications, including Runner’s World, Prevention, Experience Life and Women’s Running.
