Leveling Treadmill for Running Drills

I wanted to do the Pose Running drill on a zero incline treadmill. Since my treadmill only goes down to 1.5% incline, I leveled the running deck by putting a 1 inch thick board under the back feet.

To accomplish this, I placed a level on the running board. Then I tried placing a 2×4 board under the feet of the treadmill, but that was too thick. Then I tried a 1 inch thick board, and that almost got it level. It’s still slightly uphill, but was close enough.

After setting up the treadmill to be level, I did this brick workout: I did the Uphill Grind Spinervals DVD. Then I ran for 6 minutes on the treadmill at zero incline, with the speed set to 8mph. I also did 30 second stints of the Pose Running drill. My plan was to run for 10 minutes at that pace, but I got lazy and quit early.

It’s alot easier to run at 8mph at zero incline, than at 1.5% incline. I was pretty amazed that it made that much difference. The pose running drill felt a little easier too. This time I focused hard on not putting my feet in front of my body – I especially see my right foot doing this in my video footage – I wonder if it’s something to do with my tight IT band on that side.

Next time I do the drill, I plan to try it at different speeds (6, 7 and 8mph) to see how that feels.