About marathon running on treadmills

So, another week stuck indoors… Social media sites are full of videos, comments and posts about so many creative ways of passing the time and keeping active. It feels like it was only four weeks ago I was myself sharing an article about a Chinese man running about 50km around his own living room to “stay fit”; actually, it WAS only four weeks ago.

Since then, however, and as the UK has also found itself having to follow some of the same confinement rules, the nation seems to have found a desire for keeping fit and active and many are religiously going out for their newly-found love of outdoor exercise.

It’s quite ironic that it has taken a global pandemic and strict instructions not to go out on the streets unnecessarily for thousands of people to suddenly want to go outside for a walk, a jog, a cycle or a run.

In other countries, like Spain, the confinement rules do not allow outdoor physical exercise and some individuals ignoring that have found out, the hard way, how forceful some bloodthirsty police officers can be; even taking an unnecessary beating and a deserved fine to go with their lovely run.

In the UK we’re very lucky to still be allowed to go outside once a day to keep fit. My personal view is that it’s only a matter of time before the government will go the same way as other countries and ban outdoor exercise for some time. With that in mind some of us have tried to get ahead of the curve and set ourselves up with some indoor equipment to stay fit if (or when) that measure comes into place.

And that’s how my last week has been spent. Running on a treadmill. I started running on it for an initial 10km run to try it out. It had been about 7–8 years since the last time I ran on a treadmill and I was quite excited to give it a go.

Within a few minutes it all came back to me… the lack of air, the heat, the sweat. But also, the minimal impact on the joints and tendons, the bounciness, the mindlessness of one leg in front of the other with no consideration for traffic, dog walkers or uneven paths.

After the first few runs I realised a few things…

- Shoe attire is important. The first couple of runs I did I wore some mixed shoes with those grippy soles. The floor ended up covered in black rubber and the almost new pair of £70 shoes aged 6 weeks by losing a lot of their grip.

- It’s ok to go minimalist (clothes wise) in your own bedroom. It’s not a social run where I would advocate for some minimum decorum. The point is to be comfortable, not to look cool.

- It may sound stupidly obvious but… you’re not going anywhere. No need to worry about childminding arrangements (bless the lord for TV and tablets) and you can actually have a conversation with your other half or the children if you want to.

- The effort is so monotonous that I can space out for large parts of the run. Not everyone’s cup of tea, I’m sure, but I can stare at the wall for ages and before I know it 90 minutes have gone by.

For now, I want to focus on this last point. I realised on day 3 that it was very easy for me to lose track of time and get some good mileage in one single run. I then thought to myself: “How long could I keep going before I got tired or bored?” so I decided to have a crack at running a marathon.

Now, this was the first time I would try to run a marathon on a treadmill, so I didn’t really know what it would be like. This is how it went…

If I’m honest I should not big the occasion up to much since I actually didn’t prepare anything for it. It started very simply by ensuring I wore the heavy-duty running shoes, creating a draught by opening a couple of windows, filling up a two-litre bottle of water and mixing it with a couple of electrolyte tablets and tying my hair up so the sweat wouldn’t bother me too much.

I also had a hand towel to dry the sweat off my arms and shoulders as I decided to run topless to maximise airing.

All I had left to do was press start.

I had given pace a thought and the intention would be to run within myself. I definitely didn’t want to go all out and regret it later, so I started at 14.7kph which equates to 4’05”/km or 6’37”/mile.

The first half was pretty uneventful. I started watching Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Subtitles on so I didn’t have to have the volume up over the sound of the treadmill.

I covered 21.1km in 1 hour and 26 minutes and felt very fresh despite the 110km-120km weekly volume. I hadn’t taken any energy drinks or gels on board so there was the issue of potential energy deficit and hitting the wall later in the run.

My priority was to keep hydrated. I was sweating quite a bit, a lot more than I would outside, so I had to keep topping up. Not only water as the sweat also means loss of essential salts and minerals so had to keep drinking the electrolyte mixture.

After about 25km I felt the body getting a bit tired. That dreaded patch between 25km and 32km. I got to 30km in 2 hours and 2 minutes. After that, the pace started to feel a lot better and very comfortable. I was in the zone. I stopped paying attention to the TV and started focusing more on my own rhythm.

It was clearly time to crank it up a little. 15kph and 37.20km (a parkrun to go) in 2 hours and 31 minutes. That’s a pace of 4’/km or 6’26”/mile.

I stopped drinking and just went for it. Final 5km averaging 3’45”/km (6’/mile) to complete 42.2km in 2 hours 50 minutes and 24 seconds.

I felt great! It is very nice to be in that sort of form where that type of run is demanding but doable. Just another long run. No energy drinks, no gels, no gear, no special considerations other than ensuring hydration and foot wear were right.

I do need to say, however, before anyone goes and starts running marathons on treadmills, there’s clearly some aspects of that experience that are perhaps not for everyone.

The distance is still 42.2km. You’re not moving the same way as if you were on the roads, but the legs and rest of the body are still working very hard. This also applies to chafing, blisters, etc. I had a proper cut across my chest where I wore the heart rate monitor strap that has taken days to heal.

Hydration becomes more of an issue because there’s a lot more perspiration going on. Body temperature is higher than being outside during winter or spring, so it can be very easy to overheat. The body loses a lot more salt and needs to be replaced. This means electrolytes drinks become more important than energy drinks.

I ran with no energy drinks and no gels. Mainly because running for 2 hours and 50 minutes is something I have done previously several times and my effort, except for the last 5km when I put my foot down a bit, was around 70%. My heart rate was around 135bpm-140bpm for those 37km, so it really was relaxed talking pace.

The “after” effects are pretty much the same as any other demanding long run and should also be handled with care. Energy stores must be restored within 30–60 minutes of the run and niggles, inflammations, etc. must be addressed.

4 days after the marathon I still feel a bit tired from the effort and muscularly not fully recovered but I have been able to continue with the same mileage as before.

I guess the final question is… come Friday, will I do it again??