For some, running on a treadmill is more an exercise in distracting their mind than focusing on the workout. My first experience on a moving belt 
left me uninterested in trying again. I was at a Gold’s Gym in Richmond, VA. My friend, knowing I considered myself a runner, suggested I try out the treadmill. It was fine until I tried to get off the thing. I nearly collapsed in a heap at the rear end of the machine and secretly vowed I would forever avoid any similar embarrassment.
Things have changed, as have my feelings towards or against the treadmill; in fact I now own one that resides in our guest bedroom. The point of this post is not to share with you my love for this fantastic contraption, but rather tell you what I do to keep myself engaged in my workout and distracted from the potential onslaught of boredom and desire to quit.
First of all, it’s important to note the way I setup the treadmill. If you always walk or run on the treadmill at 0° you’re doing yourself a disservice. The best way to mimic self-propelled walking (viz. waking on your own as opposed to hovering over a moving belt) is to set the incline to at least 2°, 2.0 as it appears on most models. More often than not the speed control and display are on the right, and the incline control and display is on the left. You’ll figure it out, it’s easy.
With your treadmill set at 2° you’re ready to start walking or running. I don’t condone reading while on a treadmill, walking or running. Many people listen to music, myself included, but there are obvious problems (that can be avoided with practice). When listening to music, particularly a familiar song, I tend to keep track of how long I’ve been running measured against the duration of the song. For some, this may be helpful. I find that for the most part I annoy myself when I do this. However, music is definitely one way to reduce boredom on the treadmill.
An easy way to jazz things up a bit, and give yourself a better workout, is to vary the speed of the belt at predetermined intervals, every 0.25, 0.50 or 1 mile mark. I’ve never come across a treadmill that didn’t track your distance in 0.01 increments. If yours doesn’t, upgrade.
I always start my workouts with a 0.25mi walk at 4.0mph; this takes 3m 45s, or 3:45. I then continue my warmup at 6.0mph (or a 10:00 pace). I’ll run at that speed for 0.25 to 0.50 miles before cranking it up to 6.7mph which is an 8:57 pace. This is where my runs get interesting. My unspoken (until now) and undocumented goal, or plan, has been to keep my running pace at or above an 8:57 pace. By varying the speed and incline I keep my runs interesting and the little increments of 0.25 to 0.50 miles giving me something to look forward to that’s no more than 2, 15s away!
To give you a continued example, after my walk/jog warmup I’ll run at 6.7 for a mile which takes roughly 9:00. I then bump it up to an 8:00 (7.5mph) and sub 7:00 (?) pace. I’ll run at each of these paces, or somewhere in between from 0.25 to 1.0 miles at a time. I try to finish my faster running in 3 or 4 miles and cool down over 1 to 2.0 miles at or below a 9:00 pace.
I hope this helps. I know it’s nothing earth-shattering, but it should help. You can also improve your workout by maintaining the same pace while increasing the incline. Don’t try and be super-dude taking it up to 10° unless you’re used to walking/running at that speed and pace. Go slow. Ease into it, particularly if you’re new to exercising regularly.
