Runervals 2.0 - Treadmill Tempo

I have several treadmill videos and this is my favorite. It's not the easiest but I know that it will improve my running the most. I like it because it does steady state intervals and I need to work on my endurance. As with any treadmill video, your speed will vary. I used to race a lot but now I only run once a week on my treadmill. I haven't been running outside in ages. This is just to provide a little background on me. So when I say this video is tough, I mean it is for me and not necessarily for a serious competitor.

Here's the structure of 2.0:

Warm-up using base pace (BP). For me this means a comfortable jog which is around 4.5 - 5.5 mph. This is my normal BP for Runervals 1.0 and other treadmill videos. However, my BP for Runervals 2.0 is 3.0 mph (a slow walk). That way, I could follow the program more closely. You will see why later.

Do 2 or 3 minutes of BP + 3 mph to warm-up some more.

1st set of steady state intervals - You do 90 seconds at BP + 3 mph at a 2% incline. You then do 30 seconds at BP + 3 mph at 0% incline. You do four sets of these to make a total of 8 minutes.

2 minutes at BP.

2nd set of steady state intervals - You do 90 seconds at BP + 4 mph at a 3% incline. You then do 30 seconds at BP + 4 mph at 0% incline. You do four sets of these to make a total of 8 minutes.

2 minutes at BP.

3rd set of steady state intervals - You do 90 seconds at BP + 5 mph at a 4% incline. You then do 30 seconds at BP + 5 mph at 0% incline. You do three sets of these to make a total of 6 minutes. Troy said he was giving us a break by doing three sets instead of four. Yeah right!! This is so hard. But now you can see why I had to set my BP to 3.0 mph even though that is very slow. Otherwise, I would have to go 6 minutes at 9.5-10.5 mph. Right now, I'm not in shape to do that. However, the background runners are very fit since they're competitors or avid runners. Three of them (two men and one woman) were running 10 mph while the fourth (another woman) was doing 9.1 mph.

2 minutes at BP.

4th set of intervals - Three sets of one minute intervals. First interval is BP + 5 mph, 4% incline. The second interval is BP + 5 mph, 5% incline while the third interval is BP + 5 mph, 6% incline. The active recovery periods between each interval is also one minute. They are at a BP pace, 0% incline for all of them. So you do get a lot of rest between these intervals.

Cool-down at BP.

As you can see, this is a tough workout. I don't have 3.0, Cheetah Fast but I know I'm not ready for it since I have a ways to go with this one. I also think there's a big jump from 1.0 to 2.0. If you do the workouts as outlined, 1.0 is somewhere like a 5.0 out of 10 in the Runervals rating. 2.0 is a 9.0 out of 10 or somewhere close to that number. However, there are ways to modify this video. I did it by setting my BP really low. You can also not increase your speed that much. Instead of increasing your BP by 3, 4, and 5 mph, you can just increase it by 1, 1.5, and 2 mph. Or if you need a tougher workout, increase your speed higher than Troy recommends. I think the beauty of treadmill videos is just to provide a structured workout but you can tailor it to your speed. It also helps to alleviate boredom. Before I bought any treadmill videos, I only did Body For Life 20 minute programs or other interval type workouts. I couldn't last any longer than that because I just got bored to tears.