An Indoor Running Workout You Won’t Dread from Boston Marathon Legend Jack Fultz

Despite sweltering summer temperatures, I would rather take my chances with sunstroke and dehydration than move my running workouts indoors to a treadmill. In fact, there are a lot of things I would rather do than run just a couple miles on a treadmill, like: run 10-miles on sand, barefoot, carrying a small child; Eat Pinkberry sprinkled with nails; or root for the Yankees.

Perhaps I’m being dramatic. I dread the dreadmill; you get the point. However, I’m not alone, which is why I sought advice from Boston running legend Jack Fultz for an alternative to both oppressively hot running weather and lame indoor workouts.

In case you’re unfamiliar with Fultz, he won the Boston Marathon in dramatic fashion in 1976 when temperatures hit an unseasonable 96 degrees. (Yes, seriously.) It went down in history as the Run for the Hoses because residents along the course were encouraged to keep athletes cool by spraying them down with garden hoses.

“If we’re stuck indoors, we might as well save our pounding miles for actual road,” Fultz tells me.

And with this, he shares a knee-preserving, heart-pumping, calorie-incinerating workout that runners can use indoors to beat the heat. No treadmill needed.

1. Hop on an Arc trainer. (If your health club doesn’t have one, an elliptical machine will do).
2. Press Quick Start.
3. Immediately increase the incline to 5 (the resistance level will automatically set to 15).
4. Maintain a steady Strides Per Minute cadence of 160 for 10-15 minutes.
5. Next, increase the incline to 6 and the resistance to 25.
6. In turn, speed up your strides to 170. Do this for one minute.
7. Then, return to the previous setting (5 and 15).
8. Continue these intervals for 15-30 minutes.

You won’t be able to leisurely read a magazine or gab with your neighbor on the Stairmaster, but you will get a killer workout without the impact on your legs or exposure to the elements. Feel free to adjust the resistance levels to meet your needs, and forgo using the handlebars on your machine.

“There are no handlebars in running,” Fultz says.

Thanks, coach.