New treadmill advice please

[RachaelL]

Hello, I’m very new to running an want to run a minimum of 3 times per week inside when the weather is bad. I am currently able to run 5km but want to progress to 10km. I’m very slow. Can anyone recommend a decent treadmill please? I don’t think I need the inclines or fancy stuff. Happy to buy new or old. Budget up to £1,000. Space is not a problem. Thanks in advance! Rachael

[Grannyhugs Graduate10]

Welcome to the forum. Well done reaching 5k. Have a look at the magic plan which will get you to 10k on 3 runs a week by mixing short runs with 1 longer run each week. It is recommended that you leave at least one rest day between runs in your 1st year to prevent injury.I’m afraid I can’t give a recommendation on treadmills, I can however definitely recommend running in all weather conditions at least once before saying you can’t do it. I’ve been running in Scotland for two years now right through rain, snow and ice in a pair of shorts. The weather which stops me is summer heat. Happy running 🤗

[RachaelL in reply to Grannyhugs]

Thank you for the nice comment and useful information, I will try that. It will certainly be cheaper!

[Ant50 Graduate10]

Hi, I bought a NordicTrack treadmill(T9.5 model if I remember correctly) last year and was very excited about it for about 4 days before I returned it. After a few days, no matter how hard I tried the software would not start to get the treadmill to work. On the odd occasion it did work before that it seemed OK, I’m now shopping around for a simpler one with less chance of software errors ! A few recommendations, when comparing treadmills look at the size of the running area, think the one I returned was about 50cm wide and 1.5m long, which was great. I later tried a friends machine which was only 40+ cm side and a lot shorter and I felt like my feet were either going to hit the sides or I felt like I was about to fall off the end of the belt! Also, check out the weight of the machine, depending on where you are going to put it some of the machines can weigh a lot, so need a very solid floor and are not very easy to move, even when it says ‘folding’ the running deck can be heavy to lift up. Most machines say ‘home assembly’ required, which in my case meant about 3hrs for my wife and I to build our initial machine, if you don’t fancy that then a built second hand one might be be better, but remember not easy to move, not car friendly! Final bit of advice is to search around for reviews, the reviews of the machine I returned where all OK on the manufacturers website, I later found a lot of poor reviews on independent review sites ! Sorry for the long post, but all these machines are expensive so just wanted to share my experience.

[RachaelL in reply to Ant50]

Thank you!

[RachaelL]

That is so helpful, thank you very much!!

[beth_f Graduate10]

Hello RachaelL . We purchased this (hope the link will work) treadmill-running-machine-r... just at the start of the first lockdown for fear that we wouldn't be able to leave the house to exercise. We don't use it much (do prefer running outdoors) but has come in handy for the times when we can't get out of the house (I find it quite useful for speed work/reps). Hope that helps.

[RachaelL in reply to beth_f]

Thank you very much Beth. The one you purchased is no longer available to buy in the UK but that's a great website and I will take a good look at what they say. Thanks again! Rachael

[UpTheStanley Graduate10]

That £1000 would buy you a lot of years membership at a gym which will (hopefully) have high quality treadmills and maintain them properly. Obviously not as handy as having one in the house, but you wouldn't trip over it as often .......

[Frenc Graduate10 60minGraduate]

Life Fitness do good ones - try seeing if you can find a gym selling off equipment, as they can be quite expensive. BUT do give running outside a go, it can be really magical - you can mix it up! 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

[RachaelL in reply to Frenc]

Thank you very much!