I am getting slammed with snow. It is time to buy a treadmill. Any suggestions on a solid treadmill that can hold 12 mph at a reasonable price?
I have a Sears NordicTrak brands treadmill that can hold 12mph for a couple miles. As I’m older and always injured, I don’t run many 5 flat steady states these days, but I can verify it out to two miles. It is not something I do every day (more like annually for me) so I’m not sure how reliable it would be over the long term - but not many training plans are calling for frequent 5 min steady states . . .
Both my sons use the treadmill as well on rare occassions, they always crank it up to 12mph for a quarter or a half, just because teenager do that king of thing - so far, so good. Two years and counting with the cheapie Sears treadmill. I think it was about 800-900 back then.
What are you going to do, ride your bike on it? 
I’m not sure I’ve seen any 12mph treadmills other than some of the really high end commercial variety that you find in health clubs. I wouldn’t recommend running that fast on a treadmill anyway. Most of the good home use treadmills go up to 10mph and you can make it a tough 6 min/mile pace by cranking up the incline. The last time that I tried to run really fast on a treadmill was 10 or 11 years ago and I was cranking out some intervals at 12 mph on the treadmill at the club I belonged to. The deck moves so fast underneath you at that speed that I ended up with a sprained ankle from the twisting force caused by landing on the moving surface. It didn’t bother me while I was actually running on it but a half hour after I was off my ankle was swolllen and bruised. I rarely run on treadmills now (we had snow and it was -19C in the morning yesterday and I still go outside) but the few times that I’ve run on one in recent years the speeds are lower and the incline is bigger.
I actually do own a treamill. It is a Precor that goes up to 10mph and I have used it about 5 times in the past 9 years. My wife uses it quite frequently since she doesn’t like running in the crappy weather that I’ll subject myself to. We have had a lot of success with the reliability in the Precor line.
Um it may just be me but I’m not sure your logic about the ankle holds? If you were running outside the ground is still moving at 12mph relative to you. Any twisting force exerted by the way your foot made contact would surely be exactly the same?
I’ve ran 22 on a treadmill and 25 holding on. I don’t know where you get spraining your ankle because of the treadmil speed.
Frappier acceleration where i have done speed work has been around for quite awhile and i have yet to hear of any excessive sprained ankles due to speed.
Grant
No you haven’t. That would be 14s/100m and 1:21 for an 800m.
Life Fitness treadmills go to 12mph. I have the T3 model and it does, everything above that does too.
PeterR…snowy locale…5-min pace…could it be? Nah…
Peter,
I am the Health and Wellness director of a medium sized YMCA and have a little knowledge regarding cardio equipment. My best advice is to buy a refurbished commercial quality treadmill as opposed to a lower end consumer quality piece. A refurbished piece can be had in the $800-$2000 range. Just as there is a large gap in the quality of a bike from Wal-*art and a high-end tri bike there is also a huge gap in quality of commerical vs. consumer. From my experience in our fitness center Precor and Woodway treadmills seem to hold up the best.
My father in law purchased a used Precor from my Y some years ago and it now has over 46,000 miles on it (the life expectancy of a commercial Precor in a club is around 30,000 miles).
Just my $.02, and hopefully you find what you’re looking for.
hummm 12 miles/h, you could win a ironman at that speed…or 3.
Dr Tommy got a really nice use one for super cheap…maybe he can let us know more…i dont remember the brand…
Yeah, the Life Fitness treadmills are pretty nice and what they have at the club I used to go to. I know some very fast runners who use them for extended runs maxed out…
Woodways are good if you don’t mind the belt style they have. They have a belt that looks sort of segmented (like a tank tread) and it’s somewhat common to see people catch their shoes on the gaps, especially when they are not used to one…
for you or anyone else, this is where you need to go before buying a treadmill:
Dr. Treadmill Reviews
These guys don’t sell treadmills - but they do maintenance and repair. And they do reviews and have a best-of-the-year with price-range based catagories.
They really know their stuff.
Good luck.
http://www.accelerationqc.com/recordholders.html
Read under 21 and that was when i was a junior in highschool. For 6 seconds. That is jumping on at 21 mph and holding it for the 6 before getting off. I did 22 on a treadmill my best friends dad is building and then i did it holding on at 25 and we have a video of it i just haven’t got it on my computer yet.
Yes i need to lie to impress people on slowtwitch… 22 isn’t that fast for sprinting. 24-25 would be college sprint/short distance
Edit: I do have to say my top end has droped off significantly in the last 6-7 months of straight endurance training my top end is down to 20-21.
Grant
holding on? so that means you are going slower than the treadmill? i dont understand why your would hild on unless you couldnt handle the pace???
Maybe he is rollerblading.
Sorry that sounded wierd, The only one i held on to the bar for was the 25 because i would have held it for maybe 3 steps and ended up in the wall.
I ment holding on, as in holding on to the pace. Sorry sounded confusing.
Haha i really wanna get on one of the hockey treadmills someday.
Grant
I have a Reebok 8200. No complaints, well priced.
http://www.best-treadmill-reviews.com/reebok_treadmills.html
dt
Thouhgt I had a 12mph treadmill but just checked the specs…only goes to 11mph but does adjust to a 15% incline (Precor 9.33i). Based on the stats I’ve seen, that would be freakin’ fast (11mph and 15% incline)…so not sure why you’re worried about the 12mph top speed.
“PeterR…snowy locale…5-min pace…could it be? Nah…”
Shawn,
I was thinking the same thing. If this is the PR, and you are reading this, then drop me a PM, I have some contacts for you that may be helpful.