It’s easy to understand why so many of you ask us for advice about choosing a treadmill. Next to good shoes, a treadmill may be a runner’s best friend. You can do practically anything your training demands – hills, intervals, tempo, long distance

), jog back (1) 4Tuesday: Jog out (1), 12 x 400m with 100m jog recoveries (24), jog back (1) 26Wednesday: Jog out (1), 4 laps steady (4), jog back (1) 6Thursday: Jog out (1), 10 x hill reps and recoveries (20), jog back (1) 22 Friday: Rest 0Saturday: Jog

to simulate varying pace and terrain. Typically, you key in how long you want the session to be (and sometimes the starting speed), and the treadmill does the rest. Programme choices often include speedwork repetitions, hill repetitions, heart

inA decent choice if you want to negotiate supermarket aisles as well as running routes. Its 12in wheels require a bit more effort than 16in ones, especially as the tyres are fatter, and you certainly notice the extra weight up hills and over kerbs

, it was hard to forget that you were pushing it, especially up hills. That, in short, made it less fun to run with. One unique feature was that the front wheel has a swivel option. Some runners found that this made the buggy highly manoeuvrable; others

patterns in your training can help identify mistakes too: do you set off too fast and tire quickly? Just how steep was that hill? There’s a huge variety of kit available, from add-ons for mobile phones and iPods, to powerful wrist units with footpods