Some runners love treadmills, others prefer them only slightly to thumb screws and dentist drills. We believe treadmills are wonderful inventions for saving time, for coping with stormy weather, and sometimes just because they’re so good at what they do.

Here are some specific uses of treadmills that play to their strengths:

Of course. The freezing rain may be blowing horizontally out there, but indoors you can run in shorts and a t-shirt.

10 minutes easy jogging, or walking up a steep incline, may be all you need to get the muscles warm and limber.

Most treadmills have an adjustable incline of up to 15%. Grades between 2% and 8% are useful for standard hill training. If you’re a trail runner, you might find use for 15% grades when running hill intervals. One advantage of the treadmill over actual hills: there’s no downhill, so your body gets spared the stress and impact.

The treadmill enforces it. You will always be running at the precise speed of the treadmill. If you deviate, you’ll quickly find yourself somewhere besides the treadmill.

Treadmills make it trivially easy to eat and drink while you run. Most have a shelf for your provisions. The shelf can also hold your music player. Or maybe you’d prefer to watch a movie?

When you use a treadmill for interval training, you have precise control over your speed, time, and steepness of grade. You can’t accidentally slow down a bit when you’re fatigued.

Relatively speaking. Most treadmills’ platforms are designed to flex. They absorb shock much more effectively than pavement.

You don’t even have to watch where you step. The treadmill lets you enter a deep meditative state. Or watch a movie, listen to a podcast, or get immersed in an audiobook.

We hope you’re willing to look at the treadmill with new eyes-this winter, and beyond.