1234

Treadmill vs. Outdoor running (Read 2020 times)

va


    Save yourself a lot of trouble. Just have your treadmill shipped to zoom-zoom's. At least she would appreciate it. Smile
      Is that generally true? Anybody know how accurate (or inaccurate) the damned things usually are? (And I use "damned" not as an expletive here, but as a wholly appropriate descriptive term).
      I've personally noticed that the treadmill is much harder for me than running outside. I can reach speeds outside that I can't keep up for half a second on the treadmill. During the week I have no choice but to work out indoors, and come the weekend's long run I am always surprised by my pace. And that's without adding any incline to the treadmill runs. I've also noticed that our timer is off. At the end of a run, the treadmill will be about a minute behind what my HRM says. And the calorie burn? Not even close!
      "Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?' " - Peter Maher, Irish-Canadian Olympian
      zoom-zoom


      rectumdamnnearkilledem

        Save yourself a lot of trouble. Just have your treadmill shipped to zoom-zoom's. At least she would appreciate it. Smile
        Ha, that's true! Big grin k

        Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

        remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

             ~ Sarah Kay

        derek


          Is that generally true? Anybody know how accurate (or inaccurate) the damned things usually are? (And I use "damned" not as an expletive here, but as a wholly appropriate descriptive term). I have suspicions that our own Devil'sHamsterWheel (DHW) is not even in the ballpark of being close to accurate. Anyway to test it? I'm curious. And I'd like to find out before the exorcism.
          I've used my S625X when on a treadmill and at least the one I have used in the hotel has been accurate.

          Derek

          RunningHammer


            Is that generally true? Anybody know how accurate (or inaccurate) the damned things usually are? (And I use "damned" not as an expletive here, but as a wholly appropriate descriptive term).
            Well when i first got mine, and admittedly it's a cheap one (well comparatively at least) i suspected it was slow but as i was a complete novice runner i put it down to lack of fitness. As time progressed and i started to run outside more and more it became more apparent to me that it was MUCH harder to run on the treadmill at the same paces i was using outside. For example if i felt i was running at 9:30 pace (=6.3mph) the treadmill was telling me i was running slower at about 5.8mph. If I set the the treadmill to run at what i thought was 9:30 then it felt much harder as i was really running at about 8:30 pace approx. Putting the arguments aside that Derek outlined above (as while they made running harder on the treadmill i didn't think they could account for that much disparity between the road and the treadmill!) So i looked into it a little on the 'net. I found a test which involved measuring the length of the belt on the treadmill and then counting the revolutions while you walked on it at a slower pace. Use a stopwatch, a bit of maths, and you could work out the distance you had actually run/walked and compare it to what the treadmill reported. Basically you can measure the accuracy of your treadmill fairly easily - and by all accounts they all vary by some degree. I guess you get more accuracy the more you pay. Perhaps. From what i remember, most treadmills actually run faster but some (including mine) run slower than they should. As long as you have a basic idea of what the inaccuracy factor is it's not too much trouble. Just don't rely on them too much. Cheers D
            nhkid


              I have been running strictly on the treadmill at the gym. I ran 29 miles this week. On my 4 mile days I run at an incline of 3.0 and on my longer days 6-10 is run at 2.0. I listen to my ipod and people watch which makes the time fly by.
                I don't mind running on a treadmill, although I prefer to run outdoors or on an indoor track. Two +'s for me with treadmill running are learning how to maintain a steady pace, and being able to focus on running form without any other distractions (like cars/dogs/!!!) Hope these tips help & good luck with your training! 1) maintain a good cadence to minimize the effect of the belt carrying your supporting leg 2) a treadmill is a much "softer" surface than the road - so be careful in your transition back to running outdoors. If you can handle short runs outside during the winter, that would probably help as well. 3) With your BP low to start with, you might want to drink extra water during your run - lack of circulating air may cause you to be more vasodilated than you would be if you were running outdoors.

                Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away...(unkown)




                Go With The Flow
                Thyroid Support Group

                  I used to hibernate and use only my treadmill in the winter, but now that I've started braving the cold, I'm outside all of the time. If I hop back on the treadmill, it seems easier to me. Of course, mine isn't fancy- it has manual incline & speed, so when I'm not fiddling with the buttons, which I don't, it's just the same boring speed with no varying anything. Putting boring aside, though, it would seem that if you're continuing your training, even on the treadmill, you could reach whatever goals you're setting. While there are differences between running outside and using the treadmill, I'm doubting they would be big enough to lose any of the base that you've already built. I find it nice to have a treadmill to fall back on or in your case, use when you really can't go outside! You say you've tried different gloves, but have you ever tried putting any of those small instant heat packs inside your gloves? I don't know how comfy that would be, but just an idea. My brother works outside and they use them to keep their hands warm. You just squish the pack which breaks the contents inside causing I'm assuming some kind of chemical reaction, and the heat lasts about 6-8 hours. LL Bean has boots with these in them too to keep the toes toasty!
                  zoom-zoom


                  rectumdamnnearkilledem

                    You say you've tried different gloves, but have you ever tried putting any of those small instant heat packs inside your gloves? I don't know how comfy that would be, but just an idea. My brother works outside and they use them to keep their hands warm. You just squish the pack which breaks the contents inside causing I'm assuming some kind of chemical reaction, and the heat lasts about 6-8 hours. LL Bean has boots with these in them too to keep the toes toasty!
                    My hubby uses these things for cold weather cycling (which REALLY makes for cold hands and feet because of the wind chill of cycling speeds) and they work really well for him. He doesn't even wear wool socks, or anything, and his biking shoes are not at all insulated. k

                    Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

                    remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

                         ~ Sarah Kay

                      I failed to mention that some of the heat packs are reusable too! The kind that my brother has only last for the 6-8 hours, then they're done! Smile
                      zoom-zoom


                      rectumdamnnearkilledem

                        I failed to mention that some of the heat packs are reusable too! The kind that my brother has only last for the 6-8 hours, then they're done! Smile
                        I had something like this for warming up bottles when my son was little. The pack could be put into boiling water to "reset" it. Then it had a little metal rod affair that would activate the gel to make it heat up again. I didn't find that it got nearly as warm as those disposable packs my hubby uses, but in the long run they'd probably be cheaper. k

                        Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

                        remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

                             ~ Sarah Kay

                          If a treadmill is evil and an instrument of the devil Evil grin, what do you call the nice soft couch or the box of jelly donuts that beckons me? I am with laura25, I don’t like to run in the cold, so I run on the treadmill instead. I enjoy the warmth, the tunes, and the running. It is time for the people of the treadmill to come out of the closet and be counted!!! Big grin
                          I can see it now--a 12-step program for treadmill-aholics. Big grin
                            Wisecracks to other posters aside, I say if the treadmill helps you get your run in, then by all means, use it. Most runners hate the things because they are extremely boring. If you know you're not going to run in the cold, though, it seems to me you're better off to run on the treadmill. I know I've been guilty of using it to avoid the cold. I've also been guilty of using it to avoid the heat in the summer, as Tucson, AZ does not have the coolest summers on record. When my only option is to run at 4 am in 90 degree heat because that is the coolest point in the day (and in the summer, it is already daylight by then), or run on a treadmill or indoor track, I usually move indoors. From there I'll actually switch between the indoor track and the treadmill. Our indoor track is only about 145m (11 laps = 1 mile), so 5 miles (55 laps) on that thing is almost as bad as five miles on a treadmill. Half on each, however, is quite bearable.
                            LydiaT


                              I ran on a treadmill pretty much exclusively last winter due to lack of light and too much snow. I actually found running on the treadmill made me faster. When I am on a treadmill I feel like it is mocking me, constantly showing me my mph just to drive home how slow it thinks I am. My judgemental treadmill coupled with a younger, faster, woman running on the treadmill in front of me inevitably brought out my competitive nature and brought my mph down.
                              va


                                Amen sisters!!! With a treadmill, there is never a good reason not to run, except a power failure. Big grin
                                1234