?s for "dreadmillers" (Read 1723 times)

Because of the crappy weather, I went to a gym as a guest and paid $10 to run their treadmill to get my 10 miles in. It felt SO different. How do treadmills compare to road/path/trail miles for those who regularly use both? I don't have a heart rate monitor, but it seemed I was exerting more on the TM (and my pace was somewhat faster per mile than I'd typically run 10 miles in. Kept looking at the MPH thing and not pace - or something like that - but plugged 10 miles and the time into a pace calculator at home.) Also, I didn't stop at all, wereas in regular running, I might stop to pee if I feel like it. My legs actually felt "high" when I stopped, too, even though I cooled down for .2 after the 10. Was nice not to have to hold the iPod and water bottle. Are they generally accurate? Sorry if such questions have been asked before.

Ten miles on the TM?!? OMG ...weren't you hotter than heck? Did you have Gatorade? Music? Or those TV's? You deserve some kind of award, Dude, honestly. No pee stop??? ... ten miles... I think you are my new hero!

Ten miles on the TM?!? OMG ...weren't you hotter than heck? Did you have Gatorade? Music? Or those TV's?

One of the guys that ran for my team in college (he would have technically been ahead of me, except he kept taking a couple of years off from school at a time to run so he graduated my sophomore year) lived in Rochester but hated running in the cold. He had been known to run for over 30 miles on the treadmills in the student gym. He would be there longer than some of the people working shifts.

Here is my take on Treadmill running - did 10 miles on it this morning myself because the roads were junk after the snow last night. You need to set the incline to at least 1.0 as Blaine said. I have heard that this helps to simluate outdoor running since you have no wind resistance on the treadmill. I find that my heartrate tends to be higher on the treamill, mainly because it is hotter in the gym than outside. I think the speeds and distances are fairly acccurate. I wore my Nike+ on the treadmill one day and they were pretty close to the same distance. I also find that I tend to pay more attention to my feet and my stride on the TM - maybe I'm afraid of hitting the side or the front. I usually cool down walking around the gym on the actual floor so my legs dont feely jelly like. To get rid of some monotony mix up the incline and speeds just a little every mile - helps simulate changes in terrain outside and it is something you need to concentrate on a bit to remember to do it.

Double post - please cheerfully ignore. Like the rest of my posts. Carry on.

How do treadmills compare to road/path/trail miles for those who regularly use both? I don't have a heart rate monitor, but it seemed I was exerting more on the TM (and my pace was somewhat faster per mile than I'd typically run 10 miles in.

On a treadmill, I feel like I'm working harder at a slower pace. But my heart rate seems perfectly in line with the actual effort. Example from recent workouts: Treadmill: 5 miles at 9:13 pace. Average heart rate 142 (temp ~50°F -- the 'mill is in the garage) Outside (the next day): 4.2 miles at 8:17 pace. Ave HR = 148 (temp 66°F) Even though I was a minute per mile faster outside, it felt like a much easier run than on the treadmill. But the heart rate was more or less consistent with the effort, so I think it's psychological.

I am going add my .02 on this subject. I ran an ultra in February last year. Due to weather I did 90% of my training indoors. Running on a treadmill is a lot easier!! Not only movement of air and pounding but also terrian variation, stopping, starting out running cars, dogs, slipping down a muddy hill that doesn't happen on a tread mill. I know when I do a lot of treadmill running I get sore when I go out the first time. I would guess that running on a treadmill is 20 - 30 % easier than running outdoors.

I am going add my .02 on this subject. I ran an ultra in February last year. Due to weather I did 90% of my training indoors. Running on a treadmill is a lot easier!! Not only movement of air and pounding but also terrian variation, stopping, starting out running cars, dogs, slipping down a muddy hill that doesn't happen on a tread mill. I know when I do a lot of treadmill running I get sore when I go out the first time. I would guess that running on a treadmill is 20 - 30 % easier than running outdoors.

I guess it's what you're used to. Since I do almost all of my running outdoors, treadmill running seems foreign to me. But I bet if I did every run for the next month on the 'mill, and then went outdoors, running outside would feel like a wild, wacky experience. One thing about air movement -- in some ways it's a good thing. People sometimes have higher heart rates on a treadmill because there's no air movement to help keep you cool. Not an issue since my treadmill is out in what is currently a cold garage, but I imagine this is typical for folks running on a treadmill at the gym.