Is running on a treadmill acceptable for a long run? (Read 1406 times)

Have a good one, pRED. See you at the Zoo run?

Yes, but as a volunteer. You paying that godawful price? I thought about suggesting over there a boycott!

Damn, guys. All I was saying was that with my arms up like a chicken for hours, they were sore afterwards. And I only started doing that after a bunch of chunks of my hand and wrist got nicked by the treadmill. I wasn't trying to say anything about style, efficiency, or whatever. (and slouching is bad. Heck, I recently learned that some folks have to look more than 2 football fields away to not feel a slouch.) MTA: I forgot to write "MTA" last time. I go away for a run and this is what happens. And I wasn't even on a treadmill.

And 3000 ft "destroyed" you? I live at sea level. I don't feel bothered by altitude until 5000-6000 and only felt destroyed at Leadville, which was 10k-12k.

And besides that, Charlotte is at 750 ft. elevation. Nowhere close to 3000, not even the surrounding hills.

My bad. I missed that. MTA: five pages is just too much for me to wade through.

If you bungee the stroller to the treadmill frame, your kids could nap on the treadmill. Might not be room left for you, though.

hehehe

Ok after the little side conversion we can get back to the real topic. Treadmill training. Some of you said that running on a treadmill was harder than running outside. I didn't believe you until this morning. I got to the gym at about 6:10 AM and I started running at about 6:20 AM. I had about 8 Plasma TVs in front of me and I was the only one in the huge gym. I put the treadmill at 7:13 per mile pace and zero incline. I really just wanted to burn that pace into my memory because that is what I will need at Myrtle. I had my heart rate monitor on and it was actually staying below 170 which is right where I wanted it. I was cruising right along until out of no where the treadmill went into cool down mode. I remembered the article that someone posted yesterday saying the treadmills would only allow 1 hour of running. I looked down and I had done 8.3 miles in 1 hour. Not bad but I was already sweating buckets. I really wasn't prepared for how much the heat and lack of air flow was going to affect me. My body temperature was soaring and my heart rate had started to climb. I took a quick 2 minute break to reload on water and stretch and then I jumped back on the treadmill for hour number 2. This time I couldn't get it down to the 7:15 pace though. Stopping all of a sudden like that took a lot out of me. I had to slowly back my pace down until I reached about a 7:30 pace. I just could not sustain any lower. My heart rate would sky rocket as soon as I would try to go faster. I was content to just hold that pace and try to reach my goal of 20 miles. I stopped again at the half marathon point and reloaded with gels and water. Finally the second hour was finished and the treadmill reset itself again. I had run 15.95 miles in just a little over 2 hours. I just needed 4.05 more miles and now I was bent on doing just that. I got back on and started again. However, this time I really was starting to feel the pain of the heat. I could only manage to get down to an 8 minute mile but I was holding steady at that. Once I reached 2 miles to go I knew I would finish it. I decided to see how much I had left in the tank to gauge whether I could do another 10K. I started slowly increasing the pace 7:45, 7:40, 7:30, 7:20, 7:13, 6:59.....etc. Now I was moving and the miles were ticking off. Before I knew it I had .25 miles to go. I dropped the hammer and set the treadmill to 6 flat pace. Surprisingly, I held that until the end. I stopped and I was a little sore but not really 20 miles in 72 degree stagnant air sore. I stopped my garmin and it read 2:40:13 for 20 miles. The treadmill read 2:34 though. I had taken a few breaks while the treadmill was resetting so it didn't read as much as the watch which ran the whole time. So I guess I can do it. However, that was probably the hardest run I have ever done because of the heat. I normally "SUCK" in the heat(Just look at my 10 mile races) but this time I held my pace better and used the heart rate monitor. That helped a lot. Anyway, thanks for all of the info and encouragement. That gave me what I needed to just finish the run today. I might try it again although I will dread it. However, I think I will stick to outdoor running tomorrow. All of my friends are doing 20 miles in Umstead. I am not sure if I will join them or not. 40 miles in two days is a bit much. By the way: the outdoor temperature was 13 degrees when I got to the gym this morning. Several of my friends did the 20 miles in it anyway! Here is my Garmin heart rate from the treadmill run today. The dips in heart rate were at 8.3, 13.2, and 16.

Richard, It was good seeing this weekend. The banquet was fun. Yea actually I was trying to simulate the flat, fast, and sometimes warm Myrtle course. My plan was to run the 7:15 pace on a zero incline as long as my heart rate stayed at a normal level. I was not counting on the heat affecting me as much though so I backed it way down after 1 hour. It is really hard to gauge level of effort on a treadmill. There are so many factors that can affect how well you run on it. When I run outside I run the same course and it is usually just about the same temperature. Trying to recreate those conditions on a treadmill is impossible. Therefore, you have to try to guess what is the equivalent. I think that a 7:40 per mile pace at a zero incline in the 72 degree temp is about the same effort as a 7:15 pace in cooler weather on a flat course outdoors for me. The heat affects me greatly. By the way, I managed to get 37 miles in this weekend. I did 11 miles in Umstead yesterday. I actually felt great after running this weekend. No injuries(Knocks on wood) or even soreness. I bailed on the run this morning though. My wife is sick so I just couldn’t manage to get a run in.