Forums >Running 101>Running on an Indoor Track - Pace is Faster then outdoors (and book recommendation?)
Feeling the growl again
You have chosen wisely...good books by people who actually train runners.
Thanks. I will maybe skip buying the Lore of Running then. Save myself from going through 900 pages. I have read both Hansons Marathon Method, and Advanced Marathoning. Both very good books.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
ultramarathon/triathlete
You're running indoors because it's cold outside, right? And when running outside you're more bundled up than running inside, right?
That's why.
In my experience (and I posted something about this a month or two ago when it started to get cold) I've been WAY slower outside in the cold than I was back in the good old days of autumn. I've noted I'm faster indoors (treadmill or track) lately than when I run outside so it's not just that I've gotten slower lately. All the layers make a significant difference in pace. For me, it's going from a comfortable sub 7 pace (indoors, or when warm outside) to an annoyingly more effort-based 8:30 pace (outdoors when cold). Bundled = slower.
HTFU? Why not!
USATF Coach
Empire Tri Club CoachGatorade Endurance Team
Latent Runner
I guess I never got the memo on layers and bundling up; the most I've worn to run in this winter is a hat, gloves, leggings, a long sleeve tee-shirt, and an outer shell. Then this week happened; I've run in shorts and a tee-shirt four of the last five days.
Fat old man PRs:
The last 1.5 weeks have been down weeks for me, but up until then, I had been running about 80 mpw at the track this winter (and did so for 6-8 weeks last winter as well). I run at the Pettit - the 445m one someone else mentioned. I am *maybe* 5 secs/mile faster there than I am running outside on a nice day - say a 50 degree day, light breeze, relatively flattish run, all that. Obviously, I am a hell of a lot faster at the track than I would be running outside in a WI winter, trying to sidestep snow, ice, battling the wind and wearing four bajillion layers of clothing, etc.
I was REALLY worried about how my indoor training at the track last year would translate to an outdoor marathon (I ran Green Bay, in May) and it really was a non-issue. I did have about 5-6 weeks of outdoor running, though, and I adjusted pretty quickly and ran pretty much the MP I had been targeting running indoors at my outdoor race.
I use a foot pod as well with my Garmin and I am wondering if your isn't calibrated right or something. A 30 sec differential seems like a lot, but maybe that is because your outdoor conditions are as bad as it is here in WI right now? I do check my foot pod for accuracy periodically (using time/distance markers on the track) and when I am doing speed work, I don't use the foot pod and rely on time/distance markers only because I want it to be dead on. That being said, my foot pod with my 610 and, now my 620, Garmins only has me running 2-3 secs faster than I am actually running at my normal every day run paces. I've heard people say that it is most accurate for the pace you are actually running when calibrating it, so maybe there is a greater margin of error if I relied only upon my foot pod for accuracy when I am running a tempo or intervals. I'm not sure. This is probably way too much info, but....yeah.
Look, it's all about effort.
When I used to run outside in MI snow every winter, my paces were slow for everything. Except on Tuesdays when I did intervals on the indoor track, which were fast. When the weather got nice out I'd find that all that hard, slow running in winter conditions had made me stronger/faster on the roads, and those indoor intervals had helped too (even if I could never quite replicate them outdoors). In the summer times were slow because it was hot, but in the fall when it cooled off I'd be rewarded for plugging out the workouts.
Stop worrying about exact paces. Get the work in and you will be rewarded.
Now I have calibrated my Footpod twice using the outdoor GPS signal. For the last couple of weeks I have been averaging 8:30ish per mile, and yesterday when I went outside I was struggling to hold 8:58 per mile.
I'm confused? Why do you need a footpad or gps to know your pace on a track? It's already measured. If you look, the track will show you how accurate your gps isn't.
For me, I use the foot pod when I am not doing any speed work / just doing an EZ run because I'm lazy and I don't want to hit the LAP button every go around - especially because most of my runs there are MLRs or LRs that entail a lot of laps. Besides, the track measurements are accurate only for the inside lane and my track is three lanes. Most people run in the second or third lane - so you are running a bit further anyway than the markings on the track and thus the distance/time thing isn't altogether accurate either. It's not a big differential, but a differential just the same.
I have been running outside all week as we have had January thaw. I will probably be heading back to the indoor track sometime next week. When I go back there, I will try turning my footpod off and just using the lap button. It is 9 laps per mile, so I will click the lap button every 9th lap. That will give me a good reference point for my pace/mile.
Better than good. It will be precice.
Well, unless you suffer from a problem similar to mine on the indoor track (or swimming). I can't count.
I once ran on the indoor track at the Y and got dizzy, not sure if it was the dim lighting, watching out for people entering or exiting the track, going around walkers, passing the spin class every 60 seconds and its attendant loud music, all the sharp 90 degree turns or more likely I am just getting old.
Every winter I run 3 times a week, for 35 minutes, on an indoor track above and around a gymnasium. It's 190 meters long (on which lane? I don't know). And on weekend days, I run two 60-90 minute runs outdoors.
The indoor track is a bit faster because of factors already mentioned - no wind, no hills, no surface imperfections, no extra clothing - but since I have to turn a lot of hard flat 90 degrees angles, it's a bit hard to hold a fast pace. Maybe "hard" isn't the correct word, and "annoying" is better. I much prefer running outdoors, but since I run during lunch time, and of course take a shower before going back to work, the track saves me some "getting dressed and undressed" time which I would have to cut on an already short 35 minutes.
But during the summer, and in good weather conditions, I don't find the indoor track faster, at least not significantly.
I prefer the foot pod to the "lap" button as I can relax more (keep forgetting to hit the lap button). As for my exact speed or distance, I couldn't care less. It's just training, and it is good enough for what I need to do. If I'm running 4minutes/km intervals, I don't mind if I'm a couple of seconds/km off. Running outdoors with the GPS is even worse I think. When I'm running a steady pace, my foot pod gives me a much more regular reading than the GPS.
As for the book, I read it, well about 60% of it, and it is a lot of knowledge, but not much you can actually apply the next day. I'm glad I have it though and I did learn many things.