Runs4Sanity
So I've looked over my running log recently and it appears that since owning my TM, I am doing a lot more runs on it. I love it for convenience and safety and don't feel like by running on it vs. the road will damper my running. What I don't get, is that runners who do not use it or swear not to use it talk down to those that do. I don't have anyone in particular that has made me feel inferior, it is just something that I have noticed over the years. IMO running on the TM is better than no running at all. When I do get a chance to run and it is convenient, I choose to run the road. End of soapbox.
You give me a room with 3 walls as t.v. screens showing a trail or just out on the road then I will run a treadmill happily, also some wind or a breeze . My max mileage I will run on a treadmill is probably 5, it drives me crazy but if I had one at home I would probably use it more often too. The ones I have used were in gyms that had horrible temperatures, if I must run inside it has got to be 60 degree or less.
*Do It For Yourself, Do It Because They Said It Was Impossible, Do It Because They Said You Were Incapable*
PRs
5k - 24:15 (7:49 min/mile pace)
10k - 51:47 (8:16 min/mile pace)
15k -1:18:09 (8:24 min/mile pace)
13.1 - 1:53:12 (8:39 min/mile pace)
26:2 - 4:14:55 (9:44 min/mile)
sugnim
Or speed intervals with recovery. Just because you don't understand someone's training doesn't mean you mock it because it doesn't make sense to you....
Nope, I'm not mocking it. I'm referring to the hundreds of very funny videos on youtube of people trying to do this & falling. Like some of the clips on this one.
Good timing on this thread. I have just recently returned to using the TM because the weather has been shitty. I don't like it, but it's a necessary evil and I'm thankful for it. I can haul ass on the TM compared to roads.
Barking Mad To Run
Well, I joke with people running on the TM, lol, but seriously I don't have an issue with youse folks running on the TM. If that's the way you like to work out, or you have to so as to be safer because of the crazy weather in your area or road conditions or no safe areas for you to run close by or whatever your reason, and you can get a quality workout from it, then more power to you! Me, I simply CANNOT run on a treadmill AT ALL cuz it DOES bore me to tears, but the main reason for me - and for those around me, lol - is a SAFETY issue. The movement of the TM kicks up my vertigo - I have what is called BPPV, you can look it up on the web if you want to know all the details of it - and I subsequently get dizzy, the room starts spinning around in my head and I usually end up falling off the damn thing. Not fun..and not too much fun either for the others around me at the gym that I might get thrown into! So it's better for me just to stay well away from it! I think it's funny when I go to the doc for my annual physical and they put me on the TM at the military hospital for the stress test, and the doc puts a medtech near me on each side of the TM, lol, just in case one of them ends up having to catch me!
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." Theodore Roosevelt
Fitness Jogger
I run on it also. I can set the incline, program it and set the speed faster than I am on the road. I also record TV stuff and I've got fast forward down to a science. That really helps the time go by. I've done a 10K so far on it. Since I know it's there I've gotten much more consistent with my runs.
I could write a manifesto about why I hate the stupid thing, but I will spare you that and say simply that for me, outside morning runs > outside evening runs > treadmill runs.
But when I have to run for two hours on the treadmill, I get on it and run two hours. Yeah I'll whine and moan about it afterwards, but ya do what ya gotta do.
There was a period last season where I went six months without needing to run on it, but then came that one day, and I was grateful for the alternative to get those miles in....although I am sure I whined about it afterwards!
As for people looking down on treadmill runners, I have never seen or heard such a comment or sentiment. Ever.
Revenge of the Nerd
I think the TM is a valuable tool in the runner's toolbox.
+1
I'm a fan of the TM. Mine is on an enclosed patio at home with a small flat-screen TV mounted above - usually tuned to the local news. My typical TM run is 4 or 5 miles followed by some form of resistance training. The softer surface provides a break for my legs and there is no better way to work up a quick sweat. I enjoy the outdoors as much as the next person, but sometimes I just don't have the mojo to get out in the rain or cold. I run about 25% of my miles on the TM.
One of these days is none of these days.
~ H.G. Bohn
Sloooow.
Probably 80% of my runs are on the treadmill. I have an 18 month old and a 4 year old, my partner is on call 24/7 and rarely gets home before dark. We live on a country road bookmarked by highways, that people do 55+mph on and it's 35 miles to the closest running track. The treadmill is a huge convenience for me. I can run while my youngest has her afternoon nap and after they go to bed.
I make an effort to get outside at least once a week.
I have thought of another reason why I've used it so much lately. Where I live, there is no way of getting away from hills. With my last injury, I've been extra careful to vary the terrain I run on. Its pretty hard to do a tempo run on rolling inclines. I've done it, but its a lot easier on flatter terrain. I enjoy living in the country but the cambered roads are ridiculous. In the fall, spring and summer months, I run a lot more outside because I will drive to places like bike paths and reservoirs to get my miles in. In the winter not so much. I like Waldo's comment. Its a great runner's tool.
Running is my mental-Ctrl-Alt-Del.
Well I would like to say I don't talk trash about treadmill runners but I guess I do in one way. I really don't care about how people train at all thats up to you, but in the Navy physical test you have the option of 1.5 TM, 1.5 mile run, and bike/eliptical. I have many people that try to compare my running time on the road vs. someones treadmill time. Last physical test out of 50-70 people at my command I would guess maybe 10 people ran it and the rest did other options. Just seems like to me its another way for people to try to escape working out or being healthy in the military.
I was on the tm tonight at the gym, after I changed my mind about a group run that featured black ice. Half my runs are at the gym, or the one at work. If it wasn't for headphones I probably couldn't do it as often. My race times have been faster than at least the last 5 years, so it is apparently helping me.
While I find TMs extremely boring, and the heat is always too high at our YMCA, it is very useful for times like this week's -25* F wind chill or when it is icy outside. I expected to be on the TM or indoor track at least twice a week this winter to be sure I get my speedwork in and for the convenience when I run immediately before a strength training class. I have used the TM for runs up to 18 miles, and have a lot of respect for anyone who consistently trains in those conditions.
I will be outside tomorrow, though, because after 3 straight days of indoor workouts, my mind really needs the fresh air and outdoors. Plus, it will only feel like -3*. For a day that just calls for an easy run, that's very doable outdoors.
20,000 miles behind me, the world still to see.
I run a lot of miles on the TM in the winter. Like Fuzzy said, it's generally hard to do good tempos or speedwork outside around here in the winter (last winter was, indeed, awesome). On top of that, sometimes it's just too effing cold to be outside.
I have been stuck inside for two LRs this winter, which is not something I thought I could ever manage, mentally, but I sucked it up and did it. I had to do an 18 miler the day after we got a foot and a half of snow, on a day when the high temp was 10 degrees. The roads weren't even safe to drive, much less run on, so treadmill it had to be. I also did a 17 miler about 2 weeks ago on a day when it was again, single digit temps and icy, with a thin layer of snow covering the ice. If I were faster, I'd probably have gone outside for that one, but with the bad footing I'd be out three hours out in that, and that made me nervous.
If you do it regularly, you kind of build up the mental fortitude to do it. I did 8 miles tonight, with some intervals in the middle, without batting an eye. It was 2 degrees when I got to the gym tonight, and I lost circulation in all 10 fingers just walking from my car to the gym door (yay, Raynaud's), so I was happy to not have to run outside.
Hell, since I can handle it mentally, I use it pretty regularly in the summer as well to avoid the hottest days.
My wildly inconsistent PRs:
5k: 24:36 (10/20/12)
10k: 52:01 (4/28/12)
HM: 1:50:09 (10/27/12)
Marathon: 4:19:11 (10/2/2011)
Misty
I don't mind running on the TM...sometimes I don't feel like fighting weather/traffic/whatever and I like that i don't have to worry about carrying hydration or figuring out where I can use the bathroom if the need arises. Outside I like running without music, but on the TM I like to listen to podcasts or watch mindless TV.
I prefer outside mostly, but I like the convenience factor of the TM sometimes.
Bless your heart.
I have never frowned on TM running. It has been cold and icy up here in Calgary. So over the past few weeks, all of my runs have been on the TM. +1 to what cmb said about the mental toughness - I have definitely gotten used to being on it and don't hate it nearly as much as I did when I started using it this winter. I was able to do a 12 miler this weekend without losing my mind. It's nice to not have to carry water, bundle up, worry about footing, etc.
PRs:
5k: 25:05 (Sep 2011) 10k: 51:57 (Aug 2012) half: 1:56:46 (May 2013) full: 4:09:46 (Jan 2016)