From the Internet.
I have thought extensively about this and while technically you are correct, when the rubber meets the world it's a slightly different story, for me anyway. That said I am of the camp that speed work on the belt is better than no speed work at all. It took training through last winter to come to that realization but I am pretty firm in that thinking, now. It is my belief that we expend less energy on the belt, while running a similar pace. If we can somehow harness that effortlessness and take it to the road we would be better off for it.
I have thought extensively about this and while technically you are correct, when the rubber meets the world it's a slightly different story, for me anyway.
That said I am of the camp that speed work on the belt is better than no speed work at all. It took training through last winter to come to that realization but I am pretty firm in that thinking, now.
It is my belief that we expend less energy on the belt, while running a similar pace. If we can somehow harness that effortlessness and take it to the road we would be better off for it.
My legs disagree with you - treadmill is a bazillion times harder for me, I'm always faster outside.
12 miles on that damned thing this morning, 2:04. I'm lucky my university gym has a ton of treadmills and the staff turn a blind eye to treadmill-hogging in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Very few college kids up early, so spending all that time on one didn't inconvenience anybody else.
I think it also depends on how well your treadmill is calibrated. The speed you are seeing come up on the display may not be truly how fast the belt is actually moving. For me, I have run faster time trials on my treadmill than doing the same distance on the track. On the other hand, I find my easy pace outside is slightly faster than what I find easy on the treadmill. That may be mental, however.
Life is good.
A bazillion? Okay I'm an idiot.
Nice job on the dozen, I did that last week.
I'm very happy not to have enough experience on the TM to take part in any argument. It seems very complicated. A bit like the debate of minimal vs traditional drop, of forefoot vs heel strike, etc.
I find my easy pace is slower on the treadmill. I can easily run an 8:50-9:00 on the TM and have it feel the same as 8:20-8:30 outside. But speed work is easier for me to manage. I'm not sure if it's because it takes care of the pacing for me and I just have to keep up or what? A lot of times outside I will go out too fast on intervals and pay or go too slow and frantically try to catch up. Or maybe it is just different mechanics.
I used it a lot for speedwork last winter and still got faster. So this winter, I am looking back and comparing my paces to my TM paces last year and they are faster all around (What I did 10k paced intervals at last year, I ran my 2x3 mile last night and it did not feel like 10k effort). So I hope, it's good enough.
I try to run faster on it when I can and not stick to prescribed paces. Interestingly my footpod or garmin accelerometer always measure my paces a good bit faster on the TM than on the indoor track. So something is different about how I run on it.
Hip Redux
Ignoring any actual mechanics difference (not going there) - the road has turns, tangents, other people, pot holes, wind, sun, who knows what. It's a world of imperfections, where the TM is always exactly the same.
Could be more mental than physical.
Yes, I find the indoor track easier too for this reason. Completely flat, no wind, perfect temps.
Or it's just harder outside.
delicate flower
I run a 8:00 pace on the treadmill and it is a fair bit of work. I run a 8:00 pace outside and it's pretty easy. While I'd rather be doing my speedwork outside since I don't race on a treadmill, it's just not possible to do quality speedwork outdoors right now. I'll do my speedwork in optimal conditions on the treadmill, and I'll worry about race day weather on race day. Of course, it is worth mentioning my HM PR was on a cold rainy day in October.
<3
Running at near 70 degrees on the TM isn't exactly optimal conditions either.
An indoor track is actually an apples to apples comparison to running. I have only run on one once though and that was a million years before I became a wanna-be runner.
BUT I NEED TO KNOW WHY.
2.5 hour snowshoe extravaganza followed by an hour of fucking around with rock salt and panty hose. The combination of which is now hanging off my porch roof.
Good point. "Controlled environment" is more accurate.