Do elites long distance runners do quality sessions on a treadmill?

mo farah

Those from cold areas, such as Norway, Minseotta etc do it.

Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal shows often on her instagram account that she does sessions on the treadmill.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BcFa4lZh4ko/?taken-by=karolinebgrovdal

When its snow and ice and cold outside we Scandinavians use to run on the tredmill. My best 10k outside is 29.51

but at a tredmill I ran 28.30, so its much easier to run fast on a tredmill, just to hang on and no headwind and so on.

NordicFan wrote:

Those from cold areas, such as Norway, Minseotta etc do it.

Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal shows often on her instagram account that she does sessions on the treadmill.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BcFa4lZh4ko/?taken-by=karolinebgrovdal

It is clearly working for her:

New favorite runner

The answer is an imfatic YES! I like to do up to 14 miles on the treadmill and will start off around 8 minutes a mile and end up going as fast as 6:50 a mile.

But my main question is WHY NOT, not why yes. Why Kenyans and Ethiopians don’t. What is the downside in a treadmill that makes elite Kenyans and elite Ethiopians to stay away from it?

Lelisa Desisa hadn’t run in his life on a treadmill until that breaking2 project. These are elite athletes, they have money. Bekele had money to build a track. And yet, they stick to running outside on a track ir a dirt road, or a paved road. Why?

Doelites wrote:

But my main question is WHY NOT, not why yes. Why Kenyans and Ethiopians don’t. What is the downside in a treadmill that makes elite Kenyans and elite Ethiopians to stay away from it?

Lelisa Desisa hadn’t run in his life on a treadmill until that breaking2 project. These are elite athletes, they have money. Bekele had money to build a track. And yet, they stick to running outside on a track ir a dirt road, or a paved road. Why?

I cannot speak for elite runners. And I do not mean to say I am anywhere near an elite runner. However, I absolutely cannot run on a treadmill. It is boring. It is very boring. It is more difficult for me to run at even a slower pace (on any treadmill, not a calibration issue). It is boring. I have never been able to feel comfortable on the mill, messes with my form or whatever. Sometimes I think the mill corrupts my form so much that I injure myself (hello achilles injury).

The alternative in the winter is putting on some more layers, hat and gloves, maybe some trail shoes. Then I can run outside (i live in New England). If it is too horrendous to run I'll lift weights, or erg, or xc ski. Would rather sit on my couch all day then run on the mill.

Douglas Bermer wrote:

The answer is an imfatic YES!

wtf does imfatic mean?

Douglas Bermer wrote:

The answer is an imfatic YES! I like to do up to 14 miles on the treadmill and will start off around 8 minutes a mile and end up going as fast as 6:50 a mile.

That doesn't seem very fast for an elite runner.

Completely agreed.

The dreadmill was invented for torture. True to its purpose today.

Not an elite, so it doesnt answer the question, but i do a lot of my speed sessions on the treadmill. I like the repeatability of it. It keeps me from running too fast/too slow. I dont trust the readout precisely, i go by feel. If i want to make it harder next time, there are easy ways to make minor adjustents to how how hard it is

Sort of agree!

I am now 60 years old. Right hip is a bit dodgy -arthritis - and one of the things the doctoe warned me against was falling on that hip

Sorry! Pressed the wrong button (senility setting in!) so the previous post makes absolutely no sense!

At the moment we have a very thin covering of snow over some pretty icy pavements; the very worst running conditions. I won't risk running outdoors with these underfoot conditions. The treadmill is much, much better than no running at all!

I will happily run outside on the snow if we ever get any more but not at the moment.

I don't do quality sessions on a treadmill. But I do do about half my runs in a week on a treadmill my main reasons:

1. No dirt trails near where I live. So a treadmill is the next best thing. Need that soft surface to reduce injury risk.

2. Even surface which goes back to reducing injury risk.

3. If running a hundred miles a week. It is easy to get on a treadmill for half of my runs and zone out with no mental effort.

Because they don't need to.

This question is about elite runners, NOT you and your hobbyjogger whining. Not everything is about you. This was downright cringeworthy - especially your use of the term "the mill."

1. Yes.

2. Because winter.

3. Unless you live or have tried to run in the Midwest United States, particularly the center of the country, you can keep quiet at this point. No, more "layers" will not help you.

I don't.

Libertarian vegan wrote:

I don't do quality sessions on a treadmill. But I do do about half my runs in a week on a treadmill my main reasons:

1. No dirt trails near where I live. So a treadmill is the next best thing. Need that soft surface to reduce injury risk.

2. Even surface which goes back to reducing injury risk.

3. If running a hundred miles a week. It is easy to get on a treadmill for half of my runs and zone out with no mental effort.

Don't you get bored

A treadmill is the exact opposite of why I go running.