This has been discussed on these boards ad infinitum and the consensus of the experts has always been that the treadmill basically does all the work via the moving belt while the "runner" simply stands in one place and lifts their feet up and down. Hence it can't be considered actual running.
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Obviously treadmill running is not the same as outdoor running, for a lot of different reasons. For me, when I have to run on the treadmill the distance is often wrong, which I change on my Fenix 5. This fixes it in Garmin Connect and Training Peaks, but Strava still thinks I have set a PR or WR or whatever. I always make a comment about the actual distance, but I don't know how to fix the distance in Strava.
Even this doesn't make treadmill running the same as outdoor running. Even with the incline set to 1% or 2%, it can't really make up for actual wind, where it's likely I'm running against the wind some and with the wind at other times (we all know it takes more to run against the wind than with the wind) when outside. Likewise, I'm not very good at pacing. I can hit my mile paces, but I can be +/- 30 seconds/mile when outside. On a treadmill my "pacing" is pretty even, basically because the "track" is moving at a consistent pace.
But I can work on turning my feet over quickly on a treadmill and I can work on my aerobic and anaerobic systems. So when the weather is too bad for me to run outside, I'll still hit the treadmill.
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Top 10 runner in boston who is a treadmill lover...
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Maybe my treadmill is just calibrated incorrectly, but I run about 30-40 seconds faster outdoors on the roads than I do on the treadmill.
For example, if I do 16km at 5:00/km on the treadmill, that means that same effort gets me around 17.7km at 4:30:km on the roads.
I think it has a lot to do with the softness of the treadmill. I don’t get the same energy return from the treadmill surface as I do with the roads.
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Ask the Ingebrigtsens
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for some reason i struggle more with treadmill running than outside running; maybe it's just because i very rarely run on the treadmill, but today i ran on the treadmill and it felt like forever and my left calf is burning
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Same, I can't run nearly as fast on my treadmill as outside but maybe that's just my old treadmill. It is easier on my joints though. I'm 18 min 5k old guy for reference.
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God, I hate when people trying to compare xc times. We have no idea what kind of hills were on that treadmill, so mentioning times is utterly useless.
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big daddy wrote:
My cadence on treadmill is considerably higher than outside. I'm sure there is a stride/posture/physio explanation for this, but as a result treadmill is way harder for me and I feel like I"m sprinting at a 10:00/mile pace. It is definitely not the same as outside and I agree with a previous poster it's better to go off of effort (or HR if available) rather than taking the treadmill's "speed" at face value.
Same here. I have a very long, bouncy stride. On the treadmill, my stride gets unnaturally short and choppy and I overheat like crazy, slowing me down a lot.
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treadmillcheating wrote:
In my opinion it isn't real running, unless there is a very good explanation for the huge variation in times. We have some races coming up and I guarantee these people will not run 18 and 20 minutes respectively in the 5k.
The explanation is they use a gps watch set to "indoor" and the watch then uses arm cadence to estimate distance which is often inaccurate, hence the unrealistic fast times.
Treadmill running is as close as you can get to real running. Jakob uses one as do many other elite runners.
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notreadmill wrote:
On a treadmill the ground moves for you.
Usually that does not happen will you run on real ground.
I think that's the main difference.
.... odd that more folks don't understand that... hence its much easier and not really the same as running.
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Yes, treadmill running is little different from sleeping on a mattress.
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couldn't continue waiting at least 5 minutes wrote:
notreadmill wrote:
On a treadmill the ground moves for you.
Usually that does not happen will you run on real ground.
I think that's the main difference.
.... odd that more folks don't understand that... hence its much easier and not really the same as running.
Omg no... when running you move relative to the surface. Doesn't matter if you are on treadmill or outside on the trail/street/track.
Simply lifting your feet up and down on normal ground is called marching in place.
Marching in place on a treadmill gets you thrown off the back.
As others have pointed out, treadmill has no wind resistance. However, cushioning on some treadmills may cause you to work harder versus the harder surfaces of pavement or a track.
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notreadmill wrote:
On a treadmill the ground moves for you.
Usually that does not happen will you run on real ground.
I think that's the main difference.
Run at full speed to within 10 meters of a brick wall, and see if the ground doesn't try to keep moving for you. Only you stop you from moving.
the real slight difference is that being on a treadmill makes you more closely aware of braking forces. You can tell when you slow yourself down because you move backwards.
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couldn\'t continue waiting at least 5 minutes wrote:
notreadmill wrote:
On a treadmill the ground moves for you.
Usually that does not happen will you run on real ground.
I think that's the main difference.
.... odd that more folks don't understand that... hence its much easier and not really the same as running.
Do you get on, stand there, and slide off the back when the belt starts moving? Or do you run?
Please tell me you understand that the side views of a runner outside and of a runner on a treadmill, with no points of reference, would look identical.80 -
TLRD
But I bet the answer is: No one cares.
I'm not just saying that I don't care. Also, no one else cares. At all.
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Mid 50 year old guy here. I currently run 50% of my miles on the treadmill mainly for convince. Not all treadmills are the same. My gym has at least 50 treadmills (2-3 different models) and there are only about 4 in the gym that I would run a hard 5K on (treadmill not shaking, belt feels right etc) I run a very hard 5K 1X every 2 weeks (hard for me) trying to go just under 17:30 (0% incline) I cannot run those times on the road. My best guess is I am 15-17 sec slower per mile outside due to the following (inside you have perfect weather (no wind, heat, humidity or cold) I like most typically go out too fast outside, on the treadmill I run negative splits (Mile 1. 10.3 / mile 2. 10.4 / 2-2.5 10.5 / 10.7 the rest of the way - I could never pull that off outside / and of course the belt is moving on the treadmill .... regardless - both can be good workouts. On easier runs I do move the incline around. I have read a 1% incline is equal or close to running outside. I find a 1% incline on the treadmill to be more difficult than running outside
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Compare apple with apples and not bananas.
1) Calibrate your treadmill (don't trust the display value, its most likely off)
2) Adjust grade to 1%
3) Tilt or open window to have a cooling effect (if its colder outside)
And then compare to outside paces.
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In theory it is exactly the same, given that the treadmill is calibrated and that the motor is powerful such that it can keep a steady speed. People tend to run slightly differently due to how it visually differs and subconciously affected by the short band in front and everything standing still.
Your examples might be lack of calibration. Many runners use it as a very controlled way of doing workouts and have calibrated both the pace and the lactate and it correlates well to outside running.
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Treadmill sprinting wrote:
So am I on my own in finding treadmills to feel very fast instead of slow?
I typically run at 7:00-7:30 milling outside but on a treadmill the same perceived effort is much much slower. More like 830-9:00
heart Rate shows the same effect
you can't be serious or your treadmill is really screwed up. I run 830-900 pace outdoors and it feels nothing like running 7 min pace on the treadmill. 7 minutes pace is an all out 5k for me (yes i'm out of shape) and it doesn't feel any easier on the treadmill. 830-900 is a comfortable pace i just did 5 miles yesterday at 8:40 pace, 7 miles Sunday on sand at 8:51. running on the treadmill feels at most like 5% easier, but for me it feels harder because you can't have microvariations in speed. However it's much less impact on the legs so it's easier long term to prevent injuries
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