Are treadmill runs equal to outdoor runs? Is there something gained in doing one over the other?

I think a 50/50 split is needed if you are doing a marathon. I know someone who trained only on a treadmill, was in decent shape, but ITband completely killed him by mile 15. I think you need to train those stabilizer muscles with road miles. The treadmill does not do this.

If you're training to hop up and down on a moving belt the treadmill is your best bet.

See

www.mariusbakken.com/the-Norwegian-model.html

Ingebrigtsen etc use it all year

Treadmill has a great advantage in that it gives you instant feedback on pace. Running outside in a large group also gives good feedback because you know instantly if you are speeding up or slowing down compared to those around you in a group. For pacing, treadmill is better than solo run outside.

frozen wrote:

I think a 50/50 split is needed if you are doing a marathon. I know someone who trained only on a treadmill, was in decent shape, but ITband completely killed him by mile 15. I think you need to train those stabilizer muscles with road miles. The treadmill does not do this.

I know of someone who only trained on a TM and won the Olympic Trials.

this is it wrote:

If you're training to hop up and down on a moving belt the treadmill is your best bet.

Always glad when the ignorant out themselves...

Exactly, just like those weirdos running on aircraft carriers thinking they actually run, when all they are doing is jumping up and down on a surface moving relative to a fixed point, like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7PTuqP07Lo&ab_channel=DefenseFlashNews

this is it wrote:

If you're training to hop up and down on a moving belt the treadmill is your best bet.

frozen wrote:

I think a 50/50 split is needed if you are doing a marathon. I know someone who trained only on a treadmill, was in decent shape, but ITband completely killed him by mile 15. I think you need to train those stabilizer muscles with road miles. The treadmill does not do this.

Can confirm that stabilizer muscles give out if you've done too high a proportion of your miles on the treadmill. I think if you get to 50-50 split is sufficient. Almost all of winter training can be done on the treadmill, but then you have to be realistic about your true fitness when you go back outside unless you want to injure your stabilizing muscles or create an imbalance.

I figured someone would bring up the Christina Clark as an opposition. But, she likely had lots of training on the roads prior to training in her basement for the trials. I would also bet that she had some road miles under her belt but the media loved the the "she ran on a treadmill and won the oly trials" story so we never got to hear about that.

Lots of top pros do lots of miles on treadmills. Running is running. Why the weird cult hate from outdoor running “purists” I don’t get.

Some of us have young children or have to train when it’s dark outside. The treadmill is a necessary tool and it’s 99.999% no different than running outside. If you need to “stabilize” muscles then do some lunges.

I can go much slower on a treadmill without my form falling apart (~11:30/mile rather than 8:45/mile on packed dirt). This makes it better for recovery runs when I just want to get my HR above a certain low level for an extended time and don't want to beat up my legs.

Fully support the philosophy of embracing movement in whatever form you enjoy on the day. I won’t regurgitate what has already been said about 50-50split but the gist is - if you have a particular goal or race then it is probably best to train in your “race environment” which is outside. That being said, there are definitely days where inside is the better of two (kids, snow, all out storms, etc). Sometimes even helps you get used to a faster pace you haven’t done yet. You can hop on and set that new fast pace for a workout and feel it out in a controlled environment before doing it outside. But on the note of comparing inside to outside - treadmills won’t offer the same “resistance” you feel outside. So, it’s advised that if you run faster than 7:30 /mile for a treadmill run to add about a 1% incline.

the other johan wrote:

Exactly, just like those weirdos running on aircraft carriers thinking they actually run, when all they are doing is jumping up and down on a surface moving relative to a fixed point, like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7PTuqP07Lo&ab_channel=DefenseFlashNews

this is it wrote:

If you're training to hop up and down on a moving belt the treadmill is your best bet.

Yup, they think they're running but they're really just standing in place and lifting their feet up and down.

There are little differences but for the most part they are the same. Lots of people like to talk about what makes treadmill running easier and not what makes it harder. Treadmill running forces a higher cadence, doesn’t let your body stop itself from overheating, and can really drag with perceived effort and time.

I find I like doing tempo runs and fartlek on the treadmill more, because of how much you can control your pace and environment.

I'm glad someone finally brought this topic up. Orginal and groundbreaking.

The treadmill in my gym (apartment building) seems to run a bit faster than true pace. So this works out perfectly to target my goal race pace. Recently, I did a 1-1-0.5 mile workout with 1' rest at my goal race pace and felt challenged but comfortable. Come race time, I ran 11" quicker per mile with the same comfort level

Yup, like these jumping around on a large revolving globe-formed surface

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pIp2MRJDDE&ab_channel=AthleticsVideos

A treadmill is a good alternative if you are on pavement for all of your runs and don’t have access to soft surfaces, such as trails. Try a recovery run on a treadmill and then see how you feel the next day.

JBaller33 wrote:

frozen wrote:

I think a 50/50 split is needed if you are doing a marathon. I know someone who trained only on a treadmill, was in decent shape, but ITband completely killed him by mile 15. I think you need to train those stabilizer muscles with road miles. The treadmill does not do this.

Can confirm that stabilizer muscles give out if you've done too high a proportion of your miles on the treadmill. I think if you get to 50-50 split is sufficient. Almost all of winter training can be done on the treadmill, but then you have to be realistic about your true fitness when you go back outside unless you want to injure your stabilizing muscles or create an imbalance.

The treadmill is good for heat acclimatization.