due to heat, treadmill

don't know where it is, but i've seen an interesting scientific study comparing treadmill to outdoor running. i think peter coe studied this as well...

whatever the case, the gist of the study states that treadmill running results in a bubble of heat/humidity around the body that causes the HR to be higher than if outside. so in actuality, you might be running at a slower pace on a treadmill (vs outside) but have a higher HR.

i'll post the study(ies) when i find references, unless someone else beats me to it.

once you get down to 540 pace i believe the treadmill gets easier than outdoor running (according to coe).

I prefer running outside, and don't like running on a treadmill at all. However I do have one and run on it now and then, usually for 10 minutes at a time. The most I've done was 30 minutes.

Treadmills are not accurate and vary greatly from one to another. They even vary in accuracy from one speed to another. It is better to go by your effort, and get back outside as soon as possible.

A wise guy wrote:

I just got one for the same reason and had the same question but I can't get my GPS watch to work on my treadmill to verify pace....

Awesome

I've always found my pace slower on a treadmill at any given perceived effort. Therefore, I run according to heart rate and forget the pace. Part of the reason is that there is no wind to cool you off so you are just running in dead air all the time. The other thing is that most treadmills start with a slight uphill bias, about 1/2 % so its never perfectly flat. The iPod (with fast paced music) is a necessity in order to avoid the tedium.

We reported our TM vs Overground study at the annual meeting of ACSM some years ago and may be what you are referring to. We had runners running mile runs at 6:00 and 5:00 pace on the TM and over ground, going north and south on the same flat road (parallel to an airport runway), and by going in both directions and measuring wind speed at all times, and repeating the tests on several days under differing wind speeds, we came up with interesing findings and one was that when going over ground at the same speed of running as you have tailwind aid, the VO2 demand is equal to that speed of running on a TM. As pointed out, you do build up a micro environment around your body when on a TM and it can be quite warm and humid and lead to higher HR on the TM. A fan to blow away the hot humid air can be very helpful in this regard. As to the benefits of TM running. Ken Martin ran all his long 20mile runs on his TM, leading up to the NY City marathon when he placed 2nd and ran 2:09+, which was his best time for that distance. You must measure running belt length very accurately, put a white mark on the belt so you can time 10 revolutions (with you running on it to account for friction of a body on the belt) and calculate the exact time (to the tenth of a second) associated with whatever speed you want to be running at. This must be done every time you run and at every speed, unless you don't really care what speed you are going at

interesting jtupper.

i really don't care what pace i'm running at, as i'm not elite.

sometimes 545, but mostly 7 min pace.

Its +100F and humid here for 3-4 months, so i do it all on a treadmill during this period.

80-100km, 4:10-4:00/km

Get a big fan

Get some ice water to pour on your head

Put the incline @ 1-1.5%

Some treadmill decks are like running on a mattress; others like a trampoline. You'll get used to it, but perhaps a HRM might help gauge your effort.

When its extremely hot, it is dangerous. Fit athletes die from exercising in the heat every year, so if you feel it is too hot, run on the 'mill.

jtupper wrote:

You must measure running belt length very accurately, put a white mark on the belt so you can time 10 revolutions (with you running on it to account for friction of a body on the belt) and calculate the exact time (to the tenth of a second) associated with whatever speed you want to be running at.

After measurement of the belt, I have usually timed 60 revolutions, several times to 100's of a second then averaged them. It is good to know that someone else has actually done this. Martin probably had a huge treadmill, that is not reasonable for most people.