i never run on treadmills.
however, i did last night, and I ran 7 miles in 52 minutes, which is just under 7:30 mile/pace. however, it really felt closer to 6:50-7:00 pace, definitely not over 7:00 at all.
my question is: can i trust this? i know what 7:30 pace or around there feels like, and this felt a lot faster. am i wrong, or is it common for a treadmill to really be this far off?
usually treadmill pace is slower than what it says. if it says 7:30 pace you were probably running closer to 7:50 pace.
you need to set the incline 2-3 percent grade incline to offset the non wind resistance factor. it feels easier because there is no resistance against your body because you are stationary running in place.
drinker wrote:
you need to set the incline 2-3 percent grade incline to offset the non wind resistance factor. it feels easier because there is no resistance against your body because you are stationary running in place.
uh huh...
the 1% myth
http://mysite.verizon.net/jim2wr/id110.htmlNo, you can't trust any treadmill. I once ran a 31:00 10k on a Precor treadmill at Furman University and my easy days on it were super easy at 6:50 pace. I own a True now and I run what it calls 7:30 pace for easy days, slower than I would ever run outdoors. My wife has a Spirit treadmill that is even less accurate - it tells her her easy days are like 11:50 pace - 2 min/mile slower than she runs at the same effort outdoors. A friend of mine has a Landice and he says that he has to work much harder on it to run a given pace according to the readout than outdoors. The local college here has a Star treadmill that I have run 7 miles at 5:10 pace on, whereas on my true, 5:30 pace for that long is very hard.
The calibration on most treadmills is suspet at best. That said, I've always found treadmill running to feel harder than road running with the exception of some machines that were clearly way off on the slow end. While it's possible that they're all out of calibration the other way, I attribute it mostly to running in still air in a warm room. Having a fan on me seems to help a lot.
What is there to trust?
Did you get in a 52 minute run or not?
What difference does it make?
Every single treadmill I've ever run on has consistently said I'm running slower than I usually run, often by up to 30 sec/mile. Obviously I'm basing this on effort, so highly subjective, but it always seems way off. I usually just ignore everything on the display except total time ellapsed and just go by feel.
drinker wrote:
you need to set the incline 2-3 percent grade incline to offset the non wind resistance factor. it feels easier because there is no resistance against your body because you are stationary running in place.
That's not how fast runners do it. They use the lack of wind resistance to practice a longer stride.
This is correct.
ukathleticscoach wrote:
What difference does it make?
lie detector test
treadmills suck wrote:
i never run on treadmills.
however, i did last night, and I ran 7 miles in 52 minutes, which is just under 7:30 mile/pace. however, it really felt closer to 6:50-7:00 pace, definitely not over 7:00 at all.
my question is: can i trust this? i know what 7:30 pace or around there feels like, and this felt a lot faster. am i wrong, or is it common for a treadmill to really be this far off?
Sure. You can also trust your Garmin to measure how far you ran on that treadmill...
The calibration could be off. But if you never had run a treadmill, its more likely that it was more difficult for you. If you had run only on treadmills, then ran on a road that would probably seem more difficult.
Slightly different muscles are used.
wellnow wrote:
That's not how fast runners do it. They use the lack of wind resistance to practice a longer stride.
This is the dumbest post in THE most inane thread ever started in LetsRun history.
drinker wrote:
you need to set the incline 2-3 percent grade incline to offset the non wind resistance factor. it feels easier because there is no resistance against your body because you are stationary running in place.
1. 2-3% would be way too much. I have worn a HRM on a treadmill and tried to equalize a given pace with no incline and a given slower pace with some incline in terms of effort and even a little incline adds effort faste rthan significant increases in pace.
2. This whole idea of adding incline to equalize pace-effort is straining out a gnat while swallowing a camel. Treadmills are calibrated like crap, so everything on them should be effort-based (whether subjective of with a HRM). I mean, it is different biomechanically from outdoor running anyway. Even if it were calibrated well, why not just run faster at a given effort without wind? That would give one a better training effect.
Hard to believe wrote:
wellnow wrote:That's not how fast runners do it. They use the lack of wind resistance to practice a longer stride.
This is the dumbest post in THE most inane thread ever started in LetsRun history.
***************************
You are either completely clueless, or trolling.
Most people believe a 1% incline on the treadmill is equivalent to running off the treadmill. It depends on the TM however. Some aren't calibrated well or don't hold the incline.
By the same note: Running flat on a sandy or muddy trail would probably take a 1 or 2% incline adjustment on a hard dirt trail to reach equivalency of effort. Maybe another 1/2 to 1 degree incline when moving to asphault and another 1/2 degree moving onto concrete. Why? Because softer surfaces dissipate much of the force applied to them and when you push off a sandy or muddy surface your foot slips back some.
Think about it when you run on different surfaces. Briefly try to go from asphault onto smooth concrete. It's a faster surface~~you'll notice it immediately. Do you worry about equivalency when you switch from trails to roads? Then why worry when you go to a TM?
TM running is different. Your stride will be a bit different. You have to be careful, because running outside you will naturally slow as you tire. on a TM you have to be aware of what's happening and lower the speed. If you don't you'll overload your hamstrings.
About 20 years ago, an Alaskan runner won the women's U.S. Marathon trials after running all winter on a treadmill. Other accomplished northern latitude runners do most, if not all, of their winter training on treadmills and do fine come spring.
All you should care about is the quality of your workout. TM's are great because you can totally control your workout while avoiding heat, extreme cold, ice and snow, rain, mud etc. You can run a steady tempo pace for miles on a TM. You can run precise hill intervals.
Benson St. Wales wrote:
Every single treadmill I've ever run on has consistently said I'm running slower than I usually run, often by up to 30 sec/mile. Obviously I'm basing this on effort, so highly subjective, but it always seems way off. I usually just ignore everything on the display except total time ellapsed and just go by feel.
Maybe you don't run as fast as you think you do when outside....