Do treadmills promote heel striking?

I've actually noticed this too before. I wonder if it could have anything to do with my body trying to "cheat." Would longer contact time make running on a treadmill easier?

I've heard that a treadmill will lengthen your stride, which could very well lead to more of a heel striking form.

You could just not be comfortable on the treadmill, and not run as aggressively. I would say treadmills DO promote heel striking.

I have a short, quick stride w/mid-foot landing. Treadmill readouts for pace kick my skinny ass. The other day I got down to 8:30 miles (readout) and felt like I was doing a sub-7:00 hard aerobic pace. The next day I went to the track and ran the same effort and got 7:20, and actually was more comfortable.

1. Your mill is probably calibrated very poorly. I do easy runs on snow days and tempos after dark on a Woodway wearing a HRM and the same HR outdoors at 7:10 pace is 8:10 pace on the Woodway and tempos on that Woodway are at 6:00 pace compared to the same effort in the 5:30s outdoors. A tiny bit of that could be the Colorado altitude (since it hurts you worse on the mill than outdoors since you don't get lower air resistance to offset a portion of the low oxygen for breathing), but obviously calibration is a problem on mills. You should, of course, be able to hold a faster pace longer on a mill than outdoors.

I have run on other mills where the calibration is off in the other direction. On a commercial quality Life Fitness, I did pokey slow easy runs well under 7:00 pace and that was painfully easy (I rarely run 7:00 pace for easy days outdoors) and I once did a 10k on that mill at 5:00 pace. It was hard, but I have never raced that fast. I also ran on a StarTrac mill that was clearly going slower than the readout said.

2. Treadmills definitely lengthen your stride and don't impose costs on hill strikers (and don't reward people with strong toe-off). Every classically efficient runner I know hates treadmills and feels they can't exploit their superior efficiency on them. I have counted my stride rate at given paces/efforts indoors and out and I take fewer strides per minute on a mill than outdoors at a given effort. If you are a heel striker, try running with strong knee lift and back kick on a treadmill and you'll see it just doesn't feel like it would outdoors.

I agree, the pace always seems harder to me. Maybe there is something to your body trying to cheat, like its easier the longer your feet are on the ground and "ride" it a little longer. But who knows, it could just be a comfort issue.

I sort of think there's more too it than comfort though if other people have had this issue.

Decent-looking guy wrote:

I have a short, quick stride w/mid-foot landing. Treadmill readouts for pace kick my skinny ass. The other day I got down to 8:30 miles (readout) and felt like I was doing a sub-7:00 hard aerobic pace. The next day I went to the track and ran the same effort and got 7:20, and actually was more comfortable.

Try this:

I bought a treadmill and found myself dying running a stated "pace" slower than a nice, relaxed outdoor pace. Turns out the calibration was off by nearly a minute.

Have you tried barefoot running on the treadmill? Barefoot running is the cure for heel striking.

I would expect running in a gym to be more difficult due to the heat.

Jack Daniels has said that most runners PERCEIVE their effort on a treadmill to be greater than running outdoors. According to actual testing data though, your effort is less on the treadmill than outdoors given the same pace. Or something to the effect. In other words, you are not working as hard as you think you are on a treadmill.

Not sure if that could possibly play into the heel striking question or not.

tea runner wrote:

I've actually noticed this too before. I wonder if it could have anything to do with my body trying to "cheat." Would longer contact time make running on a treadmill easier?

^this. Heel striking is generally what happens when you stick your leg too far out in front of you and don't bend your knee enough. It's the lazier way to achieve a longer stride, as opposed to leading with the knee and extending your trailing leg behind you, which requires more hip flexibility, quad, hamstring, and glute endurance. I find myself lapsing into this kind of running when I start feeling tired. I think treadmill promotes it maybe because it's shorter and you feel confined, and confident to commit to that open stride. maybe?

Inf wrote:

^this. Heel striking is generally what happens when you stick your leg too far out in front of you and don't bend your knee enough. It's the lazier way to achieve a longer stride, as opposed to leading with the knee and extending your trailing leg behind you, which requires more hip flexibility, quad, hamstring, and glute endurance. I find myself lapsing into this kind of running when I start feeling tired. I think treadmill promotes it maybe because it's shorter and you feel confined, and confident to commit to that open stride. maybe?

I meant *less* confident.

I always run the treadmill ar 1% incline. Supposedly that mimics running outside more closely. I wonder if that is in fact true?

Randy Oldman wrote:

I would expect running in a gym to be more difficult due to the heat.

What the heck does that have to do with the original question?

Adam C wrote:

I always run the treadmill ar 1% incline. Supposedly that mimics running outside more closely. I wonder if that is in fact true?

I do 2%. I have no idea if it mimics outside running but it feels good and does keep me off my heels a little. I just go for a heart rate on treadmills because as other have pointed out the pace measurements can be WAY off.

Adam C wrote:

I always run the treadmill ar 1% incline. Supposedly that mimics running outside more closely. I wonder if that is in fact true?

Of course it doesn't. What it mimics is running outdoors at a 1% incline with an 8 mph wind at your back.

As for this "effort" quandry, there are a couple of ways to decide how similar you are running on the treadmill. You can do heartrat and you can count your strides per minute.

If you are worried about heal striking, just crank the incline up to 8% and you won't have to worry about that.

Other things to consider is that a gym can be 70° and 80% humidity. That is tough conditions for longer runs and you will see your heartrate rising and the run getting tougher. That is no different than running outside in those same conditions though. While the wind resistence may help a little, at some point, the lack of cooling effect will make it harder.

Another thing about incline. The tables found on the internet are a joke. One even has the pace decrease shorten as the incline gets higher. In reality, it gets much harder. The difference in effort going from 2% to 3% isn't as much as going from 14% to 15%.

Based on my experience, each successive 1% you raise the incline the pace slows down about 20 seconds/mile. The higher inclines are easier on the legs but harder on your breathing than running a faster pace on the level.

They promote fair weather runners!

truebut.... wrote:

What the heck does that have to do with the original question?

His input was just a relevant as half the posts that talk about treadmill running being more/less difficult than outdoors. Also, all the calibration issue posts.

None of those are "on topic" either.

I never got the "add 1% grade" thing. Sounds like some Runner's World foolishness. 1.It assumes calibration accuracy and 2. Why not just run a bit faster - wouldn't that be a better way of mimicking outdoor effort? If one has a well-calibrated mill, you can get better turnover work a the same cardio effort.

If someone bet me $1000 that I could run a given time and I had my choice of doing it outdoors or on an accurate mill, I would always take the mill. For some reason, I can achieve higher heart rates for longer on a mill, I think because to slow down, you have to consciously pull the plug and you can't just slow down and keep going.