Are treadmill miles valuable?

I dont understand the question. Are you asking if it's better to run on the treadmill when its cold and dark or sitting on the couch to improve your running when it's cold and dark outside? I'm not sure if running on a treadmill will help your running vs flipping through channels on the couch.

I'm asking if treadmill miles are comparable to outdoor miles, or whether they are so different that specificity is seriously compromised. I will brace the conditions if need be. I'd prefer not to.

I'm asking if treadmill miles are comparable to outdoor miles, or whether they are so different that specificity is seriously compromised. I will brace the conditions if need be. I'd prefer not to.

You'll be fine on the treadmill. I live in the Chicago area and feel the same about running at night in the winter. I did well training primarily on a treadmill for runs during the week but if it fit I'd try and do at least one of my quality days outside.

Just don't keep the incline at 0, rule of thumb is to set it to 1.5% and it'll closer simulate running outside.

I put the incline on at least 5 or 6.

Oh, and I'm also in the Chicago area.

You don't need to run on an incline, but if you don't you will need to run a little faster. If you want to run 10 miles at 6:00 pace, set the treadmill at 10.5 mph and run for an hour.

I read a Jack Daniels book and it said that running on the treadmill is recommended when the weather is not ideal.

Ben

You'll be fine. You would be fine doing every run on the treadmill. I have run some pretty solid 1/2 and full marathons doing exclusively treadmill miles.

It's not the same, but it's not that different either. As long as you're getting out a few times a week on the road, the treadmill for the rest of it is fine.

I run on the treadmill FOR specificity as I have no large hills nearby to run up. Yesterday was one mile at 9% followed by a half mile at .5% times 6.

Worked okay for Christine Clark back in 2000.

I've had great results using the treadmill for stretches at a time. For whatever reason though I have to go by effort and am almost always .8 to a full 1.0 mph slower on the treadmill than what I run outside, while at an incline of 1.0 for the easy paces, and 2.0 for the faster work.

Not only is the effort/pace a little different for me, it is far less linear the slower I go on a treadmill. 3-4 mph at 2.0 incline, I swear feels more like a 10 min/mi pace for me. (Perhaps there is something to what I have read, being that physical therapist Shirley Sahrmann was noted as saying to avoid running faster than 4.0 mph on a treadmill as the pattern for keeping up becomes incorrect).

Also, regarding effort. monitoring my effort by HR has also backed up what I feel regarding running slower than I do as compared to outdoors, and after long stretches of almost exclusively treadmill running (3 weeks+) have found myself able to pick up right where I left off outside.

In my area there is a local masters runner, lower volume of 30-35 miles per week, and ran mid-18s who did a lot of treadmill running. If I recall correctly, he ran the same paces on the treadmill as he did outdoors, but he would go up to a 1.5 to 2.0 incline for easy pace work, and then on his interval or tempo work would gradually go from 2.0 to 4.0 throughout the workout. One of the most consistent racers I've ever seen throughout a race as a whole in terms of pacing throughout.

I trained for a marathon and did 100% of my runs on the treadmill. Race was outside obviously. PRed.

Attended college in upstate NY. Some of my best runs came on winter nights. Sure, it was cold; but the winds were usually very calm and it was peaceful and quiet. Great way to spend some time with yourself.

But, if your totally against that I'd say you get 95% or more of the benefit of a road run out of a treadmill sesssion. And if you reduce risk of injury or increase likelihood of getting your training in, then the treadmill leaves you better off.

I'd still save the treadmill for when the roads are unsafe though.

I was recently traveling for work and ran a month straight on the hotel 'mill. Ran an 8k PR next race back and I've been running for 12+ years. These days I do most of my winter running on the treadmill and the only ill effect I've noticed is that it takes a bit (but still not long) to get used to anything below 3k/5k pace. You'll be fine.

SameHere16 wrote:

I've had great results using the treadmill for stretches at a time. For whatever reason though I have to go by effort and am almost always .8 to a full 1.0 mph slower on the treadmill than what I run outside, while at an incline of 1.0 for the easy paces, and 2.0 for the faster work.

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You have gotten some bad information if you don't know the reason you are slower at 2% incline.

Let's just say a treadmill is properly calibrated and we aren't accounting for wind resistence. If you move the incline from 0 to 2%, the effort is going to be 30 seconds/mile at a 6:00 pace. At an 8:00 pace it will be 41 seconds. At 10:00 pace it jumps to 47 seconds.

Even if you think you have to run at 1% to make up for the lack of wind resistence, the difference of going to 2% is still 23 seconds per mile at 8 minute pace.

You also mentioned using heart rate to measure effort. A problem that is often overlooked when on a treadmill is that the lack of wind resistence takes away an effective way your body uses to cool itself. If you are hotter, you have to use more energy to cool down and that results in a higher heart rate and eventually your pace will slow.

If you want to do hills on the treadmill and know what pace to run, use this calculator I have found to be the most accurate.

They are good for weight management. Not so great for training. It's easy to run an hour on a treadmill listening to music and watching TV. It's not so easy going outside in 28F with strong winds in the dark.

80 minutes treedmill versus 25 minutes running because it's unbearable?

What burns more calories?

calorific wrote:

They are good for weight management. Not so great for training. It's easy to run an hour on a treadmill listening to music and watching TV. It's not so easy going outside in 28F with strong winds in the dark.

80 minutes treedmill versus 25 minutes running because it's unbearable?

What burns more calories?

Here you go smart guy. What pace do you run outside?

Get on a treadmill and run that pace for 1 mile. After 1 mile increase the incline to 9% and slow your pace down 3 MINUTES. Then put the incline back down to level and run at your regular pace for a half mile. Do that 5 times which should end up being around 80 minutes. Come back tomorrow and tell us if that was easier than your 25 minutes outside.