You are a P U SS Y!
You are a P U SS Y!
Jensen wrote:
This winter in Scandinavia has been tough. Icy roads and gale winds etc. Seems like never ending.
Doing some kind of interval or frequent tempo shifting is the only way I can stand the treadmill. Otherwise it's just humdrum.
I think that you are just an inexperienced runner. When I started to run on treadmills in 2001, it was boring. First 20 minutes was pain in the ass but when I overcame it mentally, I could run 1 hour. Nowadays 35 km long run is not a problem even without TV. I don't get bored.
The weather is so bad maybe 9 months out of 12 that I prefer running on treadmills. It's not dark, windy, rainy, cold, icy, snowy. Last week for example we had many evenings with temperatures colder than -10C and with the wind it felt colder than -20C. Surfaces were slippery because of the ice and it is so dark out there. It would be suicidal to run outdoors. Instead of going home and putting tons of clothes on, I just walk to the gym after work and can do my training in shorts and t-shirt. Not only running but core, weight lifting, foam rolling and everything else that is needed.
Reps, intervals and tempo runs are very easy to do on a treadmill (or on the indoor track) because you constantly think about what happens next. Long runs are okay too because the concentration is there. You know that you are going to spend quite a lot time there and the mental preparation makes it not so boring. If you felt bored you could chop the total distance to segments. Take a sip of water or increase/decrease the speed a little bit every 5 or 10km. Then you don't think about the total distance at all.
Easy runs are probably the ones where one could get most bored. Recovery runs are so short that one doesn't think about it because it's over soon but easy runs on the other hand are many times longer and there is temptation to increase the speed. You feel more alive when you run faster but have to keep the speed down in order not to make the run too demanding for the body. Those are the tricky ones. In the previous gym the treadmills had tv:s and when there was something good on tv then the time went fast. However, bad tv programs are worse than no tv at all. In October I switched to a gym where the airconditioning is better and the treadmills have cooling fans. That means that no tv (or radio) anymore but I haven't felt that it'd be a problem.
Normally runners are mentally tough people who are able to spend time alone. Therefore it doesn't get so boring. Running on a treadmill is many times more enjoyable than running outdoors. Conditions are always the same and one doesn't have to think about the route. And It's a great feeling when you stop the belt and know that you will be in sauna in a couple of minutes.
mike666 wrote:
This!
Where in Scandinavia do you live? I'm in the geographic middle point of Sweden and we've had the highest recorded snowdepth since they started measuring back in 1944 or something, can't recall exactly. We still have 100cm+ all over here and spring is still a month away.
That said there haven't been many days where i haven't been able to find a somewhat decent stretch of plowed roads so it shouldn' be an issue to run outside. Cold hasnt't been the issue actually.
There are also guys who sat hours on the anthill. What's the point to make training the maximum possible suffering mentally?
It's just like Jensen said. At least here in Helsinki it might be snowing a lot. Then it might be raining which makes the streets really icy. After that it can be -20C with the crazy wind. It's just uncomfortable and dangerous. It would be much easier to run on snow (at least all the easy runs). I have broken both my arms for example and had crazy amount of achilles problem because of running on the icy surface. So I don't feel very comfortable running out there in terrible conditions just to prove that I can do it.
Many people say that it is more fun to run outdoors. Sometimes it is when the weather is nice like yesterday. However, many times I enjoy more running on the treadmill. Maybe because I have run so much more on treadmills and indoor tracks in my life than outdoors that I feel kind of at home in the gym. It is funny that when you think about swimmers nobody requires them to swim in the cold ocean in winter. They can do all their training in heated pools and it is not a problem for anyone but if runners wanted to do training in decent conditions, it is a problem for quite a many people. Especially for bearded hippies.
Baltsu wrote:
When I started to run on treadmills in 2001, it was boring. First 20 minutes was pain in the ass but when I overcame it mentally, I could run 1 hour. Nowadays 35 km long run is not a problem even without TV. I don't get bored.
Reps, intervals and tempo runs are very easy to do on a treadmill (or on the indoor track) because you constantly think about what happens next. Long runs are okay too because the concentration is there. You know that you are going to spend quite a lot time there and the mental preparation makes it not so boring. If you felt bored you could chop the total distance to segments. Take a sip of water or increase/decrease the speed a little bit every 5 or 10km. Then you don't think about the total distance at all.
Your post is inspiring to me. I've used a treadmill for decades in my house, but usually only for 10 minutes to warm up and then head outside. A few times I did 15 minutes with reps, or rarely, an hour on the incline.
I will be more open to going longer from now on.
I mostly use a treadmill in my home, most days running 10 minutes to warm up and then head outside.
Sometimes I finish my outside run with 5x 1' on the treadmill, increasing each rep by .1 mph, and an easy 1' between them.
A few times I've run at a gym, which is fine too, as long as no one else is there.
At the city gym, for example, the tv is often on with some crazy program, and a big fan blowing, so I don't use their treadmills.
I do a *lot* of treadmill running unfortunately. I do audio books for shorter steady state stuff and movies on my iPad for longer. Did 22E last night.
It's actually kind of nice in some ways because otherwise I simply wouldn't have the time to watch movies.