RUNNING! Treadmill vs. outdoors

Treadmill workouts are easier on the body than running outdoors. There is less jarring on your joints. The other difference is that a treadmill will regulate your speed for you and keep you there. You'll never be able to gauge your pace until you start running outdoors and feel what a 10-minute mile pace feels like for real (for example). How did the pace feel when you did your miles on the elliptical and treadmill? Any joint problems? Is that a fast pace for you or a comfortable one? If you have no injuries, your answer may be geared towards the weather this time of year. If you don't have any races planned until the weather warms up and now it's too cold out to run, the treadmill may be your best bet for now, and go outside when it's tolerable. Gradually work your way onto roads more consistently so you can know what your pace feels like. Treadmills are a good tool but you still need to know what ground feels like, and your joints will, at some point, need to get used to the jarring of the road if you want to do races.

Sharon

By the way, you have some awesome swims on your log!

Thanks so much for your advice! Yes, I like knowing I'm doing a 10-minute mile exactly. The treadmill is definitely better for my joints and back- when I run outside I tend to feel minor aches- sore hip, funny knee, slight shin splints. The treadmill is a smoother run and therefore more fun for now. I guess when I build to 3-4 miles I'll start to mix it up more with the real deal. Thanks for the swimming complement! If only running was as easy for me :-)

Kimber, when I first started running, it was on the treadmill. After a month or so I went outside to run and had bad shin split pain. It took me a while to get through it. When the weather gets better, start doing some runs outside. If you are still having pain, then do most runs on treadmill. But if your first run outside is the race, it will probably be a bad experience. Be sure to do your runs outside easy at first and slowly progress.

They are a lot different. If you have pains when you run outside you should check with your doctor. If it is just sores, those are very tipycal of every anaerobic sport like running or biking... Swimming is very different and gives the body a sense of relaxation even after a hard workout, because of no impact, because of the water temperature and the position of the body... There is no doubt that it is much gentler on anybody's body than running.
Running outside is harder than the treadmill: the terrain in not perfect, there are curves, hills, WIND, cold/hot temperatures. You should learn to run outside expecially in our beautiful state of Colorado. You may want to start with run/walk intervals (this is what my wife does all the time). You should also try to stick with dirt, grass, and try to avoid cement and concrete. Over time they are very hard on your knees and back. You should also invest in abdominal, low back and knee strenghtening exercises before and after running. You should make sure you have very good shock absorbing shoes and again you should check with your doctor, just to make sure you don't have problems that you should address before running.
If your background is swimming, your body maybe just complaining because it is not used to running. Be patient with it and you should be fine.
Hope this helps.

Kimber, I am torn between the road and treadmill. I use the treadmill when it is ungodly cold, icey and snowy. The problems that I have had on treadmills is that I find it very hard to judge my actual times. I agree with the others that the only real way to gauge your running fitness level is to buck up and go out on the road. Be carefull though, use gravel or dirt roads and always spend time strethcing before and after. Good luck and run happy!

My sister gets relitively good results training on a treadmill. She runs 3-5 days a week on a treadmill for 5km. She can exactly predict her time for a 5km race, about 24 minutes and she did her first half marathon in 2:08 with just 5km treadmill runs. I don't think she is near her potential but who is?

Runnerworld had some great treadmill workouts that I use all winter.

I find Hill and Tempo training much easier on a treadmill and save the outdoors for my long run.

If you would like a copy of the workouts give me a shout.

Monty

well, I am currently having a love affair with my treadmill. And I'm so glad that we got a really good one instead of settling for a cheapy. Right now it's all indoors for me, and the city can thank me for that. I won't be leaving any new potholes as I go pounding along

Monty, I'd love more info on the treadmill workouts. I'm using the treadmill about 30-45 minutes 3 x week and I actually get fairly bored,even with music, tv. Maybe these workouts will help,
thanks! Kim