Rain, rain go away...

I hate the treadmill so much, I do not go longer than 3 miles per session.  After giving up my outside running over the winter I determined that yesterday was the day to start outside running again.  Despite the cold, rain, and 50mph wind gusts I ENJOYED a 6.1 mile run and I felt good enough to throw in a 1.5 hour bike ride afterward. 

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I'm with Pennstate.  It has to be snowing hard to keep me from running outside.  I ran this morning while it was pouring and really windy the whole time.  Certainly not ideal, but I'll take it any day over a treadmill run.

Stay positive...the good weather will be here soon

I hope so...but we've still got April showers ahead!

I can do cold, and I can do a drizzle rain...but not cold and rain.

X2, the only issue I faced was the end of my route was flooded out, road under a few feet of water.  I really felt bad for the homeowners, here I am yelling obscenities because my run got cut short and their houses are under water.  I felt terrible.  a 10 mile run got cut to a very wet 9.3, time to change the newspaper in my shoes! All 100% better than the treadmill.

I just finished a 7 mile run, a little over an hour, on my Pacemaster, and quite enjoyed the run.

I bought the treadmill several years ago to do winter training for an IM, and over the years I think I've learned the secrets to enjoying a treadmill run.

It's all about mental engagement elsewhere, and let your body run like an airplane on autopilot. You're there to make sure the body doesn't do anything bad, but otherwise engage your brain.

Thus music isn't enough, nor is an inane comedy series or live TV interrupted by commercials. It needs to be a dramatic or engrossing non-fiction show. I watch various movies and TVs series on DVD.

Quality of the experience matters as well - you can't be engaged by a 10" screen and tiny sound. I bought a 32" widescreen and placed it fairly close in front of the treadmill, and I use noise cancelling headphones so I can hear the sound and not the machine.

I ran 20 miles in the rain/wind yesterday.  Sometimes you have to power through.  It makes you tougher.  What are you going to do if it rains during a race?.
What's so bad about a little rain?  I actually kind of like it besides my shoes being waterlogged.

I don't mind the treadmill so much.  I find its difficult to push the same pace for a given effort as it is outside, but when I'm running on the treadmill, I go into a sort of trance-like state similar to when I do long swims and the miles melt away.

Edited by ionlylooklazy 2010-03-15 9:03 AM

When I lived in Texas I used to go to a gym where the aerobics room was right in the middle of the gym, surrounded by glass wall - sometihng like a giant aquarium. The treadmills were all arranged around the outside. To keep from getting bored, I just showed during the high-intensity aerobic session - much better than TV...