Treadmill miles=Wuss miles

donothoponpop

Ok, I know its the middle of January and many people have to take whatever running they can get during these short days, but I've just ran the easiest 15 miler of my life on a treadmill, and when I compare it to running the hills, it was so soft as to be unbelievable!

Set the treadmill to 6:49 mile pace, and just kept going for 15 miles. If I was to do that outside, I'd deal with (obviously) the elements, the terrain, hills, but what about gravity? It takes a certain amount of force to propel a body against inertia, but on the treadmill all I had to do was "hover" at the pace and endure the monotony?

Are treadmill miles signifigantly easier than "real" miles?

BeepBeep67

I was in India for a year in 2007 and apart from a Saturday the Gym was my only option for running.
The only thing that improved in the year was my mental strength - thank God for Podcasts.
How you stayed on one for 16miles - well fair play - you deserve a medal!

Hard Worker

Give me 20 miles in the mountains anyday over 5 miles on a threadmill. I absolutely hate threadmills.

cfitz

I was told somewhere to set the incline to 1% to mimic real running so, on the very odd occasion where I run on a treadmill, that's what I do. I find it way harder than running outdoors. I find myself watching every 100 metres that gets clocked on the screen of the machine. And it can be very warm in some of those gyms.

If you were comfortable running really fast on a treadmill they might be a good way of getting used to your goal pace for a race.

hunnymonster

I use treadmills for interval sessions. Say 8x1km or something. It's more difficult to slack off when tired when you are looking at the numbers. I also find them more difficult but I think that's the heat and lack of fresh air in my gym. My poor scarred, broken lungs need as much oxygen as I can give 'em.

Krusty_Clown

In my local pay as you go gym (Loughlinstown) I found that any sustained running at over 14kms/hour caused the machines to overheat and eventually stop after half an hour. On the occasions where they didn't, once I got up to 16-20km/hr (tempo run) I was like a dog after going for a swim in a river, shaking sweat all over machine and my running neighbours.

Give me the outdoors any day, any weather. Less sweating, less MTV w@nk, less apologies.

tunney

cfitz wrote: »

I was told somewhere to set the incline to 1% to mimic real running so, on the very odd occasion where I run on a treadmill, that's what I do. I find it way harder than running outdoors. I find myself watching every 100 metres that gets clocked on the screen of the machine. And it can be very warm in some of those gyms.

If you were comfortable running really fast on a treadmill they might be a good way of getting used to your goal pace for a race.

1% number is what I heard and feels right to me too.

donothoponpop

cfitz wrote: »

I was told somewhere to set the incline to 1% to mimic real running so, on the very odd occasion where I run on a treadmill, that's what I do. I find it way harder than running outdoors. I find myself watching every 100 metres that gets clocked on the screen of the machine. And it can be very warm in some of those gyms.

If you were comfortable running really fast on a treadmill they might be a good way of getting used to your goal pace for a race.

Thanks, if I need to use a treadmill again I'll try this trick. And you've even suggested to me why it felt so easy: it all felt as though I was running downhill. No resistance.

I can see how they could be useful for faster reps or intervals.

Seres

hunnymonster wrote: »

I use treadmills for interval sessions. Say 8x1km or something. It's more difficult to slack off when tired when you are looking at the numbers. I also find them more difficult but I think that's the heat and lack of fresh air in my gym. My poor scarred, broken lungs need as much oxygen as I can give 'em.

have done interval sessions on the treadmill and i totally agree for pace they are good
heard also the 1% incline is the best set to reflect running outside , unfortunately my incline doesnt show up on the digital screen , dont have that function , so have to guess

stmochtas

1% does the trick for me too.

Have to agree though that it can get very hot in the gym.

buck65

Was in Portugal last year and it was so hot outside I decided to run in the gym for 20 mins every day to keep ticking along. Must say I ran about 10% faster than I do outside. How accurate are these machines I wonder?
Still it's better than nothing.

ClashCityRocker

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Give me the outdoors any day, any weather. Less sweating, less MTV w@nk, less apologies.

On this basis, I assume you're better off running on a treadmill if you're trying to lose weight? I'm not trying to shed pounds or anything myself, just wondering.

The only times I use treadmills is if I'm away with work or something staying in a hotel and I'm too worried to run outside in case I get lost. I find running on the things unmercifully boring. There's no doubt it's easier, but to call them "wuss miles" is a bit harsh I reckon!

tunney

ClashCityRocker wrote: »

On this basis, I assume you're better off running on a treadmill if you're trying to lose weight? I'm not trying to shed pounds or anything myself, just wondering.

The only times I use treadmills is if I'm away with work or something staying in a hotel and I'm too worried to run outside in case I get lost. I find running on the things unmercifully boring. There's no doubt it's easier, but to call them "wuss miles" is a bit harsh I reckon!

Why would the amount you sweat affect fat loss?

Racing Flat

cfitz and tunney mentioned putting it on an incline to bring it closer to road running, but there is also a speed correction - can't remember exactly what it is, but the physiologist who told me said it was something if you can maintain 16kph on TM you'll maintain 15.8kph on road, but I can't remember the formula he used.

TM will be easier because it's more or less flat and you don't have to push yourself 'forward' but harder because you won't have a cooling effect from wind resistance (that you get from running). So in a country like this, where heat wouldn't be a huge factor you might be better off put a fan in front of the TM and push the speed up a bit, as inability to maintain speed might be more of a limiting factor than overheating in your typical 10k here.

ClashCityRocker

tunney wrote: »

Why would the amount you sweat affect fat loss?

Thought it did for some reason? I have no idea about these things tbh...

Krusty_Clown

ClashCityRocker wrote: »

On this basis, I assume you're better off running on a treadmill if you're trying to lose weight?

Only if you're a jockey. Of course you'll put it all back on as soon as you drink some water.

plodder

There's an interesting article here about the pros and (mostly) cons of treadmills.

Racing Flat

plodder wrote: »

There's an interesting article here about the pros and (mostly) cons of treadmills.

Good stuff. This line is particularly important...

The neuromuscular patterns involved in treadmill running are so different from road, track or cross-country running, they argue, that improvements in economy and efficiency are not possible.

RacoonQueen

Jesus I struggle to say on a treadmill for 10k never mind 15 miles. I used to use them for intervals. They're terrible boring.

rainbow kirby

I really, really hate treadmills. I just find them so incredibly boring compared to running outside, and I'd really rather not use one if I can get away with running outside.

baza1976

they are only good to practice skipping

donothoponpop

plodder wrote: »

There's an interesting article here about the pros and (mostly) cons of treadmills.

Cheers plodder, thats a great article. Basically TM running is just leg turnover, and thats what it felt like on my 15miler today. Good for reps and hill repeats, bad for long steady runs.

Woddle

5 miles is my limit on a treadmill, this works out as a 40 min episode of the shield or sth. I do find it hard to get my HR up on a treadmill though and end up running fast for easy or recovery runs. I used to put it in 1% incline but I always felt that I got niggles after so now I don't mess with the incline there better than doing nothing.

Slogger Jogger

Its a personal thing I suppose, but I find it a necessary evil in order to squeeze in some sort of run into the working day, on the shorter winter days when the weather is brutal. When I use it I tend to ramp the speed up. If you ramp it up high enough you'd be lying if you said you weren't working to keep going. Its obviously a poor choice compared to running in the hills or the trails of Wicklow where I'd prefer, but on the odd day it beats doing nothing. Also, I did most of my 10K training before Christmas on the treadmill (weather enforced) and I PBed so something works

Incidentally the longest run I did on the treadmill (recently) was 25k, so it definitely helps with the mental skills required to take you towards marathon distance...

Peckham

Interesting stuff. Have been using the treadmill a bit recently trying to come back from injury (i.e. letting the computer keep my pace slow!), but only doing it for 20-30 minute fairly relaxed sessions. Feels much easier than out on the road, especially at 6.30am these mornings!

Definitely not a longterm solution for me - will be knocking it on the head as soon as I can get out on the road.

Enduro

When I used to run on them (yeuch) I just set them to full elevation (15%), which I thought was good continuous hill training (which is hard enough to get in reality). 15 minutes of that was a killer.

Now all this distance we're talking about here is all a little, shall we say, pathetic, compared to Ireland's king of the Treadmill, Tony Mangan

plodder

donothoponpop wrote: »

Cheers plodder, thats a great article. Basically TM running is just leg turnover, and thats what it felt like on my 15miler today. Good for reps and hill repeats, bad for long steady runs.

I guess it's one person's opinion at the end of the day, but some of it rung quite true to me. For instance, I find when I run on the TM, my feet kind of stick to the belt, to make the most of the free ride. And that is very different to the way I run on the road.

Krusty_Clown

Enduro wrote: »

When I used to run on them (yeuch) I just set them to full elevation (15%), which I thought was good continuous hill training (which is hard enough to get in reality). 15 minutes of that was a killer.

Now all this distance we're talking about here is all a little, shall we say, pathetic, compared to Ireland's king of the Treadmill, Tony Mangan

I called in to the registration center for the Longford Marathon and saw him doing the challenge. My kids had to go back in to see him. Such a fantastic feat. Don't know how anyone could endure it.

uglyjohn

i despise threadmills, i find it really hard to keep going since im just aiming for a number on a screen.
The longest i've done is about 1hr, i was on holidays in tunisia so i didnt want to run outside during the hottest part of the day.

when i go to the gym i would hop on the threadmill for about 20-40 mins depending on how long i have and how much running i did the night before. when i go on one i ramp up the incline and speed to make sure i have to work at it.

Canis Lupus

I find that when I go from TM running to roadrunning I initially find lots of little muscles/tendons/whatever you wanna call em that I didn't know I had start aching for the first couple of runs from lack of use.

Going on that basis alone I try to stay off them. They're also boring as ****.

Peckham

Enduro wrote: »

Now all this distance we're talking about here is all a little, shall we say, pathetic, compared to Ireland's king of the Treadmill, Tony Mangan

Found that experience very surreal at the registration for Longford. Everyone just standing there staring in amazement at this man who was totally focussed but completely zoned out at the same time....and looked (understandably) absolutely knackered! Didn't he plan to run the half/full marathon that day after getting off the treadmill, but decided against it in the end?

Enduro

I don't know if that was the case, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if that is true. Tony really is a running machine, and focuses his life around it in a way that few others do.

louthandproud

Peckham wrote: »

Interesting stuff. Have been using the treadmill a bit recently trying to come back from injury (i.e. letting the computer keep my pace slow!),

Good point about using them for injury recovery. I ruptured a muscle last year and couldn't run for months at all followed by only being able to use the TM for a couple of more months. Without it I would have been doing no running at all for over half of a year.

Definitely a good low impact solution for injury recovery.

I still use them for reps also as they are way better than the "local running track" option for 90% of people in Ireland who don't have one myself included

Also they work a treat when there's a gale force wind with rain or sleet blowing outside.

Supercell

On days like today I wish I'd kept the threadmill and not flogged it off..
9KM of lovely wind, fog and freezing cold rain awaits me, just as soon as I manage to open the front door

Woddle

I think this sums up the feeling of been on a treadmill very well, made me laugh a little.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfWTQA6QPk4&NR=1