Treadmill miles v Road miles

Running Bing

Just wondering about the difference between the two.

Im a bit tight for time at the moment and so it would be convenient for me to do the odd easy run on a treadmill.

I would'nt be doing my long run or any workouts on it but maybe 1 or 2 easy runs a week.

I know you add some incline to mimic road running but Im just wondering are there any detrimental effects of running on a treadmill instead of the road? Are you really missing out on any major benefits by running on one?

baza1976

I feel that you are hopping or skiping on a thread mill more than running. But it is better than doing nothing!!!

The road running lets your body get used to the pounding/stress the roads give you.

Running Bing

baza1976 wrote: »

I feel that you are hopping or skiping on a thread mill more than running. But it is better than doing nothing!!!

The road running lets your body get used to the pounding/stress the roads give you.

Yeah I know what your saying.

Ive only ran once on a treadmill but it just didnt feel like running. Even with the incline set it felt far too easy, after all on the road your pushing yourself forward but on the treadmill your essentially just lifting your legs up and down....no wind either.

I might just make the effort to run on the road.

spartan1

why does it take less time to run on a treadmill than to run on the road ? in reference to your stuck for time comment.

RoyMcC

Hi RB, I've found you can get a great workout on the tready if you can set a varying hill program on it. The combination of a significant incline and a nice, brisk tempo can be both great fun and a challenge. Maybe as part of a general gym workout.

But like you I wouldn't be doing this too often though.

hot to trot

I know exactly what you mean. I find the same. When I resort to using the treadmill , I try to do speedwork or intervals on it where leg turnover and cardiac effort is more important. I found that if I did a lot of easy runs inside, then I found it harder to go on the road and took a while to adjust. I have left it too late tonite to run outside as I have been out of the house already for a few hours getting groceries, on comptuer etc,so I will have to do my run on the treadmill and still have brownie points for not being gone again.

Spartan- to run on the treaddie I can just put on my undies and runners and it can be 11pm at night. Get a quick interval session over, into the shower and I am done. If I have to go on the road, I have to dress in my outdoor gear including vizzyvest, with torch,sneak oway from the dog, husband, children, waste time faffling around trying to psyche myself going out especially when it is ****ty and wet and run around dark lonely country roads.
If it is daytime I can throw the dinner on , stay with the kids while homework is being done etc without having to absent myself from the house.

Redjeep!

Sorry, but I disagree that there's much difference.

I think that if you use your heartrate as the main indicator then the benefits are probably pretty similar. I do most my running on a tready due to the same time constraints as the OP, but find that I run almost exactly the same pace outside.

The only difference that I find is that the tready is gentler on your body, so you do need to build up the road miles as well to avoid injury.

I usually set it to around 2% incline.