Finally.....i ran on the road

martyeds

I have spent the last 5 or 6 months running 5km on a treadmill. I was fairly unfit (i am in my mid 30s and have not taken any physical activity in at least 10 years)
From following posts on here and talking to people who run they all advised that running on the roads would be much more difficult. On the treadmill i was usually doing sub 24 mins.
Yesterday i did my first 5 km run on the road. I was looking for some tips on the following.

1. Breathing.....i found it much easier to regulate my breathing on the treadmill, even though i was outdoors yesterday, there was only a slight breeze, but i found it harder to control my breathing all the same.

2. Pace....I downloaded the endomondo running app on my smart phone. In the gym it is a hell of a lot easier to run at a steady pace obviously. I found myself running to fast at the beginning yesterday, i checked my app so i slowed down, then i checked later and i found that i was running far too slow.

3. Clothing....In the gym i always wore T Shirt and Tracksuit bottoms. It seemed pretty cold yesterday so i wore my track suit top also. I was really warm and sweaty during the run. I didnt want to take it off incase i caught a cold. Ireland is not really a country to wear a T Shirt only in the month of April.

4. While wating on a break in traffic to cross the road, would you advise to jog on the spot and come to a complete standstill. I jogged on the spot a few times while waiting on cars to pull out of a sideroad but i felt a bit of a fool.

Any advice would be appreciated as i am hoping to run a few 5 km races in the summer.

Thanks
I look forward to your replies.

Pisco Sour

martyeds wrote: »

1. Breathing.....i found it much easier to regulate my breathing on the treadmill, even though i was outdoors yesterday, there was only a slight breeze, but i found it harder to control my breathing all the same.Have never heard anybody asking for advice on how to breath before. Just don't overthink it would be my main advice. Just get out and run and you will adapt pretty quickly to the new surroundings.

2. Pace....I downloaded the endomondo running app on my smart phone. In the gym it is a hell of a lot easier to run at a steady pace obviously. I found myself running to fast at the beginning yesterday, i checked my app so i slowed down, then i checked later and i found that i was running far too slow.I think many people on here (at times) over complicate running. Yes running apps and heart monitors can be of value when you become more competitive, but for somebody in your position, my advice would be to just run by feel. If it feels too fast, slow down. If it feels too slow, speed up. With practice you will know what pace suits you. Then you can slowly focus on increasing that pace.

3. Clothing....In the gym i always wore T Shirt and Tracksuit bottoms. It seemed pretty cold yesterday so i wore my track suit top also. I was really warm and sweaty during the run. I didnt want to take it off incase i caught a cold. Ireland is not really a country to wear a T Shirt only in the month of April. You wont catch a cold running in a t-shirt. That's an old wives tale.

4. While wating on a break in traffic to cross the road, would you advise to jog on the spot and come to a complete standstill. I jogged on the spot a few times while waiting on cars to pull out of a sideroad but i felt a bit of a fool.Wouldn't worry what some lad in a car eating a Magnum thinks of you to be honest.

Best of luck.

walshb

martyeds wrote: »

I have spent the last 5 or 6 months running 5km on a treadmill. I was fairly unfit (i am in my mid 30s and have not taken any physical activity in at least 10 years)
From following posts on here and talking to people who run they all advised that running on the roads would be much more difficult. On the treadmill i was usually doing sub 24 mins.
Yesterday i did my first 5 km run on the road. I was looking for some tips on the following.

1. Breathing.....i found it much easier to regulate my breathing on the treadmill, even though i was outdoors yesterday, there was only a slight breeze, but i found it harder to control my breathing all the same.

2. Pace....I downloaded the endomondo running app on my smart phone. In the gym it is a hell of a lot easier to run at a steady pace obviously. I found myself running to fast at the beginning yesterday, i checked my app so i slowed down, then i checked later and i found that i was running far too slow.

3. Clothing....In the gym i always wore T Shirt and Tracksuit bottoms. It seemed pretty cold yesterday so i wore my track suit top also. I was really warm and sweaty during the run. I didnt want to take it off incase i caught a cold. Ireland is not really a country to wear a T Shirt only in the month of April.

4. While wating on a break in traffic to cross the road, would you advise to jog on the spot and come to a complete standstill. I jogged on the spot a few times while waiting on cars to pull out of a sideroad but i felt a bit of a fool.

Any advice would be appreciated as i am hoping to run a few 5 km races in the summer.

Thanks
I look forward to your replies.

For me road running is definitely a tougher task than a threadmill. BTW, what time did you do on the road?

Pisco Sour

walshb wrote: »

For me road running is definitely a tougher task than a threadmill. BTW, what time did you do on the road?

Back when I did the longer stuff I hated the dreadmill. Only used it when we had horrible snow and ice. The boredom is unreal. It is so mentally draining. Sure some people can watch TV no bother while running, but I'm one of those careless muppets who, if concentration lapsed for a brief second, I could take a wrong step and end up on my arse. I just don't feel comfortable on those machines. Out in the fresh air all the way.

Also, many people when running on threadmills, don't realise that the incline needs to be put to 1.0 to simulate a pan-flat run outdoors. If you run on the threadmill on 0.0, then you are essentially running the equivalent of a downhill outdoor run.

martyeds

walshb wrote: »

For me road running is definitely a tougher task than a threadmill. BTW, what time did you do on the road?

Did it in 26 mins 48 seconds.

martyeds

04072511 wrote: »

Back when I did the longer stuff I hated the dreadmill. Only used it when we had horrible snow and ice. The boredom is unreal. It is so mentally draining. Sure some people can watch TV no bother while running, but I'm one of those careless muppets who, if concentration lapsed for a brief second, I could take a wrong step and end up on my arse. I just don't feel comfortable on those machines. Out in the fresh air all the way.

Also, many people when running on threadmills, don't realise that the incline needs to be put to 1.0 to simulate a pan-flat run outdoors. If you run on the threadmill on 0.0, then you are essentially running the equivalent of a downhill outdoor run.

Didnt realise that about the incline. Did must of my run on treadmill at 0 incline. Then it upped to 2.5, peaked at 3.5 then back down to 2.5, then back to 0

thumper10

i didnt realise that about the incline either, i've actually done both, started on treadmill and the road, and i know what your saying abut the breadth...take it wasy you'll have to train yourself, when i started ages ago then went to the road, after a few weeks, it took about a week to really get the hang of breadthing, not to breadth too fast as this affecting my running, as in i was nackered half way through, you'll work it out yourself though, take it slow till you get it right,as your already doing the pace and distance on the treadmill....

congrrats by the way:D

menoscemo

martyeds wrote: »

1. Breathing.....i found it much easier to regulate my breathing on the treadmill, even though i was outdoors yesterday, there was only a slight breeze, but i found it harder to control my breathing all the same.
If you are finidng it hard to breath then you are running too fast or 'racing' If your goal is longterm improvement then build an aerobic base by learning to run at an easy conversational pace. This will train your body to absorb oxygen and use it more efficiently and in time will allow you to run faster and longer. As your training develops you can introduce specific speedwork. But for now, best to build that base

2. Pace....I downloaded the endomondo running app on my smart phone. In the gym it is a hell of a lot easier to run at a steady pace obviously. I found myself running to fast at the beginning yesterday, i checked my app so i slowed down, then i checked later and i found that i was running far too slow.
As before, forget about pace for now. Concentrate on running nice and comfortable while building distance. The pace will naturally become faster without you worrying about it.

3. Clothing....In the gym i always wore T Shirt and Tracksuit bottoms. It seemed pretty cold yesterday so i wore my track suit top also. I was really warm and sweaty during the run. I didnt want to take it off incase i caught a cold. Ireland is not really a country to wear a T Shirt only in the month of April.
T-shirt and shorts is all you need. Even in winter I just add a gloves and hat. I don't understand why anyone would wear a tracksuit.

4. While wating on a break in traffic to cross the road, would you advise to jog on the spot and come to a complete standstill. I jogged on the spot a few times while waiting on cars to pull out of a sideroad but i felt a bit of a fool.
I would normally just wait at the lights or run with the traffic until i see a gap. But it is even better to find a park where you won't have to wait for any traffic lights and can run continously

Any advice would be appreciated as i am hoping to run a few 5 km races in the summer.

Thanks
I look forward to your replies.

Hope this helps.

walshb

04072511 wrote: »

while running, but I'm one of those careless muppets who, if concentration lapsed for a brief second, I could take a wrong step and end up on my arse. .

And possibly badly injured. A fall off one of them when at a decent speed could really do damage. I have done thousands of Kms on threadmills over the years and never was it easier than the road. I remember reading a comparison report on the two and the report came to the conclusion that road running was tougher, but only very slightly. Anyway, it feels a lot touger to me.

b.harte

Count:
I find that whenever my pace gets off I count (internally) every time my left foot touches the ground, this steadies my breathing and my pace pulls back in. (works for both speeding and slowing my pace)
I now know roughly how many strides per KM and can even use counting to gauge distance, usually within about 50-100mtrs or so per km, (not miles, miles are a black art :rolleyes:)
I've a garmin watch and now I rarely look at it during a run.
I also told my running buddy about the counting thing and he thought I was mental, eventually he tried it and now he sort of agrees with me.
There is a function on the endomondo app where the pace is read out to you every km, run with a single earbud to hear it(not saying listen to music or anything else).