Treadmill V Road

jfh

HI All,

I'm aware that this topic has been discussed a bit and the general consensus was that road running was more beneficial as it replicated a race environment more.
However I went on the treadmill last night for the first time, I can knock out a sub 40 10km on the road without too much bother with a friend, so as this was my only run this week, I wanted to do a decent session so set it up on the treadmill, i found it very difficult, almost impossible & i thought all along, running on a treadmill was easier. I had the incline at 0 too.

So I’m thinking that if it’s so hard surely it must be better?
increased heart rate etc.

I've been lucky enough to able to get out 5-6 days a week for the last 8 months on the roads, however i'll be restricted to the weekends with the treadmill on the weekdays for the next few months & i dont want to lose all that hard earned fitness.

Know there must be more people on here, who are in a similar situation, so do I accept that the treadmill training will not get my times down or is it in-fact better than the roads.
thanks for any feedback.

lynchieboy

I always find the treadmill slower than the roads I think I get less bounce compared to a concrete road, I find it good training though to maintain a certain pace, a mixture of both with fast sessions on the treadmill is what I find best, anything over 40 minutes on the treadmill and I start to go stirr crazy though.

Gringo78

I have a treadmill and so sometimes when I am stuck in watching the kids (who are in bed asleep) my only option is the Treadmill. I use my heart rate monitor to measure the effort I am putting in and don't look at speed at all. There is no correlation between treadmill speed & road speed, every brand of treadmill is different, anyone who uses treadmills regularly in gyms will know some treadmills are 'faster' or 'slower' than others. I find the treadmill no good for Intervals or tempo running as (maybe its just my treadmill) they are not really built for fast running so if its an easy run I'm doing, I just very slowly increment the speed to my easy run HR and if I'm looking to do a hard session I do a pyramid session of hills rather than a speed session.

Ultimately, if you do all your training on a Treadmill, you will still be a good road runner, just not as good as if you had done the equivalent amount of training on the road. But if you do some training on a treadmill, and that training otherwise would not have been done at all, then you are going to be the better for it.

I think a Heart rate monitor is essential if you're going to do a lot of training on a treadmill.

rom

I am slower on a TM also. fresh air outside. Harder to run correctly on a TM. It hard to relax into a stide and have the TM going at the correct pace for that side.

For example I find if I am stressed then running on a TM is very hard but if I relax I can relax my stride and I am using lost less energy. You can do this easy off the TM to run at the pace you want but not on a TM if you see my point I find. Also with a TM there is more of a cushion so that would feel like running on grass in comparison in the way it absorbs the power of the stride. TM and grass are similar pace for me.

opus

I've been using the treadmill once a week for a progressive tempo run plan that I've been following for the last few months, it's handy for maintaining a constant pace I've found. The session is an hour long but the the fact that the pace changes every 10 mins means it doesn't get too boring, even so I find myself doing stuff like taking a sip of water or holding the HR grips every now & again just to pass the time.

The hardest time I had was when someone came on one side of me covered in Deep Heat & then a woman started running on the other side with a generous spray of some perfume which got stronger once she got going on the treadmill, thought I was going to pass out from the mix of fumes

couerdelion

I do most of my training on the treadmill and find it harder than the road although I do run with an incline always. It could be that my favourite treadmill is under an airconditioning unit that always seems to be blowing hot air though.

The treadmill is great for keeping you at an easy pace or for intervals at a set pace. You dial the speed inand have to keep at it, unlike the road where your speed can be all over the place.

I'm a big bloke so I also find that I recover a lot quicker from a treadmill run than running on the road as it's kinder on the joints.

Andrewf20

I actually think different treadmills are not all calibrated the same unless they are new, whether its small differences in incline or speed or both. Theres 2 threadmills in the gym I go to that absolutely knacker me, yet theres one threadmill that I really fly on consistently. I reckon that one is more level while the other ones, although they read 0.0 for their level, they are in fact slightly uphill. My 10K PB time on the threadmill is appox 2mins faster than my road running 10km time.

No idea if it's true, but if I am on a treadmill I always set the incline at 1 or 2%. Was told it replicates the road better. If I'm on one, just have a standard routine where I do half kms, first at 10; then 12, then 14, back to 12, back to 10, back up and so on, try and do 5 or 6 at the 14 pace. An instructor might say that's terrible for me, but it alleviates the boredom.

neilc

For my last training cycle for Connemara pretty much all my weekday runs were done on the treadmill unless I had a day off work or something with only the weekend runs on the road. It worked very well for me and even PB'd Conn. I found it great for sessions like tempos and intervals, just punch in your target times and resist adjusting the speed. Maybe I'm lucky with my treadmill but effort wise I fine it very similar to the road with maybe the treadmill slightly tougher.

jfh

gringo78, that's interesting about the hr monitor, i don't train with hr as i use a garmin, use pace instead. I'm glad to hear the the general consensus on treadmills not been accurate. I suppose i could use the heart rate function on the machine or do you use a seperate hr measuring watch.

jfh

rom wrote: »

I am slower on a TM also. fresh air outside. Harder to run correctly on a TM. It hard to relax into a stide and have the TM going at the correct pace for that side.

For example I find if I am stressed then running on a TM is very hard but if I relax I can relax my stride and I am using lost less energy. You can do this easy off the TM to run at the pace you want but not on a TM if you see my point I find. Also with a TM there is more of a cushion so that would feel like running on grass in comparison in the way it absorbs the power of the stride. TM and grass are similar pace for me.

ran for a hour last night on a TM and understand what your talking about, think i run with my head down on a treadmill neck was very stiff, whereas on the road, i look up. think it's all about been conscious of stature and constantly correcting it.

jfh

thanks all for your feedback, so really there's no reason/excuse why i cannot stay the same & might even improve. Seems there's a lot of you doing alright.
there's plenty of benefits;
replicate hills, gets heart rate up, easier on the legs, good for pacing.