20 replies to this topic

[jayraskol]

Hi all,

I realise this question has been done to death in various forums but I think it requires some fresh thought. Over my running life I have run on roads, tracks, trails and more recently treadmills. The intuitive answers many people give are that treadmill running is easier due to factors such as wind resistance, road resistance and the fact that the treadmill move your foot back rather than you need to propel yourself forward. Mostly there are lots of people saying it is harder and they 'feel' the treadmill is easier. However, many people report in forums that they often run slower on the treadmill in terms of distance reported over time than they do on the road. Many people also say they find it harder if they try and maintain the same speed. Other people consistently ignore the many reports of this.

So, to focus the question I am just interested to know if any others out there have comparable times for road and treadmill runs of the same distances?

We can save all the biomechanics for another day

Cheerio

[maryclaire]

I am not really able to answer your question as I barely set foot on a treddy. But some thoughts/comments:

In the VERY rare instance that I will get on a treadmill, I do find that the effort required at a given pace is geater on the treddy for some reason. Conversely, before I was a regular runner, it was the other way around.

My query about treadmills in gyms is their accuracy - I am a member of FF and I know for a fact that the treadmills at my gym are never calibrated. Therefore I don't pay too much attention to distance on a treadmill.

[sammo72]

Although I am no expert or professional runner, I have been running both on the road and treadmill this week, as part of my 1/2 marathon training schedule (due to bad weather and shift work).

Sunday: Treadmill 6.2km in 45min
Monday: Road 7km in 41min
Tuesday: Road 7km in 40min
Thursday: Treadmill 6.1km in 45min
Friday: Road 7km in 40min.

I feel that I do not run as far whilst on the treadmill.

On the treadmill I run between 7.7kph and 9kph to vary the session.

From my Garmin 205, I am averaging 9.9kph on the 7km run.

And if I try and run at 9.9kph on the treadmill, I can't sustain it for long enough periods.

Hope this helps...

[zandrsmum]

Hi JR, as for the speed I am able to maintain on a treadmill vs outside, I am the opposite sammo72. Last week I used a t/mill for the first time in about 4 months due to the string of hot weather we have had in Melbourne. I was due for a speed session 2x5 min with 1 min recovery and 1x10min faster than the 2x5. Outside I would run 4.25mk over 5k at my best, on the treadmill I managed 4.15mk for the 5min component down to 4.05mk for the 10min part. I know this is unlikely to be accurate but I actually felt like it was a much faster pace and I was certainly exhausted by the end. I think there is a lot of incentive not to slow down as you will fall off the back!

The other thing I noticed was how hard t/mill running is on the body compared to road. For the rest of the week my calves, glutes and hips were tight where say after a 5k race I feel fatigued but not sore and tight.

When I first started running, I spent a lot more tme in the gym and on t/mills and had endless achilles problems. I think I know why now. K

[SirPlod]

I’m the same as Sammo – I haven’t recorded exact times/distances, but it takes me longer on the treadmill to do the same distance in km’s on the road.

I can run on the treadmill without stopping for a lot longer than I can on the road though.

Could be that the treadmill is giving me incorrect distances.

[jayraskol]

Hi,

I have trawled through quite a few forums on this and responses here so far match what I mostly saw: that most people report slower times on the treadmill (certainly not all though). This is despite many people saying the treadmill is easier due to the backward motion.

I suspect that treadmills are not very hard to calibrate as it is just the number of revolutions of the belt ring really which is fairly constant. But since most people report being slower the innacuracy would have to be all one way to explain this if it the sole cause. I doubt this.

In regards to the backward motion it may make moving your foot back easier but it may also be harder on your tendons etc. as some people report. Additionally, because the belt moves back as your foot hits then you are not going to get any forward acceleration and your distance will just be the same as always because it is not registered by your effort but just by the belt speed. On the road you get propelled forward and you gain that as some distance. So each step might be easier on a treadmill potentially, as some studies have shown, but the gain in distance registered is very likely to be smaller than that which would have been gained on the road.

Running on the road is different and harder on some muscles and the treadmill is harder on others perhaps. But the distance thing may well be harder on the treadmill and this is what has escaped many people's attention I think. I have been running 10km in 45 minutes on the treadmill so I shall head out and see what I can manage on a flat track in the upcoming weeks.

Thanks for the input so far everyone,

jay

[wombatoutofhell]

On the road I normally run at between 10 and 12kph. I'm alot slower on the tready-basically because after an hour I'm still in the same place.

maryclaire, on Feb 12 2010, 12:49 PM, said:

In the VERY rare instance that I will get on a treadmill, I do find that the effort required at a given pace is geater on the treddy for some reason. Conversely, before I was a regular runner, it was the other way around.

Exactly the same with me. But I question the given pace on a treadmill. To me it's pretty much jumping up and down on the spot. More (or less) air time on the tready means you could be covering the "distance" at a different pace that if you were running normally. The belt is still travelling at the same speed. Length of stride might come into it as well-I have a longer stride on the tready than I do on the road. Unless it's a very long unit I use almost the whole belt-my back foot often hits the roller and my front is usually striking just behind the front of the belt. So with all this in mind, I question the KM readings. On the road, a kilometre is a kilometre. Correct me if I'm wrong!

[Melruns]

I did my last lot of HM training evenly split between tready and road (not at the same time...). I didn't find much difference for interval sessions but found long runs harder and slower on the treadmill. I did about my usual time in the HM.

[deadcat]

i train by myself, and was having so much trouble getting through some of my interval and threshold sessions that i moved them onto the tready. I do 2 sessions a week and find the control over them that i get is great. Sure the biomechanics may not be the same, the pace might be off a bit, the conditions in which you are running are altered, but there is no way i could be doing the workouts i am doing on the tready on the track by myself or on a bike path somewhere.

So my answer is that by the nature of running on a treadmil, I run faster than i would otherwise.

[lonewolf364]

I find that training on the treadmill is actually harder (and slower) than on the road.

All of my cardio training is done using a Heart Rate monitor in which my workout zone is 155 (low) and 165 (high) with my max HR being 175 bpm.

I jog (approx 10 - 11 kph) until high zone then walk (5 - 6 kph) until low zone and repeat for the entire workout.

Treadmill - avg 10km per session - alternate from 4% incline to 8% incline every 1.2 km

Road training - varies from 7km to 18km

Why I think that the treadmill is harder (and slower) ?

Because I am always travelling on an uphill incline on the treadmill where as on the roadway, it varies from an inline to a decline or it's flat.

Have you ever seen a treadmill go downhill ?

[FreeDickland]

Hate treadmills - they are so much harder than running in the real world - - but then I am close to 70 and have been running since mid teens, currently living in Canada & winter here means that you have no choice but to use the horrible things - running in -20 degrees with wind chill below
-30 on several inches of snow is hard work, takes me around 1/1/2 times as long to do my standard runs in these conditions whilst maintaining similar heart rates - forced to use treadmill a couple of times per week -

I find that I am landing with a big thump every stride and suspect that this is result of over-striding generated by machine dictating stride turnover rate - - the effort is minimised by setting machine at 1-3 degrees incline (from heart rate monitor readouts).

I still find it very hard work and that there is little relationship between running speed as indicated on treadmill read out and the effort required to run at comparable speeds on road, trail or track I suspect that it may well be that the treadmill makes you run somewhat autonomously without any variation in or bio-feedback on the relationship between your stride length and stride rate - -

Irrespective of these considerations i still hate them - - -avoid at all cost unless there is no alternative - - -

[jayraskol]

Hi all,

thanks for the contributions to this old topic. So far from what most people are saying it seems that, irrespective of whether a treadmill is harder or easier than running on the road or track, most people take longer to cover 'treadmill kms' than real kms. I completely agree with those who comment that running on the road are real km and also that the treadmill distance only represents the amount of belt that has flowed underneath you while you have been propelling yourself against the belt and into the air a little. But, as pointed out in one comment, there is no downhill setting on the treadmill. Additionally, with each step the belt is actually forcing you backwards which means you have to go forward always just to stay still. Either way, when we are forced to run on a treadmill due to bad weather or whatever other circumstance I think it seems likely that we will have SLOWER times in most cases and for those that only use treadmills you might get a pleasant surprise when you hit the road.

all the best,
jason

[MichaelD]

all my running is with a HRM and most training is on a Treadmill and when I started running (2006) I could runn faster on the Treadmill than on road but now as I'm faster overall I'm faster on road, I think its to do with boredom now which is why I do all sorts of different training on the treadmill eg interval and before I just ran

[Isthisnametaken]

It is a strange one in regards to peoples opinions. For me I average just over 5 mins per K which equates to about 11.7kph to 12kph. If I was to run that speed on the treadmill at the gym I would not be able to do anywhere near the distance as I do out on the road. I use the treadmill at least once a week for some speed training but the distance stuff I do on the road.

I find the times and the amount of effort required I do on the road so much easier than on the treadmill.

[FatboyCsaba]

Isthisnametaken, on Feb 23 2010, 08:12 AM, said:

It is a strange one in regards to peoples opinions. For me I average just over 5 mins per K which equates to about 11.7kph to 12kph. If I was to run that speed on the treadmill at the gym I would not be able to do

I have also experienced a lag when running on the treadmill, I can definitely run faster on bitumen. You don't get the same cooling effect on the treadmill as you do while pounding the pavement. Running bush track is slower still....

Training on the tready at a slight incline for medium distance seems to have helped my effort running up hills. Has anyone found this?

[MicrowaveJenny]

The first year I ran HMs I was road only and the second year I split half/half because of weather. In the third year I was almost 80% treadmill because these days I'm a taxi-driver for children's activities during daylight hours, so I'd have to run in the dark on my own in the city, not a great idea for a woman. I found that my race times were best in the year I trained mostly on the treadmill BUT my hips hurt like hell in the last 7kms, presumably because those muscles are not used as much on a treadmill.

Mind you, the faster times could well be attributed to cumulative increase in general cardio fitness and muscle mass over those 3 years, which makes much more sense.

Personally, I'd prefer NOT to train on a treadmill, but better that than not run at all, right?

[Streakrunner]

I have been running since March 2000 and the majority of my training is on a treadmil. I have read some time ago that one should set the treadmil at 1 degree incline to simulate the effort of road running, so I have been doing this. I find that my speeds are lower on the treadmil, but then when I hit the road, I am faster and I feel lighter, so it makes for a great run on the road. I also prefer to do all my speed and hill sessions on the treadmil, due to the better control over times and distances. In 2003 I did quite a few ultra marathons and 60% of my training was on the treadmil. I love the treadmil due to the fact that I can run any time of the day or night, and I know it is making me stronger, both physically and mentally.

[Windy]

I first started running at the gym and got bored of running and not getting anywhere. I do disagree with previous posters though. After a year of training in the gym, I found that I could run 5k under 20 mins. I have not yet been able to do that on the road, although this could be because I have not had an opportunity to do that many competitive 5k races. My one attempt on the track was 40 seconds over 20 mins.

I found on the treadmill, I would just set the speed that I needed to achieve and just tough it out, although I did not set any incline or decline. I found the incentive to keep going was given by the machine and I would just overcome each wave of pain. I would drop back below 16kph for a short time then wind it back up above again and finally finish off with an average above 16kph.

Of course the treadmill was probably uncalibrated, I did have the choice of more than one and I thought they all seemed to run at the same pace.

These days I can nearly run at that pace but can run a lot further with much greater endurance as running outside and getting places is so much more interesting and fullfilling.

Windy

[RNJ]

In my experience, i find that doing short and fast sessions on the tready is very beneficial and as i can set the speed i need to go at and its easier to make sure i stick to it. But anything longer than 5kms and i get really bored on the tready. I've never done a long run on the tready, i'm sure i would die of boredom! I also notice that when i do at least one 5km time trial on the tready per week my times in general seem to improve??? This is not very scientific i know, but its my experience. Cheers.

[cr10]

I've trained on the treadmill for the past 4 or 5 weeks due to injury & the treadmill not doing any further damage whilst still keeping up my running.

I've found that I've recorded PB's at distances over 3, 5,8 & 10km's.

Now that I'm back on the road in the last week, my times over these distances are slower. I find when running on concrete that my legs are sore & today after my 8km, so are my hips. On the tready, I was able to run without pain.

I agree that a treadmill has it's place for specific purposes, e.g. weather & darkness, but for accurate times & enjoyment, running outdoors is a clear winner.

Roger.

[Melruns]

RNJ, on Mar 7 2010, 03:17 PM, said:

In my experience, i find that doing short and fast sessions on the tready is very beneficial and as i can set the speed i need to go at and its easier to make sure i stick to it. But anything longer than 5kms and i get really bored on the tready. I've never done a long run on the tready, i'm sure i would die of boredom! I also notice that when i do at least one 5km time trial on the tready per week my times in general seem to improve??? This is not very scientific i know, but its my experience. Cheers.

I got to 18kms on the tready in my HM training. After that experience I always rearranged my training week to make the long runs outside! There's not enough Family Guy or Battlestar Galactica in the world to make anything over about 14km interesting...