Tradmill or road

[New Jack]

Is running the treadmill just as beneficial as running on the road or a track. My boxing coach says the treadmill is nowhere near as good.

What about in the cold weather and in the wind and rain, would running the treadmill be better than running in those condition?

 

[spatts]

I prefer to run outdoors. In my experience, the treadmill gives me shin splints over time, it's not wide enough, or long enough, for a sprinter's gait, and lacks an elements of balance and muscle recruitment that come from the ground moving FOR you. Cold, wind, rain? No problem. Snow is iffy, and I never run on ice. We may have different definitions of cold too.

 

[circusgirl]

The rec.running consensus on treadmills is that you need to set them at 1-2% incline to compensate for air resistance being absent.

Running outdoors will help you "feel" your pace better, if you are interested in doing a 5k, 10k, marathon etc.

If you have the right shoes running outside should be fine. The wrong shoes will give you shin splints inside or outside (ouch, I know this!). Remember, if you run in the dark, wear a reflective vest over your gear, and if it's cold, don't run in cotton shirt only, as cotton dissipates heat when wet and will make you very cold, try some of the higher-tech drifit stuff....

 

[redleg]

kudo's to circus girl i am an expert in this matter since i am an X army drill sgt and if you set it 1-3% incline it's just like running on the road. except it's not really air resistance but the effort expelled by pushing yourself forward. on a tread mill all you have to do is lift your feet. at that incline you actually have to push yourself forward. the best thing to use a tread mill for are the interval runs. you sprint for 1min and jog for 2 try and keep your sprint pace the same and if you get too tired lower your jog. do that for 20-30 minutes and youll get faster. hope that'll help?