Street vs Treadmill

I decided to do a similar post as the one I talked about running with and without music.  Another big division between runners seems to be running outside on a road or trail, or running on a treadmill.  While I prefer running outside more, there are benefits to both, as well as downsides.

Running on a Treadmill
I will start with the treadmill, otherwise know as the dreadmill for those who don't like it!  While I find it incredibly boring to run indoors on a treadmill, I have become more confined to it because of this grueling Texas heat.  That is what got me thinking about this post in the first place.  That brings me to my first point

Running on a treadmill helps beat the heat/avoid the cold.

In certain parts of the world it just becomes unnecessary to run outside because of weather factors.  It will only discourage us as runners and hinder our goals, unless your goal is to run in insane climates.  If that is the case, more power to you!  My second point comes more from a training stand point.

Running on a treadmill helps keep you on pace.

If you are like me at all, I tend to prefer running at whatever pace feels good, not what pace will benefit me the most.  When I run my pace runs, I am able to make sure I am maintaining a constant speed because I would have to consciously slow the treadmill down.  The third point is

Running on a treadmill allows hill training.

Where I live there are no hills.  It is completely flat.  But throwing in some hill training, although simulated, will help with my overall training balance!  So I have come to realize even though my heart lies with running on the road, the treadmill inst all that bad.

Running Outside    

I love to run outside.  I just feel so free!  Its me, my shoes and the open road.  Simplest entertainment there is in my opinion.  But as there are good things in running on the treadmill, there are good reasons to run on the road!

Running outside mentally prepares you to race.

While that is not proven scientifically as far as I know, I think it helps prepare the runner.  Running outside prior to racing outside helps take out some factors that you might not be use to when running on a treadmill (such as wind resistance).  Another good reason to run outside is 

Running outside is an adventure.

The treadmill is so predictable.  The run will almost always be the same, but running outside you have no control over what you will see/encounter.  That can be good and bad, but hey, whats life without a little adventure?  And because I did three points for the treadmill I figure I would keep it even and do just one more for outside.

Running outside will define you.

That one sounded deep, I know.  But I can't think of another sane way to push yourself and find out what your limits/breaking point are.  Its a lot harder to quit when you are miles away from your house/car and it become a difficult time.  Its interesting to see how much we as humans can put up with physically and mentally!

- Do you prefer running outside or on a treadmill? Why?

Brett

Friday Funday I

I figure since Fridays are the only rest days in my training week I would still write on the blog but not all about my training!  Even though this is the first one I am going to break that rule and talk about my run.  I was supposed to do this run yesterday but I got busy (and then lazy) so I flipped my two days to make sure I at least ran it.

It was a 3 mile easy run, as in about 80% my full speed.  I ended up doing it just under 30 minutes which I think was right on track for 20% slower.  As I stated in my last post I am running on the treadmill now, and it turns out that it was a lot easier to make sure I stayed at a consistent 80% speed, rather than sporadically speeding up because I felt a burst of energy.  It left me feeling really strong and good after I finished.

In Other News
I went and saw the new Harry Potter movie today.  I am slightly sad that it is now over, but alas all good things must come to an end.  I thought it was really good, and so did Haley.  We are both big HP nerds (not big enough to have gone and dressed up for the midnight showing though) so we planned on seeing this as soon as we knew when it was coming out.

It was way more action packed than part 1, which was expected.  They did a great job of including almost everything, and there was never a dull moment.  If you are a  fan, go see it now!  The only sad part was that we ended up in the 2nd row, so my neck became a little sore! :P

- Do you ever have to force yourself to maintain a slower speed?
- What movie/book are you looking forward to watching/reading?

Brett

The Hamster Wheel

The heat has finally beat me, I did my last outdoor run on Tuesday, at least for a while. I took to the treadmill today(Wednesday) for my 5 mile run.  It was really weird to run a 5 miler in the middle of the week, but now that I am on an actual training schedule my mileage should be greatly increasing over the next 18 weeks!

Tuesdays run was pretty rough with the heat and I had to push hard to complete the three miles.  I ran it about 3 minutes slower than usual so I knew I needed to change something.  Especially because I ran it in the evening so the sun wasn't too big of a factor.  Today I ran in the evening (11 p.m.) but because our treadmill is out in the garage I still have a lot of heat in there with little circulation.  I think tomorrow I am going to go pick up a fan that I can put right in front to keep me cool while I run.  A little heat isn't bad but dripping with sweat isn't ideal!

I will say today's run was a lot better than Tuesday.  I was a little worried when I struggled so much to do something I have been doing repeatedly for the past month.  It was good that I was able to get out there and run 5 miles.  I am looking forward to Sundays long run, kind of!

Well that is all for now, happy running!

Brett