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

Middle of July is Hot? What?

Some things I will never learn I guess.  Why I try and do a long run at 2 pm in July in Texas beats me.  I think today I finally learned my lesson though.  I set out for a 5 mile run, but I cut it short to 2 after when I felt really slow/exhausted/tired/blah.

From now on, I am going to get up and out the door no later than 7 a.m. for runs.


I even put the sentence in bold and on its own so you all can see that I am saying it here.  And I truly hope that if any of you notice me not running before or at 7, to give me unrelenting scolding.  Please, and thank you!

Now that I got that out of the way, I don't want to cheat myself out of the distance, so after work tonight (sadly about 1am) I am going to do 5 miles.  I will walk them if I have to, its going to happen.  I wish it wouldn't had to have to come to this though.  I will just suck it up and learn from my mistake.  The next time I will ever run mid day is if I happen to be training for this crazy race.  Actually, if I ever train for that I am pretty sure I will have gone off my rocker.

And finally, tomorrow is the day my marathon training begins!  And me waking up before 11.  Lots of change on the horizon!  Luckily for me it is cross training.  So I just have to bike, and not run super far or fast.  I do wonder if I should ride a certain time, or distance though. When you cross train, do you do mileage or time?


Well that is all I have today!  I hope everyone is having/had a wonderful weekend, and happy running!

Brett

Quick Post Before Work

Decided to run 4 miles instead of 3 today because I missed (a.k.a skipped) my night run last night.  Nice and hot as usual, pretty much the same old story.  I have noticed I have become more comfortable running in the heat though so that is good.

Ran at a respectable 8:44 pace, not nearly as fast as my earlier 4 mile run this week.  I wanted to take it slower to see if I felt more energized at the end, but amazing I felt the same as I did on Tuesday so I don't know if it because I was on point then, or maybe I use the same amount of energy at a quicker pace.  Who knows, I will have to test this theory out for sure!

I watched this before I ran today, because I needed to get a little inspired, and what better way than to watch some of the fastest runners in the world?  It was that last little boost I needed to get my bum out the door. 

Questions

- Whats your favorite weather to run in? Indoors or outdoors runner?

- Who/what inspires you?

Brett