Indoor vs. Outdoor

[Saab2000]

I've started to get used to running on the hotel treadmills. I can't stand trainers and indoor riding (with the exception of spin classes and the associated scenery - and they're a good workout) but have kind of grown to thinking that the treadmill, with ESPN or something else going on the TV, is a pretty good workout. But when I go outside to run I feel I can't push myself hard enough and just trudge along.

I know the treadmill forces you to run harder with the speed setting and I try to add a bit of difficulty with the gradient, which I normally set at '1', whatever that means. The standard is '0'. I suppose it is degrees of incline. You can set an unnaturally high tempo on the treadmill.

I'm far from a natural runner but I'm trying to work up to some decent jogs indoors and maybe transitioning back to outdoor jogs when my fitness improves. I lost a lot of fitness with my hamstring tear last summer.

Anyway, do any of you exercise and fitness gurus have an opinion on indoor vs. outdoor training? Is the workout as good as long as the heart remains within a certain zone? Running on the treadmill feels very different from running outdoors. I suppose this is because you're not forced to really propel your body mass forward in the same way.

I'd love to hear some discussion on the merits or lack thereof of indoor training. Some of you are famous of having the mental fortitude for long indoor training sessions on trainers. ZNFDL, I'm talking to you!

Thoughts?

[ned]

Unless you're trying to improve your running speed, I wouldn't worry about the indoor vs outdoor. It sounds like your treadmill objective is to get your HR up, break a sweat, and feel like you've done something while you can't go for a ride. For that, the treadmill isn't such a bad tool. I can tolerate it far better than the cursed trainer.

My treadmill routine is 30' total: 5' warm up at 0 incline with speed increases every minute until at desired tempo; the next 20' have the incline changing up 2 for 2' then down 1 for 1' maxing out at incline of 5 then it's back down the same way. Like pyramid intervals. Make sense? For me this does two things: cuts down ever so slightly on boredom and (very importantly I think) changes the rhythm and cadence a bit so it's not as repetitive on the muscles.

[JoB]

it's a fine workout if you can stomach the boredom. the incline helps somewhat since you don't 'fall' as much (your foot strike is at a higher plane then your takeoff), but for the hamstring, running up an incline is harder the steeper it gets. Makes sense?

Long story short: the training stimulus that gives you the most fitness is the one that you are a) willing and b) able to do on a regular basis. Nothing else really matters.

one more thing: Heart rate indoors becomes pretty unreliable after a while since you don't get the cooling effect you are used to from being outdoors. Core temp rises, blood shifts to the skin, you sweat more ... heart rate goes up at the same intensity. So don't be afraid to go by perceived exertion rather than heart rate zone on a treadmill. Don't be a slave to your HR monitor.

I've started to get used to running on the hotel treadmills. I can't stand trainers and indoor riding (with the exception of spin classes and the associated scenery - and they're a good workout) but have kind of grown to thinking that the treadmill, with ESPN or something else going on the TV, is a pretty good workout. But when I go outside to run I feel I can't push myself hard enough and just trudge along.

I know the treadmill forces you to run harder with the speed setting and I try to add a bit of difficulty with the gradient, which I normally set at '1', whatever that means. The standard is '0'. I suppose it is degrees of incline. You can set an unnaturally high tempo on the treadmill.

I'm far from a natural runner but I'm trying to work up to some decent jogs indoors and maybe transitioning back to outdoor jogs when my fitness improves. I lost a lot of fitness with my hamstring tear last summer.

Anyway, do any of you exercise and fitness gurus have an opinion on indoor vs. outdoor training? Is the workout as good as long as the heart remains within a certain zone? Running on the treadmill feels very different from running outdoors. I suppose this is because you're not forced to really propel your body mass forward in the same way.

I'd love to hear some discussion on the merits or lack thereof of indoor training. Some of you are famous of having the mental fortitude for long indoor training sessions on trainers. ZNFDL, I'm talking to you!

Thoughts?

[big shanty]

I had a marathoner friend who claimed that treadmill running at 2% was more or less equivalent to running outdoors.

[bigbill]

In the late 80's, I was a runner. At the time, I spent half the year submerged on a submarine with nothing but a treadmill. I had to share this treadmill with 120 people so there were no long runs so I learned to do a good stretch and then do speed work. I'd run slow (10 min mile) for five minutes and then do intervals at 7 minute miles for 30 minutes. When I'd return from sea, once I was used to running on land that didn't tilt side to side, I could pop out a sub 40 minute 10K in a few weeks.

[roseyscot]

i've run about 25 miles so far this year, split between treadmill and outdoor and outdoor with a stroller. i'm usually doing 3.5 - 5 miles. i find the opposite as far as pace and pushing myself. i can run much faster outdoors than indoors, but i work up a ridiculous sweat indoors (more sweat means better workout, right?).

to motivate me on the treadmill during my recent business trip, i watched some college hoops and forced myself to run until the end of the game. normally i would have quit after 25 minutes because it is so boring, but with this strategy i made it 45 minutes. when i'm outside in my neighborhood there is a 1.5 mile loop around a pond so if i commit to starting a lap, i can force myself to at least 1.5 more miles. it's also reasonably flat so i can maintain an even pace without too much thought to change in the terrain.

i guess as far as the merits, i find both indoor and outdoor running to be good for providing variety and for a good workout when i either don't have access to, or don't have enough time to ride a bike.

[sparky33]

Indoor training is cool because weather is always good and the sun is always up. It's ready to go when life gives you time to train. That said, it's a distant second to outdoor training. The variety of surface and movement outdoors is more fun and better for you. Maybe intervals are easier to organize indoors, but it's not too hard to do outdoors either.

[Tom]

It occurred to me this morning that one difference between indoor and outdoor is that when I'm tired indoor causes me to prefix "f**king" to "bike" as in "I gotta go downstairs and get on the f**king bike" where outdoors I say something like "I gotta go for a ride".

[Chad]

I've been adding ab work and push up intervals to my indoor cycling and running. Run or ride for 5 or ten minutes, get off 10 push ups, 10 crunches, back on as quick as I can. Really breaks up the monotony. I can go for an hour, get some good cardio and have completed up to 100 push ups/crunches/sit ups/whatevers.

Pair that with a good series on DVD and it's getting me through the winter.

[Saab2000]

It occurred to me this morning that one difference between indoor and outdoor is that when I'm tired indoor causes me to prefix "f**king" to "bike" as in "I gotta go downstairs and get on the f**king bike" where outdoors I say something like "I gotta go for a ride".

Indoors = I gotta go for a ride.
Outdoors = I get to go for a ride.

Big difference.

I'm in DC at the moment and plan to ride today. I don't know how far I'll get. It's seriously nasty outside, but at least dry. It's either outdoors today or no workout at all.

[Saab2000]

There's been more running in my training lately. My knees are putting up with it and my left hamstring is not complaining after last year's bad tear in the same crash that broke my collarbone. Word to the wise - broken collarbones suck. Torn muscles suck way worse.

There's no doubt in my mind that my 30 minute jogs on my layovers at hotels are helping me from a cardiovascular perspective. I might keel over one day from pushing too hard running, but I've also been doing FAR better on hard rides the past month or so. And that corresponds with my increased running. These are not long, hard runs. They are hard, but not long. 30 minutes. And the fitness is returning. Somebody said they thought I had lost weight a week or so ago. That's inspiring as I know that my weight has been a constant challenge the past 10 years or so. I have no idea if I've actually lost weight, but it feels really good to hear it and the results on the bike are their own reward. But about a week ago two buddies of mine tried to drop me. They didn't. And last night I hung with the A group for the whole ride and ended up about 3rd strongest.

I'm happy with the direction things are going.

Another run is in the plans for tomorrow and the next day and they're getting longer and more intense.

Don't quit.

[taylorj]

The beautiful thing about running is once you get outside, you can run in any weather. I wasn't able to train indoors last winter due to germs in the gym and chemo...so I ran in between chemo stints outside in sierra snow, wind, ice, you name it. It was so awesome...especially on days when Mike would head to the gym because there was too much ice on the road for riding...and I would head outside with my snow runners (homemade short nails in my running shoes) and run for over an hour outside. Never getting cold. Never cared about the wind. and great workouts. Also Saab2000, you will soon have to worry about keeping weight on! (-:

I am off for a 16 miler this morning before it gets too hot! Run James Run! (it is awesome to do when you fly a lot...you can run anywhere...)