Given the choice between a beautiful trail on a 60-degree day and the treadmill, I’d still choose to run on the trail. I love running outdoors.
But after running on a treadmill twice in the past week — on Saturday and on Thursday — it’s starting to grow on me a little bit. Or, at least I don’t hate it as much as I used to.
First of all, I have free access to treadmills at Salisbury University in the Maggs Physical Activities Center because I teach a class at SU as an adjunct instructor. That’s an obvious perk, as I don’t have to buy an expensive treadmill or pay to join a gym.
On Saturday, it was cold out and I decided I just felt like getting my run in inside. I ran four miles, and it was nice to actually feel hot and sweaty, like I worked hard. Then, I returned to Maggs for a treadmill run on Thursday for a fast 5K.
I’ve been running slower recently, and I wanted to challenge myself to run a 5K in less than 30 minutes on the treadmill, where there isn’t the adrenaline of being in a race or the energy of being outside. I ran it in 28:57.
The treadmill certainly makes it easy to control pace and keep it steady. I did change it up some during my run, but I always knew what the miles-per-hour speed was.
Both times, I listened to music on my new phone while I ran, which holds more songs than my old phone did, and I’ve used my new headphones, which are great for listening to music and tuning anything else out.
When I run outside, I’ve gotten used to stopping when I start to get tired, but for me, that’s more of a conscious decision on the treadmill.
I still wouldn’t want to run more than about five miles on the treadmill. I can’t imagine doing a long run on one. But I can definitely see where the treadmill can have a (small) place in my training.
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They are a necessary evil in the winter but I’m getting better with the mill for the targeted speed work intervals where I can control the speed. It’s also nice not to have to put on multiple layers to run once in a while and just get done. But, yes I think given the choice almost every runner will take the outdoors most of the time!
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