During today's speed work training I got to thinking the actual difference between running on a treadmill as oppose to running on normal tarmac and pavement (road) and also track.
Well I guess the obvious difference is the environment sure, on the road it gets a little trickier to run and pace yourself (unless of course it's an empty road) but even the surface is different; uphill, downhill, winding road, pavement, tarmac, there is no real consistency to your run.
In contrast on a treadmill you can just set the machine at a certain speed, uphill elevation and with some you can even programme it to your requirements, some can even monitor your heart rate and push you accordingly. Smart stuff right?!
It's considerably less dangerous on the treadmill of course, no danger of a car running you over or a crack on which you can twist your ankle. But is it worth while?
Track well I guess it would be the best of both worlds, only you cannot elevate the track but you can monitor your pace consistently much better seeing that there are many, many markers which one can use. The track is also considerably the best in terms of grip so every step counts.
But which one if you asked me would I enjoy the best running on?
My answer is that it depends really because of many factors ....
All of them have their advantages and disadvantages and it depends mostly what kind of run you are doing. When training for any event I would require some time doing speed work, that is where a nice stable flat surface would be excellent so the track is perfect of that kind of workout.
I am also a firm believer of hills training, it gives you the muscle build-up an athlete requires without resorting to weights and tightening your leg muscles. There are many roads that would cater to such a thing I for one have a great road just 5min jog away so its very ideal.
For rainy days (such as today) you have to resort to something inside and so far I haven't heard of an indoor full size athletics, so therefore a treadmill would be convenient.
However and this is my utmost favourite for the long distance runs you have no substitute for a great piece of road with spectacular scenery if you can! Also an advantage of the road is that if I start to give up half way through, well then f**k it you've come this far continue on now! Again psychologically the road in my opinion is better because on any treadmill or any track its very convenient to stop for a breath.
So for me the road is the ideal place! Its a place of heaven!
Check out the difference in graphs from treadmill to the road:
Treadmill speed work run
Road long distance run
Please feel free to comment.
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