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To run on the treadmill or the road?
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A treadmill will help you keep fit in the winter, but a treadmill's ability to make you a better runner is limited.
Photo © Szpytma | Dreamstime.com
With the sun setting before the work day is out and ice, snow, and freezing temperatures waiting for Bostonians just around the bend, it's tempting to keep your shorts out and spend the winter on the treadmill. But is a treadmill the best way to maintain (or improve) your triathlon fitness during the winter, or are you better off running in the cold?
Energy cost of treadmill vs. road running
The main difference between treadmill running and road running is that on a treadmill, rather than moving through space you are staying in one place while the ground moves under your feet. As you will see, this has a huge impact on how you run. According to running guru Jack Daniels, oxygen consumption and calorie costs are about 10% less when running on a treadmill compared to the road. Dr. L.G. Pugh, who first studied this phenomenon in England in 1969 suggested that lack of wind resistence could account for the difference. The faster you run, the more energy you have to devote to pushing through the air (just like when you're cycling, only on a smaller scale). Depending on how fast you are running, this could account for a 2% difference at a slow jog to a 36% difference during a 100m sprint. The common rule of thumb to make up for lack of wind resistence on a treadmill is to add an incline of about one percent.
Stride differences on a treadmill
Another factor that could account for the difference between treadmill and road running is the belt itself. When you are running on the road, to move forward you have to provide most of your own forward propulsion through knee drive and ankle flexion, with gravity giving you the final push. On a treadmill, however, since the belt is moving beneath you, most of the job of forward propulsion is already done for you. Your support leg rides along with the belt (rather than pushing forward), and your recovering leg simply has to pick up and position itself so that it will fall on the right spot on the belt (eliminating the need for knee drive). The comparitively easier load treadmill running puts on the large leg muscles may partly account for the lower oxygen and calorie costs of treadmill running. A study done at Penn State three years after Pugh published his study found that highly trained runners' feet spent more time on the treadmill with each step (greater ground contact time) compared to their outside running gait at the same speed. To maintain their speed, these runners had to elongate their strides by about 5%. As you may know, the best way to improve running economy and speed is to increase your stride rate (or the "cadence" of your steps). Practicing a longer stride with "stickier" feet all winter may actually be detrimental to your road running and triathlon performances.
Other disadvantages of treadmill running
In addition to gumming up your stride mechanics, because a treadmill belt is constantly sucking you backward, it can erase the forward lean that you need to take advantage of gravity to run faster. If you have adopted a more vertical running posture on the treadmill, your times will stink and you'll tire more easily once you get back on the road.
Another problem with a winter treadmill overdose is that the surface is always the same. Running on snow, gravel, pavement, and grass, as well as hopping over curbs and stepping in sink holes all increase your proprioceptive awareness, improving your body's ability to react quickly and efficiently to small changes in the surface underneath you. The more you run on "stuff" the better you are able to maintain your form over all the surfaces that outdoor running can throw at you. If you don't run outside for a full winter, running on different surfaces will slow you down, and possibly lead to twisted ankles. You can maintain your proprioceptive awareness by continuing to run outside at least once a week.
Advantages of treadmill running
The most obvious advantage of using a treadmill is that you can complete your workout as planned when weather conditions prevent you from doing so outside. However, a treadmill offers other performence-enhancing benefits when done correctly. Treadmills are an excellent tool for workouts which must be executed at a specific pace. Doing an entire run at your goal olympic-distance pace will teach your body what that pace feels like, without looking at a watch. Pacing based on a GPS can be frustrating, because the device is always 3 seconds behind your real running pace, and real-time paces can be fairly inaccurate. Doing a long run on a treadmill may sound like torture, but it allows you to maintain your goal pace at the end of a workout when you are tired, as well as sheltering you from the elements at the stage when you are likely to be walking.
Treadmills are also excellent tools for hill training, essentially giving you the option of running up the equivalent of Mt. Washington whenever you feel like it. On the other side of things, when the track is snowed over, a treadmill gives you a course that is completely flat on days when your focus is pure speed.
What workouts to do where?
- Speed work When the track is inaccessable and running outside means wearing bulky layers, speed work is better done on the treadmill. Consciously focus on picking up speed using fast, short strides. When the snow melts and you can run without a jacket again, take it back out to the track.
- Tempo runs Whenever possible, practice race pace on the road. However, when road conditions distract you from your pacing, it is better to do tempo runs on the safety of a treadmill. Remember to set the incline to 1% or set the treadmill speed to 8-10% faster than you would be running on the road to account for lack of wind resistance, and pay special attention to how your body feels at your tempo pace.
- Easy runs When you have no goal pace or distance for the day, then hit the road unless conditions are truly dangerous. Cut your run short, and enjoy leaving the first tracks in newly-fallen snow!
- Long runs If you aren't training for a winter marathon, then do your long runs outside as long as the weather isn't truly frigid. If you need to hold a specific pace at the end of your long run, or if the weather is too cold to risk slow running, then grab your iPod and hit the treadmill.
- Hill workouts Do these on the treadmill. The treadmill will keep you from slowing down when you get tired, and you can create a hill as long and steep as you need.
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