Outside running advice please....

alimassa

So I have spent the last few months working my way up to 9 miles on the treadmill. I usually do circut training 3 mornings a week (MWF) and do 5 miles on Tuesday and Thursday nights with a long run on Saturday mornings. Heres the issue....

My husband has been telling me its a lot easier to run on a treadmill as the machine does some of the work for you. So this morning, in the 50 degree, windy, and raining weather, I took my first outdoor run in years. Normally, on the treadmill, I will average a 9 minute mile. Well this morning after my first mile, I thought I was going to die. The entire second mile I was cursing my husband in my head for being right...then I noticed the problem. I was going just over a 7 minute mile. At that point I tried hard to make myself slow down so I could make it back home. Well with slowly down a bit, waiting for a car at a stop sign and having to stop to tie my shoe....I did 3 1/2 miles in just over 24 mins.

This is great for short runs.....5k here I come! But does anyone have pointers as to how to improve my ability to set my pace correctly to begin with so I do not burn out so fast? I really want to run a half marathon this summer and maybe some day work my way up to a full....that isnt going to work if I want to throw up after 3 miles!

alimassa

So I have spent the last few months working my way up to 9 miles on the treadmill. I usually do circut training 3 mornings a week (MWF) and do 5 miles on Tuesday and Thursday nights with a long run on Saturday mornings. Heres the issue....

My husband has been telling me its a lot easier to run on a treadmill as the machine does some of the work for you. So this morning, in the 50 degree, windy, and raining weather, I took my first outdoor run in years. Normally, on the treadmill, I will average a 9 minute mile. Well this morning after my first mile, I thought I was going to die. The entire second mile I was cursing my husband in my head for being right...then I noticed the problem. I was going just over a 7 minute mile. At that point I tried hard to make myself slow down so I could make it back home. Well with slowly down a bit, waiting for a car at a stop sign and having to stop to tie my shoe....I did 3 1/2 miles in just over 24 mins.

This is great for short runs.....5k here I come! But does anyone have pointers as to how to improve my ability to set my pace correctly to begin with so I do not burn out so fast? I really want to run a half marathon this summer and maybe some day work my way up to a full....that isnt going to work if I want to throw up after 3 miles!

sculley

the only thing I found for me is that I have my nike chip for my shoe that hooks up to my ipod during my run I will hit the center button and it will tell me my status of how far i have gone my minutes per mile.

shkaki

heres the trick: a treadmill will be easier to run on than running outside, if you keep the treadmill at a 0 % incline. This is because of how the belt works. If you put the incline on the treadmil up to 2% this will simulate running outside on a LEVEL sidewalk. Try varying the incline to simulate hills that you'd encounter on a 5k, 10k..etc.

mkeithley

I have this same problem. I run inside in the winter and outside when it's warm. When I first start to make the transition frominside to outside it takes me about a week to adjust. When first starting the transistion I have to force myself to go slower, which makes me feellike I', moooovvvvinnnggg iiinnnn slooooooooowwwwww mooooootionnnnn. This year I tried to start running at least a mile or 2 on the track (I run on treadmill as well) 2 times a week for about a month indoors before I moved to outside. It seemed to help quite a bit. Don't give up you'll find your pace.
*Also it's harder for me to run longer distances when it's cool outside, my breathing is more shallow/rapid. In the gym it's not as cool, so you have to make allowances for that too.
:flowerforyou:

annhjk

Here's an article about running with music and the beats per minute to match your steps

http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/sundquist.html (it's about 1/2 way down the page for the running part)

I know I run way faster outside than on a tread and it helps me start with music that I know I can run to the beat and not set a pace I can't keep.

There are ton more article out there for using beats in music to set the pace. I just google BPM and running.

alimassa

Thanks for the great suggestions! I will give it them a try.....the music was a great suggestion...Since you said that I realized I have a very fast song right off the shoot on my IPod.....will have to slow that down a bit :flowerforyou:

Thanks again...Happy Running!!

Ali

yellow_pepper

Ali, a 7-minute pace? That's awesome! It sounds like you actually found it EASIER to run outside. I do, too. I find the treadmill too monotonous to run more than 4 miles on it.

But whereever I run I have my iPod cued to PODRUNNER. It's a free podcast downloadable on iTunes. The guy who mixes it, DJ Steveboy, always includes the beats per minute (BPM) in the podcast title.

I'm 5'5" and I currently run about 9-minute miles at 172-174 beats per minute. There's a good number of podcasts at this pace and faster available, so check out PODRUNNER on iTunes.

alimassa

Yellow-

Thanks so much...I have not heard of that before, but I will definately be doing some down loading!

I appreciate all the advice.....geessh, what did we all do before IPods and the internet!!

Ali :drinker: