Treadmill, the great outdoors or both?
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kar328
Posts: 4,152 Member
I'm new to the C25K program, did W2D2 today. New to exercise in general :ohwell: I'm carrying a lot of extra weight and finding my biggest issue to be shin pain rather than the cardio part. I got new running shoes yesterday, was properly fitted and they watched me run/walk in them. I also have compression shin sleeves. The shoes seemed to work well on the treadmill yesterday but I felt more of the shin pain when I took it outside. I run around the lake near my house, there are parts where it goes both down and uphill, most of it is asphalt and sidewalk.
As someone new and fat, should I stick with the treadmill for now or continue to do both? With my weird work schedule I know I cannot do it M/W/F and I'm okay with not sticking to the 9 week timeline. Any suggestions from those who've done this will be much appreciated :flowerforyou:
As someone new and fat, should I stick with the treadmill for now or continue to do both? With my weird work schedule I know I cannot do it M/W/F and I'm okay with not sticking to the 9 week timeline. Any suggestions from those who've done this will be much appreciated :flowerforyou:
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Replies
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You sound just like me!! I had never run before, in fact you'd have to be chasing me with a machete to get me to move until I started C25K. Like you I have quite a bit of weight to lose ( was 75lbs when I started, now about 50
). Personally I've been doing it on the treadmill but I wish I had started outside. I'm on week 5, actually redoing week 5 (its a bear) on the treadmill & when I try to run outside I can barely make it to the one minute mark. I don't know if its becuase I physically can't or if its a mental thing. Probably more of the latter because I'm very self conscious running at my weight. I highly recommend reading a post on here titled Hey Fat Girl, its awesome!
Also as far as the schedule, do it at your own pace, in your own time. I work shift work and have had issues with knee pain, shin pain, you name it. So I take extra days off, I run when my body tells me I can, not when the app says I should. I don't always get my 3 runs a week in, sometimes I only do 2, but thats ok, its 2 more than I was running last year.
If you are having shin pain make sure you ice it as soon as you're done, it really helps.
thats all I have. I'm no expert, just a chubby girl trying to run :flowerforyou:0 -
You sound just like me!! I had never run before, in fact you'd have to be chasing me with a machete to get me to move until I started C25K. Like you I have quite a bit of weight to lose ( was 75lbs when I started, now about 50 ). Personally I've been doing it on the treadmill but I wish I had started outside. I'm on week 5, actually redoing week 5 (its a bear) on the treadmill & when I try to run outside I can barely make it to the one minute mark. I don't know if its becuase I physically can't or if its a mental thing. Probably more of the latter because I'm very self conscious running at my weight. I highly recommend reading a post on here titled Hey Fat Girl, its awesome!
Also as far as the schedule, do it at your own pace, in your own time. I work shift work and have had issues with knee pain, shin pain, you name it. So I take extra days off, I run when my body tells me I can, not when the app says I should. I don't always get my 3 runs a week in, sometimes I only do 2, but thats ok, its 2 more than I was running last year.
If you are having shin pain make sure you ice it as soon as you're done, it really helps.
thats all I have. I'm no expert, just a chubby girl trying to run :flowerforyou:
I completed C25K a few weeks ago and did the whole program on the treadmill. When I tried to run outside, I thought I was going to die after only a minute. I'm guessing I just need more practice, but I really have problems pacing myself outside which I think is the bigger issue for me. I jog pretty slow, so it's probably easiest to do that on a treadmill at this point. I plan on slowly increasing my speed so maybe it will get easier to run outside when I am going a little faster!?!0 -
Outdoors is going to be different for a number of reasons.
For one, you use different muscles. Muscles that would lay dormant when you ran on the treadmill will be used when running outside, and because they wouldn't have developed with running inside, they become fatigued quicker than the rest which is what causes the pain.
Second, you have elements. Wind resistance is a big one. The wind can help and challenge you. Then you have the change in the road. On a treadmill you run one way for the most part, straight. You can sort of mimic hills with the incline, but you can't mimic curves or declines.
Third, if you decide to go outside do it now in the early stages, not when you get to week 5 or after because you might discourage yourself. There are some runners who move inside and out as the weather changes, but they do it gradually both ways. They cut it down to half of what they normally would do and work back up. That is the life of a runner though. You will learn when to scale down or when to amp up.0 -
The difference between running outside and running on the treadmill is physical. Anytime you make a change in your running (form, minimal shoes, etc), you basically have to learn how to run again (for me, that means going back to my week 9 pace and building back up).
When I started C25k, I weighed 215 and could barely finish the minute. It's hard to run outside - but you inspire everybody who sees you. I did a combination of treadmill/outside because I work full time and have two small kids, so it's a matter of fitting it all in and not waiting for the ideal schedule/environment. Because I did both, I didn't notice the transition. I recommend that for a start.
Now that I've moved outside more, running on the treadmill has gotten a lot harder. It feels like there's no place to rest. You're going at one speed and flat or at an incline. No downhills, no dropping your cadence for a second, just on and on and on. One trick I've found is to point a fan at me so that the air moves over my body and I stay cooler.0 -
I run outside unless I deem the weather too crappy and then I hop on a treadmill. Too crappy for me is very cold (low 20's F or below) and windy or lightning. I don't really stress over it too much. I run very early, so it's usually just me and the road, which I absolutely love. But, I am not stupid either, and if the weather dictates the treadmill, I have no problem using it. But, in the end, I would say it is better to do most of your running outside. Either way, it's all mental. We make hard. We make easy.
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Good luck!0 -
It's immensely easier for me to run on a treadmill - after all, the ground is moving underneath me. it's good to hear, though, that some of you have hit the wall at the 1 minute mark outside. I did, too, and was so bummed. I think running on the treadmill first and then moving up a level to outside is what I plan to do. At least then I have a base built up, if that makes sense? Running outside is hard for this newbie!0
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I'm still transitioning from the treadmill to the outdoors. I did my entire C25K training on the treadmill and moving to the outdoors was discouraging. I was lucky if I could jog 5 minutes outdoors. I still haven't jogged 5K without a walk break while outdoors but can do it easily on the treadmill.
If you can, do as many of your training sessions outdoors and don't be discouraged when your outdoor sessions are harder than your treadmill sessions.
Keep trying. You'll do great!0 -
What is this "treadmill" of which you speak that moves the ground under you?!
I don't have a treadmill. The only time I tried running on a treadmill, I hated it! (That was years ago, I could probably do it now.)
Do you plan to enter a 5K race? If so, I'd probably at least do some of the running outside to get you ready for that.0 -
I did the whole C25K program on a treadmill and tried to run outside and felt like I was starting at square one. So I ended up starting at square one outside. Now I feel much better but it would have been so much easier to just start outside.0
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I did the whole C25K program on a treadmill and tried to run outside and felt like I was starting at square one. So I ended up starting at square one outside. Now I feel much better but it would have been so much easier to just start outside.
Thats my plan as well. If i can make it through the whole program inside perhaps then I'll be ready to run outside with the big boys!0 -
I have plantar facitius in one foot, and find that I can run fairly well on the treadmill. I used to run a lot before my weight ballooned and I ran on both the pavement and the treadmill, but slowly transitioned to the pavement as my weight went down. I will do that again, as soon as my foot is less painful.0
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I started running on the treadmill because one day it was 17 degrees when I went out. (And I live in the desert!) I did end up completing my full C25K on the treadmill. The transition to outside was tough. The first time I couldn't even run 5 minutes. (I was still doing C25K at the time. After I had run a full 5K on the treadmill a couple of time, I took it outside. I have been able to run a full 5K outside a couple of times. But I haven't had enough opportunities to keep working on outside. As hot as it is already (remember, I'm in the desert) I need to run either really early (hasn't happened yet) or really late (again...tough to arrange). If I were starting over, I would probably go do 2 days on the treadmill and one day outside.0
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Thanks for all the great replies. I thin I'll keep trying to do some of it outside when the weather isn't too crazy. Part of the problem recently was it going from good weather to a few cold days, then upper 80s. I haven't signed up for a 5K yet, if I get to the point where I'm doing this consistently and can run the distance, then I probably will, just to say I did. There's definitely no rush, so that makes it easier.
On a fun note, I did see some car decals - ordered one that said "Walker Girl" and another that had "0.0" :laugh: That was made for me.0
