C25K on treadmill

I completed the entire program in a treadmill and that translated well into an outside 5K. Based on the treadmill speed and incline I was planning for a 35 minute completion time of my first 5K, but I actually completed the 5K in 29 minutes, so a big improvement. The only issue was that running in a treadmill for me was boring. Other than that no issues.

the treadmill gives a bit of bounce to your steps which lowers impact. for some that may not make a big difference but it did for me. i found when i was running exclusively on the treadmill, even at 1.5 incline, it did not translate well into running outside. my first outdoor run i was feeling pathetic after a mile. part of that was also the heat.

The treadmill incline won't really match the outdoors. I find the treadmill easier and the outside harder, poster above finds the opposite for their reasons. I will say that even though they are both running they are quite different movements and efforts in a technical sense which is why we have such different experience with them. In a regular real world run, you are using your muscles to propel your body weight, but on the treadmill the floor is being whisked away so the majority of the effort comes from the raising of the legs for the next stride, rather than the push off, if you can see the difference? Either way, be sure to stretch your hips as well as quads, hams and calves. I found the treadmill really bothered my hip flexors to start.

I'm doing my C25K on a treadmill! For me, it's easier than road running, but I'm okay with that--for now. I'm working on building stamina right now, and being able to set a predetermined pace is a huge help for me because no matter how slow I try to go, I always end up speeding up.

Eventually I'll have to work on that, but stamina first.

I am in week 7 right now and I have found that no matter what I have done on the treadmill it does NOT equal out to the out door portion. If you think about it running on a treadmill that is powered it is helping you with your momentum equaling the use of less energy on your part.

Outside you are what is propelling you/yourself along, there for you will use MUCH more energy. I have found that I can do the 2.25/2.5 on the treadmill non stop, but when I try to do it outside I get tired VERY fast and once I get to about 1.5 I start to lag/cramp up. To me that is a HUGE difference.

I am working on just cardio/stamina as well. I am not planning on running a 5K anytime soon, so I am not as worried about my distance/time etc. I am trying to get in what it says for distance on the treadmill, not worrying about the 30 min timeframe (usually 40 min or so for the 2.5) If you are working towards an outdoor run I would make most of your training outdoors to start with. Inside occasionally.

This is just my experience/thoughts. No scientific reasoning/proof behind it. Good luck and keep moving forward! I have had to repeat 1 week so far, and IT'S OK!! You got this!

Personally: I run faster outside than on the treadmill.

Strangely enough, I find running outside easier than on a treadmill at 0.5% incline. Not very scientfic, but at an average of 80% heart rate, I run a 6min/km for 5km on a treadmill and 5:30/km for 5km outside. The outside run has an average gradient of 1.7%. Treadmill feels like much more effort!

I did C25K on the TM because I was so self-conscious about looking ridiculous when I ran. The big hill I have to go up when I leave my street was also really intimidating. When I finally started running outside, it felt really hard, both because of the hills around my home and needing to set my own pace. I did a few outside runs before my first 5k and it helped a lot on race day. I wouldn't have wanted my first outdoor run to be a race. Once I was used to it, I split my runs so in good weather I ran outside, in bad weather I did the TM. My definition of bad has changed with time. Generally I find it easier to run outside. I am comfortable at a faster pace outdoors. It is more interesting visually and mentally, so the miles seem to pass much more quickly. OTOH, I like doing speedwork on the TM because I can keep the pace consistent. In some ways that isn't a good thing, because it is good to learn how to set the pace yourself but without access to a track, and with hills all around, it's hard to be consistent on the roads.

It's not that treadmill is easier, running is running. There are slight modifications to running mechanics but most of the difference in perceived effort has to do with other factors. Some find treadmill running harder because of the inability to intuitively vary pace as they run, others find it easier because they run faster outside. The problem with treadmill vs outside is that if you do most of your training on your treadmill you don't get to learn how to pace yourself on ground so you may run slower/faster and not even know it which translates into easier/harder runs outside (usually harder).

I do mostly treadmill, but when I do it on ground I deliberately slow myself down to what feels like a very easy pace to start, but turns out to be comparable to my treadmill pace. If I start at what "feels" like a similar pace I end up at a faster pace and wear myself out faster. My legs on their own without instruction tend to want to move faster, but my lungs can't catch up.