Venturing off the treadmill

[Never-too-old-run]

Good morning all. I recently graduated and would now like to try out a park run but so far I've never ventured beyond the treadmill. How does running in the great outdoors differ? Is there anything I should be prepared for? To be honest I feel quite daunted about leaving my trusty treadmill and the comfort of my garden shed! 😱 🙈

[MissUnderstanding Administrator On a break Graduate]

Ooooh…exciting! Running outside is brilliant. Birds. Scenery. Breeze. I love it. It’s an adjustment but worth it. I didn’t do c25k on the treadmill but I used to use them at the gym. Pacing was the thing I found most difficult to get right. It’s easy to go too fast. The terrain will be very different so you might find you’ll need to build up strength in slightly different parts of your legs. And hills! Very gentle inclines can feel very different running verses walking.

I’d go out and plan to go short and extra slow. Expect it to be a bit tougher than the treadmill so you’re not caught out by that. Perhaps try a few shorter runs, or break up your runs with a bit of walking if you think that will help. Pick a nice route and see how you go.

Hopefully it won’t be too long before you’ll be in love with the great outdoors! I’ve done parkrun once and really enjoyed it. Really need to go again! The great thing about park run is it’s totally acceptable to walk so building up the time you’re running for outside would still be compatible with doing it. You wouldn’t have to be able to run the full 5k before you tried it.

Really good luck to you!

[Never-too-old-run Graduate in reply to MissUnderstanding]

Thanks, Miss Understanding. It's good to hear from someone who's "been there, done that"! I imagined that running outside would be a different experience but wasn't quite sure to what extent so your comments will be really useful. I'm definitely ready to get out there and give it a go now. It's really good running weather at present too (sun streaming through the window as I type! ) so what better time? Thanks for your advice.

[Chris--B Graduate]

I have seen it from both angles. I have completed the C25K both outside and on the treadmill. I would agree with MissUnderstanding, regulating speed is probably the most difficult thing when outside.

Roads that seem perfectly flat when walking are suddenly steep hills when running (and no matter which direction you tackle them, you are always running up hill). There is no wind, rain, hail, snow, puddles, slippery roads or cold weather when running indoors on a treadmill so you need more motivation to go outside in bad weather. You dont get people, cars ,dogs ( or foxes) suddenly appear in front of you from gaps and driveways, and there are no roads to cross on the treadmill.

BUT, outside there is no timer or distance counter distracting you. There is something different to see on every run outside, even if you do the same route every time. I think it is physically harder running outside, but mentally, its a lot more stimulating.

For me, running through the woods on uneven ground and around trees and up and down slopes beats running on a treadmill hands down. That would probably be something to be tackled gradually if you have only ever run on the treadmill as again mentioned by MissUnderstanding that it uses different muscles.

On paper, it would look like there are loads more negatives to running outside but once you try it you realise its the bits you cant quantify that swing it.

I wish you luck and hope you enjoy your venture outside.

[Never-too-old-run Graduate in reply to Chris--B]

Thanks Chris-B for taking the time to reply at such length. Lots to take on board there but I'm ready for the next challenge now and am intending to start on our local Park Run route as a trial. However we're surrounded by woods with public footpaths so no excuse not to give that a go too. Thanks for your advice although I think it'll be muntjacs rather than foxes that thwart me round here! Happy running!

[OpheliaCrying Graduate]

Transitioning from one thing to another is always tough. Choose a flat route first of all, so the change isn’t too drastic. I did couch to 5K a few years back and did it all on a tready. The first few runs outside were quite disturbing and seemed harder work. But within three weeks I much preferred running outside and my legs were used to the undulating terrain underfoot. Good luck.

[Never-too-old-run Graduate in reply to OpheliaCrying]

Thanks OpheliaCrying for your advice. You've just confirmed what I'd suspected. As Chris-B also pointed out, running off-piste, so to speak, is an entirely different kettle of fish but I'll take into account the comments from both of you in the months ahead. Thanks for your encouragement 👍

[Scruff55 Graduate]

hi there. I did C25k on the treadmill in the gym and then transferred to outside.🌳🌳🌳It was a bit of a shock 😱😱😱at first but I managed by doing w6 again a couple of times and choosing my route very carefully. It needs to be flat ish and I ran on the road ( but I live in a village so the roads are quieter ) as I didn’t like going up and down pavements. After a couple of weeks I couldn’t believe how much nicer and easier it felt to run. I did struggle at times but it was much easier to get a run in than having to trek to the gym. Good luck and hope you enjoy the challenge 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

[Never-too-old-run Graduate in reply to Scruff55]

That's very heartening. Scruff55. Great idea about going back a few weeks on the podcsst to begin with. I'll give it a go 👍Thanks for the advice😀

[Bluestreek Graduate]

hi, again I started with the treadmill, did the full C25K, then started outside with week 5. Hardest I found was the pacing. On the treadmill I was running at 170-180 steps min and that was not possible outside. I ended up downloading a metronome abb on my phone and run at 164, and that works nicely for me, I can comfortably run the 5k in 35min , age 69 and never run before, hoping one day to get under the 30. I still haven’t plucked up the courage to enter a race yet, good luck with yours.

[Never-too-old-run Graduate in reply to Bluestreek]

Gosh that's brilliant! It just shows that age is just a number. Good luck with your 30 minute project 👍