Sunday's snowfall may have had many runners turning to the great indoors for training. In this week's Marathon Monday, we look at the drawbacks of taking the treadmill route for the majority of your runs.
Swirling snow, icy roads, and slick sidewalks can throw a wrench into the best-laid training plans, and taking things indoors can be your only option.
Personal trainer Dan Bayliss has plenty of treadmill experience. Just this summer, he spent five hours on a treadmill on Charlottesville's downtown mall raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training.
But even Bayliss says, while treadmills can be a useful training tool, he doesn't recommend spending a majority of your training time indoors.
"Well if it's really bad outside and you need to get your run in, run on a treadmill," he said. But I wouldn't recommend doing all of your training on a treadmill and then running in a race outside."
The treadmill provides many benefits. It takes the weather factor out, and you can better judge your pace and incline.
But when training for a race, you could be fooled by treadmill workouts because the give of the belt isn't the same as a run on the road.
Bayliss stated, "Most treadmills have sort of like a give on when you're running on it. Most roads don't have that give. So your body is adjusting differently, based on what surface that you're running on."
In the end, treadmill running and outdoor running are not quite the same. And even if you are a die-hard treadmill junkie, a road or trail run thrown in the mix can really help your training and your results come race day.
