Woodway wrote:
From our experience related to the fastest time for a single event (1m to 10k) we would say it's similar to finding the fastest track. The harder the surface will typically create the faster times, because the least amount of energy is is absorbed back into the surface. Yes, some treads with a "spring/rebound" type reaction may help, but not always depending on the running style.
That being said, we think doing a significant amount of your everyday training on a softer more shock absorbent surface (like our slats) reduces the chance of injury and some of the other negative high volume training challenges, which in turn will make you better prepared to perform at an optimal level at the real event.
you are quite right, eric! as you know, there's a woodway in my pain cave at the moment, and i just finished a trip around the country and had to run on treadmills in hotels, and boy did i miss the woodway. you may know we're in the early days of our annual 100/100 challenge, which is our attempt here to run 100 runs in 100 days. here is the
table where we keep track, and there's a
sticky thread atop this forum for the smacktalk.
i'm asking here, in this thread, about treadmill speed. for a specific reason. but the overarching need for a mill is not when we're engaged in what
anthony famiglietti did at The Running Event last week, but what north of 700 of us are doing right now in the 100/100. i got a good dose of running while out of the office last week, on mills other than the woodway, and my knees (and the rest of me) is/are quite happy to be back on my regular mill!
Dan Empfield
aka Slowman