I actually think you should go harder on the TM than outdoors. Not crazy harder but def harder overall to compensate for the softer surface.
I haven’t used a Stryd myself, but I’d also be skeptical about expecting it to line up perfectly indoors/outdoors - I don’t even trust my powermeters to do that. So crank up the training on the TM where it’s more controlled and you can take more controlled risks.
You might also be just one of the many people who just like running harder outdoors, if so just go that route. Not all of us can be Lionel and get best results mostly indoors.
Yeah… But who doesn’t want to be Lionel though That’s exactly the thing… I’d love to run my hard runs on the treadmill because it just feels safer to push there. You can stop any time.
But well… seems like it’s not for me because I definitely pushed hard on the TM Also suspicious about PMs indoors/outdoors, that’s why I use Assioma Favero to always the same PM everywhere, which makes me sleep at night
Hard to say much without knowing more details about your training/goals/what you consider improvement to be. Summer is maybe 3 months – how much better can you get at running in 3 months? Are you getting worse? Normal triathlon training doesn’t really lend itself to running improvement. You’re getting better at running fatigued but, often times, are not doing enough volume to get faster. If you were logging 70-80+ miles/week & running every day on the treadmill then I’d expect someone to challenge their running PBs, depending on age/experience. If you’re doing normal tri training & hitting 3-5 runs/week then most likely not. It can also get warm running inside depending on how optimized your setup is. & then it’s still September & weather hasn’t cooled completely. Again, depends on your training/goals/how you measure success.
Set the treadmill to 1* and trust the pace of the treadmill more than an outside device. Most big name brands are well calibrated. After your session, go out doors and do a few strides
Ironically I’ve seen more of the opposite. I tend to not see much improvement on the TM, but it translates to more improvement outdoor. I tend to use HR as my guide when using a TM more then pace.
Rule #7: For every PT/MD/STer who says there is absolutely one single and perfect way to do anything , there is *another *PT/MD/STer who will say that way of doing whatever it may be, is completely and absolutely bullshit
Personally, I don’t use the 1% incline
But do whatever works for you, as there may or may not be any science to support it either way
Shoot, I run my Sole F80 on 3% incline for the vast majority of my runs.
I don’t do intervals as often on them since I like doing them outdoors, but if I am relegated indoors, I’ll actually do hill repeats at 6%-10% depending on length so I won’t trip the breaker (I’ve done it a few times before, but I’m not sure how fast/hard I need to go to do it.)
I’ll still get slightly sore legs from the outdoor impact if I do all-TM for awhile, so I try and get outdoors once per week or more (right now most of my runs are outdoors but will do a lot more TM running as winter approaches)
Someone on Scientific Triathlon a while back gave data to suggest the 1% incline was a myth & you get the same stimulus running indoors without any incline.
Never believed in it in the first place. I don’t want to spend hours on end on an elevated surface, seems completely unnatural to me. If running on the TM is easier than outside, run faster.
But well… Who am I to give any tips when my TM running doesn’t seem to translate😅
“Scientific Triathlon” sounds like a personal blog to sound scientific lol. a link would help. That 1% rule more for typical belt treadmills, woodways have a stiffer belt, and the manual curved one for sure is harder than outdoors
Interesting that some folks see the treadmill as a safer place to run hard than outdoors. I feel the opposite – falling on the treadmill is much more dangerous than falling outdoors.
I don’t see how there is really any “risk” at all in outdoor running (ok, environmental factors like cars and bobcats and stuff maybe, is that what you mean?), I only see real risk introduced with the treadmill.
If you can’t sustain your target pace outdoors, you just… ran slower. If you can’t sustain the belt pace on a treadmill, you will get dropped off the back and seriously hurt, unless you manage to fiddle the controls in time to slow or stop. So in my mind the treadmill is the last place I’d want to be pushing my limits.
Mostly I mean hydration and fuel. But also VO2Max tests are done on TM and they test limits as well… I feel pretty safe with lifting myself up and putting my feet left and right to stop immediately. When running fast on a TM everybody should be comfortable with that first.
Is that the study that essentially says “it only really works if you’re running at ~7:00 min/mile; otherwise 1% incline doesn’t matter?”
@cmart (we’re not related, are we?)
There’s lots of different ways to play with your treadmill to increase your speed: you can set the TM 15 to 30 seconds faster than your outdoor goal pace and see how that translates; you can ramp the TM pace up at intervals over a certain distance, and see if the quicker pace carries over onto the street; you can increase the incline further than 1% (kinda like hill repeats)
Mess around with it, be patient, and see what you come up with
If you’re looking at a short term window such as 6 weeks or random runs during 6-10 weeks that’s not really an effective measurement. You should do some sort of A/B comparison to really gauge.
I also see a lot of triathletes that live in hot environments not get much faster during the peak of summer due to the heat. Yet come fall they are crushing the run splits
Are you matching your indoor effort to your outdoor effort/PRE? Not necessarily making the speeds the same but the efforts/PRE
Are you doing structured workouts or just running?
Don’t forget about cooling. Just like cycling indoors, maybe more so since you’re going to mostly have a higher metabolic rate, cooling on the TM is super important.
Overall training load. If it’s really high due to lots of riding and/or swimming something has to give until you adapt or change things up
TM’s are great for doing hill reps, intervals, learning how to pace intervals so you eliminate/reduce the U shaped curve most people tend to race (faster/est in the beginning and ending few minutes but slower in the middle 90+%). If you can flatten out the curve/learn better pacing you can actually run faster for a slightly lower overall PRE. This is really important when you’re chasing others trying to close the gap or being chased since most people are going to have their slowest miles in the middle 50% of the run. Run near your fastest miles there and really close/open the gap.
IME I was running my best in triathlon when I was doing about half my yearly mileage on the treadmill.
With my athletes I’ve had many that run 65-90% of their miles on the treadmill & one that only ran outside on some Sunday’s and in races, maybe 15x all year. It didn’t stopped them from crushing their on the road PB’s/and triathlon PB’s despite/or because they did a large % of their training on the treadmill.
Often it’s just tweaking program design in order to maximize your time on the treadmill.
That’s exactly the thing… I’d love to run my hard runs on the treadmill because it just feels safer to push there. You can stop any time.
