Hmmm- my experience with treadmills is somewhat different to those mentioned above. And this comes from a fitness magazine I read in a doctors surgery or some such (I don’t buy those sort of things as I am not that much into it). However, the article said that treadmills are harder on your knees than running on the bitumen due to the angle (the incline) and the constant pressure back against you.
On the road you can actually take off.
I never know how much I’m running in real life. Plus I live in a city and I’m too lazy to go to the park. Question, though…are you supposed to wipe down the actual tread part of the treadmill? I just wipe around the button area. I figure people are running on the treadmill anyway…and plus you can’t really wipe it all down when it’s not in motion, can you?
That’s the beauty of it. Just leave it running and hold the rag up to it.
But seriously, I can see no reason to wipe the tread of a treadmill. Unless you can sweat through the soles of your shoes. I actually did that once. In Korea, we were putting a communications shelter together all day in the heat and humidity of July. By the time we finished, I was leaving sweaty footprints when I walked.
Thanks for all the info and advice. I think I’ll stick with the treadmill. It may not be 100% equivalent to running on the road, but close enough for government work.
I’ve had waaaay too many run ins with grumpy escalators to even attempt this. :eek:
Your reasoning is faulty. Yes the best tracks are rubber. That is to maximize rebound. If tracks absorbed the impact shock, they would be slow running surfaces. Think deep, dry sand, or water, both of which absorb almost all of the impact and are almost impossible to run on. Your feet rebound off of the track, preserving much of the energy off impact so that you can devote more energy to acceleration rather than maintaining the status quo, or maintain a much faster status quo. The price you pace is that the change in momentum, and hence the force on your joints, could almost double. So, Cicero’s reference is correct.
The best surface for your joints is undoubtedly that which replicates running barefoot in East Africa 100K years ago, or so.
No, but if you sweat all over the grab-bars it’s gross if you don’t wipe them off and such.
If you want to know how much you’re running, there are tons of sites like walkjogrun.net that let you plot it out on Google Maps. Gives you a good estimation.
No worries there! I wipe that off every time, even though I don’t really sweat onto things besides myself.
Thanks…though the problem with running is running into people, and traffic, and I’m lazy and like being two minutes from home. Good info, though!
Well - it’s certainly possible to get a great workout with a treadmill. Christine Clarkwas the sole US woman in the 2000 Olympic marathon, and she did most of her training on the treadmill. I do the majority of my running on a treadmill (20 miles/week), primarily because of location and I find it’s easier on my knees. Regardless of the surface, I’ve been a runner for 20+ years and I still find that the hardest part of my run is getting up from my desk to go do it.