I love to run. I’ve been running all my life. I will write about that in another post. Today I am writing about running but with a comparison to running on a treadmill versus the road.
It’s quite a bit different
Most of you probably already know that.
But it is QUITE a bit different.
Since Christmas I have been running at the gym on a treadmill. Running in the cold is not my favorite thing to do and my wife and I joined a gym for Christmas. I’ve never been a big fan of running on treadmills either but the ones at the gym are very nice and they have a TV on them so I can watch Battlebots and Naked & Afraid while I run – a nice perk!
I looked up about how to set the treadmill to best mimic running on the road. Basically you set the incline to at least 1% and that is about the equivalent of running on a flat road. So I’ve been doing that and have been happy with my results…continually to improve my time, distance and fitness level.
Or so I thought!
I went for a run today on the streets of my neighborhood. It was a BEAUTIFUL day. Sun shining, no clouds in the sky and a slight breeze.
Perfect
But I quickly discovered that running on the street was, as I said above, quite a bit different than running at a 1% incline on the treadmill. On the treadmill I can complete a 5k with little problem or strain in under 30 minutes. My best time was under 27 minutes.
Today I ran the 5k in 30:25 and it had some strain to it. It was eye opening and it points to the difference between the theoretical and the real. Not that running on the treadmill isn’t real but in the grand scheme of running road races it is like building a model of something that you hope works and then you go to test it and it fails to meet your expectations. Sort of like the Battlebots mentioned earlier. You can build what you think is the greatest Battlebot in your studio and you’re highly confident when you get to the arena and then the green light goes on and your cobra robot get blasted in the first 10 seconds by the dragon robot.
Humbling
The lesson is to remember all the tinkering, practice, planning and drawing is important and steps you must follow but to find out exactly where you are the rubber must meet the road. My running shoes against the asphalt taught me a lot. It was at first like “whoa, this is different.” Then it was like, “WHOA – this is really different.” Then I went into the “AHHH” stage where the unexpected strain hit me. Finally the “Whew” stage…I finished and was no worse for wear but learned something.
Go ahead and get out there in whatever you’re working on. Get into the arena and compete for real. You may take some hits but you’ll be better for it in the long run. (get it? I said “long run” and I’m writing about running hee hee I crack myself up!)
MattMunnell.com 