Treadmills, heart rate, and more

Last month, one of my post described my time spent running on a tread mill during a rainy day here in Charlotte. Not sure if this triggered this chain of events but I like to think so. Anyway, Eddie Pennebaker emailed me on Facebook. For those not familiar with Eddie, he builds and sells Eddie's Rollers. I did a write up a while back on his rollers. I have one and use it regularly. In case anyone is interested, here's Eddie's email address.

Back to his email, Eddie described that his 7:30 pace running on the treadmill felt much faster than the 7:30 pace he achieved during his outdoor runs and he ask if I experienced the same feeling. He also asked if my heart rate was higher while running on the tread mill.

So we exchanged a few emails where I described my thoughts on the subject. But after thinking about it more, I thought Eddie question was a question that might interest more people. Thus, I am taking the content from our emails and turning it into a post to start the New Year. With colder weather just around the corner, more than a few of us will head for those indoor flat sweat boxes called tread mills.

I'll break Eddie's question into two parts. The first part will address the question on the pace feeling faster on the tread mill and the second part will address the part about having a higher heart rate.

Does the pace on a tread mill feel faster? My answer to this question is always "yes, it does" for a few reasons. First, when I jump on a tread mill, I know what pace that I want to maintain so I crank down the settings to that pace. Basically, I am going cold turkey to hard running and I have not let my body warm up to this pace. Thus, my first few miles will always feel a little like I am sprinting and I cannot get enough air into my lungs. Usually, after a few miles, the effort starts to even out as my body catches up. But then comes the question, I don't feel that way when I run out side. Why is that? Well, whether I realize it or not, my earlier miles are probably slower than I think, but after my body warms up I tend to run a little faster so the average is somewhere in the middle. There are other factors such as wind and hills that can play havoc with running out doors. A tail wind can certainly push one along while indoors running in place there is no wind.

Now, there is another reason that has less to do with me and more to do with the tread mill. Unless, you have a tread mill at home, you will probably go some place like the "Y" to use one. Tread mills depending their maintenance cycle can lose their accuracy. Meaning 7:30 pace might actually be 7 minute pace. There is an unscientific way to check it. Set the tread mill on 8 minute pace when watch the distance and the time. If it takes 2 minutes to do a quarter mile then the tread mill is decently accurate. If it takes less or more time to do a quarter mile, then you know the tread mill is off. This can be applied to other paces and distances but 8 minute pace and 2 minute laps make the math pretty easy. And, if you find that it is off, then you have to adjust the pace accordingly to your needs.

To address the second part of Eddie's question is my heart rate higher while running on a tread mill? Here I am assuming that as a runner we would be trying to run equivalent paces indoors vs. outdoors. Also I know that there are a number of factors that can affect my heart rate, but the time of year seems to be the most prominent one. Setting aside a runner's current physical condition, heat will play the biggest factor one's heart rate. During my tread mill run a few weeks ago, my heart rate was clearly higher than it is normally outside. Why? Well, the ambient outside temperature in Charlotte averages from the 30s to 50s this time of year. And, my body gets accustom to running in those temperature ranges. But let me take my running indoors where the temperature is 72 or higher and suddenly I am trying to adjust to heat wave. My body will compensate by raising my heart rate, flushing more blood to the skin, and my perspiration rate will go into overdrive. This is pretty much what happened during my recent tread mill run. My running shirt was dripping wet by the end of my 12 mile run. Aside from doing a few more runs in doors there is not much you can do about it. Run slower is an option, but then who wants to run slower on a tread mill. I usually want to finish it as quickly as possible.

The one question that I couldn't address is what happens during the summer months. After weeks and weeks of running in the 90s, I suspect that 72 degrees in doors on the tread mill would feel great and my heart rate would be much lower.

Just some additional food for thought as you enter the New Year.

 

Sharing one thought at time,

 

The Cool Down Runner