My Health and Fitness Blog

I love running and grew up running competitively. I ran with the cross country team in high school and continued running for exercise, fitness, and sport during college. While I was never a top runner (I tended to bring up the caboose), I learned a lot about myself and my physical abilities and limitations during those regular running sessions. Throughout the years, to stay fit and sweat away the stresses of daily life, I would hit the treadmill machine or taking my exercise runs outside onto jogging trails or high school tracks. Running is a tremendously relaxing form of aerobic exercise to not only help people lose weight and get fit, but to also sharpen the mind’s concentration and relieve tension by engaging in cathartic physical exertion. It’s a sport that I highly recommend and one that anyone can enjoy. There is no age limit, no physical ability requirements, and no limitations on sex. As long as you have on a pair of running shoes and a stable, dry surface to run on, you are good to go. It’s one of the few sports where you don’t need a ball, a racket, a teammate, or even a rulebook to partake. In fact, the only decision making needed is where you’d like to run, what type of surface you’d like to run on, and what type of physical surroundings will best stimulate your senses as you run.

Choosing Where To Run, Train, and Exercise – Indoors Or Outdoors

I think as a beginner to the sport and fitness activity of running, the first important decision is deciding whether to engage your running excursions inside of an indoor gym, or whether you would prefer to expose yourself to an outdoor environment. Personally, I think a well balanced runner should be flexible and learn to run in both types of environment. While running is an inherently outdoor sport, one shouldn’t neglect indoor running either. I think the vast majority of people prefer to run outdoors as opposed to inside of a cool, air conditioned gymnasium or indoor fitness track. It’s probably the very concept of exercise and fitness that almost demands that physical activity be taken out into the open with nature and be exposed to the outside elements. For many people, running in the confines of a nice temperature-controlled environment simply feels too pampered, seemingly negativing the exercise spirit of the activity. After all, when was the last time any of us saw a competitive running, racing, or marathon event held inside of a building or indoor track. Such competitive racing events, whether they be for the Olympics or any other competitive sporting event, always take place on either an outside padded race track, or on a hard asphalt road surface. For many, running outside simply seems more natural and is where most expert runners and those just trying to get in shape usually spend their time.

Personally, while I enjoy both indoor and outdoor running, I have a preference for running indoors. Yes, running among the trees and birds through a nice cool forest is certainly more realistic and natural, but there are a few downsides. The obvious limitation to outdoor running is that there are only certain times during the year and even certain times during the day when running outdoors is possible or feasible. Depending on the climate where you run, the current weather may be either too hot or too cold for outdoor running. In general, the best running temperature is a nice breezy, 60 degrees or so – not too hot such that overheating becomes a problem, and not too cold where you are breathing in frigid arctic air that may cause you to develop chest pains.

In terms of the hours during the day when running outside is possible or recommended, it’s more of a safety issue. While solitary male runners should be mindful of their physical surroundings at all times, single female runners generally need to pay even greater attention to their environment while running – it’s just a reality of life. This is especially the case in the evenings or very early mornings when it’s dark and there are few fellow runners or friendly people around to watch your back. This world is filled with crazy people and it’s important to practice common sense and avoid being an easy target. Especially now that all outdoor runners seem to run with iPod ear buds in their ears, blocking out all outside noise, oftentimes they don’t realize they are in jeopardy or in physical danger until it’s too late. Whether it’s the risk of an attempted robbery or some type of attempted assault, it’s not always safe to run outside depending on the type of neighborhood you live in. Another issue that female runners frequently have to deal with that male runners rarely encounter, is heckling, cat calls, and ogling by random strangers. While these things certainly can happen inside gyms and fitness centers as well, the controlled building environment offers a bit more security for the wary.

Another downside with outside running is the lack of places to run and the often inevitable breathing in of pollution components while running. For those who live in the city, there aren’t always adequate outdoor places to run either. Not all neighborhood parks or outdoor tracks are ideal places to exercise on. Running on the street sidewalks, while a popular choice among many avid outdoor runners, isn’t always a good idea due to traffic and vehicle exhaust inhalation concerns. Running on forest trails isn’t always a great alternative either. During the summer, tree pollen and plant allergens in the air have a propensity to cause allergies and respiratory problems. While I personally don’t have any allergies, I can still physically sense when the air is heavily saturated with pollen allergens. The presence of allergens can be stifling and can flood your lungs with components that may cause coughing or sneezing as you run.

Perhaps one of the best benefits of running on an indoor treadmill as opposed to running outdoors is not having to worry about making it back to the starting point before it gets dark or before it starts to rain. Running outdoors is very unpredictable, but running on a treadmill, you can exercise indoors during any weather, rain or shine, and you never have to worry about making sure you have enough energy leftover to make it back to your parked car – you can simply stop, and hop off the machine. It’s one of many reasons why I personally prefer to run indoors, either on a stationary treadmill or inside an indoor gym. There, the air is generally recycled and purified, the hours available for running tend to be much longer and flexible, and safety is significantly less of a concern.

Most People Don’t Seem To Enjoy Treadmill Running, But I Personally Love The Benefits

The majority of avid runners seem to be biased against treadmill running. Most of my friends who are running aficionados prefer to head to the park to run rather than visit their local Bally’s Total Fitness Center or head over to their apartment gym. I think they feel that running outdoors is simply more natural and entertaining. To them, running on a stationary machine is terribly boring because you don’t actually go anywhere and your surroundings don’t change as you jog.

Personally, when I run, I am rarely focused on my surroundings. I am more geared towards hitting that next mileage checkpoint and concentrating on pacing my breathing than paying any attention to how the trees or greenery look. While scenery is important for most runners, I personally prefer to have a nice flat screen television set in front of me, found on many treadmill setups, while I run. Watching TV as I run helps me take my mind off the occasional boredom and repetitiveness of the activity.

With all the functions that treadmills offer today, they do a pretty good job of simulating real outdoor running surfaces. While they’ll never completely duplicate the natural surface slopes and bumps of roads, treadmills still do a pretty good job of simulating uphill and downhill climbs fairly realistically.

I have to admit however, that outdoor running on a race track or on a paved road is significantly more difficult and more of the real thing than treadmill running. Indoor running on a treadmill is much easier because there is no weather or wind to contend with, and your legs and feet do not have to work as hard to push the body forward. Also, on a treadmill, the running surface slides back automatically, affording the runner a more effortless running surface. Outdoor running on the other hand requires the athlete to push his or her body through air resistance and exert more effort at launching his or her body forward with each step, providing comparatively better aerobic results for the body due to compulsory adaptation. This compels the body to exert itself more to maintain balance and sharpens the senses more to react accordingly. It’s also the same reason why professional weight lifters highly prefer to train using free weights instead of stationary, bolted down lifting machines. Free style, in a natural environment tends to yield more physical training results for each portion of energy expended.

Personally though, I think both indoor treadmill running and outdoor running compliment each other’s weaknesses well. Both should be part of a savvy runner’s complete exercise plan.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 1st, 2008 at 12:51 am and is filed under Fitness, Weight Loss. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.