Comments for Pat...

Maybe it's because you're energized by the change in scenery. I know I get painfully bored on a treadmill, and even though outdoors is more difficult, it is certainly more interesting!

Pat, Michele's Sykes' husband Nick from the Endurance House training group here. I think that the reason the indoor miles being slower is because the surface is moving against your direction of travel. When you plant your foot you're hitting a surface that is resisting your foot. Your foot is going forward with each stride and the tread is going backwards. I found the same thing back when I was able to run, I was much faster on the road than on the treadmill and as I put my engineering hat on and examined it that was the only thing I could determine, road = static surface, treadmill = conflict in direction of movement. You also cant push off the treadmill surface sicne its moving at the same speed you are where the road being a static surface you can propel yourself forward. It seems like a logical theory to me. Nick

Pat, I have issues with running on the treadmill.... I've talked it over with a sports medicine doctor and it's because on a treadmill you are "catching-up", whereas on the ground, you are pushing off. Anyway, your issue isn't the same as mine, but the reasoning could be the same...-Carrie Waters Schmidt