Training obesrvations on track, treadmill and road

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Yesterday I chose to not get up early and run. I did so for 2 reasons: I stayed up later than usual Monday night watching the BCS championship game, and it was ridiculously cold and snowy (again). But I didn't want to get off track, so I went to the Y on my lunch hour and ran on the treadmill. I had walked on the treadmill before, and used an elliptical trainer and bike, but trying to actually run on the treadmill was new to me. Having done so I can now rank the options I have available to me right now for running. Bear in mind I would like to at some point do some trail running, but it's not an option in my schedule since most of my runs are early in the morning with the goal of getting back before the kids wake up, or on my lunch hour.

Track

I have a good track a couple of hours from my house, which is where I started running. Running on a track is nice as far as wear and tear on the body, plus no traffic. But running in circles is inherently boring after a while. And if it is wet the track can become a quagmire in spots (although this track is actually pretty well drained). So it is good for short runs, but if I want to run for more than about 30 minutes it is not much fun.

Roads

Once I got used to running in the neighborhood it became my favored method. I actually run on the sidewalks, only on roads where there is no sidewalk or the sidewalk is impassable. The only drawback to this so far has been there is a real lack of consistency in who shovels their sidewalks and who doesn't. But this isn't a huge issue so long as I pay attention when I run, and slow down when I hit a real bad patch. I do think it is about time to invest in a head lamp or similar light, just for safety sake.

Treadmill

Doing this yesterday was a mixed experience. While considerably more boring than even the track, it did have some advantages. In retrospect, you can really train yourself on pacing on a treadmill. There are no obstacles or weather related problems to slow you down. And once you set the pace on the treadmill you have to maintain it. So, as long as you can train your mind to just focus on the running and not on what is going on around you the treadmill can serve a purpose.

Given all of the above I have to say that I prefer the neighborhood runs. I have to do a little more research on what I can do as far as programming the treadmill, because if I can do my interval training on that I might change to that option for those runs. Because I can then just make a routine out of Saturday morning trips to the Y, and ditch the track for good.