A week ago today my mother gave me an electric treadmill. Super cool mom, huh?

I love running outside, but winter runs scare me! Running on ice? I do not think so! Before I had a treadmill at home, I would walk 15 minutes to the gym to run on his electric treadmill, and then walk home. It was very slow. I’ve also managed to run at the gyms where I’ve worked. Still, nothing beats racing on your own time and terms.

Before a week ago, I was using a manual treadmill for my morning runs indoors, due to the cold Toronto winters. I originally thought that using a manual treadmill would improve my running times since you have to put more of your body on it to get the treadmill to move.

I realized right away that it was actually harder to pick up speed. I went from 6.0-6.5 race pace and 7.0-7.5 sprint to 4.0-4.5 jog and 5.5-6.0 sprint. 4.0 is the speed at which I walk outside! I also run a little faster outside. It must be because I’m not looking at times, numbers and a wall. I also noticed that I couldn’t run for very long on manual. It was extremely exhausting. Not only my speed has dropped significantly, but so have my miles!

I am inclined (no pun intended) to believe after having experienced it, that manual treadmills are not for runners. It’s easy enough to walk on them, but I found it harder to run. For one, I had to hold on the entire time to keep the belt moving. To be honest, I felt like I was pushing a shopping cart the whole time!

It was very daunting and eventually, despite long lower body stretching sequences afterwards, I began to feel pain in my ankles and hips.

Last Friday I did my first run on the new electric treadmill. Thinking it would have improved, I immediately put the speed (after a warm-up of course) to 6.0 and ran 40 minutes.

I have to say the next day I felt like I had been hit by a truck! I couldn’t even go down the stairs because my calves and hamstrings were so sore. I haven’t been this sore from a run since my 10k!

I had to slow down and even take walking breaks. I haven’t had to do this since I started running almost 5 years ago! Needless to say, this has been an unexpected setback. Still, I’m not giving up. I see it as a challenge. Not only will I get my speed and distance back but I will beat it and improve my times.

This week alone it has shown huge improvements over the manual treadmill. In the manual I was running about 10 miles a week. In my first week on the electric treadmill I ran 23.5 miles and burned over 3,500 calories! I also managed to run tempos again, without having to stop to walk.

Here is a list of pros and cons in manual, electric and outdoor operations:

manual treadmill

advantages

-Affordable

-Small and easy to store

-Excellent for beginners who need to start walking

cons

-Has a weight limit of 200 pounds

-Not easy on your joints.

-cannot run very easily

-The calorie count was extremely low, like 100 calories per hour!

-You have to hold on at all times

-You have to stop running to adjust the incline

electric treadmill

advantages

-Has better features like programs, a heart rate monitor, and fat calories burned

-Much easier to run faster and longer

– Tilt can be changed while on the move

-Using a built-in heart rate monitor is great for monitoring workout intensity and making sure you don’t overexert yourself

cons

-Running on any treadmill can seem repetitive and boring

-Electric treadmills need maintenance

-Repairing a broken electric treadmill can be expensive. It can be hard to find parts to fix it. Plus, when it finally breaks down, you have a big pile of useless junk to dispose of.

-Electric treadmills are larger and difficult to store.

running outside

advantages

-A lot to see. you never get bored

-You can run a different route with different speeds, times and terrain every day.

-It feels very natural.

-No machine maintenance or worry about something breaking down on you

cons

-Outdoor runs can be marred by rain and cold weather.

-Unless you have a heart rate monitor, it’s hard to keep track of intensity. I keep track of my routes with a pedometer and on Google maps to at least know my distances

-Can be potentially dangerous due to cars and things on the road. I sprained my ankle once because a giant beetle jumped in my path and scared the hell out of me!

-You are likely to face harassment for blunders on the streets and in your cars.

-Your running shoes wear out pretty quickly.

Choosing how you want to do your runs is up to you, but if you ask me, nothing beats outdoor runs in the summer and electric treadmills in the winter.

Keep running!