But the data do show the rate of perceived exertion—how much effort it feels like you’re putting in to keep up the pace—is higher on the treadmill.
Why? For one thing, you’re lacking optical flow, or the experience of seeing your surroundings change as you speed by, he says. And, you won’t feel the air rushing past you, either. Because both of these provide information to your brain about how fast you’re moving, any pace feels like a bit more of a slog without them.
The fact that there’s no scenery to distract you also plays a role. That’s why many people turn to TV, podcasts, or even reading to make the miles pass more quickly, Brian Cleven, MS, ATC, an ACSM-certified clinical exercise physiologist at Bellin Health in Marinette, Wisconsin, tells SELF. (Dr. Willy, for instance, can read journal articles during some of his easier treadmill runs.)
You might also find having the pace or time constantly in your face makes it all drag even more. After all, when you’re running outside, you can only steal occasional glances at your watch. In that case, Goodman recommends covering up the display with a towel. Go by heart rate or how hard you feel like you’re working rather than by minutes per mile or miles per hour, and use the buttons on the arms or side of the machine to control pace and incline.
Playing with the incline or other settings can help, but you don’t need to in order to get a “good” workout.
You might have heard that you need to bump up the incline to 1% to create similar conditions to outdoor running. But that’s based on old data, Dr. Willy says. The only time you might consider doing that is if you’re super speedy, going faster than that 7-minute mile (about 8.6 miles per hour, if that’s how your screen displays it). At that point, treadmill running does use a little less energy than running on the ground, and the slight incline offsets that shift, he says.
Still, there are other reasons you might want to toggle the tilt or spice up your run with some speed, including counteracting boredom. “If someone is going to be spending some time on the treadmill, I try to make it fun and dynamic, and we will change it up a lot,” Goodman says.
Some examples of what Goodman calls her “treadmill specials”: a Fartlek or “speedplay” run. After a warm-up, you run intervals of 1, 2, 3, 4, and then 5 minutes at a faster pace. In between the faster segments, run half the time at a slower pace to recover (so 1 minute faster, then 30 seconds slower; 2 minutes faster, then one minute slower; and on up the ladder). Another less-thinky option is to put on a playlist and run one song faster, one song slower.
Just doing an easy run? Switching up the incline between 0 and 1 percent every half-mile, or throwing in a few quick one-minute faster surges every once in a while can help break up the monotony without amping up the intensity too much.
If you’re dealing with injury, there are a few differences between the treadmill and other surfaces you should know.
Dr. Willy has had two hip surgeries, and found the treadmill felt easier on that joint when he was returning to running. So, he studied it, and the data backed him up. Because the belt is moving, more of the force your body applies to the ground to carry you forward comes from your foot and ankle rather than higher up the kinetic chain. (Essentially, your leg is being pulled out from underneath you, rather than having your foot planted and needing to catapult your body over it, Gruber says.)
