Treadmill vs. Indoor Track

What do you think I SHOULD do?

During the winter, I would go to the club and do 7 miles.  Usually start on the track for 4-5 miles, then the rest on the mill.  I did find that running too many laps on the track caused some foot/ankle pain on the outside leg due to the numerous tight turns.  Man I love running outside.

Kind of like NASCAR needing to change their outside tires becuase they wear faster

I was wondering if the turning would be hard on my joints/body - esp. considering the trak is 1/8th of a mile instead of 1/4.  I wonder if I could lap one way, turn around and go the other way... haha!  Everyone would know I was nuts!

If it were me, I'd get up at 3 or 4am when the temp is better, run outside, and then take a nap later if needed. I am not a fan of tiny indoor tracks or treadmills.

Every once in awhile I will run on our local HS track and I switch directions every mile and it does help some.  Although I bet on a indoor track at a fitness center everybody has to go the same direction.

x2

Lol!  I would wear my sneakers uneven.  They should slant the track on the turns.

That is a good idea - doing half and half.

I'm with whoever said get up at the crack of dawn and do it outside.  It's what I'll be doing tomorrow morning to get in 12 miles.

However, if you must do it inside I would break it up into sets.  Since you have 8 laps/mile maybe do 4 slightly hard/4 slightly easy for a couple of miles, then jump on the treadmill for a couple of miles, rinse repeat.  Breaking it up into sections like that might help with the monotony.  I got chased inside for a workout Tuesday and managed 50 laps in a speed workout that really didn't feel like 50 laps. 

Me getting my lazy bum out of bed at 3 or 4 isn't going to happen.  I don't actually believe such an hour even exists!  I don't know how you guys do it - I am in awe.  I just can't (or don't want to?)

I'd be on the mill for this one. 64 laps is ridiculous, and I agree with the extra work on joints and such having to turn that many times. Lucky for me my indoor track is 5 laps per mile, much easier to deal with.

Good luck on the mill, make sure you get one with a tv.

I can't keep track of 64 laps. Ugh! Plus I hate the track because silly women walk side-by-side chatting and don't effing move out of my way.

With the treadmill I can at least watch tv. I may be doing some long runs on the 'mill soon if the heat index stays in triple digits even when the sun's down!

X-Watever on getting up a Too-bleepin-early. 

It's 5am for 10 for me in the morning.

I've never used an indoor track, but the only one I've seen had places for people using the other equipment to cross it.  Even if only one having the chance to be interupted 64 times.... nope.

Get up early, start your run right before the sun comes up.  Plan a route where you can stop at home to rehydrate frequently with cold beverages. 

I'd rather struggle in the heat and take it slow than run on a treadmill or an indoor track.  If you can't tell from my picture, I am definitely not the kind of person that should be outside for more than 15 minutes at a time, but I just slather on the sunscreen and go.

Read my logs to see how I survived this heat wave.