I'm glad you weren't injured. If that would have happened here in the States, you might have been trampled by a stampede of crazed personal injury lawyers.
One set of lawyers at a time is enough for me, thanks
Don't train on a treadmill. No where near the same as road, as an addition fine, can't beat the real thing.
I'm training on a variety of surfaces, in a variety of weather conditions: road, grass, trails, pavements and treadmill are all fair game as far as I'm concerned. I find my feet benefit from the variety, as they improve different aspects on each surface, and I'm a sufficiently bad runner that I benefit from all the different "lessons". (In the case of the treadmills, they seem to particularly help me with running consistently and big hills - it's hard to replicate big hills in my local area, but there's over 500 m of climbing in each of the half-marathon routes that this race has used in the last 2 years).
Also, I don't have a TV licence, so if I want to watch the Olympics, I have to go to the gym
Treadmills scare me. Rather get on a bike or stair machine any day...
I'm doing the gym version of both of those too - plus the rowing machine, handcycle, swimming, some strength work and paddling. Especially at my level of non-talent, cross-training is very important to reduce injury risk and address fitness areas that running doesn't. I have managed to get injured twice, but both of those were minor twists from falling over my own feet while walking, not from the exercise routines. (Real cycling is out, as I don't have enough balance to stay on a standard bike and the landlord doesn't allow non-folding bikes on the property).
Which run are you training for?
I'm training for the Chesterfield half-marathon, on October 2nd at 8:45 am (so please can the Japanese Grand Prix be fully green-flagged and dry with no problems whatsoever?). The route is a mixture of road, pavement and (a tiny amount of) optional cobbles.
I've included some races in my training schedule:
- five 5 km races at the local park during last autumn/winter (pavement; it would have been more races, but the last one was organised badly enough that I got sent to do an extra lap by mistake, which put me off doing more). I'm aware there's such a thing as Parkrun, which would have been a good replacement, but my nearest Parkrun is 20 miles away, and £5.50 is a lot to spend on attending a race that isn't even timed. The point was to get regular experience of being with other people, to get a feel for how actual runners competed, and to practise being lapped. (At that point it was taking me 45-60 minutes, depending on weather conditions and whether I got hit in the middle of the run, to do what most of the others were doing in 25-30 minutes).
- a 6-mile Comic Relief race at the same venue, but organised rather more competently (where I got a prize for "best hair" due to running in a long red wig with huge red plait that fell off twice during the run). That was to have fun and raise money, but it was also my first experience of a run with an organised warm-up (my half-marathon will have this; the other races this year do not...) and staggered starts (like the half-marathon and unlike the other races this year, there were three different start points depending on intended distance).
- the Silverstone 10 km race (brilliant for meeting Force India staff, but I nearly got taken back by ambulance because I was so slow it was dark by the time I finished. Got a prize for persistence and grinning as I crossed the finish line). This was equal parts to practise starting in a huge field (about three times the expected starting "grid" for my half-marathon), practising how to handle water stations, practising a longer-distance race and experiencing a track I've enjoyed from a whole different angle. Did I mention that three teams (Force India, Mercedes and Manor) had intra-team battles between their factory staff there? FIF1 won the individual "contest", Mercedes had the fastest team and Manor got the wooden spoon. Nearly everyone from all three teams lapped me. (It took me 98 minutes, 18 seconds to do two laps of the 1990s-era track layout, about the same length of time as it took Damon Hill, Michael Schumacher and other greats to do an entire Grand Prix there).
- this weekend, I'm doing a 5-mile/10-mile race on trails (it's billed as a mix of tarmac, pavement, shale, grass and woodchip). This is to experience surface and terrain transitions (it alternates between thick woods and field-like parkland, and even passes a reservoir at one point), experience of an even longer race and race management. You see, if I want to do the whole 10 miles as planned, I've got to do the first half of the race fast enough to be allowed onto the second half... ...while retaining enough energy to get the 10 miles finished in the maximum time of 2 hours and 15 minutes. Oh, and the toilets shut 15 minutes before that limit.
I would have done a 10-mile race on some of the paths used in the half-marathon I've entered, but it was the week after the dragon boat races I competed in with my company for the European Corporate Games (12th in the 500 m version, 9th in the 250 m edition, out of 25 teams) and I hadn't fully recovered my energy by race day (I wasn't injured, I simply needed a couple more days before I would have been ready to put everything on the line again).
I also would have done 5 km races in my hometown and Donington Park, but both clashed with other events (the Monaco Grand Prix for the hometown 5 km - if you want me to do such a short running race on a Grand Prix day, think twice before starting it at the same time as the Grand Prix's formation lap! - and the European Corporate Games for Donington. I have confirmed that the clash doesn't exist for the latter next year as the Corporate Games is on a different weekend).
I have yet to finish a running race in a position higher than last - I was 1172nd at Silverstone - and my fastest 6-mile time in a race is 78 minutes. I do know from training that I can do a full half-marathon in three-and-a-half hours on a good day, and the roadsweeper that collects overly-slow runners goes round at four-and-a-quarter hours at the event I've entered. My target is simply to finish before the roadsweeper does (in the same way as I finished Silverstone two minutes before the ambulance that was doing the same job).
I will be fundraising for the National Autism Society, but haven't arranged any official fundraising options yet. These will exist by the end of next week. Though really, the fundraising is a minor part of the motivation - mostly it's a matter of me needing a focus for getting/staying fit due to strong competitive instincts. Finishing last, but with heart, is something I find motivating, in a way that following an exercise plan for its own sake doesn't.
I have one of those machines but it doesn't work, so I just practice standing still. Very safe.