I’ve trained for my first marathon almost exclusively on the treadmill. The marathon is this Sunday let’s see how this goes…

Who else here has experience training almost exclusively on the treadmill for marathons/races? Did it affect you positively or negatively on race day?

I am in the small majority of people that actually enjoys my treadmill. 😅 I’ve marathon trained on the treadmill for pretty much the last 18 weeks. I’ve been able to do a lot of my longer runs on the weekends outside (15-20 miles) and some mid long runs(8-14 miles). However, during the week almost all of my runs have exclusively been on the treadmill. I even managed to do a 20 miler on the treadmill. I topped my training out at 50 MPW. My runs have been structured as follows... Interval/speed, tempo, easy, long run. I do want to add that I have been a runner for a long time and do have a solid base.

Prior to this training block I did a 12 week maintenance plan and was able to get outside for most of my runs, and during the summer I’m able to get outside more. I have small kids at home and work night shift, so as my training progressed and the days got shorter getting outside everyday became really difficult. So I just had to try my best to make it work anyway I could to stay consistent. I’m grateful for my treadmill because I don’t think I would have been able to fully stick to my plan without it. As far as the training aspects, I do notice my heart rate is a tad higher outside when switching between the two but other than that my pace pretty much has stayed consistent, and I would like to think it has given me a slight edge. Because I’m so use to the monotony of the treadmill when I get outside I definitely notice more “pep” in my step if that makes sense.