I’ve been a little bit restless lately because I pinched something in my knees a while back. Luckily, this hasn’t posed much of an problem for my workouts. I’ve been able to lunge, squat and do most forms of cardio, except for running. The past few weeks, however, I’ve been building my strength back up in terms of running, and I was even able to complete a run outside on Saturday and a longer one before I sat down to write this without anything hurting in a bad way; obviously I could feel the burn, though.

So, now that I’m getting back into running, I decided to learn about some of its benefits. During my research, I found a lot of articles comparing and contrasting the treadmill to running outdoors, which isn’t quite what I’m interested in. I personally believe that they both have their benefits and some workouts are better complimented by a treadmill, but sometimes you need to get outside. Lucky for any of you guys stressing over which to choose, both workouts provide effective exercise.

That being said, I came across an interesting study from Duke University that showed that people who are running outside will work harder without realizing it because they are receiving so much satisfaction from it. Think about it: the fresh air, the view and the meditative state you fall into with a good playlist — what’s not to be satisfied with? And none of you smarty pants tell me about how much it hurts; that should be a source of satisfaction and accomplishment, too.

Another good thing about running outside is that you can’t quit. On the treadmill, you can always hit “off” and walk to your car in the gym parking lot, but if you hit the mental off button while running outside, you have a long walk home ahead of you. Not that any of us at Zen & M’s need to worry about that; we’re not quitters!

If you can’t make it outside, but want to simulate an outside run on the treadmill, the wrong thing to do is to set a super high incline for yourself the whole duration of your cardio. I mean, how many trails do you run that involve a steep hill portion for 30 minutes? Instead, try a two percent to five percent incline and alternate with each workout to avoid hurting yourself. Also, alternate speed to avoid boredom. I like intervals, but sometimes I also like just pushing the cardio out as an act of force. It’s fun, so I just continuously increase speed every five or 10 minutes depending on how I feel.

Lastly, I want to leave you with a few helpful websites to aid you with your running. This page is specifically geared toward us ladies, but it has helpful tips for everyone. It’s about running safety, which might seem redundant in a small town like Wayland, but you can never be too prepared. The same page can also map out your run to see just how long it is. I’ve found it very helpful for planning; just make sure that you check if you’re in kilometers or miles, since sometimes it changes unexpectedly on you or makes it look like your route is longer than it actually is.

Hopefully after the winter storm this week we’ll have only clear, sunny skies ahead. Happy running!