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Is the treadmill harder or easier than running outdoors? Survey runners, and you’ll get plenty of different opinions on which feels harder or easier, but the basic physics of running are the same on both. (I promise.) So why do people who are used to treadmills find that they’re suddenly slower when they run outdoors? I’m going to run through the factors that are at play here, and talk about how to adapt if you want to be able to enjoy both.

Why treadmills sometimes feel harder than running outside

If you find treadmill running harder, you probably already know the reason: It’s boring . You have nothing to distract you from your own effort and the glowing numbers telling you how little progress you’ve made.…