treadmill to road ..... how to get that pace right

Looking for some advice if anyone can help would be everso grateful.

I have been gyming for a good few years, very "robust" woman, built for power not speed!  As part of my fitness regime i normally go to the gym every day, do at least 1 hour cardio and 1/2 hour weights.  Problem is just under a year ago i moved, and for the last 7 months done nothing due to other commitments its blurghh!  So i have put weight on and lost my fitness levels.

Now i want to run outside (from always running on the treadmill).  I could run for ages without stopping on a TM at 7 to 8K ph which was comfortable.  Now on the road, i have to stop start and my pace is 6k when running down to 9k when walking (as per my ipod).  Its just not comfortable for me. 

Does anyone know of any ipod music which you can set to pace, or any other methods of keeping my pace right for me?

Cheers

just go with what feels comfortable - a pace at which you could maintain a conversation. If you haven't done any running for a while it will probably be slow, but don't worrry about it. As the outside world is not flat like a treadmill and has weather as well, then your pace outside will vary according to the conditions, so don't try to compare it to the treadmill. You will go slower uphill and faster downhill, all part of the fun

Hi!

I am also the more "robust" woman too, quite muscley (sorry should I say toned) and look fitter than I am lol! I went out for my first run outdoors about 3 weeks ago after just staying on treadmills, it was tough and I was very very slow. However, within that time I have noticed an increase in my fitness levels, but it has been hard. Just keep on plodding and you will reach a lightbulb moment!

Hi and thanks

I do love my running, but i used to run solid on a TM, now i am determined to do a marathon at some point in my life and i have to run on the road.  Its not easy, actually i lie....its hard hard hard!  I have a route which is just under 5K and i still haven't been able to run even 1k without walking for a bit which is really pants.  Mind saying that after time out i cant expect miracles and frankly given that i did gain weight anything is going to hard right now (as i wobble my way around *oh the shame*!). 

I dont know if anyone else has this, but it seems i go off too fast on the road, the TM does slow you down which i needed.  I tend to push it all the time  and then get cross! 

you need to start off slow and keep slow and you will be able to go further. You also have to take into consideration that speeds on treadmills aren't accurate, so you may not have really been going the speed you think you were

I've been out of practice for a long time and only just coming back to running, but from my younger days I always found that I ran much quicker on the road than the treadmill, without realising it, and then ended up knackered much sooner than I would have in the gym.

A good tip when running outside is to literally try to run as slow as you can i.e. make the right moves so it's clearly distinct from walking, but apart from that to go as slow as possible.  I used to tell myself that I was warming up for the first half of my run, and then cooling down for the second half.  If I found myself starting to speed up I'd tell myself off and force myself to slow down.  Remember, walking quickly is 4/mph, running slowly is about 5/mph, so the energy requirement is about the same - it's only when you start getting up to 6/mph that it tires you out.  You can always run at walking pace!

I have had a break through whooopp whooopp. 

I managed to find a couch to 10k app which builds you up from walk / run to full run.  Its brilliant and i really seem to get on with this method.  On top of that i really have slowed my pace down (thanks to you guys).  Just went out and even though its early days today i did 1 min run, 1.5 min walk 8 times with a  five warm up and cool down, i actually managed to knock a minute of my route time and it feels great.  I think i might be getting my mojo back - even if slowly

Happy happy happy

well done