Farkin Hell, is running outdoors REALLY meant to be that much harder than on a treadmill?

[MummyPenguin]

I can run for 15 - 20 mins flat out on a treadmill (okay, not very impressive, but it's good for me!) However, this morning I tried a run outdoors, and it was so much harder. I could only do short bursts of running and walking. Didn't do very well at all. I've heard that running outdoors is harder, but bloody hell...

yep, it really is.

Quite embarrassing really

Awful. 10 times harder. And you can't just hop off if you get breathless.
I pretented I was just running to catch the post and then wandered home again

Very embarrasing. Shocking really.

Agree - it is way, way, waaaay harder. Not entirely sure why but something to do with varied gradient and increased muscle use in order to deal with variable terrain, etc. ??

I can only do 10 mins solid of running outdoors. I've had a break from running and am getting back to it - this time I'm deliberately starting out running outdoors so that I can impress myself if I ever make it to a gym.

I find running outdooers much easier than on a treadmil - i have many more distractions to start with

There used to be some fine male distractions at my gym

yes of course it is.

There's the breeze for a start, the uneven surface for another - have to admit though I was shocked the first time after treadmilling