Outside vs Inside on Treadmill

Greetings all! I hope everyone had a fantastic and restful weekend! Mine was pretty good actually. I was able to rest and take it easy for most of the time. I'm just gearing up now to prepare myself for this crazy week ahead!

Yesterday I went out to the trial behind my apt around the lake to do my C25K run. It was another redo of week 2, so I feel like it should have gone over pretty easy. No no no it didn't. I felt like I had my ass handed to me out on the trail. I mean, I feel accomplished but at the same time I felt like I thought I had gone about 6 inches forward then 5 inches back (Thank you to anyone who gets that song reference). The past few times of working on the treadmill I felt like I was getting really close to moving on to the 3rd week routine. I wasn't getting as winded. I was even pushing the speed up a little higher every time (topping out at 4.5). But man, going around the lake was hard work!! I don't know if it was because the trail has a few small hills along the way or maybe I'm going faster on the trail than I do on the treadmill... I'm not sure why it was harder, it just was. So now I feel like I'm not "really" getting a workout unless I do it outside instead of on the treadmill. Because running on the treadmill is not how I will be running that 5K in October. It will be outside amongst the hills and stuff. But running outside every time just isn't really an option for me since its dark by the time I get home from work. Anyone have any suggestions about this?

Anyway. Other than that I feel pretty good. My eating habits still aren't probably where they need to be but every day I'm going forward. My knees still hurt, and they alternate as to which knee hurts the worst (today it's the right). I'm also starting to consider that I might need to amp my workout game and maybe start adding some zumba or something in about once or twice a week. We'll see how this week goes.

Welp, I hate to keep this short but I still have some chores to do around the house before I hit the bed tonight. I hope everyone has a great week ahead of them!

Blessings and Later days!

--CarryV