Tempo run on a treadmill

A workout is about the effort.

No real difference between a tempo on a treadmill vs on the road.

Not any one-off tempos, anyway.

I enjoy tempos on a treadmill. However, also be aware that there is a lot of variability in the accuracy of the speed. If you use a home treadmill (like me), try the "tape" test. I put two pieces of tape, measure the length, remove one of the pieces, and record your run as you run at tempo pace for about 5 minutes. Replay it, count the revolutions, multiply by the belt length, and see how far off it is. I also use a track calibrated footpod for verification, which I've found to be very accurate. I always knew my treadmill was way off, but I didn't know how much. It's about 0.45 mph after after verifying multiple times. Now I just know to set the tempo speed about that much lower. Easy runs by feel, but it also seems to be about the same amount of deviation at lower speeds.

VelocityRapter wrote:

Since I don't have to propel myself over the moving belt (it provides all of the movement) the only limitation is my own leg speed velocity. With such little resistance, in theory I could run infinitely treadmill fast; in practice I can't move my legs that fast or I would fly off the treadmill.

Seriously? Do you think your upper body and center of mass just sit in one position as you run on a treadmill? Your legs are not simply moving back and forth.

Jesus christ wrote:

VelocityRapter wrote:

Since I don't have to propel myself over the moving belt (it provides all of the movement) the only limitation is my own leg speed velocity. With such little resistance, in theory I could run infinitely treadmill fast; in practice I can't move my legs that fast or I would fly off the treadmill.

Seriously? Do you think your upper body and center of mass just sit in one position as you run on a treadmill? Your legs are not simply moving back and forth.

Thanks for the thoughtful response. To be completely honest, you've lost me with the kinesiology lingo. There are also rotational momentums (hips and shoulders) that I feel are significantly underconsidered in these treadmill discussions, according to my gut feel which is more of what I trust in this sort of analysis. I'll leave the physics to the physicians.

VelocityRapter wrote:

Thanks for the thoughtful response. To be completely honest, you've lost me with the kinesiology lingo. There are also rotational momentums (hips and shoulders) that I feel are significantly underconsidered in these treadmill discussions, according to my gut feel which is more of what I trust in this sort of analysis. I'll leave the physics to the physicians.

How can you trust your gut when you don't know physics? You aren't doing any analysis,

Feels over physics, I say!

Well is there wrote:

Is there a difference between a tempo on a treadmill vs on the road in terms of benefits derived?

Personally I have always found doing tempos on the treadmill to be way harder than doing them outside, but that may be because I put a pace that's too fast for me, and it screws over my workout because I have to slow down due to the unsustainable pace I set for myself.

Dreadmill wrote:

Well is there wrote:

Is there a difference between a tempo on a treadmill vs on the road in terms of benefits derived?

Personally I have always found doing tempos on the treadmill to be way harder than doing them outside, but that may be because I put a pace that's too fast for me, and it screws over my workout because I have to slow down due to the unsustainable pace I set for myself.

I've found that if I start at about 10h/km and slowly increase it to 17.5-18h/km over 40-45 minutes, for the next week recovery jogs at 4:00km pace just seem so easy. All the Africans use treadmills now.

I used my road bike speedometer to gauge accuracy - holding the bike steady uptop the belt at 10mph. read about 9.9 on my speedomete with slightly bigger descrepency at 12mph. Decent treadmill but not commercial grade. Your mileage may vary....

Long cold winter wrote:

I used my road bike speedometer to gauge accuracy - holding the bike steady uptop the belt at 10mph. read about 9.9 on my speedomete with slightly bigger descrepency at 12mph. Decent treadmill but not commercial grade. Your mileage may vary....

I had to use a unicycle because the belt was too short for my bike.

Subway Surfers wrote:

Dreadmill wrote:

Personally I have always found doing tempos on the treadmill to be way harder than doing them outside, but that may be because I put a pace that's too fast for me, and it screws over my workout because I have to slow down due to the unsustainable pace I set for myself.

I've found that if I start at about 10h/km and slowly increase it to 17.5-18h/km over 40-45 minutes, for the next week recovery jogs at 4:00km pace just seem so easy. All the Africans use treadmills now.

You run 10h/km to 18 h/km pace? That is incredibly slow. Almost not moving at all if you take 10 hours for a single kilometer

A treadmill tempo aint nuttin but a peanut if you don't put incline on. It gets really real when you put that 1-2% incline on.

I think that variation among treadmills is the source of the strongly-held, but wide-ranging opinions on treadmill effort. People fall into the trap of thinking that they're an expert on treadmill effort because they've done a lot of runs on two or three different treadmills. But they're really only an expert on those few treadmills they've used.

When I use treadmills at the gym, a given pace usually feels harder to me than outside. It could be overheating or boredom. When I use my treadmill at home, it always feels easier. I think probably my home treadmill is miscalibrated.

LOL at the person who brought a level to the gym. I want to try that.

I use a Stryd Footpod to increase treadmill distance tracking accuracy. I also run at 1% incline “flat road” to account for air resistance when running outside.

What do you guys do if you're running on a treadmill in a new location, e.g. a hotel? You can't go about calibrating it, so do you just trust the speeds on there are right?

Pretty sure running infinitely treadmill fast still requires some sort of external motivation to increase your leg speed velocity. Try a run on pure hate. Or, better yet, run facing a mirror and place a life-sized poster of pirate cat gun girl on the wall behind you so it looks like she's chasing you. That oughta do it.

VelocityRapter wrote:

My treadmill is self-calibrated. It shows me exactly how fast the belt is going by using a digital display, in miles per hour or km per hour.

Since I don't have to propel myself over the moving belt (it provides all of the movement) the only limitation is my own leg speed velocity. With such little resistance, in theory I could run infinitely treadmill fast; in practice I can't move my legs that fast or I would fly off the treadmill.