Treadmill speedwork outdoor equivalence

I mean 5K race in September 2021

No equivalency, throw the % incline junk out the window. Run by what the treadmill says, do the workout, and try to replicate that on raceday.

Not every workout will be equivalent to the other each and everyday. Can you draw equivalency to a workout done in 60f temps and low humidity to one in windy conditions and 80 f temps?

Just go for it on race day and let your workouts work their magic.

thank you so much

There are estimates of the advantage of not having air resistance when you run on a tmill at various paces- you could google it.

Also, the best way to know is to do the same workout outside and compare how you felt, heart rate, temp and wind speed, etc. you should get a pretty good idea of the “value” of the tmill performance.

Hate to break it to you but treadmill display pace is almost always off by 30secs to a minute. Treadmill workouts are fine but don’t rely on the display for pace.

tommy two shoes wrote:

Hate to break it to you but treadmill display pace is almost always off by 30secs to a minute. Treadmill workouts are fine but don’t rely on the display for pace.

That's not even close to being correct. For a while I was running at a couple different gyms on several different treadmills and most of them were accurate. Some were out by 1%-2% but that was rare.

Hopefully you don’t need to do enough workouts on the treadmill for this to make a difference in your overall training.

Assuming that the treadmill is calibrated or accurate, here is the translation:

4:40 pace on the treadmill = 4:40 pace outside

Technically you will have a little aerodynamic resistance outside, but the convection will also cool you. So when you’re on the treadmill, you are cooled less than outside.