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Zwift RunPod Hacks
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I didn't get the zwift runpod because it was great, I got it because it was cheap.
It's also pretty easy to run tests on the treadmill.
I set it at a certain speed, and try different things - assuming that the treadmill stays consistent.

I normally run 12 km/h
My barefoot shoes measure 0.3-0.8 km/h faster than my brooks ghosts
Putting the pod on my toe vs ankle side of the shoe is 1.5-1.8km/h faster

I have no idea how accurate the treadmill or footpod are, so I don't really know which if the fastest numbers are accurate or not.
So I think this is more Hack.

The next ones are more on the bending the rules side.

Just like how if you pedal harder with the left pedal of the single sided power makes your numbers look great, I found that running "slow" with the non foot pod leg and "fast" with the footpod leg made my speed faster. This however felt weird and when I went faster I couldn't keep this lopsided run stride up for long.

Part way through the run I noticed that the treadmill was up, so I then decided to point it downhill, and went faster again.

When people do zwift running events, are they adjusting the incline to match what zwift says you are running across?
Does everyone just keep the treadmill set at 0% incline the whole time?
Or am I the only one who was not running downhill all day on zwift until today?

What are your thougths?
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Re: Zwift RunPod Hacks [Nat Faulkner] [ In reply to ]
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Nat Faulkner wrote:
I didn't get the zwift runpod because it was great, I got it because it was cheap.
It's also pretty easy to run tests on the treadmill.
I set it at a certain speed, and try different things - assuming that the treadmill stays consistent.

I normally run 12 km/h
My barefoot shoes measure 0.3-0.8 km/h faster than my brooks ghosts
Putting the pod on my toe vs ankle side of the shoe is 1.5-1.8km/h faster

I have no idea how accurate the treadmill or footpod are, so I don't really know which if the fastest numbers are accurate or not.
So I think this is more Hack.

The next ones are more on the bending the rules side.

Just like how if you pedal harder with the left pedal of the single sided power makes your numbers look great, I found that running "slow" with the non foot pod leg and "fast" with the footpod leg made my speed faster. This however felt weird and when I went faster I couldn't keep this lopsided run stride up for long.

Part way through the run I noticed that the treadmill was up, so I then decided to point it downhill, and went faster again.

When people do zwift running events, are they adjusting the incline to match what zwift says you are running across?
Does everyone just keep the treadmill set at 0% incline the whole time?
Or am I the only one who was not running downhill all day on zwift until today?

What are your thougths?

I generally keep my treadmill at 2% incline, which I read somewhere is supposed to be more like actual road running.

You do know that there's a way to calibrate the run pod, right? It's in Zwift and seems to be fairly accurate, based on "feel" in my opinion, although when running faster or slower than my normal pace on the treadmill, the accuracy seems to not be as good.

For example, I run 7:30-8:00 miles generally, a bit slower on longer runs. When I calibrate the run pod for that pace, it's pretty close to dead on. But if I run faster or slower, the accuracy seems to be off, with a 9 or 10 minute mile reading a bit faster, and a 6 or 7 minute mile reading a bit slower.
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Re: Zwift RunPod Hacks [Nat Faulkner] [ In reply to ]
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Nat Faulkner wrote:
I didn't get the zwift runpod because it was great, I got it because it was cheap.
It's also pretty easy to run tests on the treadmill.
I set it at a certain speed, and try different things - assuming that the treadmill stays consistent.

I normally run 12 km/h
My barefoot shoes measure 0.3-0.8 km/h faster than my brooks ghosts
Putting the pod on my toe vs ankle side of the shoe is 1.5-1.8km/h faster

I have no idea how accurate the treadmill or footpod are, so I don't really know which if the fastest numbers are accurate or not.
So I think this is more Hack.

The next ones are more on the bending the rules side.

Just like how if you pedal harder with the left pedal of the single sided power makes your numbers look great, I found that running "slow" with the non foot pod leg and "fast" with the footpod leg made my speed faster. This however felt weird and when I went faster I couldn't keep this lopsided run stride up for long.

Part way through the run I noticed that the treadmill was up, so I then decided to point it downhill, and went faster again.

When people do zwift running events, are they adjusting the incline to match what zwift says you are running across?
Does everyone just keep the treadmill set at 0% incline the whole time?
Or am I the only one who was not running downhill all day on zwift until today?

What are your thougths?

If you want your Zwift avatar to run faster than you actually are, it's super easy just to miscalibrate it within Zwift so your casual jogging pace is like 12mph. I don't see the point in cheating, especially since Zwift run is basically the honour system. There are literally no checks and balances in Zwift running.

With respect to incline, I suspect since Zwift cannot (for the most part) control your treadmill incline, everyone is running somewhere between dead flat and 2% and not changing it at all.
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Re: Zwift RunPod Hacks [Kickr] [ In reply to ]
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I bought one of these and used it until the gym at work shutdown for Covid. I would manually change the grade of the tread to match the Zwift world.

Thing is, I really really don't understand how this thing is BT but Zwift made it so it wouldn't ALSO work over BT as a sensor for running outdoors. Like, WTF. Seriously? Is it because there's a lot of development time in the BT protocol for exercise devices?

Kind of annoying as I was too lazy and quick on the trigger buying one to look into that. Otherwise would have bought a real run food pod.
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Re: Zwift RunPod Hacks [Kickr] [ In reply to ]
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Kickr wrote:
Nat Faulkner wrote:
I didn't get the zwift runpod because it was great, I got it because it was cheap.
It's also pretty easy to run tests on the treadmill.
I set it at a certain speed, and try different things - assuming that the treadmill stays consistent.

I normally run 12 km/h
My barefoot shoes measure 0.3-0.8 km/h faster than my brooks ghosts
Putting the pod on my toe vs ankle side of the shoe is 1.5-1.8km/h faster

I have no idea how accurate the treadmill or footpod are, so I don't really know which if the fastest numbers are accurate or not.
So I think this is more Hack.

The next ones are more on the bending the rules side.

Just like how if you pedal harder with the left pedal of the single sided power makes your numbers look great, I found that running "slow" with the non foot pod leg and "fast" with the footpod leg made my speed faster. This however felt weird and when I went faster I couldn't keep this lopsided run stride up for long.

Part way through the run I noticed that the treadmill was up, so I then decided to point it downhill, and went faster again.

When people do zwift running events, are they adjusting the incline to match what zwift says you are running across?
Does everyone just keep the treadmill set at 0% incline the whole time?
Or am I the only one who was not running downhill all day on zwift until today?

What are your thougths?


If you want your Zwift avatar to run faster than you actually are, it's super easy just to miscalibrate it within Zwift so your casual jogging pace is like 12mph. I don't see the point in cheating, especially since Zwift run is basically the honour system. There are literally no checks and balances in Zwift running.

With respect to incline, I suspect since Zwift cannot (for the most part) control your treadmill incline, everyone is running somewhere between dead flat and 2% and not changing it at all.

I think it was DC Rainmaker who said something about how altering the speed and incline of a treadmill was likely a liability concern, so while it would be convenient, it's probably not something most manufacturers are willing to risk. That said, it's pretty easy to just manually tweak the inclines to keep up with Zwift. I've done it before, they don't change as rapidly running (@ 5-12 mph) as they do cycling (@10-50 mph).
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