I am slowly getting back at running after 1 month of inactivity. Prior to that, I did not have a huge base but was running 3-4 times per week at lunch time ranging from 5 to 7 km per run. As for running pace, it varies but I can hold 4:30 per/km.
I understand that treadmill running is ‘easier’ than running outside on the road but if I want to try to mimic as much as possible the pace I was running at, what is the treadmill speed and incline should I set it for:
5:00 per/km
4:45 per/km
4:30 per/km
4:15 per/km
Gear: I don’t have a foot pod and use a Garmin 610.
Today I ran at 5 mph with 3.0% incline for 50 min and felt very comfortable. I counted my rpm and I was about 170. Id I keep my rpm high even at lower speed, does it make a difference when it comes to pace?
Generally a 1% grade on the treadmill is said to mimic outdoor running. You could try to match your HR to determine what grade or pace relative to outdoors that you wish to train at as well.
For me, I like to really work the hills on the treadmill. Last year’s long cold winter left me with few opportunities to run outside so it was a lot of time doing easy volume at HR with one day a week of severe hill training. But I focused on the bike last winter so I may do it differently this year.
Andrew Jones et.al presented a good paper on the 1% treadmill rule - and basically to imitate outdoors running only if running faster than 7:09 min per mile is the 1% rule applicable. So using your Min per KM - only your running speed of 4:15 fits into the model -
So this speed per mile is purely to replicate outdoor running and nothing to do with making the treadmill harder by increasing the incline. Hope this helps
Sorry, can you clarify: so you only need to set the 1% incline to simulate outdoor running if going faster than 7:09? Running slower and you don’t the need the incline? Us slow runners need to know
The paper referenced (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8887211) didn’t have powerful enough methods to distinguish between 0% and 1% incline from outdoors at 9:11 pace, but 2% was significantly different; deviation from 0% begun at that 7:09 pace.
Inference suggests it’s a non-0% incline, but you know what they say about inferring…
I have very little confidence that the pace/speed on my treadmill is accurate. For that reason I use heart rate as a guide for effort. If run a recovery run outdoors at at 120 BMP then I play with pace on the treadmill until my heart rate is around 120 BPM. Unless pace conversion table are for “your” treadmill, I have a feeling they won’t be accurate.
I have very little confidence that the pace/speed on my treadmill is accurate. For that reason I use heart rate as a guide for effort. If run a recovery run outdoors at at 120 BMP then I play with pace on the treadmill until my heart rate is around 120 BPM. Unless pace conversion table are for “your” treadmill, I have a feeling they won’t be accurate.
Very true, but if you’ve got a well-calibrated footpod you can use that for pace instead (I know the OP said he doesn’t).
That table is an interesting resource, but if you look at the numbers for paces that most people are going to be running (6:00 to 9:00 min miles), the most equivalent incline setting is 1%, hence the generalised rule. I feel it works for me, but it’s a tough one considering HR and RPE are usually higher than outdoors due to the lack of ventilation and boredom of running on a treadmill!
I have very little confidence that the pace/speed on my treadmill is accurate. For that reason I use heart rate as a guide for effort. If run a recovery run outdoors at at 120 BMP then I play with pace on the treadmill until my heart rate is around 120 BPM. Unless pace conversion table are for “your” treadmill, I have a feeling they won’t be accurate.
That’s pretty much the way I look at it too.
I’ve measured several commercial treadmills with and without a runner on them. Some are good but most are off up to 20 sec/mile. The speed is a pretty good guide. Subjective feeling and HR is what I go by unless I’m doing really fast intervals and by then I’m just running as fast as I can for that time period.
Thanks for the chart! It is a good baseline for me to start with.
Looks like I will have to dust out my HR monitor to have more accurate perception of my running effort as I usually train without it and only go by feel. Maybe it is time for me to test my max HR to know exactly my HR zone.
Testing for your max heart rate can be done easily on the treadmill too! I’ve done mine in the lab but you can easily do them at home or at the gym if you have a means to capture the output from your HRM. Here is the most common way to achieve that measurement (see below). There are better ways of course, but this is quick and accurate within a few % of what the lab would give most people. Just remember to really push that last segment HARD as if you were racing towards a winning lotto ticket off in the distance. Get them millions!
http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/how-to-find-your-max-heart-rate
The gold standard for finding your maximal heart rate is a treadmill stress test in a lab, but you can simulate one on your own with a heart-rate monitor. At a track (or on a treadmill in track mode), do a warmup mile or two, followed by a mile at tempo pace, then gradually increase your speed over 400 meters before running a final quarter all out. “After every 100 meters during the last 400, look at your monitor and accelerate,” says Atlanta-based coach Roy Benson. The highest number on your monitor will be close to your maximum heart rate. Once you know your true rate, you only need to update it every five years to see the effect of aging on your max heart rate.
