Turn a treadmill's speed into the pace you'd read outdoors, and set the incline so the effort matches the road.
Pace is just the inverse of speed. At 6.0 mph you cover a mile every 10 minutes, so your pace is 10:00 per mile (6:13 per kilometre). The tool above does it for any speed; the chart below lists the common ones. Most treadmills show speed, while most runners think in pace, so this bridges the two.
Set the treadmill to 1% incline to roughly match the effort of running the same pace outdoors. A treadmill belt pulls the ground back for you and there's no air resistance, so flat (0%) treadmill running is slightly easier than the road. One percent closes most of that gap; 2% is a fair setting for faster running. Bigger inclines are hill training and stop matching the road.
| mph | km/h | Pace / mile | Pace / km |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.0 | 6.4 | 15:00 | 9:19 |
| 4.5 | 7.2 | 13:20 | 8:17 |
| 5.0 | 8.0 | 12:00 | 7:27 |
| 5.5 | 8.9 | 10:55 | 6:47 |
| 6.0 | 9.7 | 10:00 | 6:13 |
| 6.5 | 10.5 | 9:14 | 5:44 |
| 7.0 | 11.3 | 8:34 | 5:20 |
| 7.5 | 12.1 | 8:00 | 4:58 |
| 8.0 | 12.9 | 7:30 | 4:40 |
| 8.5 | 13.7 | 7:04 | 4:23 |
| 9.0 | 14.5 | 6:40 | 4:09 |
| 9.5 | 15.3 | 6:19 | 3:55 |
| 10.0 | 16.1 | 6:00 | 3:44 |
Steady Pace's cadence metronome works indoors where GPS cannot. Set your turnover and hold it, then when you get outside, hold your pace by ear with a tone that rises when you slow and falls when you speed up.
GPS needs to see you move across the ground, and on a treadmill you don't. Without a signal, a phone can't measure treadmill pace, so you read it off the machine instead. A foot pod or watch accelerometer can estimate it, but the treadmill's own display is usually your best number indoors.
Slightly, at 0% incline. The belt assists your stride and there's no wind to push through. Setting 1% incline evens out the difference for easy and steady running. The bigger differences are mental and in terrain: a treadmill never has hills, corners, or a headwind.
6.0 mph, which is 9.7 km/h, or 6:13 per kilometre. See the chart above for the full range from an easy 4.0 mph walk-jog to a brisk 10.0 mph.
Set a target pace. A tone rises when you slow and falls when you speed up, so you hold it without looking at your phone. No ads, no account, no subscription.
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