Treadmill Calibration Check

Having run on a number of treadmills at gyms and hotels, I have noticed that they can vary in pace accuracy. I purchased a home treadmill a few months ago and really wanted to know how precise it was. Based on feel and heart rate, it seemed like it was fairly accurate. Today, I checked the calibration at an average speed....and I did it the old fashioned way.

First, I needed to find the total length of the belt for one complete rotation. I duct-taped a cloth measuring tape on it and turned it on...very slowly...until it pulled the tape all the way around. I pulled the tape tightly and it measured 10' 8-3/4".

Second, I pulled out my stopwatch, started the treadmill and set the speed to 7 miles per hour (8:34 pace). After it got up to speed, I focused on the little white logo that was imprinted on the belt and when ready, I counted and timed for 50 revolutions of the belt.

Once this was done, I multiplied the belt length by 50 and that gave me the total distance the belt traveled. The exact time for the 50 revolutions was 50.2 seconds (coincidental that it rotated almost exactly once per second). Doing the math, I arrived at an actual pace of 8:15 per mile. The treadmill was set at 8:34 per mile.

I then decided it might run just a bit slower if I was actually running on it rather than standing beside it and watching it go through its cycles. I hopped on and away we went. Now, it's not as easy as you might think to run, time, and count the logo imprints going by! But, I did it without ending up on the floor. The final answer for this second test was an 8:30 pace. That was within 4 seconds per mile of the set speed! I suspect if I had set the incline to around 1% to closely resemble outdoor running, the final answer might very well have been exactly the 8:34 pace as set on the treadmill.

I was more than satisfied with this test result and feel the treadmill is reading very true at the present time. In the future, I will do this test again and if it ever gets off much on calibration, I can always adjust my training results for whatever I find as the true speed.

I am also fully aware most treadmills can be recalibrated to some extent, some easier than others. Just a few minutes of searching with Google and one can quickly find a likely means to at least check their treadmill. Personally, I feel what I did was more accurate than some of those test methods. It was in fact the actual distance the belt traveled over a set time and under a runner's weight.

Why do all this? I guess that's the engineer in me...always messing with facts, figures, data...wanting things to be perfect and in order. Or perhaps it's the obsessive compulsive nature lurking somewhere inside me. Either way, it was a fun experiment and one that anyone could do on their own treadmill.

Cross Training

It's official. I am not only a runner, I am now a biker cycler cyclist. After four years of running only, I have now added some beneficial cross training into the weekly program. I spent some time Googling "crosstrain, run, bike" and quickly arrived at a wealth of information on the subject (not to be repeated here).

There is one thing that lures me the most: cycling increases the hours of my weekly aerobic workouts in an enjoyable manner without pounding the pavement and without sacrificing my running fitness.

My cycling plan is to get some fairly easy workouts on what might normally be a rest day. I bought an "entry level" road bike just for that purpose. No reason for a more expensive bike, nor a tri bike, nor a mountain bike.

One thing is for sure: running will always be my first love.