Treadmill Pace Calculator

Now that it's cold out, I've been doing my mid-week runs on the treadmill. I'm not too keen on treadmills. On the one hand, they seem easier, because I'm inside away from the elements with the TV on in front of me with no wind resistance or natural up and down slope of the road to deal with. On the other hand, I have to run at an even pace which I don't naturally do, and I can just hop off when I'm tired. I'm not that self-disciplined. I need to run "out and back" courses so that when I want to stop, I know that the only way to get to my destination is to run there (or walk, but that will take longer).

I did a treadmill class at the gym a couple of times (literally I think about 2 times), and the instructor said that you should always put the incline on at least .5% because leaving it at 0% is like running/walking at a decline and harder on your knees. She said that a .5% incline on the treadmill is really the equivalent to flat terrain outside.

I've been trying to incorporate some speedwork and tempo runs into this round of training so I wanted to see what the equivalent paces were on the treadmill at different inclines vs. the road. I have heard that what the treadmill readout says the pace is is a little off. I found a chart on hillrunner.com , but it didn't have all of the settings from 5.0-6.0, and it didn't have equivalent paces for a .5% incline so I expanded the chart to include these. Feel free to use it:

Treadmill MPH Setting	Flat road pace per mile	Actual equivalent paces by incline
		0%	0.5%	1%	2%	3%
5.0	12:00	12:31	12:08	11:44	11:05	10:32
5.1	11:46	12:17	11:54	11:31	10:54	10:22
5.2	11:32	12:02	11:40	11:18	10:42	10:11
5.3	11:20	11:49	11:28	11:07	10:31	10:01
5.4	11:07	11:35	11:15	10:55	10:20	9:51
5.5	10:55	11:23	11:03	10:44	10:10	9:42
5.6	10:43	11:10	10:51	10:32	10:00	9:33
5.7	10:32	10:59	10:41	10:22	9:51	9:25
5.8	10:21	10:47	10:30	10:12	9:42	9:16
5.9	10:11	10:37	10:20	10:02	9:33	9:08
6.0	10:00	10:26	10:09	9:52	9:24	9:00
6.1	9:50	10:15	9:59	9:43	9:16	8:52
6.2	9:41	10:05	9:50	9:34	9:08	8:44
6.3	9:31	9:56	9:41	9:26	9:00	8:37
6.4	9:23	9:46	9:32	9:17	8:52	8:30
6.5	9:14	9:37	9:23	9:09	8:45	8:23
6.6	9:05	9:29	9:15	9:01	8:37	8:16
6.7	8:57	9:20	9:07	8:53	8:30	8:10
6.8	8:49	9:12	8:59	8:45	8:23	8:03
6.9	8:42	9:04	8:52	8:39	8:17	7:57
7.0	8:34	8:56	8:44	8:32	8:10	7:51
7.1	8:27	8:49	8:37	8:25	8:04	7:45
7.2	8:20	8:41	8:30	8:18	7:58	7:40
7.3	8:13	8:34	8:23	8:12	7:52	7:34
7.4	8:06	8:27	8:16	8:05	7:46	7:28
7.5	8:00	8:20	8:10	7:59	7:40	7:23
7.6	7:54	8:14	8:04	7:53	7:34	7:18
7.7	7:48	8:07	7:57	7:47	7:29	7:13
7.8	7:42	8:01	7:51	7:41	7:24	7:08
7.9	7:36	7:55	7:46	7:36	7:18	7:03
8.0	7:30	7:49	7:40	7:30	7:13	6:58