What does "pace" on the treadmill mean?

katsushii

Hello all,

Nooby question here.

On the treadmill at our exercise room, there are several screens — time, distance, elevation, calories, pace and pulse. Pace reads like time, XX:XX. But what does it mean? I've never seen it on treadmills before this one, but I have seen it in various MyFitnessPal walking descriptions. Is "pace" something to consider when logging my exercise for the day? What's a good pace, and what is good practice for keeping it good/improving it?

Thank you!
-kat

CyberTone

Pace is how much time it takes to move over a specific distance, such as walking a pace of 20 minutes per mile.

Speed is how far something moves over a specific time, such as walking at a speed of 3 miles per hour.

Pace is the inverse of speed. So walking a pace of 20 min/mile is equal to a speed of 3 miles/hour. Either way, walking for 60 minutes at that pace or speed and you will have gone 3 miles.

AnvilHead

Treadmills will usually give your pace in terms of a mile - so if it's showing 15:00, it means you're walking at a pace which would have you complete a mile in 15 minutes. If you divide 60 (minutes) by your speed (in mph), it will give you your pace. So if you're walking 4 miles per hour on the treadmill, 60/4 = 15, which means you're doing a 15:00 mile pace.

As far as "what is a good pace?", that varies according to your fitness level, your training goals, etc. An experienced runner in excellent cardiovascular condition may run a 5:00 pace (or even lower); somebody just starting out may run at a 20:00 - 24:00 pace. The way to improve it is to run regularly and build a good base of cardiovascular fitness, very gradually increasing your mileage. More experienced runners do different types of runs according to their goals - long, slow runs, tempo runs, intervals, etc., to improve their speed and increase their distance.

katsushii

Thank you both!

AnvilHead, your explanation helps a ton.

I get it now.