Going With The Flow

Wheel > Track > Intuition > MaymyRun > Garmin > Pedometer > Treadmill > Car Odometer

I took my bike with the calibrated bike computer/magnet on it and put the front wheel on the treadmill and compared the bike computer with my treadmill readings. It was off, and I didn't know how to fix it but at least then I knew.

My garmin has a footpod feature to run indoors on the treadmill and track mileage. And I question both the treadmill speed distance as well as the garmin. :)

You should throw in the HR monitor in the mix too - to see if you trust it.

Out of the 2 choices I would go with the garmin :).

Hope the achilles behaves. It's really cool to see you doing so well.

Treadmill, but that's because I run under trees. :)

From my experience, these are normal tweaks trying to get back your legs. You are smart to throw off mileage goals and continue listening to your body!

I gotta go with the Garmin over the treadmill as well....I just don't think they are very reliable once you get close to the maximum speed. And the wear and tear on the treadmills can have a huge impact on the calibration. The Garmin can over/under estimate too but it is generally not way off (weather/canyons permitting).

Ya I agree I would say garmin over treadmill. I feel like I'm booking on the treadmill and look down and only going 8 min pace. I just run for time on the treadmill.

I like the treadmill for dialing in effort. I can concentrate on my breathing and mess with the settings from there. That aspect of the device is often overlooked.

I run with two guys who have different watches, Nike, Solus, and my Garmin gives us all different readings. We may stop the watch at a road crossing, take a different corner, or whatever. But when I ran a workout with one of my running partners we ran almost the exact same route (we exchanged the lead) and it was probably .15-.2 difference over 4 miles.

A followup question: where do differences in distance come from with watches if they are using the same satellites ([presumably)? I guess it is in the program itself, but it is still odd.

Tree cover makes a difference, but so do power stations (as near as I can tell).

Of course, the correct answer to your question is "Timex" :-)

Keep an eye on that achilles. Mine sometimes gets just a bit tight when I bump up my mileage, which usually reminds me to slow down just a touch and try to lift rather than push.

Definitely garmin. I have recently discovered the TM is ok for getting some turnover every once and awhile but I would never trust it for accurate paces.

i agree with jason -- timex. it never lies. and you can wear them in hot tubs.

but between the treadmill and garmin -- i definitely trust the garmin more, for the reasons already stated.

as for beeping tolerance, i think treadmill beeps are more beautiful/less annoying than garmin beeps.

I wear my Timex with my Garmin, then every time my Garmin beeps I remember to hit the lap button on my Timex.

I've run on a lot of different treadmills. I think some are very accurate, some seem to be all over the place. I think if you can run on the same treadmill at least you can track improvement, which is what we are really getting at right?

I have run on many Treadmills in my day. And I would have to add that the gym treadmills can be quite off because of all the wear and tear. I trust my TM at home, because of the consistency I feel on different paces, but it is still easier than running outside.

With my Garmin, I run a lot of the same loops, and they are consistent everytime, but then when I run with someone, their Garmin info will differ from mine.

So all in all, I go by effort on the TM and Garmin. The feedback they give is just a estimate of what you are doing.

Not the treadmill. Counting my steps, yes;) Except for when I PR on the treadmill, then it is always accurate!

I trust my garmin implicitly... its a little bit of a co-dependent relationship ;)

And I agree with Angie on the treadmill. I always feel like I'm doing a good paced easy run, then look down to find Im running 1-2 minutes slower than usual.

Garmin all day any day over the treadmill. I bust out some wicked workouts on the treadmill that would be impossible on the roads/track. I change the pace from 4:36 to 4:32 and don't realize a change at all in effort on a treadmill. On the roads that four seconds is very easily noticeable. The faster you get on the treadmill the more unreliable the pace.

As for perceived effort on the treadmill, I notice that for easy paces the treadmill feels incredibly harder than running on the road (6:30-8:00 pace). But for faster paces it feels incredibly easier (6:00 and under). Anyone else notice that?

That's pretty much on the money in my experience. I'm not an expert but I think there are so many variables at play here and not all are linear in relationship. Especially on a treadmill; IE-Lack of wind resistance, power output from the motor at high speed, belt friction, stride mechanics etc.