I have a Stryd pod I use while in treadmill . It’s connected to Zwift. How accurate is the pace. When I’m doing about 6.2 mpg it Zwift says my pace is about 10:30 per mile. Seems slow. Is there way to make sure it’s accurate? Thanks
I use the initial pairing screen from time to time to better sync my Stryd pod. If I simply run the one middle pace, the Stryd seems to mimic my treadmill within 0.1 mph. On some shoes where the laces are offset from the center, the Stryd seems to register a little differently. Putting the pod on the same foot in the same place for Zwift seems to improve the variability for me.
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The Stryd does not require any calibration. If you run outside and everything is correct, as it should because that’s how Stryd works, there is nothing to do. Just go on the treadmill and run, your indoor speed and outdoor speed will be identical.
The speed displayed by your treadmil is NOT the speed you run but the speed of the belt while you run on it. So ignore this speed, and just take what Stryd says because that will be correct. You can try on other treadmills if you have the possibility, and you will see the difference will vary. You could go into the TM menu and calibrate the TM so that you would increade the speed of the belt to match your running speed, but in most case, unless you are very very fast and you are able to run at the maximum speed of the TM, just ignore what the TM says and use only the data from Stryd.
In general, that’s the point of using Stryd, to be able to run anywhere outdoors or indoors on any TM and ensure your running is the same every time. So you would not wonder why indoors you are faster than outdoors for example. This won’t happen.
Of course, if you are running at 13kmh according to stryd but your TM is at 15kmh, well you would be running faster in Zwift connecting your TM instead of your Stryd, but that wouldn’t be fair nor realistic… Averaging 15kmh indoors and “only” 13kmh outdoors, what’s the point ?
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Nice facts. Thank you for this note. I was not aware of this either and have only used my Stryd as the source for my stride rate, as my treadmill does not track stride rate above 10km/h.
Um… the speed you run is most certainly the speed of the belt or you will fall off one end!
However calibration is always a bit appropriate IME.
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What I have noticed is that while the calibration is great, as I run and my form changes, the speed can decouple. Whether it is me picking up feet less or shorter strides as I get more tired - the calibration is only as good as the form when it is done. For reference, I use the Zwift Run Pod and it is “close enough” for my needs - but definitely not 100% on target.
Absolutely right. You can have the treadmill set at the same pace but get different speed reporting from a foot pod based on your running form.
Long bouncy strides will report different to shorter shuffles.
Plenty of treadmills are also horribly miscalibrated and owned by gyms or people who don’t care to spend the money or time to have them calibrated. ‘Gym treadmill speed’ is absolutely nothing I would trust to be accurate, followed closely by ‘Reasonably Priced Home Treadmill Speed’.
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You’d actually be surprised at the accuracy of them to be honest. That’s when there is no load on them. They are pretty accurate. The speed is controlled by the amount of power given to the motor. It can only be altered via adjusting this on the circuit board.
There is little beyond that cause them to be inaccurate.
It’s when there is load on them. Cheaper models have low powered motors that once the belt is stood on and effectively trapped onto the deck they struggle to get the belt back to full speed before the next foot strike and so on. You can literally hear the motor speed varying.
The higher power the motor the less this occurs as the motor can accelerate the belt quicker once the load is reduced.
My home treadmill is calibrated under load to ensure its as close the being accurate as i can. I use a contact tachometer to do this.
You’ll find mixed results of people who say they their treadmill speed is faster or slower than real life. Hard to compare as there no wind on a treadmill and it’s easier to maintain a pace.
On the flip side you overheat quicker on a treadmill.
I dunno, I learned what I know about it from the guy my old gym brought into calibrate them before an indoor triathlon. Iirc, belt slippage was one of the ways they get out of whack, for example. And yeah, it’s all about calibration under load–I don’t much care how well it keeps its calibration when no ones on it 
I care (particularly in an indoor tri) about whether your machine and my machine are logging the same distance at the same listed speed. And many of them were not, and according to the maintenance guy, that’s common.
Belt slippage becomes really obvious as when your foot strikes the belt stops but it actually feels like it goes backwards.
It’s caused by the stretch of the belt over time. As they run under tension they eventually stretch a fraction. Quick move of the year roller backwards sorts it.
It would definitely make it run slow as the belt is being stopped, thus the motor has to get it back up to speed from almost static. See how long it takes your treadmill to go from 0mph to your chosen speed. It’ll be a few seconds for sure.
So each foot strike on a loose belt will cost you a fraction of a second.
Over a mile that’ll soon add up.
Given the difference of say 30 seconds over a mile that’s huge.
Outside if you run 2 miles, one at one pace then the next 30 seconds quicker and you’ll feel the difference for sure.
I would always advise calibrating under load.
Just read the above back to myself and realised I’m a right treadmill anorak.
Even under load the speed can vary. I’m pretty sure I can speed up and slow down my tready depending how I run on it. Certainly the reported speed varies by as much as 10s per km and I think it’s more likely to be changing the belt speed rather than just a change in running gait. Hard to be sure with no real fixed datum though!