Runmeter Wins Because My Treadmill Lies

Back in October I got a treadmill. Last month the foot was feeling better so I began running again. The weather hasn't been great so I continued running on the treadmill. For the last two weeks or so, I've been running for 17 minutes. Not sure why, but I can't seem to run longer than that at this moment. 17 minutes seems to equal running 1.2 miles. That's the distance I've been seeing at the end of my runs. Wow, that is super slow. I even cover up the distance display with my iPhone so I'm not distracted (or disappointed) by it.

I can either run at a constant speed, or increase the speed for a few minutes, and my distance is always the same in 17 minutes, 1.2 miles. I don't understand why this is happening, and I began to wonder if my treadmill was broken. 

Does it just stop working once it reaches 1.2 miles on the display? 

Was my new tool lying to me?

I needed answers.

I realized that I don't like speed controlled runs. Yes you can press a button and change the speed, but that's too distracting for me. When I run outside, I speed up and slow down when my body feels the need to. There are no buttons. This passed weekend I ran outside for the first time in months. Wow, it felt SO different because I've been running on the treadmill. But it also felt wonderful. I was happy to use Runmeter again and something shocked me.

Saturday's run

According to my treadmill, if I were to run 8min and 44sec then I'd only be at about 1/2 a mile. But Runmeter says otherwise.

Sunday's run

And lookie here. I ran a mile in right under 12 minutes. According to my treadmill I should have only ran a distance of about 3/4 of a mile.

Interesting, don'cha think? So which is more accurate?
I will have to agree with Runmeter. I have used Runmeter during my 5k runs. My Runmeter results and my official race time results are within seconds of each other. Runmeter FTW! (FTW = for the win)


But this knowledge is quite disappointing. Once again I am glad that I didn't pay $1300 for my treadmill. Sheesh.