Peloton’s ‘Pace Targets’ Workouts Might Turn Me Into a Runner
I don’t run. Well, I try, like, twice a year, but I’m not very good at it. My co-workers Meredith and Beth are accomplished athletes who are very capable runners. I’m a cycling instructor who prefers low-impact cardio that doesn’t jolt my entire body or give me a side ache. Whenever I get the crazy idea to run, I kind of take off down FDR Drive in Manhattan with no clear goal or idea of how fast I should try to run. Then I get burned out, frustrated, and stop. A marathon isn’t in my future. Not even a 5K—or so I thought, until I tried Peloton’s Pace Target workouts.
What are the target paces for Peloton workouts?
Pace Target workouts are personalized extensions of the running, walking, hiking, and boot camp classes on Peloton’s Tread and Tread+ treadmills (though in some cases, you can use them without one of the company’s proprietary devices). Basically, instead of your virtual instructor telling you to run at, say, a 6.2 pace, you’re told to run at a “moderate” pace, which will vary from person to person. My moderate pace is, for example, a 4.1, but if you’re a hardcore runner, yours might be higher. To get the same benefits of moderate running, we’ll be moving at wildly different paces — and that’s what Pace Target workouts are for: “Speed ranges tailored to you.”
First, you take a 20-Minute Introduction to Pace Goals class. You’re asked to estimate the fastest mile you think you can run, then set a goal level from 1 to 10. Based on your estimate of how fast you can run a mile, Peloton creates a breakdown of what your speed ranges should be for the following seven categories:
-
Recovery
-
Easy
-
Moderate
-
The Tester
-
Hard
-
It’s very difficult
-
Max
When you start a workout that uses pace targets (which will show up on the preview screen with a small icon that says “Pace Targets”), your screen will tell you what the incline should be and give you a range estimate. The instructor will announce when it’s time for, say, a “moderate” or “hard” pace, but they won’t tell you the number to set the treadmill to or the specific pace to maintain if you’re outside. Instead, the screen will tell you what range you should choose for a moderate or hard run.
My experience with Pace Targets
The feature debuted about a year ago, and Peloton has been working to expand and improve it ever since. It used to only be available for Tread or Tread+ runs, but now you can use it for outdoor workouts, non-Peloton treadmill runs, bootcamps, and more.
Peloton fans have been talking about its latest uses for walking workouts this week, and since I love the walking workouts in the app, I wanted to try it on a treadmill, but without the Tread or Tread+, that functionality wasn’t there yet. I couldn’t see my pace targets on the screen when I completed a walking workout on a regular treadmill and used the phone app.
Now I’d dragged myself out into the hot summer air to get to the gym. Not wanting to let that effort go to waste, I decided to try out the Pace Target workouts in the running section of the app, since I was already on the treadmill and all. How bad could it be?
I found that it wasn’t bad at all!
The main problem with guided running workouts is that at some point the instructor calls out a number that just doesn’t happen for me. With Pace Targets, however, I was able to set reasonable expectations ahead of time, telling them that I could run a mile in 9:30 minutes if I needed to . (I may be fast, but I don’t like even one second of that.) When the class started, I wasn’t told what to set the treadmill to at all. Instead, I was given a series of “moderate” settings that matched my stated fitness level and encouraged to stay within that range, though I was also told that I could lower (or raise) it if I wanted.
It was easy to follow on my phone, and because my Apple Watch is synced to my Peloton app, I could see my heart rate and “Strive Score,” so I knew I was actually in my “moderate” zone. Strive Scores are calculated based on how much time you spend in certain heart rates during your workout, and your heart rate is displayed on a color-coded graph. The colors of the heart rate graph match the colors of the Pace Target graph displayed on the screen, so it was easy to understand. When they were the same color — like turquoise, when I should be in the moderate range, or “Zone 2” — I knew I was doing what I was supposed to be doing.
Unlike trying to follow a trainer or go out on my own, I never ran too fast or risked burnout. I finished my first workout and subsequent workouts feeling great: a little out of breath, but energized.
Why Pace Target Workouts Are Beneficial
What was even more shocking was that I wanted to keep doing it: I wanted to keep tracking Pace Target runs, finding my ideal pace, and running smoothly. But I needed to get all my data together and start writing this story. While I was doing that, I decided to learn more about Pace Targets — and realized that the feature is especially useful for outdoor runners who want to get a better sense of their own pace when they’re not relying on treadmills to figure it out for them.
This is where I always go wrong when running up and down the FDR — I start and hope for the best. But now that I know from Pace Targets that my “moderate” pace should be around 4.1 mph, I feel confident that I can pace myself, focus on the heart rate data on my wearable, and actually run longer while staying in the most manageable and efficient cardio zone for my goals.
Pace Target workouts can be found throughout the Peloton app, and include walk and run intervals, tempo runs, recovery runs, and more. Instructors give clear cues about what intensity you should be doing, rather than what number you should be aiming for, and you can change your target pace at any time by tapping the speed displayed on the screen during a workout. As someone who previously had no idea about their personal pace, heart rate zones, or ideal running intervals, I find this feature incredibly useful and—I can’t believe I’m saying this—I can’t wait to keep using it.