Peloton's 'Pace Targets' Workouts May Turn Me Into a Runner

I do not run. Well, I try, like, twice a year, but I'm not good at it. My colleagues Meredith and Beth are stellar athletes who are extremely capable runners. I am a cycling instructor who prefers low-impact cardio that does not jolt my entire body around or give me a pain in my side. Whenever I do get the wild idea to run, I sort of take off up Manhattan's FDR Drive with no clear goal or idea of how fast I should be attempting to go. I then burn out, get annoyed, and stop. A marathon is not in my future. Not even a 5K is in my future—or so I thought, until I tried Peloton's Pace Target workouts.

What are Peloton's pace target workouts?

Pace Target workouts are customized additions to running, walking, hiking, and bootcamp 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 being told by your virtual instructor to run at, say, a pace of 6.2, you're told to run at a "moderate" pace, which will differ from person to person. My moderate is, like, a 4.1, but if you're a hardcore runner, yours might be higher than that. For us to get the same benefit from a moderate run, we'd be moving at totally different paces—and that's what Pace Target workouts are for: "Speed ranges tailored to you."

First, you take an introductory class, "20 min Intro to Pace Targets." You are asked to estimate the fastest mile you think you could run, then set a target level between 1-10. Based on the estimate you give for how fast you could run a mile, Peloton creates a breakdown of what your speed ranges should be for the following seven categories:

• Recovery

• Easy

• Moderate

• Challenging

• Hard

• Very Hard

• Max

When you start a workout that uses Pace Targets (which will be shown on the preview screen with a small icon that says "Pace Targets"), your screen will tell you what incline to be at 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 a number to set your treadmill to or a specific pace to hit if you're outdoors. Instead, the screen will tell you what range you should target for your moderate or hard run.

My experience with Pace Targets

This feature rolled out about a year ago and, ever since, Peloton has been working to broaden and improve it. It used to only be for runs on the Tread or Tread+, but now you can use it for outdoor workouts, runs on a non-Peloton treadmill, bootcamps, and more.

This week, Peloton fans were talking about its newest uses for walking workouts and, since I love the walking workouts on the app, I wanted to try it out on the treadmill—but without a Tread or Tread+, the functionality wasn't there yet. I couldn't see my Pace Targets on the screen when completing a walking workout on a regular treadmill and using my phone app.

Now, I had already dragged myself out into the hot summer air to get to the gym. Not wanting that effort to 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?

It wasn't, I discovered, bad at all!

A major issue I have with guided running workouts is that at some point, the instructor says a number that is simply not happening for me. With Pace Targets, though, I was able to set reasonable expectations upfront by indicating I could do one single 9:30-minute mile if I had to. (I can be fast, but I do not enjoy even one second of it.) As the class began, I was not told what to set my treadmill to at all. Rather, I was given a range of "moderate" settings that aligned with my indicated fitness level and encouraged to stay within it, though I was also told I could go lower (or higher) if I wanted to.

It was easy to follow along with on my phone and, because I have my Apple Watch synced to my Peloton app, I could see my heart rate and "Strive Score," too, so I knew I really was in my "moderate" zone. Strive Scores are calculated based on how long you spend in certain heart rates during a workout and your heart rate is shown to you on a color-coordinated graph. The colors of the heart rate graph match up with the colors on the Pace Target graph shown on-screen, so it was simple to grasp. When they were the same color—for instance, teal when I was supposed to be in a moderate range or "Zone 2"—I knew I was doing what I was supposed to be doing.

Unlike when I try to follow a guided run or head out to jog on my own, at no point was I going way too fast and in danger of burning out. I finished my first workout and my subsequent workouts feeling great: a little winded, but energized.

Why Pace Target workouts are useful

Even more shockingly, I wanted to keep doing it: I wanted to keep following Pace Target runs, identifying my perfect paces, and running smoothly. But I had to collect all my data and start drafting this story. While I was doing that, I set out to find out more about Pace Targets—and I realized this feature is especially helpful for outdoor runners who want to get a better understanding of their own pacing when they're not relying on treadmills to figure it out for them.

That's where I always screw up when I'm hauling up and down the FDR—I take off and hope for the best. But now, having discovered through Pace Targets that my "moderate" speed should be around 4.1 mph, I feel confident I could control myself, focus on the heart rate data on my wearable, and actually run for a longer amount of time, staying in the most manageable and effective cardio zone for my goals.

Pace Target workouts can be found all over the Peloton app and include walking and running intervals, tempo-based runs, recovery runs, and more. Instructors provide clear cues about which intensity you should be exercising at, not which number you should be targeting, and you can change your pace target at any time by tapping the speed displayed on your screen during a workout. As someone with no previous understanding of my personal pacing, heart rate zones, or ideal running intervals, I think this feature is extremely useful and—I can't believe I'm saying this—I can't wait to keep using it.