Treadmill VO₂ & Session Builder

This calculator estimates running VO₂ from treadmill speed and incline and lets you build a whole session interval by interval. You can adjust for individual running economy, and see total distance, time, mean VO₂, mean speed, mean incline and calories for the workout.

Calculator for educational use only – not a clinical device.

1. Athlete settings

100%
Very economical Typical trained Poor economy
Enable model controls

2. Interval settings

You can also enter pace instead:
or Fill either duration or distance – the other will be calculated from speed.
Click “Use speed & incline” to estimate VO₂ from current inputs, or type your own target VO₂.
Example: choose “Calculate speed”, set VO₂ = 45 and incline = 7%, then click “Solve” to find the needed speed.

3. Session overview

# Speed
(km/h)		 Pace
(min/km)		 Incline
(%)		 Duration
(min)		 Distance
(km)		 Elevation
(m)		 VO₂
(mL/kg/min)		 METs Energy
(kcal)
Total / mean 0.0 0:00 0.0 0.0 0.00 0 0.0 0.0 0
Distance / elevation profile
X-axis: cumulative distance (km). Y-axis: cumulative ascent (m) based on incline and distance of each interval.
Export includes athlete settings, economy, model settings (if enabled), calculation background and © Rikhard Mäki-Heikkilä – rikhard.fi/calculators – .

How to use

  1. Set body mass and your running economy slider.
  2. (Optional) Enable Advanced mode to tune steep-slope behavior and show references.
  3. For each interval, enter speed (or pace in mm:ss) and incline.
  4. Use the VO₂ box to either preview VO₂ from speed & incline or to set a target VO₂ and solve for speed or incline.
  5. Enter either duration (min) or distance (km).
  6. Click “Add interval to session”. The row appears in the table below.
  7. Edit any interval directly in the table – speed, pace, incline, duration or distance – and values will update.
  8. Drag and drop rows to reorder, or delete rows with the × button. The summary row updates automatically.
  9. When ready, give the session a name and export as plain text, PDF or Excel.

Background & assumptions

VO₂ is estimated from treadmill running speed and incline and then scaled using the running economy slider. The slider allows you to approximate individual variation in oxygen cost: values < 100% represent better economy (lower VO₂ at a given speed), and values > 100% represent poorer economy.

In Advanced mode, you can enable a tunable “steep adjustment” which increases the uphill term above a breakpoint grade. This can make the calculator align better with perceived difficulty on steeper inclines.

Calories are estimated from VO₂ assuming that each litre of oxygen consumed corresponds to approximately 5 kcal of energy expenditure. This is a standard practical approximation in exercise physiology.

The calculation is most appropriate for steady-state treadmill running at moderate-to-high speeds and inclines. It does not account for sprinting mechanics, handrail use, or large fluctuations in speed.

Reference (runner-level concept / calibration idea): (Londeree 1986, The use of laboratory test results with long distance runners. Sports Medicine 3, 201–213).

Käyttö lyhyesti (suomeksi)

  • Syötä kehon paino ja säädä juoksun taloudellisuus -liukusäädintä.
  • (Valinnainen) Kytke Advanced mode päälle, jos haluat säätää jyrkkien nousujen “lisärangaistusta” ja nähdä viitteet suoraan laskurissa.
  • Anna kullekin vedolle vauhti (km/h tai min/km, muodossa mm:ss) ja kaltevuus (%).
  • Esikatsele tai aseta VO₂ VO₂-kentässä ja käytä “Solve”-painiketta, jos haluat muuttaa vauhtia tai kaltevuutta.
  • Syötä joko kesto (min) tai matka (km).
  • Paina “Add interval to session” lisätäksesi vedon taulukkoon.
  • Voit muokata vetojen arvoja suoraan taulukossa, poistaa rivejä tai vaihtaa niiden järjestystä raahaamalla.
  • Nimeä harjoitus ja vie se tekstitiedostona, PDF:nä tai Excel-muodossa jatkokäyttöä varten.