Treadmills have traditionally been fairly simple machines. Pick a speed, choose an incline and start running. Peloton thinks there should be quite a bit more going on than that.
The new Peloton Tread Vision arrived in the UK on October 1st, priced from £2,999, and its headline feature is not the enormous screen or the familiar library of Peloton classes. It is a camera that watches how you run.
Using Peloton IQ and a built in movement tracking camera, Tread Vision can analyse elements of a runner's technique during a session and provide feedback once the workout is complete. It represents an interesting change in direction for home treadmill training, turning the machine from something that simply records a run into something attempting to interpret how that run was performed.
A Treadmill Watching Your Running Form
The main feature is called Run Analysis.
As somebody runs, the movement tracking camera measures cadence, vertical oscillation and stride length. Peloton IQ then uses that information to generate a Running Efficiency Score from 1 to 100.
Cadence measures how frequently your feet hit the ground. Vertical oscillation looks at how much your body moves upwards and downwards with each stride. Stride length measures the distance covered with each step.
Those are metrics runners may already recognise from higher end GPS watches and running pods, but Peloton is combining them with visual movement tracking from the treadmill itself.
After the run, the system provides feedback and suggestions aimed at improving efficiency. Peloton gives shortening the stride as one example of the type of advice that could appear.
It does not turn a treadmill into a physiotherapist or running coach, and a numerical efficiency score should not be treated as the final word on somebody's technique. Still, having consistent measurements from the same camera, treadmill and environment could make changes over several weeks interesting to follow.
Your Outdoor Routes Can Come Indoors
There is another feature that could have particular appeal during an Irish winter.
ReRuns allows users to bring previous outdoor routes onto the treadmill. Distance and elevation information can be synced from the Peloton app or a compatible smartwatch, with Tread Vision then automatically adjusting its incline as the original route climbs and descends.
In theory, somebody preparing for a hilly race could repeatedly run a version of the course profile indoors.
Peloton is also providing routes based around its London and New York running clubs for people who do not have their own route data ready to import.
It will never recreate the wind, corners, road surface or misery of getting caught in sideways rain six miles from home, but reproducing the elevation profile is a genuinely useful training idea.
Peloton IQ Learns Your Pace
Peloton has also introduced IQ Pace Targets.
Instead of giving everyone the same suggested speeds during a workout, the system analyses recent running performance and creates personalised pace ranges.
Those recommendations can change as fitness develops. Before a class, runners can accept the newly suggested pace or continue with their previous settings.
There are also new Heart Rate Zone Workouts. Connect a compatible heart rate monitor, watch or fitness band and the treadmill can provide guidance aimed at keeping effort within the selected heart rate zone.
The Tread Vision can connect with Apple Health, Garmin Connect, Fitbit and WHOOP, giving runners who already have an established training ecosystem some scope to keep their data together.
The Hardware Has Changed Too
The clever software is the main attraction, but Peloton has made substantial changes to the treadmill itself.
Tread Vision has a 23.8 inch swivel display, which can rotate for strength, mobility and other classes away from the treadmill.
There is also an integrated fan, upgraded audio developed with Sonos and a redesigned storage tray.
Underfoot, Peloton has introduced a new cushioned deck designed to make landings softer. The running belt measures 150 cm by 51 cm.
Speed reaches 12.5 mph, which is just over 20 km per hour, while incline goes up to 12.5 per cent.
New physical jump buttons allow runners to quickly move to the next speed or incline level without repeatedly turning the control knobs or tapping the screen. That could prove particularly useful during interval sessions, where fumbling with controls at pace is nobody's idea of fun.
The entire machine measures 173 cm long by 84 cm wide and 168 cm high, with a weight of 143 kg. This is certainly not something you will casually move into another room after your Sunday long run.
Then There Is The Price
Tread Vision starts at £2,999 in the UK.
That alone puts it firmly into premium territory.
There is another figure buyers need to consider too. Access to Peloton content and the applicable Peloton IQ features requires an All Access Membership costing £45 per month.
That works out at another £540 per year.
For somebody who already trains regularly at home and uses Peloton classes across running, strength, yoga and other sessions, that subscription may form part of an existing routine.
For a runner primarily looking for a treadmill to get through wet winter evenings, £2,999 plus a continuing membership is a serious investment.
Is This Where Treadmills Are Heading?
That is probably the most interesting question surrounding Tread Vision.
GPS watches have spent years becoming increasingly sophisticated, giving runners information on everything from cadence and stride length to recovery and training load.
Now the treadmill itself wants a piece of the action.
The movement tracking camera makes Tread Vision particularly interesting because the machine is no longer relying solely on speed, distance and heart rate. It is attempting to assess the movement of the runner standing on it.
How useful the Running Efficiency Score proves across different runners will become clearer as more people spend time with the machine. Running technique is complicated, and one score cannot capture everything that determines how economical or effective somebody's stride may be.
Still, the direction of travel is fascinating.
For years, runners stepped onto treadmills because bad weather, darkness or convenience kept them indoors. Peloton is trying to give them another reason.
At £2,999, the Tread Vision will not be appearing in every spare bedroom any time soon. But a treadmill that can recreate your outdoor hills, adapt training paces and study aspects of your running movement feels considerably more ambitious than the machines many of us first met in the corner of a gym.
The treadmill is starting to become a training device in its own right rather than simply somewhere to run when the weather outside is desperate.
