Treadmill Vertical Goals Chart

The following table contains mileage goals for a set vertical goal. In other words, if you set the treadmill at 3% and want to get in 1,000 feet of vertical in your session, you'll need to go 6.31 miles to do it. If you are able to run at 6.3 MPH at this inclination (3%) then it will take just a touch over an hour to get in your 1,000 feet. (chart similar to those in Summit Success: Training for Hiking, Mountaineering, and Peak Bagging) - Want it as a PDF? Subscribe to my newsletter and I'll send a copy.

Incline % / Vertical	1,000	2,000	3,000	4,000	5,000	6,000	7,000	8,000	9,000	10,000
1	18.94	37.88	56.82	75.76	94.70	113.64	132.58	151.52	170.45	189.39
1.5	12.63	25.25	37.88	50.51	63.13	75.76	88.38	101.01	113.64	126.26
2	9.47	18.94	28.41	37.88	47.35	56.82	66.29	75.76	85.23	94.70
2.5	7.58	15.15	22.73	30.30	37.88	45.45	53.03	60.61	68.18	75.76
3	6.31	12.63	18.94	25.25	31.57	37.88	44.19	50.51	56.82	63.13
3.5	5.41	10.82	16.23	21.65	27.06	32.47	37.88	43.29	48.70	54.11
4	4.73	9.47	14.20	18.94	23.67	28.41	33.14	37.88	42.61	47.35
4.5	4.21	8.42	12.63	16.84	21.04	25.25	29.46	33.67	37.88	42.09
5	3.79	7.58	11.36	15.15	18.94	22.73	26.52	30.30	34.09	37.88
5.5	3.44	6.89	10.33	13.77	17.22	20.66	24.10	27.55	30.99	34.44
6	3.16	6.31	9.47	12.63	15.78	18.94	22.10	25.25	28.41	31.57
6.5	2.91	5.83	8.74	11.66	14.57	17.48	20.40	23.31	26.22	29.14
7	2.71	5.41	8.12	10.82	13.53	16.23	18.94	21.65	24.35	27.06
7.5	2.53	5.05	7.58	10.10	12.63	15.15	17.68	20.20	22.73	25.25
8	2.37	4.73	7.10	9.47	11.84	14.20	16.57	18.94	21.31	23.67
8.5	2.23	4.46	6.68	8.91	11.14	13.37	15.60	17.83	20.05	22.28
9	2.10	4.21	6.31	8.42	10.52	12.63	14.73	16.84	18.94	21.04
9.5	1.99	3.99	5.98	7.97	9.97	11.96	13.96	15.95	17.94	19.94
10	1.89	3.79	5.68	7.58	9.47	11.36	13.26	15.15	17.05	18.94
10.5	1.80	3.61	5.41	7.22	9.02	10.82	12.63	14.43	16.23	18.04
11	1.72	3.44	5.17	6.89	8.61	10.33	12.05	13.77	15.50	17.22
11.5	1.65	3.29	4.94	6.59	8.23	9.88	11.53	13.18	14.82	16.47
12	1.58	3.16	4.73	6.31	7.89	9.47	11.05	12.63	14.20	15.78
12.5	1.52	3.03	4.55	6.06	7.58	9.09	10.61	12.12	13.64	15.15
13	1.46	2.91	4.37	5.83	7.28	8.74	10.20	11.66	13.11	14.57
13.5	1.40	2.81	4.21	5.61	7.01	8.42	9.82	11.22	12.63	14.03
14	1.35	2.71	4.06	5.41	6.76	8.12	9.47	10.82	12.18	13.53
14.5	1.31	2.61	3.92	5.22	6.53	7.84	9.14	10.45	11.76	13.06
15	1.26	2.53	3.79	5.05	6.31	7.58	8.84	10.10	11.36	12.63
15.5	1.22	2.44	3.67	4.89	6.11	7.33	8.55	9.78	11.00	12.22
16	1.18	2.37	3.55	4.73	5.92	7.10	8.29	9.47	10.65	11.84
16.5	1.15	2.30	3.44	4.59	5.74	6.89	8.03	9.18	10.33	11.48
17	1.11	2.23	3.34	4.46	5.57	6.68	7.80	8.91	10.03	11.14
17.5	1.08	2.16	3.25	4.33	5.41	6.49	7.58	8.66	9.74	10.82
18	1.05	2.10	3.16	4.21	5.26	6.31	7.37	8.42	9.47	10.52
18.5	1.02	2.05	3.07	4.10	5.12	6.14	7.17	8.19	9.21	10.24
19	1.00	1.99	2.99	3.99	4.98	5.98	6.98	7.97	8.97	9.97
19.5	0.97	1.94	2.91	3.89	4.86	5.83	6.80	7.77	8.74	9.71
20	0.95	1.89	2.84	3.79	4.73	5.68	6.63	7.58	8.52	9.47
20.5	0.92	1.85	2.77	3.70	4.62	5.54	6.47	7.39	8.31	9.24
21	0.90	1.80	2.71	3.61	4.51	5.41	6.31	7.22	8.12	9.02
21.5	0.88	1.76	2.64	3.52	4.40	5.29	6.17	7.05	7.93	8.81
22	0.86	1.72	2.58	3.44	4.30	5.17	6.03	6.89	7.75	8.61
22.5	0.84	1.68	2.53	3.37	4.21	5.05	5.89	6.73	7.58	8.42
23	0.82	1.65	2.47	3.29	4.12	4.94	5.76	6.59	7.41	8.23
23.5	0.81	1.61	2.42	3.22	4.03	4.84	5.64	6.45	7.25	8.06
24	0.79	1.58	2.37	3.16	3.95	4.73	5.52	6.31	7.10	7.89
24.5	0.77	1.55	2.32	3.09	3.87	4.64	5.41	6.18	6.96	7.73
25	0.76	1.52	2.27	3.03	3.79	4.55	5.30	6.06	6.82	7.58
25.5	0.74	1.49	2.23	2.97	3.71	4.46	5.20	5.94	6.68	7.43
26	0.73	1.46	2.19	2.91	3.64	4.37	5.10	5.83	6.56	7.28
26.5	0.71	1.43	2.14	2.86	3.57	4.29	5.00	5.72	6.43	7.15
27	0.70	1.40	2.10	2.81	3.51	4.21	4.91	5.61	6.31	7.01
27.5	0.69	1.38	2.07	2.75	3.44	4.13	4.82	5.51	6.20	6.89
28	0.68	1.35	2.03	2.71	3.38	4.06	4.73	5.41	6.09	6.76
28.5	0.66	1.33	1.99	2.66	3.32	3.99	4.65	5.32	5.98	6.65
29	0.65	1.31	1.96	2.61	3.27	3.92	4.57	5.22	5.88	6.53
29.5	0.64	1.28	1.93	2.57	3.21	3.85	4.49	5.14	5.78	6.42
30	0.63	1.26	1.89	2.53	3.16	3.79	4.42	5.05	5.68	6.31
30.5	0.62	1.24	1.86	2.48	3.10	3.73	4.35	4.97	5.59	6.21
31	0.61	1.22	1.83	2.44	3.05	3.67	4.28	4.89	5.50	6.11
31.5	0.60	1.20	1.80	2.41	3.01	3.61	4.21	4.81	5.41	6.01
32	0.59	1.18	1.78	2.37	2.96	3.55	4.14	4.73	5.33	5.92
32.5	0.58	1.17	1.75	2.33	2.91	3.50	4.08	4.66	5.24	5.83
33	0.57	1.15	1.72	2.30	2.87	3.44	4.02	4.59	5.17	5.74
33.5	0.57	1.13	1.70	2.26	2.83	3.39	3.96	4.52	5.09	5.65
34	0.56	1.11	1.67	2.23	2.79	3.34	3.90	4.46	5.01	5.57
34.5	0.55	1.10	1.65	2.20	2.74	3.29	3.84	4.39	4.94	5.49
35	0.54	1.08	1.62	2.16	2.71	3.25	3.79	4.33	4.87	5.41
35.5	0.53	1.07	1.60	2.13	2.67	3.20	3.73	4.27	4.80	5.34
36	0.53	1.05	1.58	2.10	2.63	3.16	3.68	4.21	4.73	5.26
36.5	0.52	1.04	1.56	2.08	2.59	3.11	3.63	4.15	4.67	5.19
37	0.51	1.02	1.54	2.05	2.56	3.07	3.58	4.10	4.61	5.12
37.5	0.51	1.01	1.52	2.02	2.53	3.03	3.54	4.04	4.55	5.05
38	0.50	1.00	1.50	1.99	2.49	2.99	3.49	3.99	4.49	4.98
38.5	0.49	0.98	1.48	1.97	2.46	2.95	3.44	3.94	4.43	4.92
39	0.49	0.97	1.46	1.94	2.43	2.91	3.40	3.89	4.37	4.86
39.5	0.48	0.96	1.44	1.92	2.40	2.88	3.36	3.84	4.32	4.79
40	0.47	0.95	1.42	1.89	2.37	2.84	3.31	3.79	4.26	4.73

If you are on a standard treadmill, most stop by 15% but if you have access to a Freemotion or NordicTrack incline treadmill you can go on up to 40%. If you want to get in 10,000 feet of vertical in a session at 40% you'll have to go about 1.4 MPH for about 3 hours to do it.

Photo above, from Keystone Gulch Road, on the snowmobile tracks. Wearing prescription sunglasses from Opticus.com - it's about 20 F with a stiff breeze, about 0 F Real Feel.

In the winter I can get in my mileage goals fairly simply outside, but anything over 1,000' of vertical is really time consuming, since we're talking about steep icy and sometimes waist deep powder to get in that much vertical. On the treadmill I can get in all my vertical in a relatively short time, and then get my long run mileage goals outside in the snow on a packed snow access road to Keystone Resort.