All About the Peloton Treadmill

If you, too, are a Peloton fan, add the #FriendsofAliOTR tag to your profile so we can see each other! I’m @aliontherun1.

We were a few months into the pandemic when I did what everyone else was doing: I logged onto the Peloton website, contemplating a purchase. I’d been using the Peloton app on my phone for a while, thanks to the free 90-day trial the brand offered starting in March. I loved the outdoor runs, and would do the occasional stretching session at home, too.

But with a New Hampshire winter on the horizon — and, along with it, snow, dwindling daylight hours, and non-ideal running conditions on icy roads — and no plans to return to my beloved Orangetheory, I started thinking that having another option would be nice.

Enter the treadmill.

Many people do tons of research before investing in a treadmill. I am not one of those people. I did just enough Googling and asking around to learn that the Peloton Tread was going to be as good as it gets. (I always loved the treadmills at Orangetheory and looked into those as well, but those are hard to find for individual sale, and the one I did find was going for $10,000, which, no.)

Thanks to Orangetheory, I grew to really love running on a treadmill. A dreadmill it is not! It’s a great machine that, I think, makes me a stronger runner! And there are so many ways to make it fun — especially with something like Peloton, where you can take live and on-demand classes.

For a while, Peloton Treads weren’t available for home delivery during the pandemic, because they require an in-home installation by the delivery team. But as soon as they were back up and delivering to my area, I went for it.

And I’m so happy I did. I love it! The Peloton Tread makes for a super smooth run, it’s so nice to have a running option inside the house so I can run while Annie is snoozing, and the instructors are awesome. There’s a reason Peloton is thriving in 2020. It’s good.

The Delivery

I ordered my Peloton Tread in September, and the earliest delivery date I was able to get was November 23. A Thanksgiving treat!

Ultimately, I got my treadmill on November 25.

I did experience some delivery issues, which were frustrating just because of trying to coordinate the timing of the arrival and set-up for a time when, ideally, I wouldn’t be chasing Annie around the house. I never received my delivery time window, and on the day of the delivery, I had a hard time trying to track down the delivery and figuring out when it may arrive. I finally got a call at 8:30 PM from the delivery team saying they were on their way — from Boston.

That was a bit late for an in-home setup (living at my parents’ house, I try to be as respectful as possible of everything — which includes getting a big delivery and having people in our home at 10 PM during the week!), so I asked them if they could come in the morning instead. They couldn’t, because of a predetermined schedule (I get that), and after lots of back and forth, they were able to deliver the treadmill two days later. It ultimately worked out great, and Peloton customer service credited me $300 for the delivery “issues,” which I think is very cool!

When the team did arrive (it was delivered and set up by a third party, not by a Peloton crew directly), the set up was quick and easy, and they explained to me how it works before they set out for their next delivery. Easy breezy.

How big is it, really?

It’s big. Bigger than I expected, even though I had the measurements (72.5″ long by 36.5″ wide) and had mapped out a glamorous space in the basement where it would fit. It’s recommended that you have 24″ of headroom above you to allow enough headspace once you’re on the treadmill, which I don’t quite have in the basement. That’s fine, though. It mostly just means I can’t do the pre-run stretches and arm circles without hitting the pink puffy insulation in the ceiling! NBD. (In the photo here, my head looks like it’s touching the insulation, but it’s an optical illusion. I have plenty of room to run on an incline and not touch the pink fluff.)

The screen on the treadmill is also big and super high quality — certainly nicer than my computer screen and nicer than any TV I’ve ever owned!

Running on the Peloton Tread

Ohhhh it’s so good. So smooth. I like that the treadmill belt is slatted. I would say it’s most comparable to a really good mix of a Woodway treadmill (slatted belt) and the treadmills at Orangetheory (a bit bouncy!).

I really like that you don’t have to reach forward and tap the screen once the run starts. The incline and speed controls are on dials on each side of the treadmill, so making the workout easier or harder is super simple and feels far more intuitive than reaching forward and throwing off your gait to tap the screen. I’m a huge fan of that little detail. Very smart on Peloton’s part. (Rhyme!)

I’m admittedly not yet obsessed with the community aspect of Peloton, which I know is a huge driver for many people! And I think that’s awesome! I also love that we have a #FriendsofAliOTR group, so if you’re a Peloton user, be sure to add that tag to your profile so we can see each other on the leaderboard! (And if you want to follow along, I’m @aliontherun1.)

My Favorite Classes & Instructors

I have definitely gravitated toward shorter classes — usually 20- and 30-minute options, though there are also 45-minute and 60-minute classes. I’ve never been able to take a live class, because that just hasn’t worked with my schedule. I always take the classes on demand, but you can still see other people who are taking the class at the same time, which makes it fun.

I’ve also recently started taking the Tread Bootcamp classes, which are really fun. They remind me a lot of Orangetheory, and I like the back and forth — seven minutes running, six on the floor, repeat.

My favorite instructors (so far!) are Jess Sims, Olivia Amato, and Matty Maggiacomo. I also really like Matt Wilpers and Becs Gentry. I love that they all have such different personalities and teaching styles, and it seems like Peloton really lets them be authentic when they’re teaching. (A great example of this: Tunde Oyeneyin’s episode of the Ali on the Run Show. She’s a Peloton instructor — on the bike, not the treadmill — but you’ll definitely get the gist of the Peloton vibe!)

There’s a reason I mostly choose the shorter classes, and that’s because…

The One Thing I Don’t Like

…there’s no pause button on the treadmill. I Googled the reason why, and the official Peloton stance is that they want the runs to mimic live classes. Which I get! I get not having the option to pause a live class. But I’m taking the class on demand, on my time, and I need a pause button!

I know that to many, this is such a minor thing, but as someone with Crohn’s disease, I often need to jump off the treadmill and run to the bathroom, and it sucks that I miss a huge chunk of class when that happens. I wish I could just pause and then resume when I return. This is really the only thing I don’t like about the treadmill, and it has prevented me from taking the longer classes. I know I can usually get through a 20-minute class without needing a bathroom run, but anything longer than that gets tricky. So I’ll stack a few 20- or 30-minute classes together and take bathroom breaks in between (if needed) instead of just doing one 60-minute run.

It’s worth noting that if you are just using the Peloton app, either on an iPad or on your phone on a non-Peloton treadmill, you DO have a pause option. It’s just on the Peloton Tread itself that you can’t pause.

(Peloton, if you’re reading this, can we pleeeeeease get a pause option?!)

Will we move it when we (eventually) move?

YES! I don’t know how. But yes, it’ll come with us wherever we go. It’s my friend, and I love it.

Finally: Is it worth it?

This has been the most-asked question I’ve gotten since making this investment.

And I can’t answer that for YOU. I can say that for me, yes, it has been worth it. I’m not paying for a gym membership right now, and the math works out that if I run on it just a handful of times a month, it’s cheaper than my Orangetheory membership was.

I got the Tread+ Basics package, which is the no-frills option. (You can level up and get packages that include weights, bands, water bottles, and more.) The Treadmill-only option costs $4,295 (not cheap!), which includes delivery and assembly. Peloton does offer financing options if that’s something you’re interested in.

Plus, it works really nicely with my lifestyle, both for the “New Hampshire in the winter” factors, and for the ability to run on it while Annie is still asleep or napping. I love that on busy work days, I can jump on it for a hard 20-minute class and feel like I got a great workout in! (Those quick interval and HIIT classes, in particular, are tough!)

Peloton does have a new treadmill coming out in March. It will be smaller and less expensive than the OG Peloton Tread. But I didn’t want to wait, since a big reason for getting this one was to have a workout option to get me through the winter months.

Overall, I give the Peloton Tread a solid A. It would be an A+ if I could just get a pause button.

Any questions? Any other Peloton friends out there? Tell me your favorite classes and instructors!