What does the incline percentage mean?
A 5% grade means rising 5 meters for every 100 meters traveled horizontally. It is not a 5-degree angle. Check your treadmill’s manual: some consoles show levels rather than a percentage you can compare directly.
A route’s elevation gain adds up all of its climbs. Two routes with the same gain can feel very different: one may climb steadily, the other pack its climbing into a short section. Look at the profile before you choose.
Speed and incline go together
To prepare a hill session, start from your plan’s instructions and your machine’s capabilities. Note speed and incline together: remembering a single number won’t let you repeat the same session.
Runkyz has no single recommended percentage for every runner. The game asks for a reference effort expressed as a pace on flat ground. Its model then estimates targets according to the terrain. That estimate is not a measurement of your physiology and does not replace how you feel.
How Runkyz represents a climb
The route is split into sections. For each one, the game suggests a speed and an incline to set on the console. Changes are announced before the next section, so you have time to read the target.
The model’s job is to vary the settings with the terrain, starting from your reference. You keep the treadmill’s physical controls. If a target doesn’t suit the session or how you feel, adjust your effort: the number on screen is not an order.
When the route is steeper than your treadmill
A virtual route can be steeper than your machine’s maximum incline. Enter that limit correctly in Runkyz’s settings. The game caps its targets and can compensate with speed, within the limits you declare.
That compensation is an approximation from the model. It doesn’t turn a treadmill capped at 10% into a real 20% climb, and it doesn’t reproduce all the mechanics of running outdoors. Likewise, a treadmill without decline can’t physically reproduce a descent.
Choosing a route for your session
Start with the route’s distance and profile. Wild Ring keeps its flat 400-meter track and lets you choose the total distance of the session. Desert and Space offer 3, 5 and 10 km, half marathon, marathon or a 170 km ultra, with a flat, rolling or mountainous profile. Desert and Wild Ring are free up to 10 km. Space and longer distances require the license.
Before starting, check the machine’s limits, the screen position and access to the controls. After the session, keep the settings you used and how you felt: they’ll help you plan the next one more than a virtual elevation figure on its own.
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