What does the METS readout on an aerobic exercise machine mean? I can’t find this in Wikipedia, and strangely it seems there’s not much information out there. The problem is the New York Mets grab all the search engine results. Anyway, this page explains what METS are. When you’re sitting still, your body uses one MET (”metabolic equivalent”) of energy. So if the treadmill tells me I’m running at a steady 10.5 MET pace, that means I’m burning 10.5 times the Calories (or rather using 10.5 times the oxygen) as if I were sitting still.
They way the above article describes it, there’s a high correlation between maximum MET level and marathon time. So if I can maintain a steady 10 MET level, I’ll finish a marathon in about 5 hours and 15 minutes. So then, my goal is just to improve my sustainable MET level to be able to run a marathon in some impressive amount of time, like under 3 hours. And not actually have to run the marathon, but at least then I can tell everyone that I could run a marathon in that short of an amount of time. Then I could just stay home and watch TV and eat junk food instead.
I can’t find a MET vs Marathon Time table on the Web, though (same problem where METS is being eclipsed by Mets). That would be good information to have.
Here’s the Wikipedia page, by the way (indexed under metabolic equivalent).