60
seconds
A pace line chases your caret through the text and gets faster every fifteen seconds. The run ends the moment it passes you.
Treadmill is a word test with a pursuer. A pace line starts a little under your best speed and moves through the words behind your caret. Every fifteen seconds its target goes up by 4 WPM, and it accelerates smoothly towards each new speed rather than jumping. You get a head start of about two and a half seconds. The moment the line passes your caret the run is over, and the pace you were holding is your score.
Punctuation and numbers can be switched on from the options row if you want a harder chase.
For a typist whose best is 60 WPM, the line starts at 45 WPM:
| Time | Pace line |
|---|---|
| 0:00 | 45 WPM |
| 0:30 | 53 WPM |
| 1:00 | 61 WPM |
| 1:30 | 69 WPM |
| 2:00 | 77 WPM |
So the line passes your record at about the one-minute mark, and everything you hold after that is new ground. The early stages are slower than you are. Use them.
It trains held speed. In a normal test you can start fast and fade. Here fading ends the run, and the pressure arrives just as you start to tire. Treadmill also teaches you to recover from mistakes quickly: fix and go, instead of stopping to stare at the error. That makes it good preparation for the 2 minute test and longer runs, where held speed decides the score.
For a different take on pace, Tempo trains rhythm with a metronome, and Rally races you against bots tuned to your record.
It starts at about 72% of your best speed, rounded to the nearest 5 WPM, so the opening is comfortable. With no record yet it starts at 25 WPM. Every fifteen seconds it gets 4 WPM faster.
The pace you were holding when the line caught you. If you last until the line is running at 70 WPM, your score is 70. It measures the speed you can keep up, not your peak.
Not on their own. Mistakes cost you ground, because the line keeps moving while you fix them. Make too many and it catches you.