Running Pace Calculator
Pace, time and distance are locked together: give this calculator any two and it works out the third. Results come in both minutes per kilometre and minutes per mile, because race distances and training plans rarely agree on units.
Formula
Pace = time ÷ distance · Speed = distance ÷ time
- Pace is min/km or min/mile; speed is km/h or mph
- Marathon 42.195 km · Half 21.0975 km
10 km in 50:00 is 5:00 per km, or 12 km/h
How Pace Is Calculated
Pace is the inverse of speed. Where a car measures distance over time, a runner measures time over distance:
Pace = Total Time ÷ Distance
5 km in 25:00 is 1,500 seconds ÷ 5 = 300 seconds per km, or 5:00 min/km. The same run is 8:03 min/mile.
A larger pace number means you are running slower, which is the opposite of how speed behaves.
The Decimal Trap
A pace of 5.5 minutes per kilometre is 5:30, not 5:50. The digits after the decimal point are a fraction of a minute, so multiply them by 60 to get seconds.
- 5.25 → 5:15
- 5.5 → 5:30
- 5.75 → 5:45
Common Goal Paces
- Sub-25 minute 5K: 5:00 min/km
- Sub-50 minute 10K: 5:00 min/km
- Sub-2 hour half marathon: 5:41 min/km
- Sub-4 hour marathon: 5:41 min/km
A sub-2 hour half and a sub-4 hour marathon need exactly the same pace. The marathon simply asks you to hold it twice as long.
Quick Reference
| Pace per km | 5K | 10K | Half | Marathon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4:00 | 20:00 | 40:00 | 1:24:23 | 2:48:47 |
| 5:00 | 25:00 | 50:00 | 1:45:29 | 3:30:58 |
| 6:00 | 30:00 | 1:00:00 | 2:06:35 | 4:13:10 |
| 7:00 | 35:00 | 1:10:00 | 2:27:41 | 4:55:22 |
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is a good running pace for a beginner?
- There is no universal figure, but many new runners cover 5K somewhere between 30 and 40 minutes, which is roughly 6:00 to 8:00 per kilometre. Consistency matters far more than pace early on.
- How do I convert min/km to min/mile?
- Multiply by 1.609, working in seconds to avoid decimal errors. A 5:00/km pace is 300 seconds, and 300 × 1.609 = 483 seconds, or 8:03 per mile.
- Why does my watch say the race was longer than advertised?
- Courses are measured along the shortest legal route, and nobody runs that exact line in a crowded field. GPS drift adds more. Use the official kilometre markers for splits.
- What pace should I run in training?
- Most easy runs should be noticeably slower than race pace, at a level where you could hold a conversation. Racing every session is the most common cause of stalled progress.