Built by Tommo, Verus founder — free to use, no account required.
Running Pace Calculator
Solve pace, time or distance — instantly, for any race.
Running Pace Calculator
Work out your pace from a target finish time, or your finish time from a target pace.
Distance
Finish Time
4:00:00
Pace / mile
9:09
Pace / km
5:41
Use It On A Real Race
About This Tool
Whether you've got a target finish time and need to know what pace to hold, or you know the pace you can run and want to see what it adds up to, this calculator works both directions. Pick a standard race distance or enter your own, and it'll break the result down into checkpoint splits so you know exactly where you should be at each stage of the race.
How To Use It
- Choose "Time → Pace" if you have a target finish time and want to know the pace required.
- Choose "Pace → Time" if you know the pace you can hold and want to see the finish time it produces.
- Pick a standard distance (5K through marathon) or enter a custom distance in km.
- Your result includes pace per mile and per km, plus a full checkpoint split table.
Pace, time and distance are one equation
Every running calculation of this kind is the same relationship rearranged: distance equals pace multiplied by time. Fix any two and the third follows. That is why one tool can answer what looks like three different questions — what pace do I need, how long will this take, and how far did I go.
The reason it is worth having a tool rather than doing it in your head is that running times are in minutes and seconds rather than decimals. Ten and a half minutes is 10:30, not 10.5, and the number of race plans that have gone wrong because someone treated one as the other is not small.
What common paces produce
Worth internalising a few anchor points, because they make everything else easier to estimate.
| Pace /km | Pace /mile | 5K | 10K | Half | Marathon |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4:00 | 6:26 | 20:00 | 40:00 | 1:24:23 | 2:48:47 |
| 4:30 | 7:14 | 22:30 | 45:00 | 1:34:56 | 3:09:53 |
| 5:00 | 8:03 | 25:00 | 50:00 | 1:45:29 | 3:30:59 |
| 5:41 | 9:09 | 28:26 | 56:53 | 2:00:00 | 4:00:00 |
| 6:00 | 9:39 | 30:00 | 1:00:00 | 2:06:35 | 4:13:10 |
| 7:00 | 11:16 | 35:00 | 1:10:00 | 2:27:41 | 4:55:22 |
The row worth memorising is 5:41 per kilometre — 9:09 per mile — because it is a four-hour marathon exactly, and it takes you through halfway at 2:00:00. A great many marathon plans are built around that single line.
Why the calculator assumes even splits, and races rarely are
A pace calculator divides the distance evenly. Real races do not run that way, and knowing the difference is what turns a number into a plan.
- Course profile moves it. A hilly first half and a flat second half should not be run at identical paces, even to produce an even overall time.
- Aid stations cost seconds. Twenty stations at five seconds each is nearly two minutes across a marathon.
- Crowded starts cost more than people expect, particularly in large city races with wave starts.
- GPS watches routinely measure long, because you do not run the racing line. Running 26.4 miles at your goal pace produces a slower time than the calculator promised, and this is the single most common source of confusion at the finish.
- Heat and humidity change what is sustainable, sometimes by minutes rather than seconds.
Race pace is not training pace
The most common misuse of a pace calculator is to compute a goal race pace and then run training at it. That produces a training week with no easy running in it, which caps how much work you can absorb and is a reliable route to stagnation or injury.
A four-hour marathon runner should be racing at 5:41 per kilometre and doing the majority of their weekly running at somewhere between 6:06 and 7:17. That gap is deliberate and it is large — genuinely easy running is what makes the volume possible, and volume is what makes the race pace possible.
Choosing a target worth calculating
A pace is only as good as the goal time behind it, and picking a round number you like the sound of is how most bad race plans start. Start from a recent race result, convert it, then sanity-check it against the conditions and the course you have actually entered.
Want the full picture?
Related Tools
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I calculate my running pace?
Pace is your total time divided by distance. This calculator does that automatically — enter a target finish time and distance, and it shows your required pace per mile and per km, plus splits at each checkpoint.
What is a good running pace for a beginner?
It varies hugely by fitness and goal, but a common beginner marathon target is 5:30-6:30/km (roughly 9:00-10:30/mile), often run with run/walk intervals. Use the calculator to see what finish time your current pace would produce, then work backward from there.
What's the difference between pace and speed?
Pace is time per unit distance (minutes per mile or km) — the standard way runners talk about effort. Speed is distance per unit time (mph or km/h) — more common in cycling. They describe the same thing from opposite directions.
What pace is a 4 hour marathon?
9:09 per mile, or 5:41 per kilometre, held for all 26.2 miles. At even pace that puts you through halfway at exactly 2:00:00 and 20 miles at 3:03:04. It is the most commonly targeted marathon pace there is.
Why is my GPS distance longer than the race distance?
Because courses are certified along the shortest legal route and you do not run it — corners, other runners, water stations and drifting across the road all add up. Recording 26.4 or 26.5 miles in a marathon is entirely normal, which means running your goal pace by watch produces a slower finish than the calculator promised.
Should I train at my goal race pace?
No, or at least not mostly. A four-hour marathon runner races at 5:41 per kilometre and should do the bulk of their weekly running between roughly 6:06 and 7:17. Training at race pace all week leaves no easy running, which caps how much work you can absorb.