Pace charts
Running pace charts
Pick a distance, find the pace you can hold, and read the finish time straight off the row. Every chart below is a full lookup table in both minutes per mile and minutes per kilometer, with speed alongside.
One distance, every pace
A pace chart answers a question you can ask before you have decided on a goal: what happens if I hold this? It runs from a pace almost nobody sustains down to a comfortable walk-run, in five-second steps, so you can find your own line on it rather than being handed one.
If you already know the time you want, you want the other half of this site. A goal-time page starts from the finish time and works backwards to the pace, the mile-by-mile splits and the clock time at every checkpoint on the course.
Choose a distance
Marathon pace chart
26.2 miles. The distance where two seconds a mile decides the last hour.
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Half-marathon pace chart
13.1 miles. Long enough to need a plan, short enough to hold it.
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5K pace chart
Five kilometers, 3.1 miles. The distance everybody starts with.
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10K pace chart
Ten kilometers, 6.2 miles. Fast enough to hurt, long enough to plan.
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Mile pace chart
One mile, four laps. The distance where pace and finish time are the same number.
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10-mile pace chart
Ten miles. The classic tune-up, and the best marathon-pace rehearsal there is.
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15K pace chart
Fifteen kilometers, 9.3 miles. The bridge between a 10K and a half.
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8K pace chart
Eight kilometers, just under five miles. Cross-country's home distance.
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50K pace chart
Fifty kilometers, 31 miles. The first ultra, and the last one that paces like a road race.
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50-mile pace chart
Fifty miles, 80 kilometers. Aid station to aid station, not mile to mile.
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Finish times at four common paces
A quick cross-reference before you open a full chart. Every figure is the finish time for that distance at that exact pace.
Scroll the table sideways on a narrow screen.
| Distance | Miles | Kilometers | At 8:00 per mi | At 10:00 per mi | At 5:00 per km | At 6:00 per km |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marathon | 26.219 | 42.195 | 3:29:45 | 4:22:11 | 3:30:59 | 4:13:10 |
| Half-marathon | 13.109 | 21.098 | 1:44:53 | 2:11:06 | 1:45:29 | 2:06:35 |
| 5K | 3.107 | 5 | 24:51 | 31:04 | 25:00 | 30:00 |
| 10K | 6.214 | 10 | 49:43 | 1:02:08 | 50:00 | 1:00:00 |
| 1-mile | 1 | 1.609 | 8:00 | 10:00 | 8:03 | 9:39 |
| 10-mile | 10 | 16.093 | 1:20:00 | 1:40:00 | 1:20:28 | 1:36:34 |
| 15K | 9.321 | 15 | 1:14:34 | 1:33:12 | 1:15:00 | 1:30:00 |
| 8K | 4.971 | 8 | 39:46 | 49:43 | 40:00 | 48:00 |
| 50K | 31.069 | 50 | 4:08:33 | 5:10:41 | 4:10:00 | 5:00:00 |
| 50-mile | 50 | 80.467 | 6:40:00 | 8:20:00 | 6:42:20 | 8:02:48 |
Questions people ask about pace charts
- What is a pace chart?
- A table that pairs every running pace with the finish time it produces over one fixed distance. You read it in whichever direction you need: down the pace column to find a pace you can hold, or down the finish column to find a time you want and read the pace back off it.
- How do I use one on race day?
- Find your row before the start and remember two or three numbers from it, not all of them. Most runners memorize the finish time, the halfway split and the pace itself. Checking a watch against a chart every mile costs more concentration than it saves.
- Minutes per mile or minutes per kilometer?
- Whichever your watch is set to, and whichever the course is marked in. They disagree more often than people expect: a race marked in kilometers with a watch set to miles means doing conversions while tired. Every chart here prints both columns on every row so you do not have to.
- What is the difference between a pace chart and a goal-time page?
- A pace chart has no opinion. It shows a hundred paces for one distance and lets you choose. A goal-time page takes one finish time you have already chosen and works it through: the pace it requires, the split table, three ways to distribute the effort, and what being a few seconds off costs you.
The app
Take the numbers to the start line
Simple Pace Calculator is a free app for iPhone & iPad. Distance, time, pace and speed stay in sync while you edit any one of them, and a lock shows which value is being held fixed. All calculations work offline.
$2.99 (US), one-time unlocks two extra tools, once, with no subscription: Splits, for even, negative or positive pacing at any interval, and ETA, for working out when a runner reaches your spot on the course.
Everything on this page stays free on the web, whether or not you ever install anything.
