Why Runners Should Know Their Pace
Pace is time per unit of distance - minutes per kilometre or per mile. Speed is the other way round. Runners use pace because races are run over fixed distances, so time per distance is the number that predicts a finish. The Running Pace Calculator converts between pace, distance and time.
Why pace rather than speed
If you know a race is ten kilometres and your pace is five minutes per kilometre, the answer is fifty minutes - one multiplication. In kilometres per hour you would be dividing, which is more arithmetic for the same question.
Pace also matches how running feels. A runner knows what 5:00 per kilometre feels like in their legs. Nobody has an intuition for 12 km/h, even though it is the same thing. The Speed Converter handles the translation when you need it.
The anchors worth knowing
A ten-minute mile is 6 mph, about 6:13 per kilometre, and is a common steady jogging pace. A nine-minute mile is 5:35 per kilometre. A four-hour marathon is 9:09 per mile or 5:41 per kilometre. A sub-two-hour half marathon needs 9:09 per mile as well, which is a pleasing coincidence worth remembering.
Converting between mile and kilometre pace: multiply kilometre pace by 1.61 for mile pace, or divide by 1.61 going the other way.
What knowing your pace lets you do
Not blowing up. The commonest racing mistake is starting faster than you can hold, which feels effortless for two kilometres and expensive for the remaining eight. A target pace is a brake, and that is most of its value.
Training at the right intensity. Most endurance training should be comfortably conversational, and most amateurs run their easy runs too hard. Pace gives that an objective check rather than relying on how you feel on the day.
Predicting a race. A recent race over one distance predicts another reasonably well, with the caveat that pace slows as distance grows - typically by a few per cent per doubling. Someone running 25 minutes for 5 km is not running 50 for 10 km; nearer 52 or 53.
Pace is not a constant
Hills, heat, wind and surface all change what a given effort produces. Running the same pace uphill is a much harder effort, and holding a flat-ground target up a climb is how people ruin a race.
Which is why effort is often the better guide and pace the better record. Run by feel on a hilly or hot day, look at the pace afterwards, and do not expect the two to agree with a flat cool morning. The Heart Rate Zone Calculator is the other half of that picture.
Common questions
What is a good 5 km time?
Hugely variable by age, sex and training. Around 30 minutes is a solid recreational time; under 25 is well trained.
How do I convert pace to speed?
Divide 60 by your pace in minutes. A 6:00 per kilometre pace is 10 km/h.
Why is my watch pace jumpy?
GPS error, particularly among buildings or trees. Average pace over a kilometre is far more reliable than the instant reading.
Want to work out a pace or a finish time?