Running Pace Chart: Min/km to Min/mile and Race Finish Times

A running pace chart is the fastest way to answer the two questions every runner asks before a race: what pace do I need to hit my goal time, and what finish time does my current pace actually produce? The tables below convert pace between minutes per kilometre and minutes per mile, and show the finish time each pace gives across the four most common race distances.

UK runners live in a mixed-unit world. Race distances are metric, most training apps default to kilometres, but club runners, treadmills and a lot of coaching language still work in miles. A pace chart removes the mental arithmetic.

The main running pace chart

Every row is one pace. Read across to see the mile equivalent and the finish time for a 5K, 10K, half marathon (21.0975 km) and marathon (42.195 km) held at that exact pace.

Two things worth noting. First, these are pure mathematical conversions: they assume you hold the same pace for the whole distance, which almost nobody does. Second, holding 5:00/km for 5K is a very different physiological task from holding it for a marathon, so a row is not a prediction of what you could run at every distance. For that, use the running pace calculator, which applies the Riegel formula to convert a real race result into realistic equivalents.

Pace chart for common goal times

Most runners work backwards from a round-number target. This table gives the average pace each popular UK goal requires.

A useful pattern falls out of that table: 5:41/km gets you both a sub-2:00 half and a sub-4:00 marathon, and 4:59/km covers both sub-1:45 and sub-3:30. If you can already run comfortably at those paces for an hour, the goal is a training-volume problem rather than a speed problem.

Marathon pace chart by finish time

The tables above convert a single pace. This one works the other way round: pick your target marathon finish time and read off the pace and the checkpoint splits you need to hit it, from 2:30 to 6:00 in five-minute steps. Every figure is computed directly from the finish time over the full 42.195 km distance — nothing here is rounded from a calculator screenshot.

Read the half-marathon split as your most reliable form check: even pacing puts it almost exactly halfway through your total time (the 21.0975 km mark is 50.03% of the distance, so the split is a few seconds under half your finish time). If you go through half in less than that, on unassisted even effort, you are likely to fade in the last 10K — the negative-split guide below covers the alternative of banking that gap deliberately rather than by accident.

The 20-mile split matters more than it looks. At 20 miles (32.19 km) you have covered 76.3% of the distance but used up a disproportionate share of your glycogen doing it, which is why marathon pacing plans built on the last 10K rather than the first 20 miles tend to hold up better on race day.

How to convert pace between km and miles yourself

One mile is 1.609344 kilometres, so:

• Km pace to mile pace: multiply by 1.609. A 5:00/km pace becomes 8:03/mile.
• Mile pace to km pace: divide by 1.609. An 8:00/mile pace becomes 4:58/km.

The awkward part is that pace is written in minutes and seconds, not decimals. Convert to seconds first, multiply or divide, then convert back. 5:00/km is 300 seconds; 300 × 1.609 = 483 seconds; 483 seconds is 8 minutes 3 seconds. A rough mental shortcut that works well enough on the run: add 60% to your km pace to get mile pace.

Reading the chart on race day

A chart gives you an average, but races are not run at an average. Aim to run the opening kilometre 5 to 10 seconds per km slower than the chart pace, settle onto target through the middle, and let the effort rise in the final quarter. This is the practical version of a negative split strategy, and it is far more reliable than trying to bank time early.

Also account for the course. Hills, wind, heat and crowded starts all cost seconds per kilometre, and UK city races frequently measure slightly long on a watch because of the racing line. If your goal time is tight, build in 10 to 15 seconds of margin per kilometre of climbing rather than assuming the flat-course number holds.

Which distance chart should you use?

If you are targeting one specific race, work from the dedicated calculator rather than the general chart, because it also returns the split times you need at each checkpoint:

• 5K pace calculator for parkrun and club 5Ks
• 10K pace calculator
• Half marathon pace calculator
• Marathon pace calculator

And if you want the pace for a distance that is not on the chart, such as a 10-mile race or an ultra leg, enter your own distance and target time into the pace calculator and it will solve for pace in both units.

Frequently asked questions