Training pace calculator
Enter a recent race and get the paces to train at: easy, long run, marathon and half-marathon pace, threshold, interval and repetition, with the time for each rep. A 25:00 5K, for example, gives easy runs at 10:26–11:42 a mile and threshold at 8:27. These are worked out by the same rules that set the paces in our training plans.
What each pace is for
- Easy
- Running slowly enough to talk in full sentences. Most of your running is easy: it builds endurance without leaving you tired for the next session. Use it for most of the week's running, and for warm-ups and cool-downs. If in doubt, go slower.
- Long run
- The longest run of the week, at a relaxed, steady pace. It teaches your body to keep going for hours and is the most important session of a plan. Ours sits a touch quicker than easy, because a long run is steady rather than gentle. Late in a plan the last miles of some long runs move up to race pace.
- Marathon pace
- The pace this race projects for a marathon. Marathon plans practise it in race-pace runs and in the closing miles of long runs.
- Half-marathon pace
- The pace this race projects for a half marathon, used in a half plan's race-pace sessions.
- Threshold (tempo)
- Comfortably hard running, about the effort you could hold for an hour in a race. You can speak a few words, not sentences. It raises the pace you can sustain. Use it for tempo runs: one continuous block, or repeats of several minutes with short easy jogs between them.
- Interval
- Short hard repeats, around 5K race effort, with easy jogging between them. They improve how much oxygen you can use. Use it for repeats of 400 m to a mile; your result lists the time for each rep.
- Repetition
- Very short, fast but relaxed efforts with full recovery between them, to practise good form and speed. Use it for 200 m and 400 m repeats and for strides. It is about form and leg speed rather than fitness.
How it works
Your race is projected to other distances with Riegel's formula, T2 = T1 × (D2 ÷ D1)k with k = 1.06, as in the race time predictor. Threshold, interval and repetition pace are the race pace you could hold for about 60, 11 and 5 minutes: the formula solved for the distance that would take that long. Easy pace is 1.14 to 1.28 times your projected marathon pace, and long-run pace 1.08 to 1.20 times.
These are exactly the paces a plan built from the same race shows. They assume the race was a true all-out effort on a flat, accurately measured course; after a hilly or hot race, or a long break, they will be a little fast. Heat, hills and tiredness change what a pace feels like, so on those days go by effort and let the pace slip.
Retest every 6 to 8 weeks, or race, and update the paces as you get fitter. To see where the race points for a goal, use the race time predictor; to train by heart rate on easy days, see the heart rate zone calculator.
Training paces from a 5K
5K times from 16:00 to 32:00 and the easy, threshold and interval pace each gives by our rules, per mile.
| 5K | Easy | Threshold | Interval |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16:00 | 6:40–7:30 | 5:33 | 5:03 |
| 18:00 | 7:30–8:26 | 6:12 | 5:38 |
| 20:00 | 8:20–9:22 | 6:51 | 6:13 |
| 22:00 | 9:10–10:18 | 7:30 | 6:49 |
| 24:00 | 10:01–11:14 | 8:08 | 7:23 |
| 26:00 | 10:51–12:10 | 8:46 | 7:58 |
| 28:00 | 11:41–13:07 | 9:25 | 8:33 |
| 30:00 | 12:31–14:03 | 10:03 | 9:07 |
| 32:00 | 13:21–14:59 | 10:40 | 9:42 |
Questions
- How easy should easy runs be?
- Easy enough to talk in full sentences the whole way. By our rule that is 14 to 28% slower than your marathon pace: for a 20:00 5K runner, 8:20–9:22 a mile. Running easy days too fast is one of the most common training mistakes: it leaves you tired for the sessions that matter without building more endurance.
- What is threshold pace?
- The pace you could race for about an hour: comfortably hard, a few words at a time but not sentences. For most runners it falls between 10K and half-marathon pace (6:51 a mile after a 20:00 5K). Tempo runs at this pace raise the speed you can hold for a long time, which is what every race from 10K up depends on.
- Why are these paces different from another calculator's?
- Every calculator has its own rules. Ours project your race with Riegel's formula, then set threshold, interval and repetition pace as the race pace you could hold for about 60, 11 and 5 minutes, and easy and long-run pace as a share slower than your projected marathon pace. They are the exact paces our plans give you for the same race, which is the point: what you see here is what your sessions will say.
- What if I have no recent race?
- Run a 5K time trial: after a few easy days, warm up for 10 to 15 minutes, then run 5K on a flat route or a track as evenly as you can. It needs to be a real effort to be useful. Or build a plan without a race: it then sets every session by effort, or by heart rate if you prefer, instead of pace, and you can add a race when you have one.
These are the paces a plan from this result would use
Build a free week-by-week plan from your race, your current running and your race date. Every session shows its pace, worked out exactly as above.