What this calculator does
A pace calculator usually works one way: distance and time in, pace out. This one solves for whichever of the three you need. Enter distance and time to get pace, enter distance and pace to get a finish time, or enter time and pace to work out how far that combination covers.
Pace, time and distance are locked together by one relationship, so knowing any two always determines the third. Which two you have on hand depends on the question: planning a training run works from a target pace, while checking a race result works from a known distance and time.
The formula
Pace is time divided by distance. Finish time is pace multiplied by distance. Distance is time divided by pace. This calculator uses whichever two of the three you supply to solve for the one marked as the unknown.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pace | Time taken to cover one kilometre, expressed as minutes and seconds per km. |
| Speed | The same information as pace, restated as kilometres per hour rather than time per kilometre. |
| Distance | The length of the run or race being calculated, in kilometres. |
The inputs explained
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Solve for | Choose which value to solve for: pace, finish time, or distance. |
| Distance (km) | Distance, used when solving for pace or for finish time. |
| Time: minutes | Time (minutes), used when solving for pace or for distance. |
| Time: seconds | Time (seconds), used alongside minutes. |
| Pace: minutes per km | Pace (minutes per km), used when solving for finish time or for distance. |
| Pace: seconds per km | Pace (seconds per km), used alongside pace minutes. |
When to use it
Working out pace from a finished race
Distance and finish time are usually both known after a race; solving for pace turns those into the per-kilometre figure that is easiest to compare against other runs.
Planning a finish time from a target pace
Setting a goal pace and a distance, then solving for finish time, gives a concrete time target to aim for before the race even starts.
Checking how far a training session covered
If a session was run at a known steady pace for a known duration but distance was not tracked, solving for distance backs it out from the other two.
Worked examples
Every figure in the tables below is produced by this page’s own calculator at build time, so the numbers and the tool always agree. Select any row to load that scenario.
Pace needed for a 10 km run at different finish times
A fixed 10 km distance, across a range of finish times.
| Finish time (minutes) | Pace | Speed |
|---|---|---|
| 40 min | 4:00 min/km | 15.00 km/h |
| 45 min | 4:30 min/km | 13.33 km/h |
| 50 min | 5:00 min/km | 12.00 km/h |
| 55 min | 5:30 min/km | 10.91 km/h |
| 60 min | 6:00 min/km | 10.00 km/h |
| 70 min | 7:00 min/km | 8.57 km/h |
Finish time at a fixed 5:00/km pace across race distances
A steady 5:00/km pace, held across a range of race distances.
Questions
What is the difference between this and a standard pace calculator?
Most pace calculators only convert distance and time into pace. This one also solves the other two directions, for finish time or for distance, depending on which value is unknown.
What pace should I train at?
That depends on the type of session (easy run, tempo, interval) and current fitness, which this calculator does not know. It converts between pace, time and distance; it does not prescribe a training pace.
Why does the calculator need both minutes and seconds fields?
Splitting time and pace into minutes and seconds avoids the ambiguity of decimal minutes, where "50.5 minutes" is easy to misread as 50 minutes 5 seconds instead of the correct 50 minutes 30 seconds.
Can I use this for other distances, like a mile pace?
The calculator works in kilometres, so a mile time can be entered by converting the mile distance to 1.60934 km first, or by working in whichever consistent distance unit suits the comparison.
For a fixed distance-and-time version of this calculator, with common race-distance splits shown automatically, see the running pace calculator. To predict a time at a different distance from a known race result, use the race time predictor.