Training · Free tool
Running Training Pace Calculator
Enter a recent race — the distance and the time you ran — and we work out the five paces a training week is built from: easy, marathon, threshold, interval and repetition. Switch between per kilometre and per mile.
The five paces
Structured training runs at a handful of distinct intensities, each with its own job. Easy pace builds aerobic fitness with minimal cost and should feel conversational — most of your weekly mileage belongs here. Marathon pace is the effort you would hold for 42 km, used for long-run segments and race rehearsal. Threshold, roughly the pace you could race for an hour, trains your body to clear lactate and is the classic tempo-run effort.
Interval pace is close to 3000 m race effort and develops VO₂ max in repetitions of three to five minutes. Repetition pace is faster still, run in short bursts with long recoveries to sharpen speed and running form rather than to build fitness.
Why a race result sets them
Training paces are only useful if they reflect your current fitness, and a recent race is the most honest measure of that. We take your result, find the equivalent performance at each reference distance using the Riegel endurance model, and derive the paces from there. A 10K from the last few weeks works well; a half or a marathon works too.
The single most common training mistake is running easy days too fast, which leaves you too tired for the hard days to be hard. If the easy pace here feels absurdly slow, that is usually the tool working rather than a fault in it.
Adjusting them
Treat the numbers as a starting point, not a contract. Heat, hills, altitude and fatigue all justify running slower for the same effort — the marathon heat calculator covers the first of those. Update the paces whenever you race again, and keep the paces from a race you actually ran rather than the one you hope to run.
If you want these paces laid out across a full training block, the training plan generator builds a week-by-week schedule from the same maths.
Frequently asked questions
What pace should my easy runs be?
Roughly a minute to ninety seconds per kilometre slower than marathon pace, and slow enough to hold a conversation. For a runner who has just run 50:00 for 10K that is about 6:16 per km. The calculator gives your own figure from your race.
How is this different from a VDOT calculator?
It answers the same question with a slightly different model. Rather than a lookup table, we use the Riegel equivalent-performance model to find your fitness at each reference distance and derive the paces from there. The results land close to the Daniels tables for most runners.
How often should I recalculate my training paces?
After every race, and at minimum every couple of months during a training block. Fitness moves, and paces set from a race you ran last winter will be too slow by spring.