Pace – what does it actually mean?
Pace means step / tempo / speed and is mainly used by runners as a measure of speed. Pace is given in minutes per mile (min/mi) or minutes per kilometer (min/km); the matching speed is miles per hour (mph) or kilometers per hour (km/h).
Calculating pace
To calculate your running pace, divide the time needed (in minutes) by the distance covered (in miles, or in kilometers if you prefer). A runner runs 3 miles in 30 minutes. What's their pace?
It gets a bit more complicated with uneven values. If you run, for example, 8 miles in 70 minutes, the calculation looks like this:
70 min / 8 mi = 8.75 min/mi
0.75 min × 60 = 45 seconds
So the pace is 8:45 min/mi. To convert to kilometers, divide by 1.609: 10 min/mi is 6:13 min/km, and a 5K (3.11 miles) in 30 minutes is 6:00 min/km or 9:39 min/mi. With our pace calculator you can skip the elaborate maths — just enter distance and time, switch between miles and kilometers, and the tool calculates your pace.