Pace is inverted speed
Pace tells you how long one kilometre takes; km/h tells you how far you get in an hour. That is why a smaller pace is faster. And equal pace steps are not equal: 6:00 to 5:40 adds 0.6 km/h, 4:00 to 3:40 already adds 1.4 km/h.
Change one field and the rest follows: finish time, pace per kilometre, treadmill speed and splits for your plan. With a lactate test you also see which zone the pace falls into for you.
87 % of LT2 speed · 40 s/km slower than LT2
Example curve (LT2 at 4:20 min/km). With your own lactate test, this becomes your curve.
Analyse your own lactate testA pace only means something once you know where your thresholds are. 5:00 min/km can be an easy aerobic run for one runner and threshold pace for another.
At the same pace or as a Riegel (1981) prediction: longer races are run slower, and the formula accounts for that with an exponent of 1.06.
| Distance | Time | Pace |
|---|---|---|
| 2:00.0 | 5:00 | |
| 4:00.0 | 5:00 | |
| 5:00 | 5:00 | |
| 7:30 | 5:00 | |
| 8:03 | 5:00 | |
| 15:00 | 5:00 |
| Distance | Time | Pace |
|---|---|---|
| 25:00 | 5:00 | |
| 50:00 | 5:00 | |
| 1:15:00 | 5:00 | |
| 1:20:28 | 5:00 | |
| 1:45:29 | 5:00 | |
| 2:30:00 | 5:00 | |
| 3:30:59 | 5:00 |
| Distance | Time | Pace |
|---|---|---|
| 4:10:00 | 5:00 | |
| 8:20:00 | 5:00 |
For your distance and target time, even or with a negative split. The finish time stays the same; only the distribution changes.
| Segment | at | Pace | Segment time | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 km | 5:00 | 5:00 | 5:00 |
| 2 | 2 km | 5:00 | 5:00 | 10:00 |
| 3 | 3 km | 5:00 | 5:00 | 15:00 |
| 4 | 4 km | 5:00 | 5:00 | 20:00 |
| 5 | 5 km | 5:00 | 5:00 | 25:00 |
| 6 | 6 km | 5:00 | 5:00 | 30:00 |
| 7 | 7 km | 5:00 | 5:00 | 35:00 |
| 8 | 8 km | 5:00 | 5:00 | 40:00 |
| 9 | 9 km | 5:00 | 5:00 | 45:00 |
| 10 | 10 km | 5:00 | 5:00 | 50:00 |
Treadmills usually show km/h. The row closest to your input is highlighted.
| km/h | Pace | m/s | 5 km | 10 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:00 | 1.67 | 50:00 | 1:40:00 | |
| 9:14 | 1.81 | 46:09 | 1:32:18 | |
| 8:34 | 1.94 | 42:51 | 1:25:43 | |
| 8:00 | 2.08 | 40:00 | 1:20:00 | |
| 7:30 | 2.22 | 37:30 | 1:15:00 | |
| 7:04 | 2.36 | 35:18 | 1:10:35 | |
| 6:40 | 2.50 | 33:20 | 1:06:40 | |
| 6:19 | 2.64 | 31:35 | 1:03:09 | |
| 6:00 | 2.78 | 30:00 | 1:00:00 | |
| 5:43 | 2.92 | 28:34 | 57:09 | |
| 5:27 | 3.06 | 27:16 | 54:33 | |
| 5:13 | 3.19 | 26:05 | 52:10 | |
| 5:00 | 3.33 | 25:00 | 50:00 | |
| 4:48 | 3.47 | 24:00 | 48:00 | |
| 4:37 | 3.61 | 23:05 | 46:09 | |
| 4:27 | 3.75 | 22:13 | 44:27 | |
| 4:17 | 3.89 | 21:26 | 42:51 | |
| 4:08 | 4.03 | 20:41 | 41:23 | |
| 4:00 | 4.17 | 20:00 | 40:00 | |
| 3:52 | 4.31 | 19:21 | 38:43 | |
| 3:45 | 4.44 | 18:45 | 37:30 | |
| 3:38 | 4.58 | 18:11 | 36:22 | |
| 3:32 | 4.72 | 17:39 | 35:18 | |
| 3:26 | 4.86 | 17:09 | 34:17 | |
| 3:20 | 5.00 | 16:40 | 33:20 | |
| 3:15 | 5.14 | 16:13 | 32:26 | |
| 3:09 | 5.28 | 15:47 | 31:35 | |
| 3:05 | 5.42 | 15:23 | 30:46 | |
| 3:00 | 5.56 | 15:00 | 30:00 | |
| 2:56 | 5.69 | 14:38 | 29:16 | |
| 2:51 | 5.83 | 14:17 | 28:34 | |
| 2:47 | 5.97 | 13:57 | 27:54 | |
| 2:44 | 6.11 | 13:38 | 27:16 |
Tip: there is no air resistance on a treadmill. A 1% incline compensates for it between roughly 10.5 and 18 km/h (Jones & Doust 1996).
Pace tells you how long one kilometre takes; km/h tells you how far you get in an hour. That is why a smaller pace is faster. And equal pace steps are not equal: 6:00 to 5:40 adds 0.6 km/h, 4:00 to 3:40 already adds 1.4 km/h.
How hard a pace feels depends on how close it is to your lactate threshold. A step test with lactate measurement shows at which speed lactate first rises (LT1) and when it no longer stays stable (LT2). That gives you training zones that fit you rather than a table.
There is no air resistance on a treadmill, so the same speed costs slightly less energy. Jones and Doust (1996) found that a 1% grade best reflects the energetic cost of outdoor running between roughly 10.5 and 18 km/h. Treadmill lactate tests are therefore often run at 1%.
Divide time by distance. 50 minutes for 10 km gives 5 minutes per kilometre, a pace of 5:00 min/km. Enter distance and time in the calculator and the pace appears instantly.
Divide 60 by the speed in km/h. 12 km/h gives 60 ÷ 12 = 5 minutes, i.e. 5:00 min/km. 12.5 km/h gives 4.8 minutes, which is 4:48 min/km.
Because there is no air resistance. With a 1% incline, treadmill effort is closest to outdoor running between roughly 10.5 and 18 km/h (Jones & Doust 1996).
The Riegel formula (1981) works well for trained runners between about 3.5 minutes and just under 4 hours. For a marathon without long runs in training it is often too optimistic.
Running the second half faster than the first. The calculator spreads the pace evenly across the distance so that the finish time stays the same.
A step test with lactate measurement shows it. LactateThreshold calculates LT1 and LT2 from it with several scientific methods. Signed-in users with a saved running test see their pace placed in their own zones directly in the calculator.
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