Minutes per mile or minutes per kilometre? Easy pace or race pace? Here’s how to make sense of the numbers and use them for your own running.
The highlights
- Pace tells you how long you take to cover a distance. Read it alongside effort, terrain and the purpose of your run.
- Start with the purpose of the run, then use effort and pace together rather than chasing somebody else’s number.
- A pace table can help you plan a finish time, but it cannot promise that time or tell you how every training run should feel.
It’s easy to feel pleased with a run until you see somebody else’s pace. The distance is the same, their time is quicker, and suddenly you’re wondering whether you should have tried harder.
Before you let a screenshot spoil your morning, it’s worth knowing what those numbers can actually tell you.
Pace can be useful. It can help you understand a training plan, choose a group and work towards a race. But first we need to separate two questions: “What does this number mean?” and “Is this the right effort for me today?” They are not the same question.
What running pace means
Running pace is the time taken to cover a unit of distance. At 7:00 min/km, each kilometre takes seven minutes. At 10:00 min/mile, each mile takes ten minutes. A smaller number means a quicker pace.
Those units matter. Seven-minute kilometres are not the same as seven-minute miles, even though a screenshot with the units cropped off might suggest otherwise.
You don’t need to learn both systems. Choose the one that makes your routes and plans easiest to understand. You can convert between the two when a race guide or training plan uses different units.
Here are some straightforward conversions. They are arithmetic examples, not recommended paces or ability categories.
| Pace per kilometre | Approximate pace per mile | 5 km at that constant pace | 10 km at that constant pace |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5:00 | 8:03 | 25:00 | 50:00 |
| 6:00 | 9:39 | 30:00 | 1:00:00 |
| 6:30 | 10:28 | 32:30 | 1:05:00 |
| 7:00 | 11:16 | 35:00 | 1:10:00 |
| 7:30 | 12:04 | 37:30 | 1:15:00 |
| 8:00 | 12:52 | 40:00 | 1:20:00 |
| 9:00 | 14:29 | 45:00 | 1:30:00 |
Calculated using 1 mile = 1.609344 km. Mile paces are rounded to the nearest second; finish times use the exact kilometre pace and assume no stops.
For a wider range of examples, our established running pace tables are there to help with the sums. Find the row you need and use it as a reference.
Ask what this run is for
Think about what you want from the run before choosing a pace.
You might be getting used to running regularly, meeting a friend or following a coached session. On another day, you might be checking a race target, or simply taking twenty minutes away from a noisy house.
Those are different outings. They do not all need the same pace, and they certainly do not all need to become a test of the fastest you can manage.
For an easy outing, our suggestion is to start by asking whether the effort feels manageable, not whether the number looks impressive. The CDC’s intensity guidance offers a useful general check: at moderate intensity you can talk but not sing; at vigorous intensity you cannot say more than a few words without pausing for breath. Relative effort varies between people.
That is a broad guide to intensity, not a precise laboratory threshold or a diagnosis. It also means that the same pace can represent very different work for two runners. Someone chatting beside you is not proof that you should be finding their pace comfortable.
Start with the purpose of your run, then choose a pace that fits.
What if running slowly still feels hard?
Try adding a walking break. It gives you a chance to catch your breath and decide how you feel about continuing.
The NHS Couch to 5K programme deliberately combines running and walking. Its structure is a useful reminder that taking walking breaks can be part of a planned running session, rather than evidence that you have failed to complete one properly.
For your own outings, a walk break can also give you a chance to reassess. Are you comfortable continuing? Would heading home be the better decision? Do you need a different starting point next time?
When you record the outing, include the walking breaks. Knowing where you took them and how they felt gives you something useful to refer back to next time.
Starting or returning with a health condition, persistent pain or symptoms you are concerned about deserves individual advice. A pace chart cannot decide whether running is appropriate for you.
Training pace and race pace are different questions
A race target begins with a calculation. A 35-minute 5 km requires an average of seven minutes per kilometre. That tells you what must happen on the clock; it does not demonstrate that you are ready to do it.
Likewise, completing one kilometre at a particular pace does not prove that you can hold it for five, ten or forty-two. You’ll need to consider your recent training as well as the calculation.
Use recent, relevant experience to inform a goal, ideally alongside a qualified coach when you want an individual plan. Consider the distance and course as well as your available training time. Save the target pace for sessions where it has a purpose in your plan.
A useful distinction is: the goal is what you are working towards; the session is what you are doing today. Do not automatically turn every session into an attempt to prove the goal is possible.
Read averages with a little context
Suppose an outing takes thirty minutes and covers four kilometres. Its overall average is 7:30 min/km. That average might contain running, walking and standing still at a crossing. It does not mean every kilometre took precisely seven minutes and thirty seconds.
The same issue appears when you compare two recordings with different approaches to pauses. Before declaring one outing better, check what time is actually being counted.
You can keep your own record simple. Note the route, approximate duration and a sentence about how it felt. “Comfortable conversation, walked the steep section” tells future-you something that “slower again” does not.
And when you are crossing a road, cross the road. There is no pace target important enough to deserve your attention at the expense of what is happening around you.
A thirty-minute run does not have to be a 5 km run
The final week of the NHS running plan works towards thirty minutes of continuous running. That is a time milestone. Whether it covers 5 km depends on pace.
At 8:00 min/km, thirty minutes covers 3.75 km. At 7:00 min/km, it covers about 4.29 km. Neither calculation reduces the achievement of running for thirty minutes. It simply explains why the distance on your watch may not match the programme’s name.
Celebrate the milestone you have actually reached. There is no need to move the finish line immediately afterwards.
Try a kinder way of choosing your next pace
For your next ordinary, non-race outing, decide the purpose before you leave. Choose a familiar route where you can shorten things if needed. Begin without trying to bank an impressive first kilometre.
During the run, check whether the effort still matches that purpose. For a deliberately comfortable outing, conversation is a useful prompt. When it does not feel comfortable, you can slow down, walk, shorten the outing or stop. Make the adjustment while you’re out, rather than struggling on because the plan looked different at home.
Afterwards, review the experience before the numbers. Did the outing fit your day? Did you enjoy any of it? Is there something practical to change next time?
Then look at the pace and consider whether it adds anything useful to what you’ve already noticed.
The number can matter without being everything
There is nothing wrong with loving a personal best. Wanting to improve and treating yourself kindly are not opposing teams.
The aim is not to pretend that speed never matters. It is to choose when it matters, understand what the number can tell you and leave room for all the other reasons you run.
A first outing after a long break or a good catch-up with a friend can be worth remembering whatever the average pace. Write that down too.
Love RW x
This is general information, not an individual training or medical plan.
More from Running Woman
Read our guide to starting again or making your running watch work for you.
Sources and further reading
- CDC: How to measure physical activity intensity: relative intensity and the talk test.
- NHS: Get running with Couch to 5K: planned running and walking.
- NHS: Couch to 5K running plan: the thirty-minute endpoint.
- Running Woman: existing pace tables: companion resource; calculations in this article are newly worked examples.
