Pace converter

Four units, one speed

Pace in minutes per kilometre, speed in km/h, pace per mile and speed in mph all describe the same speed in different units. Enter any one of them and the converter updates the other three live, with no button. That makes it easy to turn a US training plan given in mph straight into the pace in min/km you are used to.

How the converter works

Converting pace to km/h uses 60 divided by the pace in minutes: a pace of 5:00 min/km gives 60 / 5 = 12 km/h. For miles the internationally defined value is 1 mile = 1.609344 km, so pace per kilometre is multiplied by that factor to get pace per mile. km/h and mph use the same factor (km/h divided by 1.609344 gives mph).

Example: 5:41 min/km times 1.609344 gives a pace of 9:09 min/mile, with a speed of about 10.6 km/h or 6.6 mph.

What the marathon and half marathon time in the table means

For every pace the table shows the time you would get holding that exact pace for the full marathon distance (42.195 km). It is a pure calculation, not a prediction: running faster early or slowing down later changes the actual result. To project a finish time from an existing best, the race time predictor is the better tool.

Where the converter stops being useful

The converter assumes a constant, flat speed. On trails with elevation gain, or on a treadmill with an incline, the actual effort at the same pace changes a lot. For those cases use the km-effort calculator for trail races and the treadmill pace calculator.

Frequently asked questions