Welcome to our Marathon Pace calculator.
This calculator gives you your target pace and even time splits for a marathon race based on your target race time.
The results are shown in both miles and kilometers.
To achieve your target race time, your average pace needs to be the same as the target pace given by the calculator or faster.
Scroll to the bottom of the calculator to download your results as a PDF.
Marathon Pace Calculator
What Should My Marathon Pace Be?
Your marathon pace should reflect your finish time goal for the race.
For more info on how to decide your pacing and time goals, check out our definitive guide to marathon pacing.
How to Calculate Marathon Pace?
Marathon pace is calculated by dividing your target marathon time by the marathon distance (26.22 miles or 42.20 kilometers).
If you want to calculate pace yourself, you need to make sure all of the units are properly converted. For example, a target time of 5 hours and 15 minutes needs to be converted to minutes before being calculated.
Luckily, the calculator does these conversions for you.
What Are Split Times? Split Times In Running Explained
A split is a timed section of your run. A split time is typically given for each kilometer or mile of your run. Split times allow runners to break up their run into smaller sections so they can better monitor their speed and progress throughout the run.
Nowadays, most GPS running watches give you the option to log split times for every kilometer or mile.
Some runners aim for even splits, whereby the same amount of time is taken to complete each section of the run. This means that the speed of the runner remains relatively consistent throughout the race.
Other runners aim for negative splits, whereby sections in the second half of the run are completed in less time, meaning that the second half of the race is run faster than the first half of the race. The aim of this is to better maintain a manageable pace, stop burn-out, and give an extra boost of energy and speed towards the end of the race.
You can read our detailed guide on negative splits here.
How Can I Use The Marathon Calculator?
The marathon pace calculator has many uses. Here are some examples:
Calculating How Fast You Should Run Based On A Target Finish Time
If you’ve got a target finish goal time in mind – enter it into the calculator above and hit calculate to find out what pace you need to maintain to beat it.
Top tip: always aim for a race pace a bit faster than your target pace to give yourself a bit of headroom and account for small unexpected delays.
Finding Out The Pace Of A Famous Marathon Time You’ve Seen
You might have heard of Eliud Kipchoge running a sub-2-hour marathon.
Are you curious as to what pace this equates to and how it holds up compared to your 5K pace?
Enter it into the calculator and find out (hint – it’s fast).
Marathon Pace Charts
Marathon Pace Chart – Miles/Imperial (US)
Marathon Pace Chart – Kilometers/Metric
Other Running Calculators
- Half Marathon Pace Calculator
- Custom Running Pace Calculator
- Race Time Calculator: Predict Your Race Finish Times
- Marathon Time Predictor: Calculate Your Marathon Race Time
- Age-Grade Calculator: Analyse, Compare, & Predict Races
FAQs
What Is A Good Marathon Pace?
There is no universal ‘good’ pace for the marathon race distance, as everyone has their own marathon goals and levels of fitness.
A good pace for beginners unaccustomed to running longer distances differs from a good pace for experienced ultramarathon runners.
You can check out our guide on how some people might define a good or average pace here.
How To Achieve My Target Pace And Finish Time?
Once you’ve determined your target pace and finish line time goal – check out one of our specific finish-time goal-based marathon training plans to help you get there reliably, safely, and injury-free.
Our in-depth training programs include weekly training runs, with tempo runs and speed work to help increase your lactate threshold, VO2 max, & threshold pace whilst increasing running speed, power, and running economy, complemented by easy runs and weekend long runs to help build your long-distance stamina and strength training to build strength and prevent injury.
Bear in mind that your training paces are not always going to be run at the same pace as your target race day pace.
