5K Training Pace Calculator
Calculate your target pace per kilometer and per mile for a 5K race.
Enter your goal finish time and get recommended easy, tempo, and interval training paces.
Your 5K race pace is the cornerstone of a structured training plan. Once you know your race pace, you can calculate every other training zone from it.
Race pace (per km) = target time (seconds) / 5 Race pace (per mile) = race pace (per km) × 1.60934
From there, the standard zones based on Jack Daniels’ running formula:
Easy / recovery runs: race pace + 60 to 90 sec/km. Most of your weekly miles should be here — conversational, aerobic, low stress. Easy runs build the aerobic base without taxing recovery.
Tempo / threshold runs: race pace + 10 to 20 sec/km. Uncomfortable but sustainable for 20-40 minutes. This pace trains the lactate threshold — the speed above which lactic acid accumulates faster than you clear it.
Intervals / track repeats: at or slightly faster than race pace. Run 400m or 800m repetitions with recovery jogs between. This is the sharpest training — it improves VO2max but requires full recovery.
Long runs: race pace + 75 to 90 sec/km (similar to easy). The long run builds endurance, not speed.
The 80/20 rule of thumb: roughly 80% of weekly volume at easy pace, 20% at harder paces. Most recreational runners run too hard on easy days and not hard enough on hard days.
To run a 5K in 25 minutes, you need a 5:00/km pace. Easy runs at 6:00-6:30/km; tempo runs at 5:10-5:20/km; intervals at 4:50-5:00/km.