Your training paces
Easy and long runs
Conversational. Most of your running.
10:01–11:01 /mi
Tempo runs
Comfortably hard. A few words at a time.
9:25 /mi
Intervals
Hard, in short repeats with easy jogging between.
9:01 /mi
What the paces mean
- Easy and long runs: conversational effort, about 3 to 4 out of 10. Most of your weekly running.
- Tempo runs: comfortably hard, about 7 out of 10. A steady effort held for 15 to 30 minutes.
- Intervals: hard, about 8 to 9 out of 10, in short repeats with easy jogging between.
How the paces are worked out
The calculator first converts your result to an equivalent 5K time using Riegel's formula. Intervals are set at that 5K pace. Tempo pace is the pace you could hold in a race lasting one hour. Easy pace is 1 to 2 minutes per mile slower than 5K pace. These are estimates: a starting point, not a test you can fail.
Training paces by 5K time
| 5K time | Easy and long | Tempo | Intervals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20:00 | 7:26–8:26 | 6:51 | 6:26 |
| 22:30 | 8:15–9:15 | 7:39 | 7:15 |
| 25:00 | 9:03–10:03 | 8:27 | 8:03 |
| 27:30 | 9:51–10:51 | 9:15 | 8:51 |
| 30:00 | 10:39–11:39 | 10:03 | 9:39 |
| 32:30 | 11:28–12:28 | 10:50 | 10:28 |
| 35:00 | 12:16–13:16 | 11:37 | 11:16 |
| 37:30 | 13:04–14:04 | 12:24 | 12:04 |
| 40:00 | 13:52–14:52 | 13:10 | 12:52 |
Go by effort when conditions change
Heat, hills, wind and poor sleep all make the same pace feel harder. On those days, keep the effort and let the pace slow. More on this in how to find your easy pace.
Put your paces to work
Every Kiki training plan uses these same workouts: easy runs, long runs, tempo runs and intervals. To check a goal time, try the race time predictor.
Common questions
- What pace should my easy runs be?
- Slow enough to talk in full sentences, which for most runners is 1 to 2 minutes per mile (about 40 to 75 seconds per kilometer) slower than 5K race pace.
- What is tempo pace?
- A comfortably hard effort you could hold for about an hour in a race. You can say a few words at a time, not full sentences.
- What pace should I run intervals?
- Around your current 5K race pace for repeats of 2 to 5 minutes, with easy jogging between them.
- What if I don't have a recent race time?
- Run a time trial: after a warm-up, run 1 mile or 5K as evenly and as hard as you can, and enter that. If you're new to running, skip the paces and run everything at a conversational effort.