10K pace chart
The pace required for every common 10k goal time, over 10 km (6.21 miles). Pick a target for its full split table.
| Goal time | Per km | Per mile | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sub-35 | 3:30 | 5:38 | Splits → |
| Sub-40 | 4:00 | 6:26 | Splits → |
| Sub-45 | 4:30 | 7:15 | Splits → |
| Sub-50 | 5:00 | 8:03 | Splits → |
| Sub-55 | 5:30 | 8:51 | Splits → |
| Sub-1:00 | 6:00 | 9:39 | Splits → |
| Sub-1:10 | 7:00 | 11:16 | Splits → |
How to pace a 10k
The 10K sits between the two things that make a runner fast: the speed that wins a 5K and the endurance that carries a half. It is run at close to threshold effort for most people, which means hard but controlled, not the barely contained effort of a 5K.
Expect to run it about 4.2% slower per kilometre than your 5K pace. That figure comes from the same formula the predictor uses, and it is a reasonable starting point if you have a recent 5K and no recent 10K.
The stretch between six and eight kilometres is where this race is won or lost. The novelty of the start has worn off, the finish is not close enough to sprint for, and the effort has been sustained long enough to hurt. Runners who are honest about their pace early have something to give there; runners who paced it like a 5K do not.
Even pacing is the right plan. The 10K is short enough that there is no fuelling to think about and no real fatigue curve to plan around, so almost every complication is one you introduced yourself in the opening two kilometres.
Common mistakes
- Pacing it like a 5K, which works for six kilometres and then stops working abruptly.
- Treating the last two kilometres as a formality. They are a third of the discomfort.
- Racing on a hilly course at the pace a flat course produced, rather than by effort.
10K questions
- How far is a 10K in miles?
- A 10K is 10 kilometres, or 6.21 miles. It is twice the 5K distance and twenty five laps of a standard 400 metre track, which makes it a common step up for anyone who has raced a 5K.
- Is 10K race pace the same as threshold pace?
- For a well trained runner finishing in around forty minutes, a 10K is run close to threshold, so the two are near enough to treat as the same. For someone taking an hour or more, the race lasts longer than threshold effort can be held, so 10K pace sits below it. The distance is fixed but the effort it represents is not.
- Do I need to fuel during a 10K?
- No. At the pace most people race a 10K it is over well before stored carbohydrate becomes a limit. Arrive properly fed and hydrated, take water if it is hot, and skip the gels.
Work out your own target
Any distance, any pace, in kilometres or miles, with split times and negative-split pacing.
Other distances
Not sure which goal is realistic?
Predict your 10k time from a race you have already run.