5K pace chart
The pace required for every common 5k goal time, over 5 km (3.11 miles). Pick a target for its full split table.
| Goal time | Per km | Per mile | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sub-15 | 3:00 | 4:50 | Splits → |
| Sub-18 | 3:36 | 5:48 | Splits → |
| Sub-20 | 4:00 | 6:26 | Splits → |
| Sub-22 | 4:24 | 7:05 | Splits → |
| Sub-25 | 5:00 | 8:03 | Splits → |
| Sub-30 | 6:00 | 9:39 | Splits → |
| Sub-35 | 7:00 | 11:16 | Splits → |
How to pace a 5k
The 5K is short enough that an even pace is close to optimal and long enough that going out too hard is unrecoverable. There is no cruising phase to settle into and no second half in which to fix a mistake, so the first kilometre matters more here than at any other distance.
The pace should feel genuinely too easy for the first kilometre. If it feels correct, it is too fast. Nearly everyone runs their opening kilometre quickest and their third kilometre slowest, and the gap between those two is a fair measure of how well the race was judged.
The third kilometre is where a 5K is decided. It is far enough in that the early adrenaline is gone, and far enough from the finish that you cannot yet see it. Runners who hold pace through that stretch usually hold it to the line.
Unlike the longer distances, a 5K needs a real warm up. You are running at close to your maximum sustainable effort from the first stride, and starting cold means spending the opening kilometre getting ready rather than racing.
Common mistakes
- Starting at a pace you can hold for two kilometres and hoping the third looks after itself.
- Skipping the warm up, then spending the first kilometre warming up instead of racing.
- Treating a 5K as an easy distance because it is the shortest one on this list.
5K questions
- How far is a 5K in miles?
- A 5K is 5 kilometres, or 3.11 miles. On a standard 400 metre outdoor track that is twelve and a half laps, which is exactly how a track 5000 metres is run.
- Should I negative split a 5K?
- Slightly, if anything. A near even pace with a marginally quicker final kilometre is the fastest way to run one. A large deliberate negative split means the early kilometres were too slow, and over a distance this short there is not enough race left to make that back.
- How much slower is 10K pace than 5K pace?
- Roughly 4.2% slower per kilometre, following the Riegel formula. For most runners that is somewhere between ten and twenty seconds per kilometre.
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 5k time from a race you have already run.