Pace calculators are a tool used to determine how fast you should run over certain distances in order to achieve your goal time. It takes the distance, your goal time and then gives you an average pace per mile or kilometre. Pace calculators can be found all over the internet and on many running apps as well as fitness wearables such as watches and bracelets.
Use of Pace calculator
The data from our calculator is all pre-filled for you to easily follow along with your speed training during your next workout! You will enter the distance of the treadmill that you plan on running on, followed by your goal time (for example – if you want to run 3 miles in 20 minutes – enter “20”). Press submit and you are ready to begin running your speed workout on the treadmill!
An example of pace in running
The pace is how fast or slow you run a distance. It can be expressed as min/mile, min/km, etc. For example “I ran this mile at a 7:30 pace” would mean that during that mile you were running at 7 minutes and 30 seconds per mile (or whatever other unit you prefer).
Negative grade at pace calculator
Treadmills usually have anywhere from -5% up to 15% incline built into them for runners who either want to add some incline to their run without having to run outside or for people who are training for races on hilly courses. If you were to enter a negative number or zero into the pace calculator, it would assume that you are running with zero inclines and your pace will not be accurate. So, if you want to run at an 8 min/mile on flat ground (0% grade) but decide to plug in -5% as your grade – the calculator will change it from 0% to 5% and give you a new adjusted pace of 9 minutes per mile. Entering a positive number or anything over 15% will result in a treadmill grade that is too steep for runners and your results may actually lead to injury due to overstriding unless you’re planning on doing hill workouts.
“Average pace” change
There are two main reasons that your average pace will fluctuate throughout the workout. The treadmill you’re running on may change the speed at different intervals (sometimes called an interval workout) or it could be because you clicked on a new preset for incline/decline or even just changed the grade manually. Each click of the up or down arrow changes the grade by 1% so if you set “0%” initially, then switch to “+2%” for example – this would result in a 2% elevation change and your treadmill may have been going faster or slower during that 1% of the workout. Therefore, the average pace will also be affected.
The difference between average pace and target pace
The average pace is how fast you should be running on average throughout a single mile or kilometre in order to achieve a certain goal. For example, if your goal time for a 5k is 20 minutes, then plugging that into the calculator would result in an average pace of 9:45 per mile. This means that you should be running at around 9:45 minutes per mile on average throughout the entire 3.1 miles (or 5 kilometres). The more times you stop and start or turn directions will change this number slightly, but it’s meant to be used as an overall guide for pacing during the race itself. Target
