Running pace and split calculator
Pacing is the cheapest improvement available in any time trial. Enter your target and this gives you the per-kilometre pace and the 400m lap split you have to hold to get it.
Set the distance and the time you want to run. The splits assume an even pace, which is the pacing strategy that produces the fastest time for almost everyone — a fast first lap is the most expensive mistake in time-trialling.
| Split | Target time |
|---|
Even splits. If you are going to deviate, run the first portion a fraction slower than target rather than faster — a negative split is nearly always the faster race.
What the number means
Even splits, almost always
The single most common time-trial mistake is going out too hard. It feels like banking time; it is not. Energy spent above your sustainable pace early is paid back with interest later, and the athlete who runs an even 2km will nearly always beat the identical athlete who ran the first lap five seconds fast.
The practical cue: your first lap should feel too easy. If it does not, you are already going too fast.
Target pace is not training pace
The other big error is training at the pace you want to race at, every session. That produces an athlete who is very good at running that pace for a short time and cannot go faster.
A time-trial build needs three different sessions a week doing three different jobs — quality reps at race pace, threshold work just under it, and genuinely easy volume. Train Smart's conditioning plans calculate this week's working pace by interpolating from your current time toward your target across the timeframe you set, so every rep in every session has a number on it that is slightly faster than last week's.
Related tests
2km time trial · 5km · 10km · Bronco test
Common questions
What pace should I run my 2km time trial at?
Should I negative split?
Or let the app do it every week
Train Smart runs this calculation continuously — recalculating your working weights, your conditioning paces and your load every session, without you opening a calculator.
One month free, then A$24.99/month. Cancel any time. iPhone and iPad.