A pace chart looks simple: a goal time down one side, a pace down the other. But most runners either build one around a time that isn't realistic yet, or forget it's meant for the whole race and not just the finish line. Here's what a pace chart actually shows, a reference table for six common goal times, and how to actually use one on race day.
A half marathon pace chart takes one goal finish time and turns it into the pace you need to hold, per kilometre or per mile, across the full 21.0975km. That's it: it's a conversion, not a training plan. The pace comes from dividing your goal time in seconds by the distance: goal seconds ÷ 21.0975 for pace per km. Feed in 2:00:00 and you get 5:41/km. Feed in 1:45:00 and you get 4:59/km. Same formula every time, just a different number in.
Where it gets useful is when the chart doesn't stop at "your pace": it breaks the race into checkpoints, so you know exactly what clock time you should be seeing at 5km, at 10km, at 15km, not just at the finish. That's the version worth actually building, and it's what turns a single pace number into a race-day pacing tool.
Before you build a chart around any goal time, check whether that time is realistic for your current fitness: not your fitness from two years ago, not the time you'd like to run, the fitness you actually have right now. Run your most recent honest 10K or half marathon result through the race time predictor and see what it forecasts over 21.1km.
If the goal time you had in mind lands within a few minutes of that forecast, it's a reasonable target for a focused training block. If it's 15-20 minutes off, building a pace chart around it doesn't make it more achievable. It just gives you a precise number to fail at. Pick the goal your current fitness actually supports, or the goal the next training block can realistically close the gap to, and build the chart around that instead.
Six common goal times, computed with the exact same formula as the pace calculator below. If your goal time isn't one of these six, don't round to the nearest row: use the calculator and get the number for your exact time.
| Goal time | Pace per km | Pace per mile |
|---|---|---|
| 1:30:00 | 4:16/km | 6:52/mi |
| 1:45:00 | 4:59/km | 8:01/mi |
| 2:00:00 | 5:41/km | 9:09/mi |
| 2:15:00 | 6:24/km | 10:18/mi |
| 2:30:00 | 7:07/km | 11:27/mi |
| 2:45:00 | 7:49/km | 12:35/mi |
For your exact goal time, and a full km-by-km splits chart, not just the headline pace, use the pace calculator. Type in any goal time and it gives you pace per km, pace per mile, and every checkpoint split for that specific number.
The mistake most runners make with a pace chart is only checking it at the finish. A pace chart is worth having on race day precisely because it gives you checkpoints along the way, not just a target to hit two hours from now.
Before the race, write down (or load into your watch) your target clock time at 5km, 10km, 15km, and 18km, not just 21.1km. Then on race day, check your watch at each checkpoint against that number, not just your current instantaneous pace. A single fast or slow kilometre doesn't tell you much; being 90 seconds ahead of your 10km checkpoint tells you something worth acting on, usually that you went out too fast.
The single most common way a pace-chart goal falls apart isn't bad fitness: it's a fast first 5km that feels easy because you're fresh, followed by a fade nobody sees coming until km 16. Your first km should never be your fastest one. If your checkpoint at 5km is ahead of your chart, ease off rather than banking the time. It isn't free, you pay it back later with interest.
5:41 per km, or 9:09 per mile, held for the full 21.0975km. That's exactly what the pace calculator returns for a 2:00:00 goal. No rounding trick makes it easier, so treat 5:41/km as the number you train to hold, not a rough target.
Use the pace calculator. Type in your exact goal time (not just the round numbers on this page) and it'll give you pace per km, pace per mile, and a full kilometre-by-kilometre splits chart for that specific time.
Aim for even splits and accept that a slight positive split (a few seconds per km slower in the second half) is the realistic outcome even on a good day. What you're guarding against isn't a small positive split, it's a big one, and that almost always starts with going out too fast in the first 5km.
I've run 13 half marathons myself (PB 1:23:45). A pace chart tells you the number. RunLetters Half Marathon Coaching builds the training that lets you actually hold it, with a real coach adjusting the plan as your training goes, not an app guessing from a formula.
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