Marathon pace chart: sub-3, 3:30, 4:00, 4:30 and 5:00

Most marathon goals end in :00 or :30. This chart turns each one into the two numbers you need on race day: the pace to hold and the clock time at the big checkpoints.

Every value below was computed with the Pace Notes calculator on the official marathon distance: 42,195 meters, which World Athletics also gives as 26 miles 385 yards. With a mile of exactly 1,609.344 m, that is 26.2188 miles. Times are rounded to the nearest second.

The chart

Goal	Pace /mi	Pace /km	5K	10K	Half	30K	20 mi
3:00:00	6:52	4:16	21:20	42:40	1:30:00	2:07:59	2:17:18
3:30:00	8:01	4:59	24:53	49:46	1:45:00	2:29:18	2:40:11
4:00:00	9:09	5:41	28:26	56:53	2:00:00	2:50:38	3:03:05
4:30:00	10:18	6:24	32:00	1:03:59	2:15:00	3:11:58	3:25:58
5:00:00	11:27	7:07	35:33	1:11:06	2:30:00	3:33:18	3:48:51

The checkpoint columns assume an even pace from start to finish. If you plan a negative split, your early checkpoints will read a bit slower. See the section on that below.

Sub-3 is faster than 6:52

A 3:00:00 marathon averages 411.9 seconds per mile, which rounds to 6:52. But a "sub-3" means 2:59:59 or better, and 6:52 held exactly for 26.2188 miles gives you 3:00:02. That is because 6:52 is a rounded-up 6:51.9.

The practical answer: aim for 6:50 per mile (4:15 per km) if you want a margin. At 6:50, the math gives 2:59:10. You'll need that margin, because nobody runs the measured line perfectly.

The 26.2 trap

Many charts divide by 26.2 miles. It's close, but it's short by 0.0188 miles, about 30 meters. At a 4:00 goal, that missing distance takes about 10 seconds. At 3:00, about 8 seconds. At 5:00, about 13.

Dividing 4:00:00 by 26.2 gives 9:10 per mile. The exact figure is 9:09. Hold 9:10 for the real distance and you cross the line in 4:00:20. Hold 9:09 and you finish in 3:59:54. One second per mile is 26 seconds over a marathon.

Your watch will read long

USATF certifies road courses along the shortest possible route a runner could take. It also adds a "short course prevention factor" of one part per thousand, so a certified marathon gets an extra 0.1%, about 42 meters. You'll also weave around other runners and take wide turns.

Together, that's why GPS watches often show a few tenths of a mile more than 26.2 at the finish. If you run your chart pace by the watch, you will finish behind your goal. A common fix is to run 3 to 5 seconds per mile faster than the chart, or to pace by the clock at each mile marker instead of the watch's average.

Using the checkpoints

The half and 20-mile columns are the useful ones.

• Halfway tells you whether you went out too fast. For a 4:00 goal, crossing 13.1 at 1:56 is not "banked time". It usually means a slower second half.
• 20 miles is where the race starts for most runners. For a 4:00 goal you want to be at or just after 3:03:05 with something left.
• 30K comes about 18.6 miles in. If you're on pace there, the last 12K is about holding form, not making up time.

Even pace or negative split?

The chart above is even pacing: the same speed for every mile. Many coaches suggest running the second half slightly faster than the first. The negative splits guide explains how and by how much.

Here is what a mild version looks like for a 4:00 marathon, with the second half 10 seconds per mile faster than the first:

Plan	First-half pace	Second-half pace	Halfway	Finish
Even	9:09	9:09	2:00:00	4:00:00
Negative, 10 s/mi gap	9:14	9:04	2:01:06	4:00:00

The finish time is the same. The difference is where you spend your effort.

Picking a realistic goal

A pace chart only tells you what a goal requires. It doesn't tell you whether the goal fits you. For that, take a recent race and run it through the race time predictor, then read about the Riegel formula and its limits. A 5K or 10K result is a good start, but a recent half marathon predicts a marathon much better.

Make your own

Want a goal that isn't on this chart, or a split for every single mile? The split calculator builds the full mile-by-mile or km-by-km table for any goal, even or negative, and prints it as a pace band. For a single pace number, use the pace calculator.