Running pace & cadence guides

Everything we know about holding a pace, written plainly. Work out your number with the tools, then learn how to hold it.

Hold a pace

Guide

How to run a steady pace

Four things that keep you on an even pace through hills, fatigue, and a fast first mile.

Guide

Stop going out too fast

The most common way runners blow a race, and how to catch the surge in your first strides.

Guide

Negative splits

Why the second half should be your fastest, and how to hold back early enough to run it.

Guide

Run by feel

Pace on effort, eyes off the screen, and learn what a pace feels like by ear.

Guide

How fast should easy runs be?

Most runners run easy days too hard. How slow easy is, and how to hold yourself there.

Guide

Zone 2 by feel

Stay easy without a chest strap. Why it is hard, and how a pace tone keeps you honest.

Race pacing

Guide

How to pace a 5K

Run it even, hold goal pace, finish with something left. Includes a 5K pace chart.

Guide

How to pace a 10K

Don't race the first 2K like a 5K. Even pacing, with a 10K pace chart.

Guide

How to pace a half marathon

Respect the first 10 miles. Sub-2:00 and every other target, with a chart.

Guide

How to pace a marathon

The 10-10-10 method, so the early miles never cost you the wall.

Hear your pace

Guide and tool

Running cadence

Your ideal steps per minute, why 180 is not a law, and a metronome to raise it.

Compare

Audio pace alerts

Spoken pace, threshold beeps, or a continuous tone. How each feels to run with.

How-to

Apple Watch and Garmin pace alerts

How to set them up, and why a tone tells you more than a buzz.

Guide

Why is my distance wrong?

Why GPS watches disagree, and how good filtering makes distance accurate.

Free tools

Tool

Pace calculator

Turn a goal time into the pace and splits to hold, or a pace into a finish time.

Reference

Pace charts

Every common pace in min/km and min/mile, with 5K, 10K, half, and marathon times.

Tool

Race time predictor

Enter one recent race, see what you can run at every other distance.

Tool

Treadmill converter

Treadmill speed to pace, and the incline that matches the road.

Standards and goals

Reference

Pace benchmarks

What pace is a world record, a Boston qualifier, or an army fitness test?

Reference

Goal pace pages

The exact pace, splits, and equivalents for every popular goal, from a sub-30 5K to a sub-3 marathon.

Compare and travel

The hard part of pacing is holding your number once you know it. Steady Pace holds it for you by ear, with a tone that rises when you slow and falls when you speed up.

Hold your pace by ear

Set a target pace. A tone rises when you slow and falls when you speed up, so you hold it without looking at your phone. No ads, no account, no subscription.

Download on the App Store