About this tool
Runners talk about pace, but they do not all talk about it in the same units. A training plan written in minutes per kilometre means little to a runner who thinks in minutes per mile, and a treadmill that shows kilometres per hour confuses anyone used to pace. Converting between these units by hand is easy to get wrong, especially mid-run, which is why a dedicated pace converter earns its place in a runner's toolkit. It is a small calculation with an outsized effect on training.
PaceConvert is a free running pace unit converter. Enter a pace in minutes per kilometre or minutes per mile, or a speed in kilometres per hour or metres per second, and the tool shows all four units at once. It is not a race-time predictor and it does not guess your finish time; it simply translates the speed you already have into the unit your plan, watch or treadmill uses. That narrow focus is deliberate, because a tool that does one conversion perfectly beats a tool that does five conversions approximately.
The maths behind pace conversion is straightforward once the relationships are clear. Speed and pace are reciprocals: pace is time per distance, while speed is distance per time. To turn minutes per kilometre into kilometres per hour, divide 60 by the pace in minutes, because there are 60 minutes in an hour. A pace of 5 minutes per kilometre therefore means 12 kilometres per hour. To turn minutes per kilometre into minutes per mile, multiply by 1.60934, the number of kilometres in a mile, giving 8 minutes and 3 seconds per mile for that same effort.
Runners coming from imperial units face the mirror-image problem. A pace of 8 minutes per mile converts to minutes per kilometre by dividing by 1.60934, giving about 4 minutes and 58 seconds per kilometre. Many runners round this carelessly to 5 minutes per kilometre and then wonder why their intervals feel slightly off. PaceConvert does the exact arithmetic and shows seconds rounded sensibly, so the converted pace matches the original effort rather than a rough approximation of it.
Treadmills add another layer of confusion, because most display speed rather than pace. A treadmill set to 12 kilometres per hour is running at 5 minutes per kilometre, but the runner staring at the console may not know that. PaceConvert bridges that gap: enter the treadmill speed and read off the equivalent pace, or enter your target pace and find the treadmill speed to set. This two-way conversion is the feature runners actually need when they move between outdoor training and indoor sessions in winter.
Metres per second is the unit coaches and sports scientists prefer, because it fits neatly into physics and into calculations for interval distances. A speed of 3.33 metres per second is the same as 12 kilometres per hour, and coaches use it when prescribing short intervals measured in metres. PaceConvert includes metres per second alongside the more familiar units, so a runner following a science-based plan does not need a second calculator for the same conversion.
Common pace benchmarks help make sense of the numbers. A comfortable easy run for many recreational runners sits around 6 minutes per kilometre, which is 10 kilometres per hour. A steady tempo effort might be near 5 minutes per kilometre, or 12 kilometres per hour. Elite marathoners sustain paces near 3 minutes per kilometre, over 20 kilometres per hour, for more than two hours. Seeing your own pace beside these benchmarks in every unit helps you understand where your training sits, without any judgement about whether it should be faster.
Training plans often mix units without warning, and that is where mistakes creep in. A plan might prescribe easy runs in minutes per kilometre, intervals in minutes per mile because it was written in another country, and treadmill sessions in kilometres per hour. Converting each session by hand, under time pressure, invites arithmetic slips that change the whole session. PaceConvert removes that risk: enter the prescribed number once, in whatever unit it was written, and read off the unit your watch displays.
Pacing strategy in races also depends on unit fluency. A runner targeting a marathon at 5 minutes per kilometre needs to pass each kilometre marker on schedule, but if their watch is set to miles, they need the equivalent mile splits to check progress. PaceConvert gives both, so the runner can set their watch to either unit with confidence. The same applies to parkrun, where a 5-kilometre course makes minutes per kilometre the natural unit, and to track sessions, where 400-metre repetitions make metres per second feel natural.
Errors to avoid are worth naming. The most common is confusing pace and speed: a lower pace number means faster running, while a higher speed number means faster running, so the two scales move in opposite directions. Another is forgetting that pace is written as minutes and seconds, not as a decimal: 5 minutes 30 seconds per kilometre is 5.5 minutes, not 5.3. PaceConvert accepts minutes and seconds separately for pace inputs, which prevents that decimal trap and keeps the conversion exact.
Beginners sometimes wonder whether they should worry about pace at all, or simply run by feel. Both matter: feel teaches you effort, and pace teaches you consistency. A converter helps beginners translate a coach's advice, such as run easy at 6:30 per kilometre, into the number their phone app shows, so they can check feel against measurement. Over weeks, that feedback loop builds an intuitive sense of pace that eventually needs the converter less, which is exactly how a good tool should work.
Finally, pace conversion is a gateway to smarter training data. Once your paces and speeds are in consistent units, you can compare sessions across months, spot genuine improvement rather than unit confusion, and set realistic targets for your next race. Keep a simple log of your easy pace, tempo pace and interval pace in one chosen unit, convert any foreign prescriptions with PaceConvert before you run, and your training record will stay clean enough to trust when it matters.
Start by converting your most recent run. Enter the pace your watch recorded, note the equivalent speed, and then try the reverse: enter a treadmill speed and see the pace it implies. That two-minute exercise builds the unit fluency that makes every future training plan easier to follow, whatever country it was written in and whatever device you run with.
Watch settings are the quiet cause of many pace surprises, and they are worth checking once. Some watches default to miles, some to kilometres, and some switch automatically when you travel, which can make a familiar route look suddenly faster or slower for no reason. Set your watch to the unit your training plan uses, turn on auto-lap per kilometre or per mile to match, and confirm the setting after any software update, which can occasionally reset preferences. PaceConvert then becomes your translator only when a plan arrives in the other unit, rather than a daily crutch for a watch set to the wrong system.
If you coach others, write the unit next to every pace you prescribe, such as 5:00/km, rather than leaving it implied. That single habit prevents most conversion errors before they happen.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert min/km to km/h?
Divide 60 by the pace in minutes. A pace of 5 min/km gives 60 divided by 5, which is 12 km/h.
What is 5 min/km in min/mile?
Multiply by 1.60934, giving about 8:03 per mile. PaceConvert does this exactly, including the seconds.
Does PaceConvert predict my race time?
No. PaceConvert converts pace and speed units only. It does not estimate finish times for any distance.
Why do treadmills show km/h instead of pace?
Treadmills control belt speed, so they display speed. PaceConvert translates that speed into the pace you run outdoors.
What is pace in m/s used for?
Coaches use metres per second for interval prescriptions and sports-science calculations, where it fits distance and time neatly.
Is PaceConvert free?
Yes. PaceConvert is free with unlimited usage and no sign-up.