Ritmo de Corrida (min/km)

Running pace per kilometer

Pace is how long it takes you to cover one kilometer, written in min/km: pace = total time / distance. Think of it as speed turned inside out. A pace of 5:00 min/km works out to 12 km/h. Example: run 5 km in 30 minutes and your pace is 30/5 = 6:00 min/km. The fastest marathoners hover near 3:00 min/km (Eliud Kipchoge's INEOS 1:59 marathon averaged ~2:50 min/km, nominal sub-2). If you're chasing amateur goals, a sub-4h marathon means holding 5:41 min/km the whole way, and a sub-3h marathon demands a punishing 4:15 min/km. Most runners lean on one of two pacing styles. An even split keeps the same pace from gun to tape; a negative split runs the back half faster than the front. Kipchoge tends to negative split, and the physiology backs it up over going out too hard.

Applications

It shows up in structured run training, where you pace tempo, threshold and long runs by zone, and in reading the numbers off your Garmin, Polar and Strava. It also drives race planning for the 5K, 10K, half-marathon (21.097 km) and marathon (42.195 km). And it lets you line up workouts from different days even when the distance or terrain wasn't the same.

FAQ

Pace or speed? They carry the same information in different units. Runners tend to go with pace because the gap between 5:00 and 5:30 min/km feels more concrete than the gap between 12 km/h and 10.9 km/h.

How do I convert pace to marathon time? Take your pace in min/km and multiply by 42.195. So 5:00 min/km × 42.195 ≈ 3h31min.

Does pace change with elevation? It does. Climbing costs you roughly 10–20 s/km for every 1% of grade. GPS watches report a "grade-adjusted pace" (GAP) so you can compare a hilly run with a flat one.

Even or negative split? For amateurs, negative splits track with faster marathon times, mostly because you burn through less glycogen in the opening half.