How to use the 10K pace chart
Find your goal time on the left and read across. The 400m column is your lap time on a standard track.
That is useful for a session of 10K pace repeats. The 5K split tells you if you are on schedule at halfway.
The chart goes up a minute at a time. Use the calculator above for any time in between.
Even or negative splits
In a 10K the costly mistake is the first kilometre. Adrenaline and a crowd make goal pace feel slow.
10 seconds too quick there comes back with interest after 6K. Be within a few seconds of goal pace at 1K and 5K.
Then speed up over the last 2K if you can.
For a 50 minute 10K, a 1% negative split is about 25:15 at 5K instead of 25:00. The second half then takes 24:45.
It is a small difference on paper, and a large one in how the last 3K feel.
Using 10K pace in training
10K pace sits between threshold and interval pace. That makes it a good session for runners who race 10K and up.
For example, 5 x 1 km at goal pace with a minute of easy jogging between.
Keep most of your week easy though. The training paces page gives every other pace from a 5K time.
Find your goal pace with the plan builder
Have a recent 5K? Look it up in the VDOT chart for the 10K time it is worth.
Then build a plan from your 5K time. Every pace starts from where you are now and moves you towards your target row.
The VDOT column is the fitness score each finish time represents in Jack Daniels' model. Equal VDOTs at different distances are the same fitness, laid out in the VDOT chart.