How to use the 5K pace chart
Find your goal time on the left and read across. The per km and per mile columns are the pace to hold.
The 400m column is your lap time on a track. The halfway and 4K columns are clock times to check on the way round.
The chart goes up 30 seconds at a time. For anything in between, the calculator above gives exact numbers.
Even or negative splits
A 5K is short enough that a slightly quick start does not ruin it, but only just. Even pace is still fastest for most.
A parkrun start makes that hard. The first few hundred metres are either crowded and slow, or downhill and fast.
For a 25 minute 5K, a 1% negative split reaches 2.5K in about 12:38 instead of 12:30. The second half then takes 12:22.
Hold back until 3K, then go.
parkrun and GPS
Every parkrun is a 5K, so the chart works for any course. Watches can read a little over or under 5 km at the finish.
Trees and bends do that. Your official time is what counts: the watch is a guide, the finish clock is the truth.
Find your goal pace with the plan builder
Your current 5K is the most useful number you can give a training plan. Look it up on the training paces page for your easy, threshold and interval paces.
Or build a plan from it, and every session is set for you.
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.