Pace and Splits Calculators

Pace and splits calculators are very powerful tools once you learn how to take advantage of them. And if you do not yet appreciate the benefits of these two otherwise rather simple applications, you will in a moment. You can use both to either plan your training sessions, but it is much more likely that you will use them as your race strategy guides and planners.

Combine pace and splits calculators' functionality and you get your own personal pacing charts that are a breeze to use and always display your times.

First you'll learn how to use the pace calculator and later on how to use the splits calculator.

How to Use Pace Calculator

Pace calculator serves two purposes:

• as a pace calculator that you can use to calculate your minutes per kilometer pace by providing total time and distance or
• as a time goal calculator to calculate your total time by providing pace in minutes per kilometer and total distance.

First we'll take a look at how to use it as a pace calculator and later on how to use it as a goal time calculator.

Since these two calculations are closely related, they are mainly for the reasons of convenience both presented in a single window.

Pace Calculator

You have set the goal time in which you want to finish that half marathon, but you have no idea how fast you'll have to cover a kilometer to achieve your goal. And since even a half marathon distance can be quite unpleasant if you start too fast, there is some planning that you should do prior to running. That's where Run's pace calculator comes in quite handy.

By using the pace calculator you can calculate how fast you have to cover each kilometer of any distance to achieve the time that you have set as a goal. And based on that result you can either begin planning your race strategy or even use it as a training tool to find out how close or even how realistic are your goals.

Using pace calculator is straight forward:

1. In the first three text boxes you input your total time. If a certain value does not apply (that is, equals 0), just leave that box empty. For instance, if your time is 43 minutes and 9 seconds, leave the hours text box empty, and input 43 in the minutes text box and 9 in the seconds text box.
2. Next you have to provide the distance you want to cover in that time. Enter the distance in kilometers.
3. Click Calculate Pace to get the result.

The result is printed out below the form and it is written in red. Besides calculating the pace in minutes per kilometer, you'll also see how fast that is in kilometers per hour.

Tinker with the pace calculator. Enter different times and distances. Get different results. You'll soon learn that this simple application can be very powerful and even motivating.

Goal Time

If you know how fast you can run (how many much time it takes you to cover a kilometer) for a given distance, but you do not know how long it will take you to cover the whole distance, you'll want to use the goal time calculator.

Complete the following steps to calculate your goal time:

1. Input your pace in minutes and seconds per kilometer in the first two text boxes. For instance, if your pace is 4 minutes and 12 seconds, enter 4 in the minutes text box and 12 in the seconds text box. If a certain value does not apply (that is, equals 0), just leave that box empty.
2. Enter the total distance in kilometers that you want to cover in the distance text box.
3. Click Calculate Time to get the result.

The result is printed out below the form and it is written in red. Besides getting your goal time in hours, minutes and seconds, you'll also see how fast you'll have to run in kilometers per hour.

Just as with the pace calculator, use the goal calculator to check your total time for different paces and distances. You'll quickly learn that the goal time calculator can be very helpful for strategy or training planning. Use it to motivate yourself and achieve goals.

How to Use Splits Calculator

The splits calculator in Run serves only one purpose, but a crucial one: it calculates your splits for each kilometer covered. This might not seem like much, but just think about it. The splits calculator presents you with to say the least, a rough draft of your race strategy. You might not recognize the importance of such strategy for shorter distances, such as are 5K and 10K. But if you've done a half marathon, a marathon or an ultra, then calculating your splits is almost crucial.

No matter what the overall distance of your run is, it is sound planning to divide that distance into chunks and then check whether you are running according to plan or not during your run. This is especially useful when running half marathon or longer distances. Since it might be quite distracting and mind-boggling to keep in mind all those split times for each kilometer for a distance like a marathon, you'll want to divide that distance into several chunks of, for instance, 3 kilometers and then check every three kilometers to see if you are running as you have planned or not. By doing to you'll know exactly if you are running too fast or too slow, which for a distance like marathon can be a difference between finishing or not.

Here's how to use the splits calculator:

• Input your pace in minutes and seconds per kilometer in the first two text boxes. For instance, if your pace is 4 minutes and 12 seconds, enter 4 in the minutes text box and 12 in the seconds text box. If a certain value does not apply (that is, equals 0), just leave that box empty.
• Enter the total distance in kilometers that you want to cover in the distance text box.
• In the last text box enter the distance of one chunk, or split in kilometers.
• Click Calculate Splits to get your desired split times.

The result is printed out below the form and it is written in red. First you'll see your goal speed in kilometers per hour, and below that a list of split times at desired distance interval.