Pace to Speed Converter
Convert any running pace or speed among minutes per mile, minutes per kilometer, miles per hour, and kilometers per hour.
Equivalent pace and speed
What does a pace and speed converter do?
Runners and their gear do not agree on units. Your watch might show minutes per mile, a race plan might use minutes per kilometer, and a treadmill shows miles or kilometers per hour. This converter takes any one of those and gives you the other three at once.
Pace and speed are two ways of saying the same thing. Pace is the time to cover a set distance, so a bigger number is slower. Speed is the distance covered in an hour, so a bigger number is faster. That is why an 8:00 per mile pace and 7.5 miles per hour describe the same effort.
Enter a pace as minutes:seconds or a speed as a plain number, pick which unit you are starting from, and read the full set. It is a straight unit conversion with no adjustment for hills or grade, so use it to translate between your watch, your plan, and the treadmill.
How does the pace and speed conversion work?
Formula
mph = 60 / minutes per mile. km/h = 60 / minutes per km. Minutes per mile = minutes per km x 1.609344. Minutes per km = minutes per mile / 1.609344. mph = km/h / 1.609344.
Speed and pace are reciprocals. Miles per hour is 60 divided by the minutes per mile, and kilometers per hour is 60 divided by the minutes per kilometer. To move between the two distance units, one mile equals 1.609344 kilometers exactly, so minutes per mile equals minutes per kilometer times 1.609344, and miles per hour equals kilometers per hour divided by the same factor.
Reading the result
Enter any one value and all four are filled in: minutes per mile, minutes per kilometer, miles per hour, and kilometers per hour. Paces show to the nearest second because that is how you run and read them; speeds carry two decimals so you can set a treadmill precisely. For example, 8:00 per mile is 7.5 mph, 4:58 per km, and about 12.07 km/h.
When to use the full pace calculator instead
This tool only converts units; it does not involve a distance or a finish time. When you want to find a pace from a distance and a time, a finish time from a pace, or how far a run was, use the running pace calculator, which handles all three together and includes the standard race distances.
Example
- 1Speed in mph60 / 8.0 = 7.5 mph.
- 2Pace per km8:00 / 1.609344 = 4:58 per km.
- 3Speed in km/h7.5 x 1.609344 = 12.07 km/h.
FAQ
How do I turn my mile pace into a treadmill speed?
Enter your pace in minutes per mile and read the mph value. An 8:00 per mile pace is 7.5 mph, which is also 4:58 per km or about 12.07 km/h, so you can set a treadmill in either speed unit.
Why is a slower pace a smaller speed number?
Pace is time for a fixed distance, so a bigger pace number means you are slower. Speed is distance per hour, so a bigger speed number means you are faster. They move in opposite directions, which is why converting between them is handy.
How much slower is a per-km pace than a per-mile pace?
A kilometer is shorter than a mile, so the per-km number is smaller. Multiply a per-km pace by 1.609344 to get per mile, or divide a per-mile pace by 1.609344 to get per km. For example, 5:00 per km is about 8:03 per mile.
Why does the pace round to the nearest second?
Paces are read and run to the second, so the tool rounds there. Tiny differences from rounding do not matter over a run, but if you need the exact figure, use the speed values, which carry more decimals.
Sources
1. NIST Guide to the SI, Appendix B.8: Factors for Units
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Exact conversions: 1 mile = 1.609344 km and 1 mph = 1.609344 km/h.
https://www.nist.gov/pml/special-publication-811/nist-guide-si-appendix-b-conversion-factors/nist-guide-si-appendix-b82. Unit Conversion
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
General metric conversion reference for distance and speed.
https://www.nist.gov/pml/owm/metric-si/unit-conversion3. NIST Handbook 44 (2024), Appendix C: General Tables of Units of Measurement
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Authoritative unit tables underlying the mile and kilometer relationships.
https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2024/01/14/NIST%20HB%2044%202024%20Appendix%20C%20General%20Tables%20of%20Units%20of%20Measurement.pdf4. Certified Road Events
World Athletics
Standard road distances that give pace and speed jobs their real-world context.
https://worldathletics.org/records/certified-roadevents
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