Half marathon pace chart: pace and splits for your goal time

Find your goal time for the even pace and splits to run it, per kilometre and per mile, then see what the research says about holding that pace over a half marathon.

By RunFast · Updated 11 October 2026 · 12 min read

A half marathon pace chart turns a goal finish time into the pace to run and the clock times to expect on the way. Find your goal finish time in the first column: its row gives the even pace per km and per mile, and your time at 5 km, 10 km, 15 km and 20 km. The tables below cover finish times from 1:10:00 to 3:30:00 in 5-minute steps, by kilometre and by mile.

Every pace in the chart is an even pace, the same from start to finish, because that is what a chart can show. In the finishers of two city races, half-marathoners paced more evenly than marathoners, but on average they still slowed as the race went on.^{1, 2} More even pacing, or slightly negative pacing (a second half a little faster than the first), has generally been associated with better results.³ But a 2026 meta-analysis of endurance time trials found no consistent performance advantage of any imposed pacing strategy over self-selected pacing, in which athletes set their own.⁴

The half-marathon findings here come from the official results and split times of race finishers.^{1, 2} The trials in the meta-analysis were time trials in healthy athletes in sports such as cycling, running and swimming, not half-marathon races.⁴ So the chart’s numbers are exact arithmetic, while the best way to pace 21.0975 km is not settled. For a full marathon, see the marathon pace chart.

Half marathon pace chart by kilometre

Paces and times are rounded to the whole second. Each split is worked out from the exact pace, not the rounded one, so a rounded pace multiplied by a distance can be a few seconds off the row: at most about 11 s over 21.0975 km, because rounding moves a pace by no more than half a second per km.

Half marathon pace chart by mile

If your watch shows miles, here is the same half marathon pace chart per mile.

How to use the chart

Find the row for your goal finish time. If your goal falls between two rows, the pace changes by about 14 s per km (23 s per mile) for every 5 minutes of finish time, so you can estimate between them. For an exact time, a time outside 1:10:00 to 3:30:00 or another distance, use the pace calculator.

On an even plan, halfway is half your finish time. Use the 5 km and 10 km times (5 mi in the mile chart) to check your start against the plan, and 15 km and 20 km (10 mi and 12 mi) as the checkpoints for the late race.

Choose the row from a recent race, not from the time you would like to run. The pace calculator’s equivalent race times show what a recent 5K or 10K predicts for the half marathon, once you have trained for the distance. In a questionnaire study of 556 half-marathon and 441 marathon participants, preparing with a relatively high training volume and long endurance runs was associated with a faster finish time.⁵ In the half-marathon runners, a high training volume, more than 32 km a week, and a long endurance run were also related to less decline in pace.⁵ That is an association, not proof; still, let your training, not the chart, set the goal.

If your second half is slower

The chart assumes you run both halves at the same pace. The table below keeps the first half at chart pace and slows the second: 5% slower means the second half takes 5% longer than the first, at a pace per km 5% higher. It is arithmetic, not a prediction.

For context, in a study of Vienna’s marathon and half marathon, the half-marathoners paced more evenly than the marathoners in every performance group, and better runners paced more evenly than slower ones.¹ In the Ljubljana races, pacing was also more even in the half marathon than in the marathon.² Those studies measured the change in speed between race segments, not between the two halves, so don’t read their figures off the table’s columns.^{1, 2}

What the research says about pacing a half marathon

The chart shows an even pace. Whether to run one is a question for the research: what it found, in whom, and how sure it is. Each claim below links to its source, and our editorial standards say how each one is checked.

How half-marathoners actually pace

A 2026 narrative review synthesised 37 studies of half-marathon and marathon pacing.³ In the observational evidence it drew on, pacing was generally more even in the half marathon and more positive in the marathon.³ Faster runners showed more stable pacing, while slower runners varied more and slowed more markedly.³ Performance level showed the strongest association with pacing behaviour, and the review suggests pacing variability may increase with longer race duration and lower performance level.³

A study analysed the official results and split times of 208,760 finishers of the marathon and half marathon at the Vienna City Marathon between 2006 and 2018.¹ Positive pacing, a decrease in speed, was seen in all performance groups, for both sexes and in both races.¹ The half-marathoners paced more evenly than the marathoners in every performance group, though with trivial practical significance in women.¹ In the half marathon, the absolute change of speed was 6.05% for men and 5.49% for women in the lowest-level groups, against 2.97% for men and 2.77% for women in the highest-level groups.¹

In 9,137 finishers of the 2017 Ljubljana half marathon and marathon, half-marathon runners followed positive pacing, with every segment slower than the one before and no end spurt.² Pacing was more even in the half marathon, with an average percent of change in speed of 4.10%.² For contrast, a 2026 systematic review of the New York City Marathon found that runners there generally adopted positive pacing with a final spurt in the last segment, from 40 to 42.2 km.⁶

A 2024 systematic review of pacing in marathon road races included 39 studies, 7 of them on half-marathon finishers.⁷ It describes pacing strategy as dynamic, with the most substantial effects attributed to gender and distance.⁷

Even, negative or positive splits

An even split means running both halves at the same pace. A positive split, or positive pacing, means slowing down in the second half, and a negative split means running the second half faster than the first.

The 2026 narrative review concluded that more even or slightly negative pacing has generally been associated with more favourable performance.³ Its authors say this should be read as an observed association rather than a direct prescription.³ They add that in mass-participation events, pacing profiles may reflect fatigue and inaccurate pace selection rather than a deliberate strategy.³

Trials that impose a pace ask a different question: does telling athletes how to pace beat letting them choose? A 2026 systematic review and network meta-analysis compared pacing strategies in endurance time trials in healthy athletes, pooling 24 studies with 302 participants.⁴ It found no consistent performance advantage of any imposed pacing strategy over self-selected pacing.⁴ In those time trials, prolonged slow starts were associated with impaired performance.⁴

Where the evidence is thin or mixed

No trials in half-marathon races

The trials of imposed pacing were time trials in healthy athletes in endurance sports such as cycling, running and swimming, not half-marathon races.⁴ The meta-analysis’s abstract doesn’t say how many of its studies were in runners. We found no trial that tested a pacing strategy in half-marathon runners. Of the 39 studies in the 2024 review, 29 were observational.⁷ So the half-marathon evidence shows associations, not causes: use the chart as a plan, and don’t treat any way of splitting the race as proven for you.

Reviews and studies that overlap

The 2026 narrative review found its 37 studies through a structured, non-systematic search.³ The 2024 review is about marathon road races, with 7 half-marathon studies among its 39.⁷ The narrative review, the Vienna study and the Ljubljana study share authors, as their author lists show. Read them as overlapping bodies of evidence, not separate confirmations.

Finishers and group averages

The Vienna and Ljubljana studies analysed the results of finishers.^{1, 2} Their pacing patterns describe groups of runners, so they show what tended to happen, not a plan for any one runner.

Course and conditions

None of the sources here gives a figure for how much to allow for hills or heat, so this guide doesn’t either. None says how much faster a slightly negative second half should be, so this guide gives no target for one.

Common questions

What pace do I need for a 1:30, 2:00 or 2:30 half marathon?

For 1:30:00, run 4:16 /km (6:52 /mi) and reach halfway in 45:00. For 2:00:00, it is 5:41 /km (9:09 /mi), with halfway at 1:00:00. For 2:30:00, it is 7:07 /km (11:27 /mi), with halfway at 1:15:00. To run under 2 hours, aim a little faster than the 2:00:00 row: the 1:55:00 row, for example, is 5:27 /km (8:46 /mi). If this is your first half marathon, the slower rows run to 3:30:00, at 9:57 /km (16:01 /mi).

How do I work out my half marathon pace?

Divide your goal finish time by the distance: 21.0975 km for a pace per km, or about 13.11 miles for a pace per mile. A 2:00:00 goal, for example, works out at 5:41 /km or 9:09 /mi. For an exact time, use the pace calculator, and choose the goal from a recent race rather than from the chart.

Should I run even splits or a negative split in a half marathon?

The research doesn’t settle it. More even or slightly negative pacing has generally been associated with better results, but as an observed association, not a prescription.³ Trials in endurance time trials found no imposed pacing strategy consistently better than self-selected pacing.⁴ In mass-participation events, pacing profiles may reflect fatigue and inaccurate pace selection rather than a plan, and in Ljubljana the half-marathoners slowed in every segment, with no end spurt.^{3, 2} In practice, plan the chart’s even pace, check your start against the 5 km and 10 km times, and use 15 km and 20 km to see how you are holding it.

How much do half-marathoners slow down?

In the Vienna races, half-marathon finishers in every performance group slowed on average.¹ Their absolute change of speed ranged from 2.97% for men and 2.77% for women in the highest-level groups to 6.05% for men and 5.49% for women in the lowest.¹ In Ljubljana, the average percent of change in speed in the half marathon was 4.10%.² Those figures average the change in speed between race segments, so they are not a first-half to second-half slowdown, and none of the abstracts read for this guide gives one. The table for a slower second half shows what slowing does to a goal time.

This guide is general information, not medical advice. If you have an injury, a health condition or are pregnant, ask a doctor or physiotherapist before changing how you train or eat.

Related guides

• Marathon pace chart: pace and splits for your goal timeFind your goal time for the even pace and splits to run it, per kilometre and per mile, then see what the research says about holding that pace over 42.195 km.
• 5K pace chart: pace and splits for your goal timeFind your goal time for the even pace and splits to run it, per kilometre and per mile, then see what the research says about pacing the start and the finish of a 5K.
• How a marathon training plan is builtA marathon training plan combines rising weekly distance, a long run, easy and hard running, lighter weeks and a taper. The research backs some of these parts and says little about how to combine them.

Sources

1. Ristanović L, Ćuk I, Villiger E, Stojiljković S, Nikolaidis PT, Weiss K, Knechtle B. The pacing differences in performance levels of marathon and half-marathon runners. Frontiers in Psychology. 2023. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1273451
2. Nikolaidis PT, Ćuk I, Knechtle B. Pacing of Women and Men in Half-Marathon and Marathon Races. Medicina. 2019. doi:10.3390/medicina55010014
3. Ristanović L, Stojiljković S, Ćuk I, Weiss K, Rosemann T, Knechtle B. Pacing Profiles in Half-Marathon and Marathon Running Based on Performance Level, Sex, and Age: A Narrative Review. Medicina. 2026. doi:10.3390/medicina62081503
4. Ramos-Campo DJ, Foster C, Andreu-Caravaca L, Rubio-Arias JÁ, Rosenblat MA. Comparative Effects of Pacing Strategies on Endurance Performance: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis. Sports Medicine. 2026. doi:10.1007/s40279-025-02367-3
5. Fokkema T, van Damme AADN, Fornerod MWJ, de Vos RJ, Bierma-Zeinstra SMA, van Middelkoop M. Training for a (half-)marathon: Training volume and longest endurance run related to performance and running injuries. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports. 2020. doi:10.1111/sms.13725
6. Knechtle B, Thuany M, Nikolaidis PT, Forte P, Leite LB, Lepers R, Chlíbková D, Weiss K, Rosemann T, Vancini RL, Duric S. The New York City Marathon: A systematic review of performance, participation, pacing, and health-related outcomes. EXCLI Journal. 2026. doi:10.17179/excli2026-9354
7. Sha J, Yi Q, Jiang X, Wang Z, Cao H, Jiang S. Pacing strategies in marathons: A systematic review. Heliyon. 2024. doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e36760