Racing smarter

What pace is a 2:30 half marathon?

What pace is a 2:30 half marathon?

2:30:00 over 21.0975 km (13.11 mi) is 7:07/km (11:27/mi), held from the first step to the last. There is no rounding slack in that number: run the first kilometre at 7:17/km and you have already spent ten seconds you will not get back cheaply.

2:30 is 7:07/km (11:27/mi). It is a finishing time that a lot of people reach in their first year, often with walk breaks built in, and it is worth saying plainly that a planned run-walk at this pace is usually faster than trying to run the whole thing. The specific thing to check for this target is the course cut-off. A number of half marathons close at 2:30 or 3:00, and a few close the bridge or the loop earlier than the finish line. Read the published limit before entering rather than after. Beyond that, the advice is the same one that works at every pace: start slower than feels right, and take your first food before you feel like you need it.

What the splits look like

And in miles, for a course measured that way:

Where should I be at halfway?

Even pace puts you through halfway at 1:15:00. Most people who finish this time went through slightly slower than that, not faster — a 2% negative split means halfway at 1:16:30 and a second half of 1:13:30.

The decision rule for race day: if you reach halfway more than 1:30 ahead of 1:15:00, you are not ahead of schedule, you are borrowing. Ease back to 7:07/km (11:27/mi) and hold it.

What if my watch measures the course long?

Almost every watch does. A half marathon that reads 1.5% long on your wrist means you have to run 7:00/km by the watch to finish in 2:30:00 by the clock. That is the pace to put on the screen, and it is why pacing off a watch's average-pace field alone tends to leave people a minute or two short.

See this on your own runs →