10 Wickedly Simple Running Pace Calculators

Yes, we’ve done the hard part for you and scoured the Internet high and low for the slickest running pace calculators. Hang with us – presuming you can handle the pace.

On a more serious note, read on for our full list of adding up machines. There’s some good, some bad and others in-between. We’d love to hear your opinion so give us a heads up in the comments, please. Just be honest and if you think one is pants then say it. It’s best that people know which ones to use and what others to avoid.

1. Strava Running Pace Calculator

Straight in at Number 1 is Strava with their Running Pace Calculator. The interface is probably the cleanest of all the various ones we tested. Design is always a personal thing, but we really feel that Strava have done a good job and you won’t be disappointed with their system. I mean, let’s be honest, it’s not really anything super technical, all we’re talking about is a few simple equations coded into an input form. Still, compared to the worst ones, it really is something special.

You’ve most likely heard of Strava whether you’re a keen runner or not, because you know you’ve seen their adverts even if you don’t exactly know where. They’ve been around for a few years now and are a trusted source from the athletic and sporting community in general. Though they herald themselves as being for runners and cyclists, in reality they provide a good app for anyone looking to get fit and track their time and location data.

2. Runner’s World Running Times Pace Charts

Runner’s World have a hefty mix of various running charts that – like me – have pinched from around the world. That’s made me feel less guilty now, less of a horse thief and more of a runner. 🙂

What can we say other than they’re neat and tidy, plus they will gauge your time per kilometre or mile over a specific distance.

To check out Runner’s World’s goods head over to their website at… Runner’s World.

3. Active.Com Running Pace Calculator

What do you think of this little bit of kit by Active.Com? It’s functional, if not so flashy looking, but as long as it gets the maths right then everyone’s happy, eh?

Whatever the weather, if one of the websites goes down for any reason at least you will have a calculator at hand, because too many to choose from is better than too few isn’t it!

4. Runner’s World Training Pace Calculator

There are actually two, if not more, Runner’s World websites and for the Training Pace Calculator you need to head over to the .co.uk version. We’re not sure if they’re family or rivals to the .com version, but either way they both offer good information to garner, as long as you don’t spend too much time with them because you know that HTRFAL is for the real runners among us!

5. Cool Running Pace Calculator

Here’s one I found that looks a bit more old school, but if it does that job that’s all that matters really. While Strava would be my personal choice, you might prefer to be less of a sheep and go for the quirky option. The choice is yours.

Cool Running have accumulated plenty of likes so they must be doing something right. Maybe it’s the fact that for some reason Cool Running reminds me of Cool Water aftershave or was there a film called Cool Running? Could be that. Nah, I’m thinking of Cool Runnings with Eddie Murphy – nearly right!

6. Polar Running Pace Calculator

We’re back with the big boys now with Polar. They have an ultra clean set up where you have to put two values out of the three: time, distance or pace. It’s really that simple, but so are the others apart from the ugly design of the more archaic ones.

There isn’t a lot you can do with a basic calculator page other than do it justice by not going berserk with bright colours and patterns, but that’s for the web designers to fight over. All we want is to know that the times are accurate and who better to ensure that than Polar. They have plenty of solid advice on their web page regarding don’t be too cocky when calculating your finishing times, especially on the longer distance courses where you have longer to get tired. Sounds obvious, but people do get caught out by such things either by arrogance or by their own genuine ignorance.

While ignorance sounds the same as arrogance, there is a difference. I always thought of ignorance as a bad word, but one of my heroes, Richard Dawkins the famous evolutionary biologist said that ignorance isn’t a bad word, because we are all ignorant of something (he said it a bit, well a lot, posher than me, but you get the drift.)

So anyway, back to Polar. Apart from their splendid range of watches that we can dream about they have a decent chart to look at…

7. McMillan Running Calculator

Greg McMillan by all accounts is an accomplished runner and personal trainer. He’s got a great website with plenty of videos and courses that you can buy if you head on over to his website at McMillan Running.

There’s even a video explaining how to fill in the form and explaining what the features are for, which is a bit more detailed than the rest of the forms on offer. I’m guessing that this is to screen you for potential courses that you are interested in.

With prices starting at less than $2 per month and going all the way up to almost $200 per month there is a price point to suit all budgets. Whether online personal coaching on Skype or whichever format they use is as good as face-to-face coaching, in my opinion it won’t be quite as effective. Not that I’m knocking his coaching skills, but purely based on the fact it isn’t as personal as training one on one with your coach and for 200 sheets of the green stuff every month you’d expect the best service possible.

Unless there is a shortage of personal trainers in your area then I don’t think it is the best option to go for, based on value for money and effectiveness. Perhaps I’m wrong, because no doubt some people will testify that it worked for them and that might be the case – I just think that for most people they’d prefer a chin wag live and direct and not over a deep sea telephone cable with someone halfway around the globe.

8. Runner’s Ally – Running Pace Calculator

If you head over to the Apple App Store and type in Runner’s Ally, you should hopefully get to the Running Pace Calculator app made by Andrew Wayman. There are, of course, similar alternatives in the Google Play Store for Android.

9. Android App Selection – Google Play Store – Running Pace Calculators

There’s plenty of choice in the Google Play Store for all your Android powered runners. Presently I’m an Apple fan boy, after many happy years as an Android Geek, I swore I’d never use an Apple phone as long as I lived, but eventually I got an iPhone and have been stuck with one ever since.

Nowadays all phones are decent enough that the argument of which one is better is irrelevant really, but no doubt runners will have their favourite just as they will have their preferred app.

To prove how many you can choose from, here’s a sneak peek…

10. Hansons Coaching Services Race Equivalency Calculator

Last, but not least, we’ve got a really detailed list from Hanson’s Coaching Services. With a word like equivalency in the title, you can be assured that they know what they’re talking about – or one would hope so.

Alternatively you can nip over to this page and there is a choice of three Hanson’s specialist calculators to choose from. There is even a treadmill calculator such is the thoroughness of the brand.

Without wanting to come across as childish, I can’t help but feel that Hanson has a strong army ring to the name and perhaps this is why they’re so staunchly complete with their offerings. Rugged ex-Army style trainers, etc, but maybe that’s just my vivid imagination.

Anyhow, I genuinely hope that you have found a running calculator that works for you. If not then please let me know what you are using instead and I’ll update the post with your link included.

Hanson Training Pace Calculator link for the choices above.

However, I’ve jut noticed another couple of handy services that I will link to. They include a daily calorific needs calculator and a half-marathon intake calculator. It goes to show how much information there is available on the Internet. How did people ever manage back in the stone age of books and cassette recorders?

Hanson Calculators – Marathon Diet and Daily Diet below…

Five More Runner’s Reads

• 30 Ways How to Run Faster and Longer
• Treadmill Workout to Burn Fat
• Staying Motivated for Weight Loss
• Half Marathon Training for Beginners
• How Long do Running Shoes Last?

What’s Your Favourite Method for Pacing Yourself?

Hey, it would be cool to hear what you think of the choices we’ve listed. Do you pace yourself very often? While it isn’t necessary to go overboard keeping a track of one’s time, it is well advised to pace yourself when doing a tempo run or if you’re trying to break your personal best time or some other track record.

There’s a reason why you see pacers on the television, because they really help the professional athletes to set of at a comfortable speed. You would presume that a professional runner would instinctively know when to push on or what speed they are doing, but it goes to show how important it is to set off at just the right pace, otherwise they would burn out and not finish strongly.

Roger Bannister was one of the first well-known athletes to use pace setters or pacemakers, as they are known.

Well we might not be as quick as Sir Roger, but it’s important that we follow in his footsteps and keep our pace in check. Even if we don’t need to smash any records, it’s still better that we don’t finish off burned out and show ourselves up in the process. Nobody likes a know-all and setting off too quickly is, in a strange way, something similar I guess.