Half Marathon Pace Chart

Find your goal pace. Nail your splits. Run a smarter half marathon.

The half marathon is one of the most technically demanding races to pace well. Go out even slightly too fast and your body will make you pay — not gradually, but suddenly. This chart gives you the numbers. Keep reading and I’ll explain the strategy behind them. Find your goal finish time below, toggle between even and negative splits, and download a personalized chart for race day.

How to Use This Chart

The chart works three ways.

Browse the reference table. Every goal finish time from 0:50 to 3:15 is listed with per-mile and per-km pace and key split checkpoints. A useful reference even before you’ve locked in a goal time.

Enter your goal time. Your row highlights, a detailed split breakdown appears below the table, and you can toggle between even and negative split strategies to see exactly how each plays out across your race.

Download your splits. Once you’ve entered your goal time, grab a personalized PDF to carry on race day. Enter your email if you’d like it sent to your inbox.

Pacing the Half Marathon: Why It’s Harder Than It Looks

The half marathon sits in a uniquely demanding physiological zone. It’s long enough that energy management matters — but unlike the marathon, it’s primarily raced at or very near your lactate threshold. That’s the pace where your body is producing lactic acid about as fast as it can clear it. Cross that line early in the race and the consequences come fast: your breathing spikes, your legs go heavy, and a pace that felt comfortable becomes a struggle to hold.

This is why half marathon pacing requires more precision than almost any other road distance. You’re not just managing glycogen — you’re managing a physiological redline that sits just above your goal pace for most runners.

Even splits — holding identical pace from start to finish — keep you in control and are a sound strategy, especially for newer half marathoners still dialing in their fitness. Done well, an even split is an excellent race.

My recommendation, backed by what I’ve seen from elite performances and my own athletes over three decades of coaching, is a slight negative split: a conservative first half that lets you build through the back end. The goal isn’t to feel slow early — it’s to feel controlled. There’s a difference. A runner who comes through 10K feeling like they have something left will almost always outrun the one who went out on feel and is just hoping to hold on.

The split toggle in the chart above shows you what both strategies look like at your goal time. Run the numbers for your pace and the right approach will be obvious.

Greg McMillan on half marathon and marathon pacing — the strategy behind the splits and how to execute them on race day.

What Actually Determines Half Marathon Success

The half marathon rewards a specific combination of fitness that’s different from any other road distance. Here’s what separates a good race from a great one.

Lactate Threshold Speed

This is the defining factor for the half marathon — more than any other race distance on the roads. Your lactate threshold is the pace at which your body produces lactic acid faster than it can clear it. The half marathon is run right at or just below that line for most runners, which means raising your lactate threshold speed directly translates to a faster half marathon.

Tempo runs, steady state runs, tempo intervals, cruise intervals — these are the workouts that move the needle. I use a full-spectrum approach to threshold training rather than just piling up tempo runs, because variety across the stamina zone produces better results and keeps training from going stale. If you’re using the McMillan Calculator, your stamina zone paces are the most important numbers on the page for half marathon preparation.

Leg Durability

How much leg durability matters depends on how long you’re out there. Faster runners finishing under 90 minutes put less cumulative stress on their legs and can focus primarily on lactate threshold training. For runners taking over 90 minutes, the structural demands start to resemble a marathon — muscular damage accumulates, and building durable legs becomes a real priority alongside threshold work.

If your half marathon takes more than an hour and a half, treat your legs like a marathoner would. Consistent weekly mileage, long runs, and dedicated leg strengthening — like the Marathon Legs program — make a meaningful difference in how you hold up late in the race.

Fueling

Faster half marathoners — those finishing under about 90 minutes — can typically race without fueling during the event. For everyone else, glycogen stores start to run low past that point and fueling becomes important. The same principle applies as in the marathon: practice your strategy in training until it’s automatic. Here’s my guide to fueling — the core principles apply to any race over 90 minutes.

Proper Pacing

We covered this above. The short version: stay controlled in the first half, let the race come to you, and use your fitness to build in the final 5K. Half marathoners are often surprised by how much mental intensity is required in the final miles just to hold pace — this is normal, and it’s trainable. My Go Zone Racing strategy is designed specifically to prepare you for that mental shift.

Train for Your Half Marathon Goal

Knowing your goal pace is the foundation. Getting there takes a plan built around your fitness, your runner type, and your life.

My half marathon training plans are available on Final Surge and TrainingPeaks at novice, intermediate, and advanced levels — and across runner types: speedsters, combo runners, and endurance monsters.

If you want coaching alongside your plan, Run Team gives you your training plan, prehab routines, weekly check-ins, and direct access to ask questions throughout your training. Try it free for 14 days.

More than three months out? A preparatory training block builds the aerobic base and leg strength that makes your half marathon plan more effective — and keeps you healthy enough to actually train through it.

SELECT YOUR HALF MARATHON TRAINING PLAN →

More Half Marathon Resources

• The Long Run
• Half Marathon and Marathon Pacing Video
• Fueling Strategies
• Go Zone Racing — a Strategy for Better Performance
• Preparatory Training Plans

Related Tools

• Marathon Pace Chart — stepping up to the full? Same methodology, marathon-distance splits.
• McMillan Running Calculator — get your full training pace zones from your goal time.
• Heart Rate Zone Calculator — pair effort-based training with your pace targets.
• Heat Adjustment Calculator — racing in warm weather? Adjust your expectations before race day.