Treadmill speed for a 5k, 10k and half marathon
Written by Jamie Irwin, Founder & EditorLast checked
To run a 5k in 30 minutes on a treadmill, set it to 10.0 km/h, which is 6.2 mph.
Work out your speed
5k on a treadmill: speed by finish time
Every finish from 15:00 to 40:00, a minute a row. The two speed columns are already rounded to the tenth a console steps in, so the figure in the table is the figure to key in rather than a number to round yourself.
| Finish | Set km/h | Set mph | min/km | min/mile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15:00 | 20.0 | 12.4 | 3:00 | 4:50 |
| 16:00 | 18.8 | 11.7 | 3:12 | 5:09 |
| 17:00 | 17.6 | 11.0 | 3:24 | 5:28 |
| 18:00 | 16.7 | 10.4 | 3:36 | 5:48 |
| 19:00 | 15.8 | 9.8 | 3:48 | 6:07 |
| 20:00 | 15.0 | 9.3 | 4:00 | 6:26 |
| 21:00 | 14.3 | 8.9 | 4:12 | 6:46 |
| 22:00 | 13.6 | 8.5 | 4:24 | 7:05 |
| 23:00 | 13.0 | 8.1 | 4:36 | 7:24 |
| 24:00 | 12.5 | 7.8 | 4:48 | 7:43 |
| 25:00 | 12.0 | 7.5 | 5:00 | 8:03 |
| 26:00 | 11.5 | 7.2 | 5:12 | 8:22 |
| 27:00 | 11.1 | 6.9 | 5:24 | 8:41 |
| 28:00 | 10.7 | 6.7 | 5:36 | 9:01 |
| 29:00 | 10.3 | 6.4 | 5:48 | 9:20 |
| 30:00 | 10.0 | 6.2 | 6:00 | 9:39 |
| 31:00 | 9.7 | 6.0 | 6:12 | 9:59 |
| 32:00 | 9.4 | 5.8 | 6:24 | 10:18 |
| 33:00 | 9.1 | 5.6 | 6:36 | 10:37 |
| 34:00 | 8.8 | 5.5 | 6:48 | 10:57 |
| 35:00 | 8.6 | 5.3 | 7:00 | 11:16 |
| 36:00 | 8.3 | 5.2 | 7:12 | 11:35 |
| 37:00 | 8.1 | 5.0 | 7:24 | 11:55 |
| 38:00 | 7.9 | 4.9 | 7:36 | 12:14 |
| 39:00 | 7.7 | 4.8 | 7:48 | 12:33 |
| 40:00 | 7.5 | 4.7 | 8:00 | 12:52 |
5k in 30 minutes on a treadmill
10.0 km/h, or 6.2 mph, held for the whole 30 minutes. That is a pace of 6:00 per kilometre. Twenty-five minutes needs 12.0 km/h, which is a noticeable step up rather than a small one.
A treadmill holds the speed you command it to, so a treadmill 5k tests a target pace without the drift a road session allows. What the belt is actually doing is a separate question, and the Limits section covers it.
10k on a treadmill
A one hour 10k needs 10.0 km/h, 6.2 mph, a pace of 6:00 per kilometre.
| Finish | Set km/h | Set mph | min/km | min/mile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35:00 | 17.1 | 10.7 | 3:30 | 5:38 |
| 40:00 | 15.0 | 9.3 | 4:00 | 6:26 |
| 45:00 | 13.3 | 8.3 | 4:30 | 7:15 |
| 50:00 | 12.0 | 7.5 | 5:00 | 8:03 |
| 55:00 | 10.9 | 6.8 | 5:30 | 8:51 |
| 1:00:00 | 10.0 | 6.2 | 6:00 | 9:39 |
| 1:05:00 | 9.2 | 5.7 | 6:30 | 10:28 |
| 1:10:00 | 8.6 | 5.3 | 7:00 | 11:16 |
| 1:15:00 | 8.0 | 5.0 | 7:30 | 12:04 |
| 1:20:00 | 7.5 | 4.7 | 8:00 | 12:52 |
| 1:25:00 | 7.1 | 4.4 | 8:30 | 13:41 |
| 1:30:00 | 6.7 | 4.1 | 9:00 | 14:29 |
Half marathon on a treadmill
A two hour half marathon needs 10.5 km/h, 6.6 mph, or 5:41 per kilometre. The distance is 21.0975 km as World Athletics publishes it, not a rounded 21.1: the 2.5 m difference is under a second at this pace, which is small but is not ours to round away.
| Finish | Set km/h | Set mph | min/km | min/mile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1:20:00 | 15.8 | 9.8 | 3:48 | 6:06 |
| 1:25:00 | 14.9 | 9.3 | 4:02 | 6:29 |
| 1:30:00 | 14.1 | 8.7 | 4:16 | 6:52 |
| 1:35:00 | 13.3 | 8.3 | 4:30 | 7:15 |
| 1:40:00 | 12.7 | 7.9 | 4:44 | 7:38 |
| 1:45:00 | 12.1 | 7.5 | 4:59 | 8:01 |
| 1:50:00 | 11.5 | 7.2 | 5:13 | 8:23 |
| 1:55:00 | 11.0 | 6.8 | 5:27 | 8:46 |
| 2:00:00 | 10.5 | 6.6 | 5:41 | 9:09 |
| 2:05:00 | 10.1 | 6.3 | 5:55 | 9:32 |
| 2:10:00 | 9.7 | 6.1 | 6:10 | 9:55 |
| 2:15:00 | 9.4 | 5.8 | 6:24 | 10:18 |
| 2:20:00 | 9.0 | 5.6 | 6:38 | 10:41 |
| 2:25:00 | 8.7 | 5.4 | 6:52 | 11:04 |
| 2:30:00 | 8.4 | 5.2 | 7:07 | 11:27 |
| 2:35:00 | 8.2 | 5.1 | 7:21 | 11:49 |
| 2:40:00 | 7.9 | 4.9 | 7:35 | 12:12 |
| 2:45:00 | 7.7 | 4.8 | 7:49 | 12:35 |
How long each distance takes at a given speed
The reverse of the tables above, and what this page used to answer on its own: pick the speed you can hold and read off the time.
| Speed | mph | 5k | 10k | Half marathon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.0 km/h | 3.7 | 50:00 | 1:40:00 | 3:30:59 |
| 6.5 km/h | 4.0 | 46:09 | 1:32:18 | 3:14:45 |
| 7.0 km/h | 4.3 | 42:51 | 1:25:43 | 3:00:50 |
| 7.5 km/h | 4.7 | 40:00 | 1:20:00 | 2:48:47 |
| 8.0 km/h | 5.0 | 37:30 | 1:15:00 | 2:38:14 |
| 8.5 km/h | 5.3 | 35:18 | 1:10:35 | 2:28:55 |
| 9.0 km/h | 5.6 | 33:20 | 1:06:40 | 2:20:39 |
| 9.5 km/h | 5.9 | 31:35 | 1:03:09 | 2:13:15 |
| 10.0 km/h | 6.2 | 30:00 | 1:00:00 | 2:06:35 |
| 10.5 km/h | 6.5 | 28:34 | 57:09 | 2:00:33 |
| 11.0 km/h | 6.8 | 27:16 | 54:33 | 1:55:05 |
| 11.5 km/h | 7.1 | 26:05 | 52:10 | 1:50:04 |
| 12.0 km/h | 7.5 | 25:00 | 50:00 | 1:45:29 |
| 12.5 km/h | 7.8 | 24:00 | 48:00 | 1:41:16 |
| 13.0 km/h | 8.1 | 23:05 | 46:09 | 1:37:22 |
Setting the speed on the machine
If the console shows a bare number with no unit, are gym treadmills in km/h or mph covers how to tell and how to switch it, and the speed converter does the arithmetic either way. The pace chart starts from a speed instead of a target, and the calorie calculator estimates what a session costs in energy.
If 5k is the target rather than the starting point, the NHS Couch to 5K plan set out for a treadmill gives you nine weeks of sessions to get there, with the speeds to set for each interval.
How this is calculated
Pace is finish time / distance in km, and the speed to set is 3,600 / seconds per km for km/h, divided by 1.609344 for mph.
Distances are 5 km and 10 km exactly, and 21.0975 km for the half marathon as World Athletics publishes it. Every column is computed from the exact pace rather than from the rounded column beside it, so nothing compounds along a row.
The speed columns round to one decimal because that is the step a treadmill console takes. Times round to the nearest second at display and carry the rounding, so a pace never prints as 7:60.
Sources
- Publisher stated, Independent publication
- The half marathon is 21.0975 km (13.1094 miles)World AthleticsRoad running — half marathonOpened 19 September 2026World Athletics states "exactly half the length of a marathon, at 13.1094 miles or 21.0975km". Taken as published from the body that sets it; there is no second authority to check it against, only bodies that quote it.
- Independently verified, Independent publication
- One mile is exactly 1.609344 kmNIST (US National Institute of Standards and Technology)SI units — lengthOpened 19 September 2026Corroborated byWeights and Measures Act 1985 (UK)Schedule 1, Part VI: Mile = 1760 yards; YARD = 0.9144 metreOpened 19 September 2026NIST states that the inch has been exactly 25.4 mm since the international yard and pound agreement of 1959. A mile is 63,360 inches, so it is exactly 1,609.344 m. UK statute gives the same number by a different route: Schedule 1 Part VI of the Weights and Measures Act 1985 sets "Mile = 1760 yards" and "YARD = 0.9144 metre", and 1760 x 0.9144 is 1,609.344 exactly. THE CAVEAT, because it is the reason this is a B and not higher: both descend from the same 1959 international agreement, so they are independent publications rather than independent measurements. Neither copies the other, and an error in one would not reach the other, which is what the B test asks. It is a definition rather than a measurement either way, which is why every conversion on these pages is exact.
Limits
Every figure assumes one speed held for the whole distance, with no warm-up and no easing off. A treadmill makes that possible, which is why the tables are useful, but a real session that starts slow will finish later than the table says.
A machine out of calibration, or a belt slipping under load, will not run at the speed on the display. We have not measured any machine's belt speed. Nothing here is a training plan or a prediction of what you can run: it says what a finish time requires.
Related tools
Looking for a machine rather than a number? See our guide to treadmill workouts built around pace and incline. Every specification there carries its source and the date it was checked.