4:30 marathon pace

A 4:30 marathon is 10:18 per mile, or 6:24 per kilometre, held for 26.2 miles (42.195 km). On even pace you pass halfway at 2:15:00 and 20 miles at 3:25:58. To finish under 4:30, run 10:17 per mile, which finishes in 4:29:37.

How the numbers are worked out

• 4:30:00 is 16,200 seconds.
• Per mile: 16,200 ÷ 26.2188 miles = 617.9 s = 10:18.
• Per kilometre: 16,200 ÷ 42.195 km = 383.9 s = 6:24.
• At halfway: 16,200 × 21.0975 ÷ 42.195 = 8,100.0 s = 2:15:00.
• At 20 miles: 16,200 × 20 ÷ 26.2188 = 12,357.6 s = 3:25:58.
• At 40 km: 16,200 × 40 ÷ 42.195 = 15,357.3 s = 4:15:57.
• Speed: 26.2188 miles ÷ 4.5 h = 5.83 mph (9.38 km/h).

Every split on this page uses one formula: goal seconds × distance covered ÷ race distance, rounded to the nearest second. A mile is 1.609344 km, so the marathon is 26.2188 miles.

RunRepeat's finish-time percentiles (35M results across 28,000+ races, as printed on our average marathon time page) place 4:30:00 between the median (4:26:33) and the slowest 20% (5:11:00) of all finishers. For men it sits between the median (4:14:29) and the slowest 20% (4:55:33); for women, between the fastest 30% (4:20:24) and the median (4:42:09).

Read the other way: 4:30 is 3:27 slower than the median finisher, so it sits almost exactly mid-field; for women it beats more than half the field.

Neighbouring goals: 4-hour marathon pace (9:09 per mile) and 5-hour marathon pace (11:27). Every finish time from 2:30 to 6:00 is on the marathon pace chart.

Check the goal before you train for it. Riegel's formula, T2 = T1 × (D2 ÷ D1)^1.06 (Riegel, American Scientist 69(3), 1981), says 4:30:00 for the marathon is worth:

• Half marathon: 16,200 × (21.0975 ÷ 42.195)^1.06 = 7,770 s = 2:09:30.
• 10K: 16,200 × (10 ÷ 42.195)^1.06 = 3,522 s = 58:42.

Riegel is optimistic when it predicts a marathon from a shorter race, because it assumes marathon-specific endurance. Treat a recent half marathon near 2:10 as the minimum evidence for 4:30, not proof. Run your own recent result through the race time predictor, and use the VDOT calculator to turn it into training paces.

Then pick a plan. The intermediate level fits a 4:30 time goal: it assumes a marathon behind you and a target time in mind. The free 16-week intermediate marathon plan is 4 runs a week, peaking at 68 km with a 32 km long run, with cutback weeks and a taper. If this is your first marathon, the beginner 16-week plan runs three days a week.