Sub-22 5K

Mile-by-mile splits for 22:00

Five kilometres is short enough that pacing feels like a formality and long enough that it absolutely is not. The even-split table holds 7:05 per mile to 22:00, passing halfway at 11:00. Go through the first mile more than a few seconds under and the third mile stops being a race and becomes damage control.

The negative-split table opens at 7:09 per mile and closes at 7:01, hitting halfway at 11:07. In a 5K the margin is thin enough that this is less about fuel and more about nerve: it keeps the last kilometre under your control, which is exactly where a sub-22 is won or lost.

Even splits — 7:05 per mile

Even pacing: 7:05 per mile for all 3.1 miles, finishing in 22:00.

Slight negative split — 7:09 out, 7:01 home

One percent either side of even: 7:09 per mile through halfway (11:07), then 7:01 home. Same 22:00 finish. The mile that straddles halfway blends both paces.

Per kilometre — 4:24 per km

Even pacing in metric: 4:24 per kilometre across 5.0 km.

Are you ready for a sub-22 5K?

Equivalent times are computed from the rounded VDOT of 44.5, so the 5K row lands within a few seconds of 22:00 rather than exactly on it. That is rounding, not a different prediction.

The equivalents above are what a sub-22 5K says about the rest of your range: it lines up with about a 45:40 10K and a 1:41:12 half marathon. The 5K is the least forgiving of the common distances, because 7:05 per mile leaves no time to recover from a bad opening 800 metres.

Here is the number that matters: race pace of 7:05 per mile against a threshold pace of 7:31. A 5K is raced meaningfully faster than threshold — you are over the line for the whole race, which is why it hurts out of proportion to its length. The work that breaks this barrier is interval work at 6:57 per mile and repetitions at 6:31, sharpened over six to ten weeks on top of a base you already have. If you are within twenty seconds of 22:00, this is a matter of a training block and a good day, not another season.

Twenty-two minutes is the classic parkrun plateau: reachable on habit, stuck on habit. The Saturday 5K that built your fitness stops moving it — every week at the same honest-hard effort renews the same fitness — and the way off the plateau costs less than it seems: one interval session at 6:57, one tempo at 7:31, and easy days actually easy at 9:02. The race maths stays friendly — 4:24 per kilometre, 11:00 at halfway — and the encouraging cross-check is the 10K equivalence of 45:40: the endurance is usually already there. What is missing is usually just speed, deliberately practised.

Where do you stand right now?

Enter a race you have actually run and this will tell you where you stand against the 44.5 VDOT a sub-22 5K requires — your score, the target, and the gap. Nothing is stored or sent anywhere.

Training paces for a sub-22 5K

These are the paces that go with the 44.5 VDOT a sub-22 5K requires. Treat them as day-one numbers — they should change as you do. The most common mistake is running the easy days too hard: 9:02 per mile is not a suggestion, it is what makes the quality sessions possible.

Easy pace is a range rather than a point — Daniels defines it as 59–74% of VO₂max, which for the fitness behind a sub-22 5K runs from 8:39 to 10:21 per mile. The single easy figure below is the 70% value.

Sub-22 5K FAQ