Sub-1:15 Half Marathon

Mile-by-mile splits for 1:15:00

The half marathon punishes early bravery less brutally than the marathon, but it still punishes it. The even-split table below holds 5:43 per mile for all 13.1 miles and passes halfway at 37:30 on the way to 1:15:00. Treat those numbers as a ceiling for the opening miles, not a target to beat.

The negative-split version opens at 5:47 per mile through halfway (37:53) and closes at 5:40. Over 13 miles that is a small, survivable debt to take on early and a large psychological win to collect late — you spend the last three miles passing people instead of being passed.

Even splits — 5:43 per mile

Even pacing: 5:43 per mile for all 13.1 miles, finishing in 1:15:00.

Slight negative split — 5:47 out, 5:40 home

One percent either side of even: 5:47 per mile through halfway (37:53), then 5:40 home. Same 1:15:00 finish. The mile that straddles halfway blends both paces.

Per kilometre — 3:33 per km

Even pacing in metric: 3:33 per kilometre across 21.1 km.

Are you ready for a sub-1:15 half marathon?

Equivalent times are computed from the rounded VDOT of 62.9, so the half marathon row lands within a few seconds of 1:15:00 rather than exactly on it. That is rounding, not a different prediction.

Read the equivalents as a ledger rather than a target: you should already be capable of roughly a 16:22 5K or a 33:58 10K. If those times are in your log at honest effort, the engine is proven, and what remains is the specific craft of spending it — 13.1 miles of it — at a rate that leaves nothing unspent at the line.

The number that defines this race is the distance between 5:43 and 5:41 — race pace and threshold, close enough to read as the same number on a wristwatch. A sub-1:15 half is the purest threshold examination the sport sells: the first twenty minutes will feel beneath you, the last twenty will ask for everything, and the difference between the two is decided by whether mile three was run to plan or to ego.

Use the VDOT 62.9 row as an audit rather than advice. A marathon projection of 2:36:56 is on the table if the volume is there; a 5K of 16:22 says the top gear still exists. Whichever of those numbers looks least familiar is where the next block should point.

Sub-1:15 is where the half marathon runs out of crowd. At 5:43 per mile the field thins to club vests and quiet ambition, and the race becomes an exercise in threshold bookkeeping: 5:41 is your prescribed threshold, 5:43 is the ask, and the two sit close enough that there is no honest place to hide a bad patch. The fitness signature is a 16:22 5K off a normal week. What the rung actually tests is polish — fuelling a 75-minute redline, a warm-up that opens the right systems, and the restraint to reach halfway in 37:30 feeling employed rather than heroic.

Where do you stand right now?

Enter a race you have actually run and this will tell you where you stand against the 62.9 VDOT a sub-1:15 half marathon requires — your score, the target, and the gap. Nothing is stored or sent anywhere.

Training paces for a sub-1:15 half marathon

These are the paces the 62.9 VDOT behind a sub-1:15 half marathon prescribes. At this level they are a starting audit rather than a prescription — you almost certainly have a coach and a history that outrank a table.

Easy pace is a range rather than a point — Daniels defines it as 59–74% of VO₂max, which for the fitness behind a sub-1:15 half marathon runs from 6:32 to 7:51 per mile. The single easy figure below is the 70% value.

Sub-1:15 half marathon FAQ