Pace and target planning
Multiday Pace Calculator
Compare the overall pace and moving-time arithmetic for 24-hour, 48-hour, 6-day, and backyard scenarios. The calculator deliberately avoids inventing separate run and walk speeds from incomplete inputs.
Arithmetic Scenario
Includes all event time
Includes all event time
Across moving time only
This is arithmetic, not a performance prediction or pacing prescription. It cannot model fatigue, terrain, weather, aid access, sleep loss, or medical risk. Build scenarios from your own tested data and stop for warning signs regardless of the target.
How to Use the Calculator
Enter a distance and the full event duration. The overall pace includes every minute on the clock. If you want to explore a moving-only scenario, add a tentative total for longer non-moving stops; ordinary walking still counts as movement.
Treat every result as a consistency check, not a forecast or a reason to continue when unsafe. Terrain, weather, fatigue, aid, sleep loss, and symptoms are outside the model. Build several conservative scenarios from your own training rather than one pass-or-fail target.
Planning Notes
- 100 miles in 24 hours requires 4.17 miles per hour, or 14:24 per mile as an overall average including all stops.
- A run/walk pattern can be included in the moving average, but the calculator cannot solve two separate speeds without more inputs.
- Pace targets should be checked against training, terrain, weather, loop logistics, health, and recovery.
- For backyard ultras, use loop count as the goal and remember that each hour has a fixed start.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I calculate pace for a 24-hour race?
Divide the full 24 hours by the target distance to get the overall average pace, including every stop. For a moving-only scenario, subtract an optional estimate of all non-moving time first. The result is arithmetic rather than a prediction; compare it with your own race-specific training and conditions.
Should I plan sleep in a 24-hour race?
There is no universal answer or safe fixed schedule. Event length, prior sleep, course, support, goals, and individual response matter. Confusion, hallucinations, involuntary sleep, repeated falls, or loss of coordination require stopping and race-medical assessment, not a calculator adjustment or more caffeine.
What is a realistic 24-hour race target?
No generic first-race distance is realistic for everyone. Use recent long-session and walking data, course surface, weather, aid access, health, and expected stopped time to create conservative ranges. As a math example only, 100 miles in 24 hours is a 14:24-per-mile overall average including all stops.
What does planned non-moving time include?
It is an optional scenario estimate for longer periods when no distance is covered, such as rest, clothing changes, foot care, or aid. It is not a recommended stop or sleep allowance. Ordinary slowing and walking remain part of moving time.
Need help setting realistic targets? Read our distance targets guide and 24-hour race explainer.