A pace band is a narrow strip of paper worn around the wrist that lists the time you should see at each mile or kilometer marker for one goal finish time. This pace band generator builds one from your choices: the distance (5K, 10K, half marathon, marathon or a custom distance), your goal time, miles or kilometers, and an even, negative or positive split. Add a name if you like, choose one, two or three copies per page and press Print. Only the bands print, each with a dashed border to cut along.
Each row on the band is an elapsed time: the time on your watch, started as you cross the start line, when you reach that marker. For a 4:00:00 marathon at even pace, mile 1 reads 9:09, mile 13 reads 1:59:00 and mile 26 reads 3:58:00, and the last row is the finish, 26.2, at 4:00:00. If you start behind the line, the race clock also counts the time it took you to reach it, so a watch started at the line matches the band more closely.
Elapsed times are easier to use mid-race than per-mile splits. A split tells you how the last mile went; the elapsed time tells you where you stand against the whole plan in one glance, with no adding up. Small misses build up over a long race: five seconds slow every mile is 2:10 behind the band by mile 26, while each split on its own still looks close to 9:09.
An even band holds one pace from start to finish. A negative split band runs the second half faster: choose a percentage up to 20, and each second-half mile or kilometer takes that much less time than a first-half one, while the two halves still add up to your goal. For a 4:00:00 marathon, a 2% negative split is 9:15 per mile and then 9:04 per mile, passing halfway in 2:01:13 rather than 2:00:00, and the band's top line reads "Negative split 2%: 9:15 then 9:04/mi". A positive split works the other way, for a course that gets harder after halfway. To compare plans and see every mile's split before you print, use the split calculator.
Match the band to the markers your race puts out along the course. A kilometer band has more rows: a marathon is 43 rows in kilometers against 27 in miles. For a 4:00:00 marathon the kilometer band reads 5:41 at 1 km, 2:50:38 at 30 km and 4:00:00 at the 42.2 finish.
Check the band against the course markers rather than the distance on a GPS watch. Race courses are measured along the shortest route a runner could take, so a GPS watch, which records the line you actually ran, usually shows a little more than the official distance. Its mile alerts then come a little before the course's mile markers, and the gap tends to grow as the race goes on. The times on the band belong to the markers.
Print at full size rather than scaled to fit the page, so the figures stay large enough to read. Cut along the dashed border, then wrap the strip around your wrist and fasten the ends, or tuck it under a watch strap. Sweat and water stations can blur ink and soften paper, so keep the band as dry as you can and carry a second copy from the same sheet. Wear it on a long run before race day to check that you can read it at pace.