Race, Pace Calculator

The Two Oceans race and pace calculator can help you predict a realistic finish time for your race and provide you with a personalised pace table of split times, specific to the distance you are running - the 56km ultra marathon or the 21.1 km half marathon.

Using the race and pace calculator

1. Calculate your realistic potential finish time

• Review your race times for the past 9 months and select your three best performances. Make sure all three times selected are for flat races / time trials.
• Ideally include a 5km or 10km race time from late February or early March.
• If you are running the ultra-marathon, include your best 42km (or longer) time in the last 12 months.
• Play with the choice of your third time, which may be a repeat of one of the others or a distance between them.

Now enter your three best performance race times on the race calculator and click predict.

2. Convert your predicted time into a target time

Use your predicted best time as a basis for working out your desired finishing time.

Once you have determined your best finishing time, evaluate what this means to you. Will this be a new personal best (PB) time? Is it a border-line to a medal cut-off time? Or is it a Safe Silver, Bronze or Sainsbury medal?

Remember running to your very best potential finishing time will mean running to your maximum the whole way. Unless this is critical to making a particular medal cut-off, it is often better to take some of the pressure off by adding a few minutes to your target time.

Consider some examples

• Imagine that your best predicted half marathon is 91 minutes. With the silver medal cut-off being 90 minutes, there is a reason for you to attempt to make this time. In this case, you would stay on a 91 minute schedule to the top of Southern Cross Drive, and then try to squeeze out an average of an extra 8 seconds per km on the predominantly downhill run to the finish.
• Perhaps your best predicted half marathon time is 1h48m and your previous best is 2h02m, then it would be far better to choose an initial target time of say 1h53m to 1h55m. This would not only give you a significant personal best (PB), but also assures you of getting under the 2 hour barrier. Once again as the race proceeds you can always gradually increase the speed and the target, but logically this will only commence around Kirstenbosch top gate when the first objectives are in the bag.
• Similarly in the ultra-marathon, best predicted times that are around 5 minutes either side of medal cut-offs are deserving of flat out racing approaches. However, by relaxing the initial target of those best predicted times that are 10 or more minutes away from the cut-offs, it takes the pressure off, resulting in a more enjoyable race. Often this race strategy provides surprisingly good results.

Remember the key trick is to get to the last quarter of the race with the energy to hold or increase your pace to the finish. If you arrive at the three quarter distance already empty, it is a long slow shuffle to the finish.

In the ultra-marathon this means getting to the marathon mark with fuel still in your tank. In the half marathon, that means Kirstenbosch Top Gate should be your initial target.

3. Pace Calculator

To calculate your pace, enter your desired finishing time and click calculate.

This pace calculator will provide a personalised schedule of split times along your route, and should be used in conjunction with the Old Mutual Two Oceans Pacing Chart, available at registration from the Old Mutual Race Expo stand.

The pacing charts are provided in the following set goal finish times:

21.1 km Half Marathon

• 1h30m
• 1h45m
• 2h00m
• 2h30m
• 3h00m

The 21.1km half marathon will include four intermediate points.

56km Ultra-Marathon

• Sure Silver (3h56m or sub 4hrs)
• Top Bronze (Chet Sainsbury) 4h55m
• Safe Bronze 5h50m
• Easy Blue 6h45m

The ultra-marathon will include eight intermediate points.

The pace calculator can provide pacing schedules as a supplement to the Old Mutual Pacing Chart for any other target times you may have. It can also give you further details of where the intermediate points can be found on your route.

Average pace

Although an average race pace can be calculated for each schedule, it would be impossible to run the Two Oceans route constantly at that pace.

The pacing schedules for Two Oceans take into account the highly diverse nature of the scenic route around the Cape. This means that in some sections such as Southern Cross Drive or Constantia Nek, you will be considerably slower than average pace. These slower times are balanced out by running slightly faster over the longer downhills.

Should you have any pacing queries, email Coach Norrie.

The original Two Oceans race and pace calculator was developed by Norrie Williamson and made available in association with Two Oceans coach Dave Spence in 2004. This 2009 revision is only available on the Old Mutual Two Oceans website and is the basis for the expanded Pacing Charts available at the Two Oceans Race registration for both the 56km and 21km races.