Steady jog · 5.5 mph
11:00 minutes per mile
Photo by Isaac Wendland on Unsplash
11:00 per mile equals 5.5 mph or 8.8 km/h on a treadmill, and 6:50 per kilometre. Held for a full 5K it gives 34:11. A 30-minute run at this pace covers 2.73 miles (4.39 km) — you would need about 5 more minutes to reach 5K.
11:00 and 11:30 per mile, converted
| Measure | 11:00 / mile | 11:30 / mile |
|---|---|---|
| Pace per kilometre | 6:50 | 7:09 |
| Treadmill speed | 5.5 mph | 5.2 mph |
| Treadmill speed (metric) | 8.8 km/h | 8.4 km/h |
| 5K (3.107 miles) | 34:11 | 35:44 |
| 10K | 1:08:21 | 1:11:27 |
| Distance in 20 minutes | 1.82 mi · 2.93 km | 1.74 mi · 2.80 km |
| Distance in 25 minutes | 2.27 mi · 3.66 km | 2.17 mi · 3.50 km |
| Distance in 28 minutes | 2.55 mi · 4.10 km | 2.43 mi · 3.92 km |
| Distance in 30 minutes | 2.73 mi · 4.39 km | 2.61 mi · 4.20 km |
| Minutes of running to reach 5K | 34:11 | 35:44 |
speed = 60 ÷ pace · distance = time ÷ pace · 1 mile = 1.609344 km
Distance covered in 30 minutes, by pace (mi)
Is 11:00 per mile too slow?
Eleven minutes per mile opens the site's Steady jog band. It is not slow. A 5K at 11:00 takes 34:11, and the 30 minutes of week 9 carries you 2.73 miles, or 4.39 km. That leaves a gap of a little over half a kilometer to a full 5K. Through the plan, this pace works for every stage: the 1-minute repeats of week 1, the 8-minute runs of week 5, and the 25-minute runs of week 7, provided you can still talk.
On a treadmill
Dial in 5.5 mph or 8.8 km/h. Moving the belt up to 5.7 mph gives a 10:30 mile and a 5K of 32:37. Moving it down to 5.2 mph gives an 11:30 mile and a 5K of 35:44. So a change of 0.2 to 0.3 mph shifts your 5K by about a minute and a half either way. Raise the speed only after a full session at 5.5 mph feels steady.
How many minutes past 30 to reach 5K at 11:00
| Continuous run | Distance | Still to go |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 2.73 mi (4.39 km) | 0.61 km |
| 34:11 | 3.11 mi (5.00 km) | — |
The plan ends with 30 minutes of running. At 11:00 per mile a full 5K needs 34:11, which is 4:11 more. Adding 2 to 3 minutes a week to one run, as the guide on finishing the plan short of 5K describes, covers that gap in about 2 to 3 weeks.
What 11:00 looks like across the plan
| Session | Run minutes | Distance run | Whole session |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 Day 3 | 8 | 0.73 mi | 1.95 mi |
| Week 3 Day 3 | 9 | 0.82 mi | 1.87 mi |
| Week 4 Day 3 | 16 | 1.45 mi | 2.32 mi |
| Week 5 Day 3 | 20 | 1.82 mi | 2.37 mi |
| Week 6 Day 3 | 25 | 2.27 mi | 2.83 mi |
| Week 7 Day 3 | 25 | 2.27 mi | 2.83 mi |
| Week 8 Day 3 | 28 | 2.55 mi | 3.10 mi |
| Week 9 Day 3 | 30 | 2.73 mi | 3.28 mi |
You need 4.2 more minutes after the 30-minute week 9 run to reach 5K. A practical step is to add 2 minutes to one run per week until a 35-minute run feels like the 30 did. Hold 11:00 or slower while you do it. Distance at a steady effort is the goal here, not a faster mile, and three weeks of this gets you there.
11:30 per mile: the half-minute step
11:30 per mile is 5.2 mph (8.4 km/h), 7:09 per km and a 35:44 5K; 30 minutes covers 2.61 miles.
At 11:30 per mile you are in steady, sustainable territory. Run a 5K at this speed and the clock reads 35:44. A half-hour at the same speed is 2.61 miles, or 4.2 km. For the plan, that means week 9's 30-minute run ends roughly 0.8 km before the 5K mark. There is nothing too slow about it. This is a pace you can carry from the short repeats of weeks 1 and 2 all the way to the 28-minute runs of week 8 without changing gears.
Choose 5.2 mph, or 8.4 km/h. One step faster, 5.5 mph, matches an 11:00 mile and takes the 5K down to 34:11. One step slower, 5.0 mph, matches a 12:00 mile and a 5K of 37:17. Both steps change the 5K by about one and a half minutes. If you are unsure, start a session at 5.0 mph and move to 5.2 once you are warm.
Frequently asked questions
Is an 11 minute mile slow for a beginner?
No. Four rows on this site's table are faster and fifteen are slower. At 11:00 you would run a 5K in 34:11 and cover 4.39 km in half an hour. For someone who began with 1-minute run intervals a few weeks earlier, that is a solid, steady pace to hold.
How many miles is 30 minutes at an 11 minute pace?
2.73 miles, or 4.39 km. Thirty minutes divided by 11 minutes per mile gives just under two and three quarter miles. If you count the 5-minute warm-up walk and the 5-minute cool-down walk the plan uses, the whole session covers more, but the running part alone stops short of 5K by about 0.6 km.
Is 11:30 a good mile time for a new runner?
Yes. It is a pace that stays manageable for longer runs, which matters more in this plan than speed. A 5K at 11:30 takes 35:44. In metric it is 7:09 per km. If you can talk in full sentences at this pace, it is an easy pace for you, and that is the right effort for most of the plan.
Data sources
Data as of October 4, 2026
- FirstFiveK calculations (distance ÷ time)Own work · 2026-10
- CDC — Measuring Physical Activity Intensity (talk test)Public domain (US federal government) · 2026-10
- HHS — Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd editionPublic domain (US federal government) · 2026-10
- How ranks and averages are calculated