Triathlon Race Time Calculator
Predict your triathlon finish time from three inputs: swim pace, bike speed, and run pace. Works for sprint, Olympic, 70.3, and Ironman distances. Adds realistic transition times automatically.
How long will it take me to finish a triathlon?
- • Enter your swim pace in minutes per 100m (e.g. 2:00).
- • Enter your expected bike speed in kph (e.g. 30 for flat, 25 for hilly).
- • Enter your run pace in minutes per km (e.g. 5:30).
- • The calculator adds distance-appropriate T1 and T2 transition times.
- • Output is a full finish time plus a split-by-split breakdown.
Your Inputs
Example calculation
An age-grouper targeting a sub-5-hour 70.3 with swim pace 2:00/100m, bike at 30kph, and run at 5:30/km gets:
- Swim 1.9km → 38:00
- T1 → 5:00
- Bike 90km @ 30kph → 3:00:00
- T2 → 3:00
- Run 21.1km @ 5:30/km → 1:56:03
- Total → 5:42:03
To break 5 hours you'd need roughly 32kph on the bike or 5:00/km on the run — use the calculator to test the trade-off.
Common mistakes
- Using training pace for the run. After a 90km bike your run pace is usually 20–40 seconds per km slower than a fresh 10k — plan accordingly.
- Ignoring the course. Hilly bikes (>1000m climbing) typically drop average speed by 3–5 kph.
- Under-budgeting T1. Wetsuit strip, bike mount, and gel stuffing usually takes longer than the 2 minutes people assume.
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How this calculator works
Distance ÷ pace or speed for each leg, plus distance-appropriate transitions (2–7 min for T1, 1–4 min for T2). Speeds and paces are the athlete's own inputs — the calculator does not estimate heart rate or fatigue decay.
Assumptions
- • Even effort across the chosen bike speed and run pace.
- • Transition times scale with race distance.
- • No stops beyond transitions (no flat tyres, no port-a-loo breaks).
Limitations
- • Does not model heat, elevation, drafting, or fatigue decay.
- • Uses metric units — imperial is a future upgrade.
Who this is for
- • Age-group triathletes planning a realistic finish time.
- • First-timers estimating swim / bike / run splits from known training paces.
- • Coaches setting race-pace targets for each discipline.
Who this is not for
- • Elite athletes needing course-specific power modelling (use Best Bike Split or similar).
- • Athletes who do not yet have reliable training paces — test a mock race first.
Race time calculator FAQs
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<p><a href="https://mytriathloncalculator.com/calculators/race-time-calculator?utm_source=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Free triathlon calculator</a> via mytriathloncalculator.com</p>