Running cadence calculator
Your goal time has a beat.
Pick a distance and a goal time. Tempo Tunes works out the pace, the steps per minute that carry it, and the BPM your playlist should hold. Free, on the web and in the app.
Distance
Goal time
The everyday average for this distance. Tap to set yours.
30 min for 3.1 mi is 9:41 /mi · 6:01 /km
Height
Sets your stride. Taller means longer, fewer steps.
Steps per minute
From your pace and height. Nudge to match your watch.
Your playlist holds
164BPM
164 steps per minute, a beat every step. About 10 songs, so the music outlasts the run.
Free. Switch on Run in the app, dial in the same distance and goal, and your height is already there.
How the number is made
Pace is not the beat. A goal time over a distance gives you a pace, and pace is where most running playlists stop. But music locks to your feet, not to the mile markers. Two runners holding 9:00 miles can be 20 steps per minute apart, and only one of them is on the beat.
Speed and stride set the steps. Cadence rises with speed, and longer legs cover the same pace with fewer steps. So the calculator takes your pace and your height, suggests the steps per minute that carry them, and lets you nudge that number to match what your watch already knows.
Steps become BPM. One beat per step is the music BPM. Flip on half time and every other step lands on a beat, which locks just as well and opens up twice the songs.
The playlist outlasts the run. Tempo Tunes sizes the playlist to your goal time with a song to spare, then fills it from 1.8 million tracks with verified BPM. The music is the pacer, so it never runs out before you do.
The classics, at a glance
Steps per minute and BPM for a runner of 5'-9". Taller runs a little lower, shorter a little higher. The calculator above does your exact math.
5K
| Goal | Pace /mi | Steps | BPM |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 min | 6:26 | 184 | 184 / 92 |
| 25 min | 8:03 | 172 | 172 / 86 |
| 30 min | 9:39 | 164 | 164 / 82 |
| 35 min | 11:16 | 158 | 158 / 79 |
10K
| Goal | Pace /mi | Steps | BPM |
|---|---|---|---|
| 45 min | 7:15 | 178 | 178 / 89 |
| 50 min | 8:03 | 172 | 172 / 86 |
| 1 h | 9:39 | 164 | 164 / 82 |
| 1 h 10 | 11:16 | 158 | 158 / 79 |
Half marathon
| Goal | Pace /mi | Steps | BPM |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 h 30 | 6:52 | 180 | 180 / 90 |
| 1 h 45 | 8:01 | 172 | 172 / 86 |
| 2 h | 9:09 | 166 | 166 / 83 |
| 2 h 30 | 11:27 | 158 | 158 / 79 |
Marathon
| Goal | Pace /mi | Steps | BPM |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 h | 6:52 | 180 | 180 / 90 |
| 3 h 30 | 8:01 | 172 | 172 / 86 |
| 4 h | 9:09 | 166 | 166 / 83 |
| 4 h 30 | 10:18 | 162 | 162 / 81 |
| 5 h | 11:27 | 158 | 158 / 79 |
BPM shown as full time / half time.
Questions runners ask
- Is 180 steps per minute the magic number?
- No. 180 came from counting elite runners at race pace. Most everyday runners land somewhere between 150 and 175, and the number climbs as you speed up. Your cadence depends on your pace and your legs, which is why the calculator asks for both.
- Why not just match the music to my pace?
- Two runners at the same pace can differ by 20 steps per minute. Music locks to footstrikes, not to miles. So the calculator turns pace into steps first, then hands that number to the playlist.
- My watch says something different. Which do I trust?
- The watch. The suggestion is a starting point. Nudge Steps per minute to what your watch reports on a normal run, and the BPM follows.
- What is half time?
- A beat on every other step. 172 steps per minute becomes an 86 BPM playlist. It locks just as well as full time and roughly doubles the number of songs that can hold the pace.
- Where can I save the playlist?
- Apple Music, Tidal, and YouTube Music today. Spotify reserves full access for apps that reach 250,000 monthly listeners, so every runner who joins gets us closer.
- Does it cost anything?
- No. The calculator, the app, and the playlists are free, on iPhone, Android, and the web.
Playlists that match your Pace
Run is one switch inside Tempo Tunes. Pick your genres and the artists you love, and the playlist is built at your beat. Save it to Apple Music, Tidal, or YouTube Music (Spotify once we reach 250k monthly listeners).
For Betsy, who runs.