Grade-Adjusted Pace Calculator
Convert a hilly pace into its flat-ground equivalent, so you can compare effort across climbs and descents. Built on the Minetti cost-of-running model.
Running uphill and downhill costs more or less energy than the flat. We use Minetti’s 2002 equation for the metabolic cost of running at a grade, take the ratio to the flat cost, and use it to convert your actual pace into the flat pace that would cost the same energy. That flat-equivalent number is your grade-adjusted pace (GAP).
Enter the average grade of a segment (elevation change ÷ distance). The model is most reliable up to about ±30%; beyond that, terrain, footing, and hiking change the economics and GAP overstates what’s runnable.
One average grade smooths over the rollers, switchbacks, and steep pitches that actually decide your effort. A run that climbs then descends back to the start reads as “flat” on net elevation but is nothing like it underfoot.
Vertical adjusts every point of your run for its actual grade and altitude, so your effort, zones, and race splits reflect the real course — not a single average number.
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