Kilometres or miles?

[JoolieB1]

Wondering whether I should think in kilometres or miles. Since doing the programme, my aim has been to work towards 5K but lots of runners are thinking miles. What do u use and why? Julie

[Curlygurly2 Graduate]

I use KM, they sound more than miles lol!

[Hidden]

I have stuck with KM's , no real reason to be honest ,most races distances are all measured in "metric" distances these days

[GoogleMe Graduate]

Km

It's the 21st century

I was educated in kms in the 70s

[Ffion2 Graduate]

Miles. I was educated in the 70s too ... but I've always thought in miles. Maybe it's because my car still does?

[Tomas Graduate]

When I plan a long run I think in miles (it's only ten miles, nothing to worry about) but when I come home I think in km (wow, I did SIXTEEN km, that's a lot!).

I grew up in Denmark so am totally metric. Except when I want to fool myself thinking into a run not being very long.

[Hidden]

Miles out and about and km in the gym. I have more of a problem thinking about my weight - US pounds never - makes you feel huge, kg - have to use decimals so stones and lbs for me - perceive this as the kindest.

[Happyoutdoors50 Graduate]

I use kilometres and do a quick conversion after a run to see what it was in miles. My app map my run is set to kilometres - as most organised runs are in kilometres it helps me judge what I can cope with and what will be a challenge.

[JoolieB1 Graduate in reply to Happyoutdoors50]

I think I will stick with km. at events they seem to use both or either so as C25K has trained me in Km, will use that but check how many miles it is too so I can know. Thanks. Julie 😀

[Hidden in reply to Happyoutdoors50]

I do the opposite. I know exactly how far a mile is from my house in any direction. Now I need to calculate 2.5k for a 5k run there and back! Tricky!

[Irishprincess Graduate]

Kilometres but I usually have to translate into miles for my friends. They seem to be more impressed with miles than kilometres!

[gary_bart]

Both, if you like. They're both arbitrary measures of distance, after all.

How about alternating? So if someone graduates still wanting to hit the 5km mark, there's a nice round figure target. Now you want a new target, so how about 4 miles (6.something km)? 4 miles in? OK, so 7km? And so on.

I think as long as you don't go in for parsecs in place of seconds, you don't have to choose.

[marc_read Graduate in reply to gary_bart]

for 5k well i kept it in kms however i tried to increase my distance at one point to get to 10K and i also wanted to run in a traditional race which was measured in miles. So i switched to miles for a while. For the race i wanted to know that i could run the distance and what my pacings would be. For the 10K it was more pyschological, in that i wanted to feel that 6 miles was much shorter than 10K. I'm concentrating more on 5ks now so am back to km. It gives me more detail and information.

[dagshar Graduate]

Definitely km - I grew up in Germany so am completely metric - except when it comes to road distance when driving. I only got my licence in the UK so am very used to miles for long distances. Only issue is that there doesn't seem to a good metric equivalent for the word mileage

[Pollynorris Graduate]

Km right up to starting to train for HM. All the workable programmes for that were in miles (I ended up using BUPA) so I switched to miles from then. Felt good when another runner I know commented that miles made me sound professional. I do like to kid myself sometimes!😁

[AndyD Graduate]

I'm in K's.. but I still read run reports of people that have run 10k race at a pace of minutes per mile... now that just confuses me!!

[Megzig Graduate]

I'm with you Polly. It was easier to add distance to my long runs if I added miles when I was training for a HM

[Hungryhorse63]

I use miles as most professional runners use miles in marathons etc apart from track running.xxHH

[spoonierunning Graduate]

I run with km as I understand my pace in km but i then convert to miles

[pinkangel16 Graduate]

I run and think in k's then might check the miles because I can generally picture the distance due to driving - the mile countdown board on the motorway

[Ugifer]

I pace in min/mile which means that I run in miles. I get's confusing when my wife comes back from the gym & has been on the tread-mill at so many km/hr!

BTW Has anyone else noticed that you can't do mental maths while actively running? I think all that blood oxygen etc is being sucked into the muscle & there's nothing left to think with!

Ugi

[folkieboater Graduate]

Kms for anything up to 10k - as its what races are measured in. If/when I go further then miles as that's what half/marathons are measured in.

That said if I walked it, I'd measure in miles whatever the length. Car journeys should always be miles, beer always pints, fruit and veg pounds.

And anything historic like a canal lock feet and inches...Thomas Telford and IKB didn't use metres!!!

[Caroline69 Graduate]

Km usually, but I'm training for GSR at the mo which is 10 miles ( 16.09 km !!).... So I'm having to go to the dark side and try to think in miles! I was educated in 70's too...😁

Having said that, I do still have mapmyrun on km as I get much more motivated as I'm ticking off another km- miles take longer!!

😆☀️😉

[charlieb1793 Graduate]

I do KM because most of the runs I take part in are in KM. So its easier for me to train

[JoolieB1 Graduate in reply to charlieb1793]

I think I prefer Km as that is what I am used to now but good to know 5 and 10 Kms in miles too

[charlieb1793 Graduate in reply to JoolieB1]

5km is about 3.3 miles... another reason to do km because it sounds more than miles

[Theziggy Graduate]

I think in Km for 5 and 10Ks, and in miles for 5,10, half marathons and marathons - I've only had to use Kms so far

[runner56 Graduate]

KMs for distance and mph for pace.

I'm weird that way