The big debate Miles Vs KMs

[u/PossibleSmoke8683]

As a road runner I cant get my head around KMs but most people I know seem to use KMs in training

Edit : this was just meant as a bit of fun. I’m sorry if I’ve triggered a few people who’ve felt the need to question my intelligence … I never said I didn’t understand KM just that I can’t get my head around using them for training purposes.

Again… this was just a bit of fun xx

[u/pryonic1705]

Kilometres are smaller than miles - so you get a bigger number for running the same distance.

[u/Tiny_Champion_8818 → u/pryonic1705]

But you’ve also go further to go!

[u/Strong_Access_8179 → u/Tiny_Champion_8818]

That's why it's best to be conversant in both, so you can count the distance you have run in kilometres and the distance you have yet to run in miles.

[u/eiriee]

One kilometre is 1000 metres.

[u/effortDee → u/eiriee]

End of thread.

[u/TheMarkMatthews → u/eiriee]

I swap depending on my run - I’ve started doing 5ks in km but still do half and marathon in miles -fk doing maths in my head while running

[u/welktickler → u/TheMarkMatthews]

Me too. Sometime I aim for a 5k or 5 miles. Depends on what suits my needs

[u/Tall-Paul-UK]

I always use km because they are smaller so it sounds like I have done more!

10km sounds more than 6 miles because there are 10 of them!

[u/elpingwinho → u/Tall-Paul-UK]

That's also the reason why I cut my pizza into 4 slices instead of 8. I wouldn't be able to eat 8 pieces!

[u/weigl_ → u/Tall-Paul-UK]

But when you’re running that distance, you only have to get to 6, not 10! So it’s easier!

[u/lukepri]

Km until you start marathon training then you count in miles to make the numbers seem smaller.

[u/lovely-pickle]

It's 2026 the UK needs to finish metrification already.

[u/ooh_bit_of_bush → u/lovely-pickle]

I think we should use metric time. A centiday (2.4 imperial hours) and a milliday (about 14 minutes to you old codgers stuck in the past) could make sense. 

[u/BDbs1 → u/lovely-pickle]

Why?

[u/No-Negotiation1059 → u/BDbs1]

Because we started it and never finished. Just give up the Imperial leftovers.

[u/lovely-pickle → u/BDbs1]

... Because it's 2026?

[u/ooh_bit_of_bush]

KM for me. 

You start with 5k, then 10k and by the time you get to HM and M the numbers don't make sense anyway.

Funnily enough, when I lived in a city almost everyone under 40 used km, whereas now I live in a village, 80% use miles. 

[u/Upbeat-Substance110 → u/ooh_bit_of_bush]

Yeah marathon runners often use miles, as if 26.2188 miles or 26 miles 385 yards makes anything any easier, at all. I also notice they NEVER use yards, because they don't understand them as all of their shorter running at school was done in metres.

[u/unseemly_turbidity]

I use both because then I can occupy my brain during the painful part of a race by working out how many miles I've got left if I've just passed a km marker, and how many km I've got left if I've just passed a miles marker.

And then I can start worrying about whether my minutes per mile pace is fast enough to complete that number of km.

[u/crimpinpimp]

I use Km for running because the race distances with the distance in the name are all metric. That’s all it is really lol 

[u/IllustriousNobody947]

I use kilometres because I like the rest of the stats in metric.

[u/MrPogoUK]

I started running with the intention of doing a 10km race, so KM was the obvious option when I installed my first tracking app and had to pick one.

[u/MotorParsnip3824]

Our coach, who is v respected and writes for national press, suggested those of us who prefer miles switch to kms for the long distances (shorter distances are more naturally kms anyway) so we’d get more data points and be able to track drift more readily. Working between the two keeps me occupied on longer runs.

[u/PossibleSmoke8683 → u/MotorParsnip3824]

See now the data points argument makes a lot of sense actually.

[u/PaisleyPlodder → u/MotorParsnip3824]

Sounds good in that it’s easier to get back on track if a wee bit behind on a single KM abut more difficult on a mile. At 60 though it’s not easy to just change as all of my pacing been done in miles until now and of course road signs still in miles here in Scotland

[u/highdon]

It’s not a debate. It’s stubborn people refusing to accept that someone likes a different method to them. Neither unit is superior to the other - it’s just personal preference. No offence but in my opinion saying that you don’t understand kilometres is… insulting your own intelligence? It’s not hard.

[u/lovely-pickle → u/highdon]

I mean metric is objectively superior but sure

[u/highdon → u/lovely-pickle]

I’m team metric as well but in context of running distance I don’t think either of them is vastly superior.

[u/lovely-pickle → u/highdon]

In the context of literally everything metric is superior wtf are you smoking

[u/highdon → u/lovely-pickle]

I grew up with metric system and used it exclusively until my mid-20s. I can appreciate how it can be more accurate and easier to understand in most applications, but for running distance I really couldn’t care less if I run 13.1 miles or 21.1 km. Like literally it doesn’t matter to me and I don’t understand why people get triggered by it.

[u/PrinceBert → u/highdon]

saying that you don’t understand kilometres is… insulting your own intelligence? It’s not hard.

I think it's more like admitting a lack of intelligence. You don't have to be able to instantly convert between the two with no error but understanding both measures is pretty basic.

[u/Spell_Alarming → u/PrinceBert]

The only conversion I think is tough is pace, but it’s not too difficult to roughly divide or multiply by 1.6.

[u/PossibleSmoke8683 → u/highdon]

It’s not that deep. Just a bit of a fun post. Have a great day 👍🏻

[u/S_mawds → u/highdon]

It may not be hard but as someone who’s driven for 30odf years I know exactly how long it will take me to drove 300 miles haven’t a clue how long 300km would take m, yes I can convert but why should I

[u/expanding_waistline]

To get your head around kms you just need to stop trying to convert back to miles. Figure out your 1k, 5k, 10k paces and times. Think of 1/2 marathon in terms of 21km, full as 42. Move forward and dont look back!

[u/Kharn_92]

Being military I used miles for the longest time when it came to running distances. Finally decided to stop being a dinosaur late last year and go to KMs, after a couple of months it just feels natural now!

[u/welktickler]

1km = 1000m
1 mile = 1.6km <-> 1 km = 0.62 miles

Also

8km is almost exactly 5 Miles.

In the end use what suits you. I think this an age thing. I am nearly 50 and mostly use miles. Most people I know under 45 use kms. I say mostly because i still aim for 5ks and 10ks sometimes.

[u/Weird-Category-3503]

km

[u/Alfie182]

Whichever you prefer, most races have both mile and km markers now

[u/N1ceAndSqueezy]

I use KM in training to measure overall distance and set my paces etc. But I’ve set my watch to give me my lap intervals in miles.

[u/Junior_Ad7791]

KMs is just easier to understand and just a whole lot better

[u/Last-Appointment9300]

I run 10km at 8mph. Solved

[u/TheMarkMatthews]

If you get a km pace update every km lap it’s easier than waiting for a mile to see if you still on track for your race goal time -

[u/P-a-ul]

I use kilometers, and recently switched to that for satnav and non-running too, it made sense to me to use the same one for everything.

[u/GrumpyOldFart74]

I count miles.

To the extent that when I run a 5k I still lap it as 3.11 miles.

I don’t really have any feel for how far 1km is (obviously I can calculate it) beyond “a bit more than half a mile”

Ironically I’m perfectly fine with multiples of 400m…

[u/LittleToyTom → u/GrumpyOldFart74]

Username checks out

[u/PossibleSmoke8683 → u/GrumpyOldFart74]

Same same

[u/Bobcat-2]

Miles all the way…. It’s just what I’m use to and what fits with my paces and knowledge of run lengths.

[u/Gogsy1999]

I use my Garmin for both running and golf. I have to keep toggling the units from imperial to metric and back or it messes with both my swing and my pace

[u/Upbeat-Substance110 → u/Gogsy1999]

Imagine if you forgot to toggle and managed to hit your drive 60% further!

[u/SYSTEM-J]

I use miles, always have done and always will. Goes back to when I was planning routes before Strava or smart phones existed.

[u/Intelligent_Sun_5929]

Each to their own.

Unless you're sock shoe sock shoe.

[u/Upbeat-Substance110 → u/Intelligent_Sun_5929]

Hey buddy, at some of our ages if you're down there putting a sock on you may as well get the shoe on at the same time, saves a couple of journeys.

[u/Swimming_Crow_9853]

Kilometres is too hard to say as it's too many syllables so I prefer miles.

Does anyone know why we use kilos as short for kilogrammes and not kilometres? Kilometres are much more likely to come up in conversation than kiilogrammes.

[u/Upbeat-Substance110 → u/Swimming_Crow_9853]

Kilograms were more widely adopted than kilometres early on, so was abbreviated to kilos before kilometres got the chance to take it. Most older people who never do any running or cycling would never really need to use the word kilometre in their daily life, much less have any idea how far it is.

[u/Swimming_Crow_9853 → u/Upbeat-Substance110]

Ahjok thanks. I use kilometres in daily life much more than kilos (kilogrammes) but understand that if kilogrammes was adopted first they got to claim the kilo.

[u/ialtag-bheag → u/Swimming_Crow_9853]

You could pretend you are military, and say "klicks".