Give it a goal time and get the swim, T1, bike, T2 and run splits with the pace each leg needs. Or enter your own paces and see what they add up to. Sprint, Olympic, 70.3 and 140.6, or any custom course. It uses the same split shares the Endurance by Design app uses to set race-day targets.
| Leg | Distance | Time | Pace | Share |
|---|
Endurance by Design builds swim, bike, run and brick sessions backward from your race date, and puts a race-day session with these targets on your calendar. Free to download, 7-day free trial.
A goal time is divided with the shares a typical age-group race produces, the same canonical ratios the Endurance by Design engine uses when it turns a finish time into leg paces:
| Leg | Share of finish | 70.3 at 5:30:00 | Pace it needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swim | 12% | 39:36 | 2:05 / 100 m |
| T1 | 2% | 6:36 | |
| Bike | 52% | 2:51:36 | 31.5 km/h, 19.6 mph |
| T2 | 2% | 6:36 | |
| Run | 32% | 1:45:36 | 5:00 / km, 8:03 / mi |
Each leg's pace is its time divided by its distance. The calculator then checks every pace against the plausibility bounds the app enforces on goals (run 2:30 to 15:00 per km, bike 12 to 60 km/h, swim 0:55 to 4:00 per 100 m) and flags a goal that cannot be reached on a fair course.
In the other direction, My paces multiplies each pace by its leg distance, adds the two transitions you enter, and reports the finish. That is the mode to use when one leg is much stronger than the others, because the standard shares will not fit you.
Updated October 21, 2026
With the shares a typical age-group race produces: 12 percent swim, 2 percent T1, 52 percent bike, 2 percent T2 and 32 percent run. A 5:30 half-distance goal becomes a 39:36 swim, a 2:51:36 bike and a 1:45:36 run with about six and a half minutes in each transition.
Most age-group finishers land between 5 and 7 hours. Under 5 hours is a strong amateur result, and the best age-groupers go under 4:30. The calculator shows what each of those needs per leg, which is a better question than good or bad.
Because the goal implies a leg pace outside the range the Endurance by Design app accepts: run slower than 15:00 or faster than 2:30 per km, bike slower than 12 or faster than 60 km/h, swim slower than 4:00 or faster than 0:55 per 100 m. It usually means the distance or the time was entered in the wrong unit.
Yes. Switch to My paces and enter your swim pace, bike speed, run pace and transition times. The calculator adds them up, so a strong cyclist can see how much run time that buys.
Two to four minutes each at Olympic and 70.3 distance, longer at full distance and at races with long runs from the water. The app's default is two minutes for T1 and ninety seconds for T2 before scaling to the goal.
No. A hilly bike, a non-wetsuit swim or a hot run each add time. Use the splits as targets for a fair course and adjust from race reports.
Endurance by Design builds a periodized triathlon plan backward from race day, with swim, bike, run, brick and strength in one calendar, and a race-day session with your targets on it. Free to download on the App Store, with a 7-day free trial.
