What’s your pacing strategy? How should it feel at various stages of the race? What are the pitfalls you’ve learned to avoid?
For example, I’ve done a bunch of 70.3s and could tell a newcomer each of these things for every mile of the 13 mile HIM run. I’m hoping some of you veteran runners can help me prep for a marathon.
The context is that I’ve only done 1 other marathon and it was years ago as a bucket list thing. Since then I’ve been competitive in tris for about 5 years and have decided to make a spring marathon a priority this year. The indicators say that a BQ is within reach but I know from experience that it’s hard to get a race right the first time. My qualifying time is 3:25 but I’d like to shoot for 3:20.
What’s your pacing strategy? How should it feel at various stages of the race? What are the pitfalls you’ve learned to avoid?
For example, I’ve done a bunch of 70.3s and could tell a newcomer each of these things for every mile of the 13 mile HIM run. I’m hoping some of you veteran runners can help me prep for a marathon.
The context is that I’ve only done 1 other marathon and it was years ago as a bucket list thing. Since then I’ve been competitive in tris for about 5 years and have decided to make a spring marathon a priority this year. The indicators say that a BQ is within reach but I know from experience that it’s hard to get a race right the first time. My qualifying time is 3:25 but I’d like to shoot for 3:20.
DO NOT start out too fast!!! Your goal should be to try and negative split.
Decide if your legs can take the pounding of a marathon. If not, you might want to try using the Galloway method I just used for my CIM marathon 2 weeks ago. I stopped at each mile marker and walked 10 steps.
I have found just unloading the legs this little means I have not crashed at mile 20. (I also got my BQ-30 time so it might have helped me a little). At mile 20 I then see how I feel, and if I have paced correctly, I just go for it the last 10K with no stops or pacing.
Know nutrition you need. Critical to not bonk like at mile 20
I don’t see any replies yet and I’m not an expert, but the first thing I try to do is:
–no matter what I consider my fitness level to be, throttle back for the first 18 miles, then do a system check, and figure out what pace I can hold, and, hopefully, pick it up to the finish
Starting out faster than I’ve trained for makes the last 10k painful.
I don’t see any replies yet and I’m not an expert, but the first thing I try to do is:
–no matter what I consider my fitness level to be, throttle back for the first 18 miles, then do a system check, and figure out what pace I can hold, and, hopefully, pick it up to the finish
Starting out faster than I’ve trained for makes the last 10k painful.
My next marathon I’ll start slow and then bump my pace by ~15 seconds every 5 miles. If I’m wanting to run a 4 hour race (9:07 avg pace) then that would put my 5 mile paces at 9:35, 9:20, 9:05, 8:50, and 8:35.
The only open marathon I’ve done I started with and held an 8:45 pace for the first 18 miles and then started slowly fading. Wound up walking some of the last miles and had a 4:06 finish.
If you’re prepared for the distance and prepared for the pace, you’ll do great.
• If you can manage to run multiple (3x at least) 20-22 mile runs in training – and – multiple (3x) race pace efforts that range from a half marathon, up to 18 miles. You will absolutely know come race day that you have it in you.
• Also, over the course of training you should have your digestion (aka, pre-race poop(s)) and long-run nutrition down to a majestic art form. It should be second nature to eat/drink while running.
• Dave’s right, don’t start out too fast.
• Personally i’m not a proponent of stopping, but you gotta do what works for your body/mind.
If you’re prepared for the distance and prepared for the pace, you’ll do great.
• If you can manage to run multiple (3x at least) 20-22 mile runs in training – and – multiple (3x) race pace efforts that range from a half marathon, up to 18 miles. You will absolutely know come race day that you have it in you.
• Also, over the course of training you should have your digestion (aka, pre-race poop(s)) and long-run nutrition down to a majestic art form. It should be second nature to eat/drink while running.
• Dave’s right, don’t start out too fast.
• Personally i’m not a proponent of stopping, but you gotta do what works for your body/mind.
Just to make sure, I never said stop. I try to get my fast walking in at aid stations so I can eat and drink and get my fast walking in all at one time. I tried once to never walk but my legs are just not trained enough, and at my age,
no way will I take the risk to get trained.
I also believed to never run more than 2.5 hours in any of my long training runs. Just too much time for recovery for me. But if one can do your suggestion, makes total sense.
I found running the open marathon so boring, and painful, especially for the next few days when I could not walk worth beans. Again, this is probably from my lack of correct training but …
First 25k was relaxed, steady effort and feeling fresh like I could go all day.
Eat, drink as per plan. Moving up and down the field sort of just let it happen and don’t fixate on anyone else’s pace
Start feeling fatigue creep in gradually into the early 30’s. Take that last gel and get mentally prepared
From like 35 on to the finish line, its a mental battle to hold your effort and not allow yourself to take any breaks. I tested it out by relaxing for a few seconds here and there… It hurts the same but you just end up go slower
To finish strong it hurts really bad… I ended up going shoulder to shoulder with someone else for the last 2kms. I checked my splits after, and for the amount of discomfort i was in, it was only 2-3 sec /km faster
Base your marathon pace off of what your training tells you, not what you WANT to run. You can determine that by doing marathon pace miles in your long runs or even better by doing a half marathon 5-6 weeks out.
Start the first few miles 5-10 sec/mile slower than marathon pace. By mile 5-6 you should be running your marathon pace within a few seconds per mile (ideally). Miles 1-10 should feel really easy. Miles 11-20 are the toughest (for me) because you’re starting to get tired and still have a long way to go. Concentrate on maintaining marathon pace. Hang on the best you can the last 10K and push the pace if you still feel good. Try to even split the best you can but a minute or two in either direction is fine. If you negative split by more than a minute or two it means you underpaced. Even the best marathoners will positive split but only by a couple minutes.
The absolute worst thing you can do is go out too fast. Even going out 10 sec/mile too fast will come back to bite you.
at your level (and mine) the only think you should feel the first 16 miles is this is easy. At that point constantly ask yourself, honestly, do you have another X miles left in you. If the answer is “I think so,” then the answer is no. Adapt before it is too late. You can go from great to lousy in just a few minutes so it is constant monitoring, not “at this mile marker etc…” And really nail the tangents at the end. The course will be spaced out enough that you can really focus on it at this point.
I’ve run quite a few marathons and have lead pace groups many times. My approach is to determine the pace per mile I need to run for the finish time I am shooting for. I try to run every mile within 10 seconds of that time. Never going faster than 10 seconds under pace. I usually go thru the half around a minute under my goal time. If I am pacing a group I tell them if they feel good at mile 23 to open it up a little to the finish. I usually finish at 30 secs to 2 minutes under goal. I have found over the years learning and training to run a steady pace works best for me.
What’s your pacing strategy? How should it feel at various stages of the race? What are the pitfalls you’ve learned to avoid?
Pacing strategy was always to run even splits.
The first 10k feels stupid easy where you’re trying to hold yourself back because all the other idiots who you know you are faster than are either running with you or running past you. Don’t let your ego get in the way as they will be the ones blowing up at the end. The halfway point should still feel pretty good where you’re holding back a smidge. Mile 18-20 is where you’ll know if you paced it right. This is where it should start to take effort to hold your desired pace as the cumulative fatigue is kicking in. Mile 23 and on you’re hanging on for dear life.
Don’t start too fast. Don’t get married to your goal pace. If conditions get hot or unfavorable…or you’re just having an off day, don’t force it. Way better to dial it back and feel strong at the end then join the walking dead.
I did a strategy awhile back that worked very well for me, perhaps it can for you too. I did all of my training at what my goal pace was to be, as an average. SO if you want to do 7;15 miles in the race, do every workout at least at a 7;15 pace. Means warmups are not too slow and you negative split every workout usually. I did not have to run that many miles doing that kind of training, so that was nice.I just did a once a week 3 hour bike ride for the endurance training.
On race day it came pretty easy the pace, and I even was able to run faster for about a 10 mile stretch from 13 to 23. The wheels came off, but not enough that I did I really surprised myself on my measly 40 miles a week.
Listen to your watch and/or pace band, not your legs.
You can shoot for a negative split, but it’s not that easy to do in a marathon setting, and it also depends on the course itself. The one I do has twice the elevation gain in the second half, so negative splits aren’t that easy (there’s always a lot of experienced runners crashing in the last few miles because they didn’t plan correctly). But do shoot at least for an even split.
Take your BQ pace, then take your BQ-5 pace, and try to shoot a few seconds faster than that as an average for your race. Your legs will find that easy (they should) for the first 15-20 miles and it will be tempting to run faster. Don’t. Put the brakes. Even if moms and pops are passing you. Your legs will be thankful in the last 3-5 miles, and you can wave back at all those that passed you early on.
Remember to drink evenly. What you take early on might compensate for what won’t go in, in the last few miles, when your stomach isn’t cooperating.
Great info! Thanks everyone. Chime in anyone else who has wisdom.
Bob S, or others, to gauge you race pace you mentioned HMs or race pace during training runs. How do you translate? One of the run calculators for the HM? And do you just build in marathon pace during your long runs for the latter?
For HIM training I have some go-to race pace workouts and I find them extremely helpful. So I’m very interested.
I’ve run quite a few marathons and have lead pace groups many times. My approach is to determine the pace per mile I need to run for the finish time I am shooting for. I try to run every mile within 10 seconds of that time. Never going faster than 10 seconds under pace. I usually go thru the half around a minute under my goal time. If I am pacing a group I tell them if they feel good at mile 23 to open it up a little to the finish. I usually finish at 30 secs to 2 minutes under goal. I have found over the years learning and training to run a steady pace works best for me.
What about hilly miles vs. flat miles in the same race? Same pace?
Great info! Thanks everyone. Chime in anyone else who has wisdom.
Bob S, or others, to gauge you race pace you mentioned HMs or race pace during training runs. How do you translate? One of the run calculators for the HM? And do you just build in marathon pace during your long runs for the latter?
For HIM training I have some go-to race pace workouts and I find them extremely helpful. So I’m very interested.
I think a HM is the best way to get a good marathon pace. Use a calculator to get marathon pace. There are a few out there and they are all close. They very accurately predicted my last marathon. Of course, this assumes you are putting in the volume for 26 miles. Take that pace and do some long runs with marathon pace mixed in. Something like 20-22 miles with the last 10 at marathon pace. The rest easy pace. If you can do that in training you have a good chance of pulling it off in the race. Don’t do these every week though…they do take a lot out of you. I like to alternate between long easy runs and long marathon pace runs on the weekend. There is quite a bit of material out there for these types or runs. IMO, without a good clue of what your marathon pace might be, it’s tough to pace properly. So I think figuring that out is important.
I would have no idea how to predict a marathon based upon a HIM run. Too many variables.
I do most of my training via heart rate so that is the metric I’m most comfortable with. I I have a 10 beat window for which to operate in my marathon zone. The first half, ]will average within the lower 5 beats and the second half will attempt to average in the upper 5 beat range.
That’s my problem, i don’t have the durability to go off of pace calculators. Seems they naturally assume that the person has put the miles in necessary to maintain predicted pace. I have found the same issue with IM racing.
