Marathon RACE PACE STRATEGY: How To PR Your Next Marathon

Marathon Pace Chart in Miles ▶ ▶ ▶

Marathon Pace Chart in KM ▶ ▶ ▶

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[marathonhandbook]

Pace! Sound off if you've got any pace questions below ...

[andreashecht]

Just ran my first Marathon two days ago in 4:08:38. My goal was sub 4. What happened? 1:50 <-- This. 100% this. Had a strategy of 5:37min/km even splits.. But ran 5:17 - which was my half marathon pace - the first 20k. I had no cramps, no air problems, no stomach issues, but the last 10k my legs felt like concrete.

[woodturnerNZ]

Great advice. I have run 7 marathons and it's still good to hear this advice to reaffirm the rule "Don't go out too fast!" I made that mistake on my last marathon mainly because I wanted to see what would happen (wtf?). It wasn't pretty and I had a bad second half. The next one will be better paced! Thanks Thomas.

[whycantiremainanonymous]

A few points from my own experience (not yet of full marathons, admittedly):
While it's important to keep to your target pace from early on in the race, I'd say it's alright to do the first couple of minutes somewhat faster, as long as you make sure to gradually settle down into your target pace within half a kilometer or so, not much longer than that. There are a few reasons for that:
First, assuming you come to the race fresh and tapered (as you should!), your sense of pace will be skewed at first, so you will be running quite fast even though it will feel easy, and even slow. So the start will be too fast almost whether you like it or not (well, unless it's so crowded at the starting line that you can't start running at all).
Of course, I could be strict with myself and try to start at a pace that feels extremely slow (which would in fact probably be around my actual target pace) from the get-go. The problem with that, at least in my experience, is that if my brain gets the instruction "go slow", it follows through on that. A slow start normally means I'm stuck in a low gear for the entire run, and can't accelerate without putting a lot of effort into it (and putting a lot of effort early on is exactly what I want to avoid with a good pacing strategy). So starting fast and settling into my goal pace from above, not from below, works better, for me at least.
And one more point about negative splits: People tend to assume the relating of pace to effort is linear. It's not. At some point, a slow pace becomes uncomfortably slow. From my long runs, I know that when I'm running below a certain comfortable easy pace, I end up hitting the wall much earlier, not later. Starting slower doesn't guarantee you'll have more reserves longer into the race. You may well end up bonking all the same, or even bonking earlier than planned, despite, or indeed perhaps exactly because of, the slower pace.

[edwin]

I've never done anything but positive split, until yesterday. Managed a "negative" split by one second. It was my fastest marathon in 7 years and an hour faster than I did 3 months ago, when I ran as hard as I could throughout.

[KyleD]

I've always wondered, instead of a constant pace, why you don't run to a constant power output (with heart rate being a less responsive but easier number to monitor). This would seem to be just as good on flat terrain but superior on a hilly terrain. But I figure I have to be wrong since I don't hear people recommend this.

[lijunqiu]

Thank you for such thorough explanation on pace strategy, I feel like this is an under valued subject. Just did my 33KM yesterday(35 planned) and experienced feeling great, super group, starting too fast and crashing towards the end... Now 3 weeks to my second Berlin marathon, now I have a much better idea about planning the race day! Thanks!

[tmosest]

Thanks for the information! First marathon this month!

[trollforlife]

So what you're saying is that I should run a positive split. Got it!

[pedromacd]

Great video and advice, thank you. I'm just about to run my second road marathon and first for 5 years. I'm a hill runner so don't generally have to worry about maintaining constant pace for most of my running. I'll go out steady and hopefully make it through. Thankyou!

[stephenrose]

I went out too fast as I didn’t really have a time goal for my last marathon and just tried to hold on, HM PB 1:45 and marathon PB 3:41 👍 no regrets. Aiming <3:30 this year.

[AncoraImparoPiper]

Thanks for this. You have convinced me to aim for an even pace strategy for my first marathon. I was going to aim for a negative split, but as you say, that might be more challenging to achieve for a newbie marathoner like me, so even pace it will be for me. My marathon race will have pacers and that way all I have to do is follow my pacer. No need to think about it too much then.

[jonathansandberg]

I am hoping to break 3 hours in a marathon next month. The race has pacers but the fastest will be running 7:10 splits. My plan is to start with the pacer for the first six miles and then take off and run gradually faster each mile for the last 20. I haven’t done to math to figure out how much faster I need to run each mile in order to average the 6:52/mile I will need to do to break 3 but I am hopeful that it will magically work out.

[yeahhhhh]

Thanks a lot! This is one of the best videos that I've seen regarding the marathon pace strategy. About the HR intensity, i see that the elite athletes are able to maintain a zone 4/5 for the entire marathon but they just run for 2:15 hrs max . Instead for an average fit person who wants to finish a sub 3:30 marathon, which hr zone do you recommend during the race?

[danthomasburton]

My marathon is on Sunday and is my third. Training has gone perfectly and I did a half marathon pb in training. I’m looking at the VDOT calculator and it looks too ambitious so have decided on a pace that is about 6 minutes slower but will be a fantastic pb for me if I pull it off. My plan is even splitting the race and making sure to run by feel.
If it feels easy at my pace from the start I plan to keep at that pace until 26km. and only then maybe go a bit quicker only if it still feels easy by that point onwards.
Does this sound Reasonable? I’ve had bad experiences with the final 10k before and really want to finish well.

[ΠαύλοςΧριστοφή]

I have a question. I’m gonna run the authentic marathon this November and I want to finish it sub 4hour more specific 3.45h. I ran the authentic twice already and I know the route now. So my strategy is to keep a same pace trough the whole route but the uphills concern me very much. From the 14th km until the 30 km is very sharp uphill and the from 30km until the finish line is down hill. What is the best strategy for the uphill part? Should I keep the same pace? Should I slow down and accelerate after the 30 or should I go faster on the uphill?

[Kelly_Ben]

I'm predominantly a trail runner, and have to deal with hills, technical terrain, etc. Do you have any recommendations on applying pace strategy to trail marathons? I have one tomorrow that is described as "slightly technical, covered in wet leaves, with very gentle hills", so nothing too crazy...

[lindsaybelderson]

Toilet stop? I'll be wearing black running tights (and have a spare pair to travel home in) just in case my bladder management fails me.

[carsonkennedy]

Hey bro! Thanks for the videos. I was doing very well in training and 5 weeks ago did a 20 mile at 7 min pace. I’m trying to hit a 3:15 in two weeks but I had to take 3 weeks off because of a calf injury. Do you think I can still hit that 3:15 taking that much time off?