So, you’ve put on your big shot shoes and decided to run a marathon with a time goal. Go you! If your plan is to run a 3:55:00 marathon by running an 8:58 min/mile pace the entire time, I’m here to tell you that you need a better plan.
But don’t worry, I’m here to help!
In this post, I’m going to share my three step strategy for creating a pacing plan that helped my wife crush her marathon goal time after three near misses over the span of two years, and has helped countless others hit PRs in their marathons.
Step One: Determine Your Goal Time
The first step in creating a marathon pace strategy is to look at what you’ve done in the past to help predict a realistic goal time.
Don’t worry if this is your first marathon, there are a lot of tools that you can use to estimate your race pace based on shorter runs.
Let’s use my wife, Jess, who I referenced earlier as an example. I used the pace calculator VDOT to estimate a realistic marathon goal time based on the most recent half marathon that she raced.
I then compared this information with some of her longer training runs where her effort was “more than easy.” Her average pace was a little slower on those, and I know that VDOT tends to overestimate your ability, so I came up with a marathon goal time of 3:50:00. I landed on this time by:
Ballparking a goal time using VDOT calculator
Adjusting that estimate based on recent training data
Adding a buffer of 10 minutes under her goal of breaking 4 hours to account for bathroom breaks and the fact that most marathons end up being between 0.2-0.5 miles longer than the advertised 26.2.
Use the VDOT calculator below to find your ballpark marathon time goal.
Step Two: Make Phases
Once you have determined your goal time, you can start figuring out what your splits should be. For my wife’s case, you might be thinking, “shouldn’t all the splits be 8:32 min/mile?”
Here are the problems with that:
People aren’t robots
It’s hard to maintain exactly the same pace for a full marathon. It’s also hard to run without stopping to use the bathroom or saying hi to a friend or family member. You have to account for some ups and downs.
Doesn’t leave room for warm-up
You’re probably so sick of hearing this advice right? Well, it’s good advice, but incomplete. What does not going out too fast mean? And how can I make sure that my “not too fast” pace doesn’t ruin my chances of hitting my goal time? This is where the race phases come in.
Doesn’t leave room to push yourself
You’re coming up with a goal time for this race because you want to push your limits right? Right! But how do you know how hard you can push yourself without falling apart? By making race phases, you can designate parts of the race where you plan to push yourself a little harder and leave room at the end for a kick.
Phases Example
For Jess, I looked at her previous marathon performances and found that she always seemed to hit the wall between miles 18-20, so I kept that in mind as I created her phases. Here's the framework that worked for her and has worked for many other clients as well:
Miles 1-4: Settle
Pace goal: 9:00 min/mile
Typically closer to an easy effort pace
Notes: Don’t trip on other runners in the corrals, don’t go out too fast
Miles 4-6: Rhythm
Pace goal: Gradually faster from 8:55-8:30 min/mile
Notes: Start to pick up the pace gradually and lock into your stride
Miles 6-20: Pace
Pace goal: 8:20-8:30 min/mile
Closer to VDOT suggested race pace
Notes: Eye of the tiger! Focus on steady effort until at least mile 20
Miles 20-26.2: Push
Pace goal: No slower than 9:15 min/mile
Notes: Be the hammer, not the nail! Grit it out and do your best, try not to go slower than 9:15 min/mile
After coming up with these phases, I made sure to use Garmin’s pace pro feature to make sure that these split times would get her to her goal of 3:50:00.
Using these phases helps to clear your mind while racing. No more wondering if you’re going too fast or too slow. When you’re getting fatigued and starting to lose focus, you just remember your one word “mantra” that snaps you back into your strategy.
Not to mention, if you feel like you’ve got gas in the tank by the time you get to the “Push” phase, then you can open it up and push to the finish knowing that you’ve been disciplined enough at the beginning to get the job done.
Step Three: Fuel Your Marathon Pace Strategy
This could be a whole blog post on its own, but I would be doing you a disservice if I did not highlight the importance of your fueling strategy.
One of the big changes that Jess made in her race strategy that helped her break 4 hours in the marathon was executing on an evidenced based nutrition strategy.
The strategy wasn’t that complicated, she just set daily carbohydrate targets for the two days leading up to the race based on the recommended range for endurance athletes (6-10 g of carbohydrates per kg of body weight), and then made sure to ingest 30-60 g of carbohydrates every 30-60 minutes on race day. (1)
Remember how I mentioned that she usually hit a wall between miles 18-20? She was able to maintain an 8:30 min/mile pace through mile 24, and only slowed down a little bit at the end. It was the first marathon that she did where she never stopped running. We both agreed that her fueling strategy was absolutely instrumental in preventing her from “bonking” at mile 20.
At Alterra, we specialize in helping runners stay healthy and get better at running (especially long distance). If you're local to Boston's Back Bay area and are looking to dial in your training, we'd love to help! Book a free discovery call to chat with a therapist today.
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Sources
Burke LM, Cox GR, Culmmings NK, Desbrow B. Guidelines for daily carbohydrate intake: do athletes achieve them?. Sports Med. 2001;31(4):267-299. doi:10.2165/00007256-200131040-00003
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