So you want to run a marathon? Awesome! Now it’s time to start training. What’s the best way? How fast should you run? When should I do each type of workout? The questions can be daunting. One question in particular always stands out to me: How much should I run at marathon pace?
We may see others who can complete 18 miles at marathon pace as part of a 22 mile long run. But others only do do 8 miles consecutively and call it a day. Both may have very successful race days – so what’s the difference, why is it important, and how should I use it in my own training?
The Benefits of Marathon Pace Running
The benefits of running at marathon pace are plentiful and perhaps obvious.
- Improved running economy at goal pace. Better running economy equates to using less oxygen to move at a given pace and thus, delaying fatigue.
- Internalizing marathon pace. Come race day, you want to be able to feel exactly what marathon pace feels like and be able to resist the urge, sometimes subconsciously, to speed up.
- Nutrition practice. Can you handle taking in a sports drink or energy gel at marathon pace? Better practice! Being able to fuel well during a race is one of the biggest (and often overlooked) differences between the half and full marathon.
- Improved endurance. Running at this pace will give you improvements aerobically.
What is Right for Me?
Before you go thinking that EVERY run should be at marathon pace, here’s a few considerations that may help.
The Other Stuff
Marathon success is highly dependent on a large volume of other work besides just marathon pace. This includes a high volume of easy running, some running at lactate threshold, and also some running to improve your VO2 max. These all elicit certain adaptations in a runner that are necessary for the marathon. If you are running too much marathon pace that you cannot fit in these other workouts, you are doing too much!
Timing is Everything
Marathon pace work should be reserved primarily for the last segment of a training cycle and only sparingly before that. Why? As Steve Magness explains in his book The Science of Running, “if the lactate threshold is developed first, then it increases the gap between lactate threshold and marathon pace, which then allows for the subsequent marathon specific work to close that gap.” The time to develop the lactate threshold is between 8-12 weeks out from race day. After that is the right time to include more frequent marathon pace efforts.
Weekly Mileage
If your weekly mileage is higher, then you can handle a higher volume at marathon pace. Jack Daniels recommends anywhere from 15-20% of weekly volume (on average) be done at marathon pace. That’s a vast difference when comparing an elite runner who may run 100 miles per week and a seasonal runner who may run 20 miles per week.
Training Intensity
Look back at your LAST training cycle for your last marathon. How does this one compare? Mileage? Intensity? Don’t be too quick to change so much from cycle to cycle. Increasing intensity (usually defined by paces) AND volume (mileage) can sometimes be too much.
What is Your Marathon Pace?
In general, if your marathon pace is slower, you can sustain it for longer. For someone whose goal time is 5 hours, his or her marathon pace will be much closer to their easy pace. For a sub-3 hour marathoner, however, their easy pace is a full 1:00-1:30/mi slower than their goal pace.
Psychology
Some people just plain NEED to have the confidence going into race day that they have covered X miles consecutively at their goal pace. I understand that. Sometimes it can be slightly detrimental to do that in training for reasons noted above, but the confidence gained may be the equalizer in a race that’s often very mental.
So How Much and How Long?
In the last 8 weeks before race day, I think some time every week at marathon pace is a good thing. I call this the race-specific phase. It may show up in parts of your long run or in a stand-alone tempo effort or even in alternations involving faster paces. Prior to those 8 weeks, the volume should be low – both in an individual workout and overall. Every 2-3 weeks should suffice.
Many are curious specifically to know how long to run marathon pace on any one specific workout prior to race day. Popular training plans differ on this GREATLY and with good reason. Each training program has to balance hard, medium, and easy efforts to paint a wonderful race day masterpiece.
What Kinds of Workouts?
- Included in a long run – this is the most common. Run the majority of your long run at an easy pace and then close the last X miles at marathon pace. This will improve your ability to run your goal pace while on tired legs as well as maintain your form/posture. Start with 1-2 and progress from there. At the end of a cycle, 10 miles easy followed by 10 at marathon pace would be a very difficult effort, but if you’ve built up to it, it is great race prep.
- A straight tempo – Warm-up then run X miles at goal pace and cool down. This is straight forward. You learn to control the pace while you are fresh and feel what’s sustainable. You might start this at 5-6 miles and progress every 2-3 weeks depending on how it’s going. Usually no more than 10 is needed here.
- Alternations – Run 3 sets of X miles at goal pace with an easy mile in between. The combinations are endless for this type of workout. It’s essentially a way of extending the workout and making it a bit easier since you are only running shorter segments at marathon pace. You can also perform this type of workout using lactate threshold pace (maybe 10-15 seconds faster than goal pace) instead of easy pace. The workout will obviously be shorter because of the difficulty but it can be a good bridge between lactate threshold work and more race-specific efforts.
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