It’s marathon morning. You’re trained, you’re ready to run, you’re surrounded by thousands of runners who similarly are bursting with excitement. Speakers blast upbeat pop music to pump you up even more, and then the gun goes off.
The entire setup isn’t exactly conducive to a calm, easy start to the 26.2 miles you’ve got ahead of you. But keeping tabs on your effort and holding back now is exactly what you want to do to successfully pace a marathon.
“The vast majority of people get their run pacing wrong—almost everyone Runners on a downhill section because it’s race day and you feel amazing,” says Rob Pickels, co-host of the Fast Talk podcast and a Boulder, Colorado-based coach with Forever Endurance.
That can come back to bite you later in the race—and destroy the pace you’d planned. “A lot of people fall apart in the second half of the race and ultimately miss their goal because of their hubris in the beginning,” Pickels continues. “That’s why employing a very conscious pacing strategy is so important.”
To help you figure out how to pace your marathon, making sure you don’t start out too aggressively and smash that goal speed, we got all you need to know from the experts. Here’s how to tap into your effort train for 16 to 20 weeks.
Key Metrics to Use for Smarter Marathon Pacing
Keep in mind that your RPE metrics to help you gauge your effort and dial into the right pace. Try them on for size early on. “When deciding which metric to use, it’s important to familiarize yourself with it during training—do not let race day be the first time you try pacing by heart rate, for example” says Laura Norris, owner and coach at How to Run a Marathon With the 10/10/10 Method in Boulder, Colorado.
You might want to use a couple of them, she adds: “Most runners do well in training to have multiple metrics that they calibrate against each other—heart rate and the talk test to calibrate RPE, for example.”
Here are the metrics we’re talking about:
Heart Rate
Tracking your heart rate during workouts is a great, scientific way to make sure you’re training in the right zones—but it’s actually not a favorite of the coaches we spoke with for using on race day itself.
“Your RPE might feel manageable, but because of the excitement of race day, your heart rate could be spiking,” says Adam Kimble, a professional ultrarunner, running coach, and motivational speaker in Truckee, California. “Or maybe it’s a hot day goes out way too fast.”
Other factors, like caffeine intake or dehydration later in the race, may also cause your heart rate to tick up. The result? Going by your heart rate alone could make you run more conservatively than you need to, says Pickels.
Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE)
RPE is where you score how hard you’re working on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being super easy and 10 your all-out max. It’s a simple, tech-free way to gauge your effort. “If a runner can calibrate their running with an RPE scale, it can provide them with a very valuable tool on race day,” says Norris. “For example, if they are on a hilly course, they can aim to keep the same RPE on hills—while their pace and heart rate will change.”
Keep in mind that your RPE will go up as you get deep into the race, and that’s okay. A good rule of thumb is to aim for an RPE around 3 or 4 for about the first 10 miles, says Pickels. Then expect that to creep up throughout the next 10, and knowing your RPE may hit around an 8 by the last few miles (even if you’re still running your goal pace and not pushing it too hard).
Time Per Mile
Establishing a goal race pace during your training is obviously another way to gauge whether you’re staying on track mid-marathon.
To zero in on what that pace should be, Andrew Kastor, head coach of the Mammoth Track Club recommends racing a half-marathon (or doing a half-marathon time trial on your own) four to six weeks before your marathon, then doubling the finishing time and adding 10 to 15 minutes.
From there, calculate your goal pace. “This formula seems to work well for runners in the 3:30 to five-hour range,” he says, noting that it “should also function as the pace that will get runners to 30K [about 18 miles] feeling good.”
Pickels prefers to go by normalized graded pace or grade adjusted pace (which many watches, including Garmin and Suunto, will calculate for you). Basically, this takes into account factors like the incline you might be running at any particular point. For example, if you’re Other factors, like caffeine intake or, your pace might be 8 minutes per mile, but your normalized graded pace may say you’re running an effort that’s more like 7:20 per mile.
To keep from going too hard at any point, Pickels recommends trying to keep this graded pace on target rather than your regular pace.
Talk Test
The simplest of these metrics! “This test relies on breathing rate to gauge effort level,” says Norris. Your marathon pace should be comfortable enough that you can say a sentence or two for most of the course, she says. (But keep in mind that it’s expected for your speech to become more limited toward the end of the race.)
5 Tips to Help You Control Your Marathon Pace
Once you know which stat you want to use, use these coach-approved tips to keep yourself on track all the way from the start line to the finish.
1. Check in Every Couple Miles
There will be so much going on around you on the race course—from start-line excitement to changes in incline to other runners wading in and out of your path—that can make it easy to pick up your pace without even realizing it.
You don’t have to think about how you’re feeling nonstop, because “constantly thinking about your effort level and pacing isn’t productive,” says Kimble. But thinking about how you’re feeling every few miles, and adjusting your pace when necessary, “allows you to check the boxes you need to stay on track and run a successful race.”
Norris suggests taking a quick check of how you’re feeling every mile marker; use each as a reminder to ask yourself the following questions, she says: “How is my breathing? How hard do I feel like I’m working? Does this intensity feel sustainable for the rest of the race?” Back off a bit if necessary, depending on your answers.
2. Go With Your Gut
“If you think you are going too fast, you probably are!” says Kastor. “Marathon runners for the later stages of the race, he says before toeing the line of the 26.2-mile distance; they should have a good sense by then how to pace themselves during the race.”
He says to have frequent self-checks, especially early in the race, and ask yourself if your pace truly feels comfortable and sustainable. If yes, keep going. If no, make an adjustment and then reassess again later.
3. Don’t Go Too Hard Downhill
Runners on a downhill section of a course can have tendency to run too fast, says Kastor. It may feel like an easy time to save yourself some seconds, but “running the downhill portion of race too quickly can beat up the quadriceps muscles and leave them fatigued for the later stages of the race,” he says.
Instead, Kastor advises approaching downhill sections of the course like a “free” mile at goal race pace: “Continue to run the same pace on the downhill that you’d be going on the flat sections, but at a lower metabolic demand or lower heart rate.”
4. Know When to Push It
There are a couple points in the race when it’s okay to pick up your pace if you’re feeling great. The first is the second third of the race, starting around mile 10, says Pickels.
At that point, he says, “maybe go 10 seconds per mile faster. That may not sound like much, but going 10 seconds faster per mile takes a big effort, and it can add up to a finish that’s two minutes faster,” he says.
After that point, Pickels suggests reevaluating your effort and how you’re feeling constantly. For example, every two to three miles, if you’re feeling good, pick it up another 10 seconds per mile in pace.
Kastor calls around mile 18 the “magic 30K mark.” If you still feel fantastic around there, he says to go for it by picking up the speed.
5. Be Honest With Yourself
Whatever your preferred metric to use on marathon day, being objective when you check in with yourself is crucial. “People sometimes aren’t honest with themselves, because you want to feel good and to ignore the things that don’t feel good,” says Pickels. That makes sense, he says, because marathons are tough; you have to focus on the good stuff to stay motivated. But you can’t ignore warning signs that you’re pushing yourself too hard, like labored breathing, Health & Injuries.
“People need to be honest with how they’re feeling so they can make appropriate changes as needed,” Pickels adds.
