Marathon Me

In order to get onto a more consistent schedule I’ve declared Friday’s to “Q&A Fridays” here at Marathon Me. Since Word Press hates me and ate the first version of this post, you’ll have to make do with this one.

The first question we will be tackling comes to us from MikeB and deals with properly pacing a marathon.

I can do a half at 7:00 pace but haven’t attempted anything faster than 8:00 pace for a marathon, and in each marathon I’ve hit the wall at around 2:50 regardless of pace. Should I just run the race faster on the theory that if I’m going to hit the wall at the same point timewise I might as well be that much closer to the finish? Previously I’ve always assumed that I needed to scale back the pace in the marathon because I don’t do a ton of miles when training (25-30 or so mpw, with 2-3 40+ weeks). But I’m reconsidering the logic of that.

I think you are on the right track with your question. You mention that you hit the wall around 2:50, I’ve found a similar situation in my marathons, although for me I don’t get as long. I typically have a very solid 2 hours, and on a good day I can stretch it to 2:20 - 2:30. I’ve found that I can run between 6:30 - 7:00 for those two hours with minimal differences in how I feel. So I will usually take what the course gives me, pushing on the downhills, and trying to stay steady on the uphills and trying to make it as far as I can in my two+ hours.

The rule of thumb is that the human body has about two hours of glycogen after which it needs supplemental calories. So what that sounds like to me is that you are taking in some extra calories but not enough. I try to take a GU* every 4-5 miles, which will have me consuming 4-6 GUs in a marathon. I spent a long time figuring out the right ratio for me and learning the hard way. I would have races that after I fell off my goal pace I’d stop eating the GUs, to save them for next time. (Why I was so concerned with saving a $1 I have no idea, except that I am cheap and I do dumb things when running sometimes). This caused me to crash sooner and harder than I should have. The GU every 4-5 miles allow me to avoid the big crash and stay on a more steady pace. My first 10k is still *always* faster than my last, but at least its in the single-digit minutes now versus the double-digits it used be.

Previously I’ve always assumed that I needed to scale back the pace in the marathon because I don’t do a ton of miles when training (25-30 or so mpw, with 2-3 40+ weeks). But I’m reconsidering the logic of that.

I’m with you on this one. I don’t do a lot of miles, I’m typically in the 20-35 mpw week range as well, for weeks that I don’t run a marathon. But I do run a marathon every 3-6 weeks, which forgives a lot of training sins. I’d like to get 4-5 weeks at 50mpw and see how I do, I’m pretty sure I’d go faster, but I’m happy with my times given the amount of mileage I currently do.

My advice would be to try and eat more during your race and go with the comfortable range of your pace for that 2:50 and try to get closer to the finish line. But you do have to make sure you don’t go out at 5k pace as then you’ll pay the price. I’ve run a 1:22 for a half marathon, but couldn’t hold that pace for two hours without killing my race. At the same time, I can consistently hit the first half marathon of a marathon in 1:27-1:30. So for me, the extra five minutes is too much for my body to handle currently.

I feel you are always better off being closer to the end. But you should find a sweet spot, that could range as much as 20-30 seconds, that you should be able to maintain for your “magic window” of time.

Good luck on your racing.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Tags: General, Marathons //