Pacing your next Race? Don't Bank Time; Do this Instead.

Determining my race pace is tremendously difficult for me. When I cross the finish line, I don’t want to have gas in the tank or blow up before the finish line. I know banking time is a bad idea; utilizing even effort or negative splits is better. I watched a YouTube video from GTN over the weekend and had an epiphany that I was looking at pace from the wrong angle.

When I picked a pace, I took the total minutes to complete the race and divided it by the race distance. Sometimes I would add an extra tenth of a mile to the race distance to account for deviating from the measured path, but I didn’t include any other buffers.

The GTN video was focused on completing a sub-4:00 marathon. They included an eight-minute buffer and used the pace for a 3:52 marathon as the suggested pace for a sub-4:00 marathon attempt. This methodology blew my mind. At the same time, it helped me connect the dots in the Run with Hal training plan I was using.

From my perspective, Run with Hal gave me two different marathon race paces, and neither aligned with the goal time. I entered a goal race time of 4:30 and an easy pace of 10:30/mile. From these inputs, the program created my training paces. It suggested 9:45/mile as my pace for “marathon pace” runs but proposed a 9:55/mile pace for race day. I was especially baffled, considering a 4:30 marathon is a 10:18/mile pace. After watching the GTN video, I think the app is inserting a ten-minute buffer by proposing a 9:55/mile pace on race day. I also think the app wanted to push me in training by suggesting a 9:45/mile for the four- to ten-mile pace runs peppered throughout the training plan.

Based on my recent half-marathon, my 4:30 goal time is too conservative. I still struggle to determine my updated pace for my next marathon. However, using an eight- to ten-minute buffer will help me decide if I can keep up the pace for the race. Currently, I think a 4:15 goal time with a 9:25/mile pace and eight-minute buffer might be appropriate.

How do you pace your races? Do you insert a buffer? Please share in the comments below.

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