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. Marathon pace work should be reserved primarily for the last segment of a training cycle and only sparingly before that. If you are running too much marathon pace that you cannot fit in these other workouts, you are doing too much! Timing is Everything

These all elicit certain adaptations in a runner that are necessary for the marathon. This includes a high volume of easy running, some running at lactate threshold, and also some running to improve your VO2 max. Marathon success is highly dependent on a large volume of other work besides just marathon pace.

Running at this pace will give you improvements aerobically.īefore you go thinking that EVERY run should be at marathon pace, here’s a few considerations that may help. 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. 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. Better running economy equates to using less oxygen to move at a given pace and thus, delaying fatigue. Improved running economy at goal pace.The benefits of running at marathon pace are plentiful and perhaps obvious. 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 But others only do do 8 miles consecutively and call it a day. We may see others who can complete 18 miles at marathon pace as part of a 22 mile long run. One question in particular always stands out to me: How much should I run at marathon pace? What’s the best way? How fast should you run? When should I do each type of workout? The questions can be daunting. So you want to run a marathon? Awesome! Now it’s time to start training.

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