Marathon Pace Workout to Assess Goal Time

Huh?

It will be hard as hell to do that.

It should feel very tough. Hanson-Brooks does 16 miles untapered as a time trial, and I've heard of others going up as high as 20 with a week taper. It's supposed to be a helpful workout, but I wouldn't do it.

Try running 10 at 85 percent of marathon pace followed by 10 at marathon pace. This should tell you something. If you do it you will gain confidence. If you can't do it, you might want to adjust your goal.

I've done 16 (with easy running before and after to make a total of 25 for the day) at marathon pace 3 to 4 weeks before goal race twice, my two best marathons by far. Workout felt really hard. If you can do it, it's a good sign; I wouldn't worry about wanting it to feel controlled, or what have you.

good luck with it and more importantly with the race.

If your HR rises much over the course of the MP workout, it is unlikely you will be able to hold that pace. It's a great session to monitor HR for. Should be little or no cardiac drift.

16 w/out a taper is defiantly a hard workout. Finishing with even splits or a slight pick up near the last 5k would be a good indicator. No one can tell you how it should feel except for you. Marathon pace has been describe very differently by many people. If you ever ran a marathon before it should feel like your miles 10-20ish. Meaning having to keep your head in the game but not gritting your teeth.

Run 5 miles very easy as a warmup. Be sure to plan your fluid intake and do everything you plan to do on marathon day. You should be able to run 15 miles at MP, which will give you a 20 mile total. It will be a heavy workout, but manageable and extremely valuable. How will you feel? Your legs will begin to fatigue. But you should be able to hold pace and always be in control. Afterwards, take an ice bath, eat for recovery, and rest. Take the next day off and then a few very easy running days.

Everyone - thanks for the feedback.

The consensus seems to be to do 20 miles (5 easy, 15 @ pace).

If it makes any difference, I am using Daniels Marathon Plan A, 3 weeks out from the race, and have been averaging 65mpw for the past 10 weeks.

let me know how it goes. I am planning of doing the same this sunday (maybe not 5/15 split, but 8/12 split, as I have missed a week or two of training in a 12 week program :-()... what is your marathon pace btw, just curious:-) also, where is your marathon?

I find that if I can do 12-13 at goal pace and feel like I have something left in the tank -- maybe not much but something, I'm ready for my marathon. Taper will buy you more miles. Race day excitement/adrenalin will buy you more miles. The last few are up to guts

Try Yasso 800s.

Check over on runnersworld.com

Instead of 15, I would do 11-13 miles. If you can find a half marathon race, all the better.

Warmup 3-5 miles, run 11-13 at goal MP, and run 3-4 miles as a cooldown. Depending on where your mileage has been, as well as where your long run has been (and for how consistently), this will be a 17-22 mile day.

I would NOT advocate taking the next day off. You'll want to run a couple of miles (2-4) the next day to help with recovery. If anything, take the 2nd day off after this workout.

Make sure you refuel very VERY well afterward. Also, take in gels and any fluids that you are planning during the race throughout the workout (probably at miles 7 and 14, then when done to aid in recovery).

As far as effort, it should be a hard workout. Probably one of the hardest you've done (if for no other reason, the volumne is quite high). As a previous poster said... you shouldn't notice a huge spike in heart rate at any point. This will be a good indicator of effort. Also, do NOT try and kick it in. Maintain your goal pace until the last step, but do not kick.

This is the type of workout that could dig you into a hole if you don't recover well and if you run it too hard, OR could give you enormous confidence.

Like someone else mentioned... your taper will get you another 3-5 miles at the same pace, adrenaline will carry you another 2-3. The remaining distance is that extra gear/effort that you didn't break out on the workout (and hence why you didn't kick or increase pace).

Take care and good luck.

M

The new pfitz program has quite a few MP long runs (with MP segments of more than 10). They actually start right from the beginning of the program. These are quite useful in tracking progress through the program. As a previous poster mentioned, try to keep your HR at the same level throughout.

BTW, when I said if you can find a 1/2 race, all the better, I did not mean so you can race the 1/2. Still run it at goal MP. But since it will be in a race atmosphere, it will feel a lot more comfortable then if you do it by yourself on the roads.

Conto wrote:

BTW, when I said if you can find a 1/2 race, all the better, I did not mean so you can race the 1/2. Still run it at goal MP. But since it will be in a race atmosphere, it will feel a lot more comfortable then if you do it by yourself on the roads.

Conto is correct. However, it is very hard to hold back and not kick the last 2 miles in a half marathon race which you run at MP pace. Especially if this can give you a PR. This happened to me last year, I kicked the last 3 and PRed even though I planned on running it even-paced.

On the other hand, can anyone quantify the extent of the damage caused by kicking it? Will it really ruin the marathon? You can recover within a week, no?

Well, Kara kicked hard in the chicago half and may have hurt berlin.

A number of folks have talked about cardiac drift (elevating heart-rate, more perceived effort) for this workout...

Suppose you are 2/3 into your run and your begin to "drift". Obviously this indicates goal pace needs to be re-assessed. But to salvage the last 1/3 of the run, do you:

1) ignore the drift, keep steady pace

2) back off the pace, keep perceived effort steady

Keep in mind the context: 18-22 mile run w/ 10-14 at marathon pace. Final hard workout before beginning two week marathon taper.

I'd ease off.

I found 12 @ MP to be a difficult workout (regular mileage week). Could have kept going, but not for much longer.