How much of a toll does it take to pace females in a marathon?

Training Advice/Discussion Marathon

9 years ago 09/29/2014 11:11pm EDT

Was looking at Berlin and started to wonder. For Vail and others, how hard is it to pace a 2:21 marathon?

Is it akin to a hard long run, or a little worse? Need recovery much? Almost a race?

I did the math and for Vail a 2:21 effort (Shalane) is 93% of marathon pace.

If I read correctly, Kenyans routinely do 35km long runs at 95% of MP so that would pretty much be a slightly longer normal long run?

I assume that for faster 2:05 marathoners, a 2:20 is very much a long aerobic jog.

If you watch the Berlin women race, one of Anna Hahner pacers was a 2:19 marathoner. She ran 2:25, that has to be a lot more taxing!

9 years ago 09/30/2014 1:57am EDT

re: MarathonSprints

Well, if by "routinely" you mean "once a month or so," then yes. But it's not just a normal 20 miler. 35km at 95% of marathon pace is a fairly taxing workout which requires appropriate recovery. Not something you'd do every week.

Even for the 2:05 guy, 2:20 pace is still ~88% of marathon pace. Nothing to sneeze at—it'd be considered "special" or "fundamental" endurance training for the marathon. So it's a step up from an aerobic jog.

9 years ago 10/01/2014 10:34am EDT

re: adsfadfasdf

This is an interesting question. To run steady and under complete control at 2:21 pace (2:19 til 35km) for 41km you'd have to think that they would have to be fairly fit. That is a pretty huge session for almost anyone. I'd say to pull off that run Vail & Watson had to be In shape to go 212-2:14? Hopefully they were able to recover well, I'd so that run will definitely help their upcoming marathons.

9 years ago 10/01/2014 10:53am EDT

re: MarathonSprints

9 years ago 10/01/2014 11:10am EDT

re: tike

Vail is running NYC. Berlin pacing duties fit very nicely in his build up. It looks like he is shooting for 2:10 or faster. 35k at @5:18-20 pace would be well under marathon goal pace. A solid run, but nothing too tiring given the kind of miles the guy runs.

9 years ago 10/01/2014 12:22pm EDT

re: Precious Roy

Precious Roy wrote:
Vail is running NYC. Berlin pacing duties fit very nicely in his build up. It looks like he is shooting for 2:10 or faster. 35k at @5:18-20 pace would be well under marathon goal pace. A solid run, but nothing too tiring given the kind of miles the guy runs.

Thanks for the thoughtful answer.

2:10 is just under 5:00 pace, so we're looking at MP+20 or 92% of MP

35km at that pace I suppose is a hard long run, probably a bit more taxing than say 10 miles easy + 10 miles at MP?

Mind boggling to me.

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