Hey - I'm running a marathon this fall that has road and packed dirt side by side for the middle ~11 miles. For training I tend to stay on the dirt (less impact), but I'm curious what you think is best during the marathon itself. If it's dry, dirt seems softer/less impact, but may absorb some speed (longer time spent on the ground each step).
Probably ~3:10 pace, running in a lighter/less padded shoe.
Your going there to race, save the shoulder for your training day's.
Have ran a few marathons on a crushed lime stone path and feel it added 3-5 minutes to my total time.Good luck.
I would alternate miles. One on the dirt, one on the road.
Fun stuff like that helps pass the middle marathon miles.
Good luck and may god be with you.
Ran my first sub-3 (over 40) on a mostly packed dirt marathon; best part? No recovery time.
Is this your first marathon?
That's neither feasible (for most people) nor will it imitate the actual race very well. However, do try to use routes which have varying terrains.
A teammate of mine runs 2:40 for marathon at age 44. He does 19 mile long runs exclusively on the road, because he runs road marathons. For important runs (long runs, workouts) try to mimic the race as closely as possible (same warm-up routine, same/similar road conditions and hill grades).
No -- I've run 3 others all on roads throughout, and some longer trail runs as well (13-20 miles). Have had some foot and quad soreness in the later miles of the marathons, and generally feel better on the dirt, but it's hard to get a like-for-like comparison on speed vs. effort. Over shorter distances (6-10 miles), I find almost no difference in speed between the two, but am less sore on the dirt.
My guess is it largely doesn't matter, but that during the race it may be easier to just tuck into the pack on the road.
Road has got to be faster. If you're trying to run a PR, might as well run on the road.
If the road is totally packed then I guess it could possibly be faster to run on the trail until someone decides to jump in front of you.
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