I just ran my last college XC race and I thinking about running a marathon while I'm in shape. The philadelphia marathon is this weekend. Last year the 100th place runner ran 02:51:06 which is 6:31.6 per mile.
Some backround info. My fastest 5K is 16:01 which is 5:09 per mile. My fastest 8K xc race is 26:44 which is 5:23 a mile. My fastest 1200 is 3:38. My fastest 1000m is 2:53. My fastest mile is 4:47. Today I ran 12.2 miles in 1:26:36 at my 70% of max hr pace which was 7:06 per mile. Right now I'm in better running shape then when I ran the 16:01 5K.
According to John L. Parker Jr., in his book Heart Rate Monitor Training for the Compleat Idiot, world class marathoners run at 85-90%. Parker mentioned a marathon in which he ran the first 20 miles at 80% and the last 6 at 85-90%. He ran 50-80 mpw leading up to the marathon. I've been running about 60 mpw. I'm going to find out my 80% pace per mile during the week this week.
I use the Karvonen method: (Max HR - Rest HR) X .70 + (Rest HR).
My numbers are 197 max, 49 rest.
Is 80% a good effort/pace to run the marathon in?