Marathon Pace Workout to Assess Goal Time

Try doing it on a treadmill first time out, zero incline so it shouldn't batter your legs. If that goes ok, try adding 0.5% -1% incline and see how that feels. Good luck

Without a good taper, timing the workout could work against you psychologically. Why not run the amount of time you expect it would take you to do 13-15 miles at perceived marathon effort, over a course with measured miles that will allow you take snapshots, or not of your pace on flat, wind free segments.

Definitely throw out the watch if the first few miles are significantly slower than expected. You will inevitably press to do better and make the workout too hard.

You may just be carrying the cumulative fatigue of the marathon training. Run by perceived effort if the watch is not encouraging.

Some folks recommend a similar workout about 2 weeks from race day when you have had one week of taper.

Is this your first MP run? If not, then it should go fine. My best results have been a result of using three long (12, 15, & 18 miles at MP) spaced three weeks apart. I use a 16 day taper. The 12 mile MP run is usually the one that costs the most; actually doing it and then recovering from it (I also do 22, 26, 28 miles the week prior to the MP runs, so...).

If you've not done any MP runs to date of over 10k, then it will likely feel like a 6-8 on a scale of 10. If you've done some long MP, then more likely it will be comfortable until the last 5k or so.

For the sake of closing this thread, I did 20mi:

2 easy

15 @ goal pace (6:17)

3 easy

splits / heart rate

6:16 156

6:10 156

6:12 158

6:16 157

6:12 157

6:14 159

6:10 160

6:12 160

6:14 160

6:10 160

6:10 161

6:14 163

6:09 164

6:08 164

6:07 164

Ran bit faster than goal pace. Some cardiac drift, but negligible given slight progression of pace. Definitely had an extra gear (caught myself drifting towards 5:45 pace once or twice). Good confidence booster.

Thanks all - nice to folks to bounce ideas and get feedback.

Average_Joe wrote:

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

Bumping this for advice...lots of good advice here.

22 miles on Saturday.

4 miles at steady pace (8:00-8:10).

14 miles at MP + 10 sec (7:40, as MP in average conditions is around 7:30), so the plan calls for running slightly slower than MP on this stretch.

2 miles at HMP (faster effort).

2 miles cooldown.

At 60+ miles this week, then a taper to 44, 39 and then 24 the last week (then the Marathon).