Fitness test for marathon pace?

Stick to your plan.

An 8 mile run means nothing.

If you did 12 miles at that pace during an 18 to 20 mile run, that would be different.

A month out is too late to make that drastic of a change. 5 seconds on the other hand would probably be okay.

as long as you're running at least 40-50mpw, any pace you can hold in training for

(i) 15 miles after a few warm-up miles or

(ii) 10 miles after 10 miles of easy running

you should be able to hold in a marathon, conditions being equal. it seems daunting, but it actually isn't after a decent taper and in a race situation.

if you're faster than us mere hobbyjoggers (say sub 2:40), then (i) might not even be feasible in training.

10 miles easy followed by 10 miles at goal marathon pace is often a good test for marathon pace. 3 weeks out from the marathon gives you enough recovery.

Make sure you negative split the MP miles. You don't want to be slowing down on this sort of run.

test

I would say you are on target for your goal.

The 8 mile run after your 18 miler ( how long did it take) I think is left over enthusiasm.

Which is good.

A good indication for a target goal marathon pace is to do at least 3 simulators. In my humble opinion, I think that would be a way to hang your hat on.

Reality is real wrote:

10 miles easy followed by 10 miles at goal marathon pace is often a good test for marathon pace. 3 weeks out from the marathon gives you enough recovery.

Make sure you negative split the MP miles. You don't want to be slowing down on this sort of run.

Seems like a good enough measure. Unfortunate that I probably won't have the time for it this weekend as I will be out of town, but I recover decently so 3 weeks out might still be okay.

If we're talking about a single workout, then there are two legitimate tests for MP fitness:

1) 20 miles at MP with no taper and you're not so obliterated by the effort that you can't run easy the next day. I've done this three times, and it worked for two out of three. (The third was a situation where I got greedy and opened the race with a 10k pr.)

2) Whatever your own experience has demonstrated to be a reliable indicator of marathon fitness. You're getting a lot of that on this thread. I don't doubt that things like 10 easy/10 MP have proven reliable for some people, but I would never tell a stranger that it's proof.

For what it's worth, I think that "proving it" in workouts isn't necessary. It's nice for confidence, but it's not always the best way to train. These workouts, especially for the marathon, are so taxing that they can take a very long time to recover from. Many athletes would probably be better off with a higher density of slightly easier training.

I understand the need to come up with a planned race pace, but I there are a couple of other ways to approach that. Look at recent times at other long road distances, compare your training cycle to previous ones. That should give you a good ballpark.

Another option depends on your personal objectives. For many of us, we're just trying to chip away at our PRs. So unless you know that you can't run a PR, go out at a slight PR pace. That's basically what I do at this point because I would much rather run 2:45 while trying to run 2:29 than just run an even paced 2:32.

Race a half marathon now

ukathleticscoach wrote:

Race a half marathon now

agreed, i have always found this the best indicator.

long runs don't simulate the race, a race does.

at least for me. everyone is different.