Do you know how fast (or slow) you should run in workouts as you train for your marathon or half?
Your training paces depend on your goal pace for the race itself. Determining goal pace can be done with any online calculator, where you enter your race distance and goal finishing time. For example, if your goal is a to finish a marathon in 4 hours – or a half-marathon in 2 hours – online calculators will tell you that your goal pace is 9:09 per mile.
However, this does not mean that you want to do all your training at goal pace. Once you have determined your goal pace, you want to slow down for most of your training.
Generally, your long runs should average about goal pace plus 30-90 seconds per mile.
For easy runs, meaning runs that are usually done mid-week and are shorter than long runs, your pace should be about 30-60 seconds per mile slower than goal pace.
Recovery runs are probably the most overlooked workouts by runners. These are relatively short runs a day or two after hard or demanding workouts, like long runs, track work, hill repeats, and tempo runs. Your recovery runs should average about 90-120 seconds per mile slower than goal pace (yes, that is up to 2 minutes per mile slower!).
Here is a handy thumbnail chart to use for reference:
- Long runs – goal pace + 30-90 sec/mi
- Easy runs – goal pace + 30-60 sec/mi
- Recovery runs – goal pace + 90-120 sec/mi
These guidelines are not absolute targets. Instead, they are general guidelines to make sure that you aren’t running too fast in most of your workouts. If you sometimes find yourself averaging a pace that is even slower than the “recommended” paces, that is fine. Again, the emphasis is on slowing down most of your runs.
You do want to practice your goal pace regularly in the weeks leading up to your race. How far and how fast should you run at goal pace? That depends on your race distance (26.2 or 13.1), and your experience level. Advanced marathoners should run anywhere from 7-14 miles at or close to goal pace several times in training. Beginner marathoners should run 4-7 miles at goal pace a few times in training. For the half-marathon, advanced runners should tackle at least 5-6 miles at pace once or twice, while beginners should practice 3-4 miles at goal pace.
Likewise, your training plan should include speed work and hill repeats to increase leg speed, leg strength, and stamina. The suggested paces above do not apply to these types of high-intensity workouts.
For a training plan that is designed specifically for REVEL downhill courses, consider the REVEL Online Coaching Program, which is designed by 14-time REVEL Marathon Finisher and Coach Paul Carmona, who has run multiple Boston Qualifiers on every REVEL course!
