Looking for input on marathon pace runs (Read 656 times)

Did my first M paced run today. Thought I might go as far as 18 w/16 at pace but anything over 14 miles @ M pace would have been fine. Wound up with 14.5 total miles with just under 13 of those at M pace. I found this run to be extremely challenging mentally. Short version - I don't have much of any experience running at this pace. I tried to target a range of about 15 seconds with the lower range being equal to my goal pace and the upper range being equal to my "ideal if everything goes amazingly" goal. There was more than the average amount of wind to deal with but not tons and a few medium hills that I had to deal with but nothing major. Basically I spent most of the run glancing at my Garmin every 90 seconds to check my pace. It was very annoying but again, this was my first time targeting this pace. It's not the comfortable hard of the tempo and it's not a standard training pace - it's in between. I would very much like to be able to run these by feel and not be a slave to my garmin. Five of my mile splits were faster than my ideal goal and of those 5, two of them were 15+ seconds faster. I am looking for input in two areas, one general and one specific In general - what are some things that you've done that have helped you master the marathon pace runs? Obviously experince will help me. Anything else? Specifically - I have three weeks to go before taper time. One of those weeks will entail my final tune up race, a 10 miler. I would very much like to spend the other two weekends getting in two additional 20 mile long runs. In order to get more experience with M pace running, I am considering dedicating my mid week med/long runs to some M pace running. They'll be shorter than 18 w/16 at pace, but I think a few 14 milers with 12 at M pace should suffice. What are your thoughts on that?

I don't have much experience in the area, but I think your run was fine. Some miles are going to be faster than others, even 15 seconds isn't that much over one mile, especially if that mile had less wind, was downhill, or had a cute female in view. 5 miles were faster, so 8 miles were at or below. Sound about right. Constantly trying to check and change your pace over 90 second intervals is ridiculous. My advice, do include some marathon pace runs mid week. Run a route once with your Garmin to get a time and mileage that is marathon pace then run the same route a few times without the Garmin and just run. I run all of my runs using what I call landmark splits. Basically there are only so many directions and distance I can get from my house. My runs share some common paths, which I clock with a stopwatch. Usually they are just over 1 mile in the 9-10 minute category. I log those if I really want to compare those later I will, but the landmarks that I pass frequently (those close to my house) I get to know very quickly how fast I am running them. Usually I can predict my time before I get to the landmark within +- 5 seconds.

I don't have anything close by that can give me accurate mile splits. Typically what I do when I'm racing (I like to use the Garmin to record the race) is I tape over the screen so I can't see it. I've got a few routes for my med/long runs. I think it would be a good idea to run some of those with my Garmin taped over.

Marathon pace is a feeling, a level of effort more than a number.

+1 in general; I run various routes with known distances, so using just a watch works well for me. When I'm feeling lazy and don't want to do the math, I hop on my TM and dial in the pace I need. good luck

90 seconds is an exageration. A few times per mile early on, several times per mile later on.

It is easier to hold the pace on race day, of course. I remember when training for my first marathon, I completely botched my two (Pfitzinger-)scheduled MP runs. I did successfully make up the second one, however, which helped a lot with my confidence. Before that I was losing faith in my ability to run a marathon at my planned pace, or at all. But in the end I BQed at my first marathon. Pfitzinger, at least, says that MP runs are now considered to be more important than they were previously. The second edition of his book features plans with four MP runs instead of the old two.