One of the most common errors that runners make is not pacing themselves during a race. Every race has a number of runners who sprint way too fast during the first few miles, only to come crawling home at the finish. Keeping a consistent, steady pace is the best way to run your fastest time.
Correct pacing is especially important in a marathon. Marathon runners will invariable “hit the wall” in the latter stages of the race, and if they have used up most of their energy at the start, the finish will be very ugly. In fact, a recent study, which analyzed GPS tracking data for runners in marathons. The study found that slower marathon runners in the races had greater variability in their pace than faster runners. In other words, runners who paced themselves properly ran better times.
In order to calculate your race pace, follow this procedure:
- Write down your race distance and goal time for that distance
- Convert the goal time into seconds: (Hours x 60 x 60) + (minutes x 60) + seconds = time in seconds. For example, if your goal marathon time is 3 hours, 30 minutes, and 30 seconds the equation is: (3 x 60 x 60) + (30 x 60) + 30 = 12,630 seconds.
- Divide the total seconds by the mileage of the race. For example: 12,630 ÷ 26.2 = 482.06 seconds.
- Convert the number of seconds into minutes by dividing by 60: 482.06 ÷ 60 = 8.03
- The whole number (8) is the minutes per mile for your pace. Multiply the decimal by 60 to get the seconds: .03 x 60 = 1.8. Therefore, the proper pace to run a 3:30:30 marathon is 8:01 per mile.
. Thanks to LiveStrong for confirming this method.
By knowing your goal pace and sticking to it during a race, you will give yourself the best chance of running a personal best. Fight the urge to get caught up in the emotion of the start of a race and forget about your pace time. Stick with your pace plan no matter how good you feel at the start. You’ll thank yourself at the end.
Image courtesy of gcardinal
