First of all, don’t set a time goal for the race before you start with your training. Goal setting should be done a few weeks before the actual race. Best time to do it, is in the last two weeks, when all the hard work is behind you. You can then reflect back to your training and set realistic goals. Yes, goals. Plural. The main goal should always be to get to the finish line, after that set a time goal that’s challenging but still realistic. This will be your A goal. Last, set your B goal, a time you can live with.
How paces are forced
Let’s say you want to run a sub 4 hour marathon. Meaning, that your goal race pace for the marathon distance will be between 5.35 and 5.39 minutes per kilometer. With that average pace you should finish somewhere between 3 hours 55 minutes and 3 hours 58 minutes.
When training for a sub 4 hour marathon there will be speed work in your training plan. Probably two sessions each week, one where you will run faster than goal race pace and one working around your goal race pace.
A constant in marathon training are 1k repeats faster than, or somewhere around treshold pace, somewhere around predicted 10k pace. In case of a sub 4 hour marathon the pace for the 1k reps would be around 4.50 minutes per kilometer, starting somewhere from 4 to 6 reps and working the way up to 8 or 10 reps.
And then there are those longer tempo runs around goal race pace. for a sub 4 hour marathon you will probably start at 4 or 6k and work your way up towards 12 or even 16k. The pace will be somewhere between 5.40 to 5.50 minutes per kilometer, just a bit slower than goal race pace.
Another thing are longruns. Most training plans will start with longruns around 20 to 24 kilometers, working the way up to 30 or 32 kilometers.
To start such an intense training you need to be able to run those paces. But what if you are not, what if you think you are but struggle on your first speed session in week one and then, even on your longrun? You barely make it to run the distance that’s in the plan? Well let’s just say, that it’s not motivating. It can even lead to overtraining, you increase your injury risk and maybe even give up on the plan to run a sub 4 hour marathon.
Don’t force the pace
But there is a way to approach your goal in a different way, a much smarter way. Don’t force the pace, let the pace come to you. Not only the pace, also the distance.
Let’s talk about distance first. If your longest run so far was 12, 14, maybe even 16 kilometers you don’t want to jump to 20 or 24 kilometers, even if that’s the distance in your training plan. There’s a chance that you will have trouble finishing the run, not to mention, that it will take far too long to recover and worst case, you can even end up with an injury.
Most marathon training plans are about 12 to 20 weeks. So before you jump into a marathon training plan, make sure you gradually build up the distance at least to the length of your first longrun, aybe even a few kilometers further.
On to the pace part. As I said: don’t force the pace, instead you need to let the pace come to you. But how do you do it? Well, actually it’s not that difficult. Don’t train by pace. Rather than pace, train to effort, heart rate or power. If, like in the example, you are training for a sub 4 hour marathon, you want to run the marathon in heart rate zone 3 in Garmin 5 zone model. With this in mind, it’s better to run your 1k repeats and your tempo runs according to heart rate.
Please keep in mind, that it takes some time for your heart rate to adjust to your speed. Therefore you should start conservative and the heart rate should be in the right range in about a minute of running. Important: don’t let your heart rate spike. Try to run at an even effort and keep your heart rate where it should be.
Another good thing is, that you change distance to time. With that you will find it easier to find the right pace. So instead of 4 times 1k do 4 times 5 or 6 minutes at a certain effort or heart rate. While doing tempo runs, instead of 8 kilometers at goal race pace, run 45 minutes at a certain heart rate range.
Don’t let a certain pace dictate your training. You will get much more benefits when working in the right heart rate zones. If you would push and try to run at certain paces there’s a good chance, that you wouldn’t be working in the right heart rate zone and therefore the training effect would not be the one you need.
With consistency and running in the right heart rate zones your pace will get faster at the same intensity and that’s what you want. Getting fitter, stronger, more efficient and of course, faster.
Don’t be surprised, if in the end you will even be able to run faster than initially planned. Another benefit of this aproach is, that you reduce the risk of injury or overtraining and your body has enough time to rest and recover before your next run.
In the past I also made the mistake to train by pace from the first day on. Looking back I know, that I would have done better training by current fitness and letting the pace come to me, not forcing it. After quite some of the speed sessions I was tired and my legs felt heavy even the day of the next workout, not what we want.
I’m not the youngest anymore, but still I learned from my mistakes. I don’t want you to do the same mistakes I did. Be smart and run the paces or better yet, efforts, you are able to run now. You will feel great after workouts, you will recover faster and most important, you will get the benefits you want and need.
Yes, I took a marathon training plan as the example. But the same principle work when training for all distances between 5k and marathon. All you need to do is to adjust your training to time and effort or heart rate. If you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments below or drop me an email: run@runandsmile.net
Since a sub 4 hour marathon is a goal for a lot of runners, you can find some tips and advice in my post:
