Sub 3Hr Marathon
313 watchers
13 Feb
10:25am, 13 Feb 2025
6,640 posts
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Windsor Wool
Yes @Mark J 🇳🇿 - I did a slight variation of this. I’d write the target 5k splits on my arm and mentally tick them off versus the 5k markers on the course. It was a strategy to try and help me chill out a bit in the race, I thought looking at something a bit more averagey might help instead of stressing over each mile split so much. Effective where there are km markers of course. Smaller maras over here wouldn’t have those but London defo did. |
13 Feb
11:17am, 13 Feb 2025
2,527 posts
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Brunski
I've tried all sorts, my last marathon I switched to KM pace as opposed to miles just to distract me a bit from dwelling on the prospect of paces that I knew and seeing feedback that I didn't like. A friend of mine has his watch bleeping every 1/4 of a mile and he keeps a running total in his head of whether he's 2 seconds up, 3 seconds down, etc. That would do my box in. |
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13 Feb
11:21am, 13 Feb 2025
2,528 posts
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Brunski
Extract from my Boston Lincs blog (if nothing else shows what a weirdo I am 😂) I’d not checked on average pace (I’d changed my watch the night before to KMs to trick myself into thinking that the paces I was running were maintainable. I don’t know KM splits but my pre race plan was to go out at around 4:10, see how that felt, and adjust). I knew averaging 4 min KMs would bring me in just under 2:50 but never entertained that as a possibility. During the race I had the laps to pop up with KM pace and lap HR, and my thinking was 4:10ish would be decent, anything under is good, I don’t want to go over 4:20 but that’s ok too toward the end if it happens and I’d got some decent splits in earlier. |
13 Feb
12:08pm, 13 Feb 2025
168 posts
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OuchOuch
Chris - A small number of Newport marathon places are now becoming available on various FB websites including the Newport marathon one. Current entrants can gift/ transfer their places to another person for another week or so.
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13 Feb
1:27pm, 13 Feb 2025
1,816 posts
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Chris
Thanks OO, I'm a little dubious about handing over cash to Facebook folk especially when there have been quite a few scams around Cambridge half recently
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13 Feb
1:45pm, 13 Feb 2025
27,082 posts
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57.5 Degrees of Pain
I always used 5k splits in my dim and distant marathoning days.
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13 Feb
1:52pm, 13 Feb 2025
47,052 posts
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SPR
@Brunski why wouldn't you just use time and have no pace feedback in your scenario? I like the principle of 5k splits. My thinking though is that it will just be confirmation you're going well at the point and a sign you trust yourself and only expect to have to make small changes given you wouldn't want to be going too slow or fast by a a significant amount for that long? |
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13 Feb
2:45pm, 13 Feb 2025
2,529 posts
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Brunski
I think it was more a case of tricking myself if I'm honest. The prospect of running around 6:30-6:45 per mile every mile was a bit daunting and as I know mile paces I'm more tuned in to if a 6:30 mile at the start drops to a 6:45 but I haven't used KM pacing and although it's not running entirely to feel I found having a very loose 4:10 good, 4:00 better and 4:20 not disastrous worked pretty well.
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13 Feb
3:23pm, 13 Feb 2025
18,473 posts
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jda
One of the reasons I liked km was that the mental arithmetic of 4s (and just a little bit over or under) was so much easier. 4/km is 2:49 give or take a few seconds.
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13 Feb
3:42pm, 13 Feb 2025
26,634 posts
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larkim
I thought I'd tried 5mile splits in one race, but looking back at the logs it doesn't look like I did in any marathons. I did use that in a 20 mile race though, but partly that was because the course was quite undulating so didn't think that individual splits would be that helpful every mile. I do generally agree that reacting to one split can be unhelpful, especially as mile/km markers can be wrong, but now just use the "Peters Pacer" app and create manual laps every mile with the self-correcting capability so that GPS errors don't creep in and impact my thought processes during the race. Particularly helpful in London. |
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