The success of your marathon depends not only on your nutrition, training program, but also in the correct distribution of forces in the race. You should know – marathon running is a strategic sport. That is why you need to think over your plan for the pace of your marathon and what mistakes you should avoid.
Why you need a strategy for a marathon
The first most common mistake is overly fast start, which takes away your energy for the second half of the race. It is not just that the tactic of “negative split” appeared when you run the second half of the distance faster than the first. Very often, beginners think that while they are awake, they need to get a result. But you must understand that as effort increases, the level of lactate in the body increases. At some point, it comes to the point that as much lactate is absorbed as it is excreted. This is called the “lactate threshold”, and with further effort lactate builds up, and “acidification” occurs. It becomes physically impossible to maintain the given running pace further, and the person slows down his running pace.
The second mistake that slows down your pace is dehydration and loss of electrolytes, which are responsible for nerve conduction, with a deficiency, running at the same pace will feel more difficult. Dehydration leads to an increase in heart rate.
How do distribute forces throughout the marathon?
You should aim for a small “negative split” or stick to the same pace throughout the marathon. For example, you can start at a slow pace and improve it by 15 seconds per mile in the second half of the distance, trying to maintain that pace until the finish line.
You need to start the race at a pace below the “lactate threshold” this is the only way you can accelerate in the second half of the marathon, or at least keep your pace.
Our split calculator will help you calculate the negative split at your rate, where you can set a negative split in several ranges from 1% to 3%.
If you still don’t know how long it will take you to run a marathon, but you know the approximate pace. The pace calculator will help you find out your estimated time. Enter the distance and pace and you will know the estimated time, provided the pace is even throughout the course. If you want to run with a negative split, go to the previous calculator to calculate the pace of each mile.
