Marathon Pace Band
This pace band will generate three lists of split times; an even split and two 'safety margin' splits. The safety margin splits run the race slightly faster in the first half, so you reach the 13.1 mile mark either one or two minutes ahead of even pace. After the half-way point, all three use even pace to the end. I aim to be between the one and two minute safety margins. You can use the VDOT Calculator to estimate your marathon time from a shorter race.
1 Example
An example may help explain this approach. For a 3:15 marathon, you need to run a 7:26 pace. The column marked '0 min' uses that split time throughout the race. To have a one minute safety margin, run a 7:21 pace for the first 13.1 miles, arriving at the half-way point in 1:36:30, one minute ahead of schedule. Then run 7:26 for the rest of the race to maintain the one minute safety margin. The 2 minute safety margin works the same way, but uses a 7:17 pace to give the extra minute.
2 Input Form