Marathon pace calculator.
A goal time becomes pace per mile and per kilometre, a split table for race day, and the training paces that goal asks for — the same way a coach would set them.
Change either side; the other follows.
Training paces for this goal.
Daniels-style paces from the fitness this time implies (VDOT about 41). If your current races are slower than this goal, train from a recent race time instead and let the paces rise as you get fitter.
Most of your miles, warm-ups, cool-downs and long runs. Conversational; if you can't talk, slow down.
Race pace. Long-run segments and the odd steady run, so the pace feels like home by race day.
Comfortably hard: 20–40 minutes in total, as a tempo run or cruise intervals (e.g. 4 × 8 min with 1 min easy).
Hard: 3–5 minute repeats (e.g. 5 × 1,000 m) with equal easy jogs. Keep the total at or under 8% of the week's miles.
Fast and relaxed: 200–400 m with full recovery, for economy and leg speed. Never a grind.
How to use it.
Start with an honest goal. The best predictor of a marathon is a recent half marathon or 10K, not a number you would like: run your latest race through the calculator, look at the equivalent marathon time it implies, and set the goal within a few minutes of it. A goal 15 minutes faster than your fitness doesn't make you faster, it makes the last 10K slower.
Use the split table on race day, not an average. Write the clock times at 5K, 10K, halfway, 30K and 35K on your arm or in your watch. Most marathons are lost in the first 5K: adrenaline, a downhill start and a crowd that goes out too fast. A slight negative split — the first half a touch slower, the second a touch faster — is how nearly every well-run marathon looks, and it only works if the first miles feel too easy.
The training paces are where the goal becomes a plan. Easy pace is most of your week and should feel slow; marathon pace shows up inside long runs so it feels familiar; threshold runs are comfortably hard and last 20 to 40 minutes in total; intervals and repetitions are small, sharp doses. If the easy range feels hard, the goal is ahead of your fitness today: train from a recent race instead and let the paces move as you do.
Questions.
Where do the training paces come from?
From Jack Daniels' VDOT method, used by coaches since the 1970s: a race time gives a measure of running fitness, and each kind of training sits at a share of it. The paces here are an approximation of his published tables, within a few seconds per mile.
Even or negative split?
Slightly negative. Of the fastest marathons ever run, nearly all had a second half as fast as or faster than the first. For an amateur, the practical version is holding back for the first 10K and running goal pace from there.
Should I train at goal pace or current pace?
Current pace, from a recent race. Goal pace appears in training as short segments inside long runs. Training every session at a pace you can't yet race is the surest way to arrive at the start line tired.
Does this account for hills, heat or altitude?
No. Heat above about 15 °C (60 °F) slows a marathon by a few percent, and so do hills and altitude. On a hard course, set the goal from the course's own history rather than a flat personal best. A FORGE plan adjusts paces for altitude for you.
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