Best strategy for Marathon

by Gerardo De Santiago
(Zacatecas, Zacatecas, México)

A few words on pace and effort - in terms of relaxation.

"Hi Marius,
first at all I want to thank you for the great work you did with the 100 Day Marathon Plan, it has all that I´ve been looking since I started to run.

I will run the Marathon in Washington D.C. on October 31, and it's my first time, I took the 4 hr plan because I feel more comfortable with doing 4 sessions per week, and I've looking in the FAQ section if there's a more explicit strategy for the great day, you say that we must run relaxed, so that means I have to run with HR between Effort 2 and 3??? Or with just following the Marathon Pace Charts that are in Chapter 9 is ok??


Thanks and best regards,
Gerardo"

Answer: If you follow the pace charts in Chapter 9 you'll be right on track. The thing with the marathon itself is that it is difficult to run in on "feeling" or even heart rate - due to the length of the race and the factors influencing race day (search for cardiac drift in previously answered questions and you can see what I mean)

Therefore, run with the Pace charts. However, you will have to run a half marathon (or at least a 10k) 3-6 weeks before to make sure that you pick the correct pace. This is really important.

I wish you all the best with your training,

Kind regards,
Marius

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