Half marathon prediction time

by Bjarne
(Denmark)

Hello Marius,

I noticed some comments in your plan for "Marathon key sessions". For example "This will help you over the last 10 km of the marathon" (week 9, session 2 + week 10, session 2, 3:30 plan). How should that be understood? Is this what to do when hitting the wall (running easy and incremental speeding up over a certain time) ?

Also, I paced my half-marathon on a 10 km run as suggested. This went just fine, but I even though the 10 km run was paced well, I felt like the half-marathon pace could have been run even faster. I just did not dare to do it as I did not know how and when to speed up and still avoid burning out before the end.

Should I stick to the calculated pace for the marathon even when feeling like being able to speed up during the run? Or are there some strategies on improving the time without to much risk hitting the wall?

Thanks for your time and effort,

Bjarne"

Answer: Hi Bjarne and thanks for your questions.

The comments in the marathon plan just implied that the long type sessions help you once you are going into the last 10k of the marathon. From a strength perspective.

As for your half marathon time I would use it as a predictor, even though you ran it fairly conservative. And instead : once you reach the 30k mark of the marathon - and if you feel strong ; go on and really push those last 11 + km.

I wish you all the best,

kind regards,
Marius