Pace early in the marathon schedule

by Bob Scott
(Atlanta, Georgia, US)

When the pace is off and you are early in the marathon schedule.

"I am following the plan for a sub 4:00 marathon using my heart rate monitor to meet the effort levels during the training. My pace, however, is much slower than the pace shown in the table corresponding to the corresponding effort level. Can I expect that to improve or am I stuck at actually running a slower marathon?"

Answer Hi Bob, it usually takes a little bit of time to get used to the training so no worries ! Stick to your heart rate monitor and evaluate your pace right around week 7-8. Then if you plan a half marathon at week 11 as it is set up for you, that will give you the exact time you want to aim at in the actual marathon.

But you are working this the right way - do run with heart rate but notice your pace and see it improve in the weeks to come !

Kind regards,
Marius

Back from Pace early in marathon schedule to Marathon Training

I'm often asked what shoes I personally recommend to help stay injury free while running (on the 100 day plan) so I'll add a little bit about it at the end of these Q and A's.

Good shoes are crucial if you want to stay injury free during your marathon journey. In general, the best is to find a shoe that fits your feet according to your foot type.

However, these three shoes will do an excellent job with their mild correction - and will work for most runners :

The most sold running shoes ever - and by every model seems to get better and better. About the same weight as the Kayano but the fit is a little bit different.

The 2150 is a great alternative for the faster work you'll be doing in the 100 day plan. It is one of the few shoes that "feels" like a lightweight one but at the same time has more than enough stabilty to prevent injuries with the marathon type length of some of the interval sessions.

A tips for international (non-US) runners : check out roadrunnerssports.com : Example : Asics Kayano (RoadRunnerssports) they ship worldwide and it can really save you some money on your shoes.