The Fade

I was talking about marathon pace strategy with a friend recently and promised to provide more information. I thought that she should start at 4:50 pace and finish 5:10. The 5:10 would come in around the 30K mark or thereabouts. This seems to contradict the "start slow" line ...... The 4:50 would in fact feel slow and certainly be way above what she might feel like doing to start off with.

So now to provide some support:

1. There are several pacing calculators that cater for the fade.

This One and Here is another


2. These articles Advise 1 and Advise 2 are helpful. What sticks most in my mind and from my experience is your running economy will tend to decrease slightly during the race.


3. Looking at some real race results for:

3 hour marathoners (Avg 4:16) they averaged 4:09 pace over the first half and 4:23 after the 32K point,
3:15 (4:37) were 4:27 first half and 4:51 after 32K through to the end,
3:27 (4:54) were 4:45 first half and 5:02 after 32K through to the end,
3:30 (4:59) were 4:46 first half and 5:15 after 32K through to the end.

So that folks is about all I have to say on this topic but welcome your comments as always.