(08-04-2017, 03:37 PM)Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man Wrote: Well, yes, indeed that was very interesting. So, effectively Professor Smyth is saying we should deliberately start a race too fast (but only by about 4%) and gradually slow down until we finish it at about 4% below our PB pace, because that is what happens generally anyhow among athletes who set PBs.
Well, given that it is incredibly difficult to run evenly paced splits through a long race such as a marathon anyhow, I'd say this might be worth a go, as it would at least have the positive psychological benefit of knowing that from the get-go you can afford to slow down and still run a PB, rather than the opposite.
Hmm, yes, I think I might try this.
I always used the
Myers Pace Table as recommended by Hal Higdon. It's pretty similar. With the best will in the world, it's pretty hard not to slow down towards the end of a marathon.
The alternative is to actively try for a negative split. Which has always seemed hugely risky to me - deliberately going off slow in the (possibly insane) hope that I can pick up the pace in the second half of a marathon.
