10 x 10 secs Over and Under Marathon Pace Workout
Workout description
Depending on your experience and fitness level, the workout should last 1-1.5 hours or 10-20 km.
Alternate 1 km at 10 seconds faster than goal marathon pace and 1 km at 10 seconds slower than goal marathon pace.
For example, if you are attempting a sub-3:30 marathon, your average pace should be 5 minutes per km. Therefore, your paces for this workout are 4:50 per km for the ons and 5:10 per km for the “offs” (I mean, it’s not really off since you’re still running near marathon effort).
Although the name of the workout says ten repetitions, most non-elite runners should aim for 5-8 repetitions or about one hour. I’ve only done this session twice, and both times I maxed out at eight reps. After that, I was unable to maintain the correct paces.
Benefits of the workout:
- Including warm-up and cool-down, this session combines both distance and threshold intensity.
- It’s a race predictor.
- For undulating marathon courses or runners planning to race a marathon, it’s good practice for the pace and intensity changes while still averaging the goal pace.
- I’m not gonna lie. This is a tough one. Embrace it. Build character and mental toughness.
When should you do this workout?
This is a workout reserve for advanced runners during the peak of a training block. Schedule this session no later than two weeks prior to race day. It’s a big one, so be sure to leave enough days to recover and taper properly.
What is the correct effort?
By the time you do this workout, you should be fit and have a reasonably good idea of your marathon time goal. Hitting the right pace is essential for this workout since it also doubles as a race result predictor.
If a reasonable time goal is determined, simply use the average goal pace and minus 10 seconds for the on, and add 10 seconds for the off.
When you can no longer maintain the effort required to be in the vicinity of the intended paces, it’s time to end the session. For most non-elite runners, it’s somewhere in the 1-hour range.
Workout tip: With a reasonable goal marathon time, the on segments should be your threshold pace, a familiar effort if your training incorporates threshold runs (and you definitely should).