How to Run a Faster Marathon
After your first marathon, you might be thinking about how you can increase your time for the next one. Try some of these suggestions if you want to run a faster marathon:
Do More Training at Marathon Pace
Newer runners have a tendency to run at the same pace every time they go for a run. Runners who want to increase their time should separate their paces more widely (the difference between easy pace and race pace or interval training).
If you're aiming for a specific marathon time, however, you'll need to concentrate more on your target race pace. Although you should not run your long runs entirely at marathon pace (MP), it is beneficial to run the last third to half of your long run at your expected marathon pace.
Running at MP near the end of your run is excellent training because you'll be keeping up the pace as your legs tire. And if you can run at your MP (or faster) in the final few miles, your goal time is likely to be achievable.
Increase Weekly Mileage
Running more miles each week helps you run faster and longer by strengthening your heart and adding more capillaries to bring more blood to your muscles, improving leg strength, and increasing mental strength. Just keep in mind that you shouldn't increase your weekly mileage by more than 10%. Larger increases in mileage can result in overuse accidents.
Do Mile Repeats
Mile repeats are one of the most effective speed workouts for a quicker marathon. Every other week or so, incorporate mile repeats into your training, starting with two to three repetitions and gradually increasing to six. Run them at a pace that is 10 to 15 seconds faster than your actual goal marathon pace, then rest (at a comfortable pace) in between.
Choose the Right Race
This may seem obvious, but if you want to run a faster marathon, choose one that is known for its speed. Some runners choose scenic marathons like Honolulu only to discover that the course is slow due to hills, bad weather, or overcrowding. Do your homework and learn about the course's elevation, normal race day weather, and whether or not crowds will slow you down.
Practice Nutrition and Hydration
Several pit stops in the porta-potties may have sabotaged your first marathon. To avoid wasting time on pit stops, make sure you're properly eating and hydrating during your training so you don't try anything new on race day.
Avoid foods that are known to cause runner's trots, and don't drink so much that you need to urinate often. Make sure you know how to prepare for your marathon the day before.
Get Familiar With the Course
Check out the marathon's course profile to see how many hills you'll encounter and at what miles. You'll be emotionally prepared and able to pace yourself properly if you know when to expect hills on the course.
Run Yasso 800s
Yasso 800s are a popular workout for marathon runners aiming to meet a particular time goal. Convert your marathon goal time from hours/minutes to minutes/seconds—for example, a 3 hour 10-minute marathon would be 3 minutes 10 seconds. Then, in that converted time, try to run 800-meter repeats. (It's not a good idea to do Yasso 800s and mile repeats in the same week.)
Run the Tangents on the Course
Many racers run a longer distance (and thus a slower finish time) by following every curve in the road, despite the fact that racecourses are correctly measured. The idea of "running the tangents" is to run the shortest distance possible by running straight from one curve to the next.
Run a Tune-Up Half-Marathon
Running a half marathon four to six weeks before your marathon is a great way to determine a reasonable marathon time. You can use a race time predictor calculator to calculate an achievable race pace based on your half-marathon time. Knowing what pace to run during your marathon will assist you to avoid starting too fast and fading in the later miles.
Don't Skip Rest Days
Many runners who want to run a faster marathon believe that running hard almost every day will help them achieve their goals. Rest is crucial to your recovery and injury prevention efforts, so make sure you take at least one day off each week entirely.
During your rest days, your muscles actually develop and repair themselves. You don't give your body a chance to build itself stronger if you run every day without taking recovery days in between your hard workouts.
Include Tempo Runs in Training
Tempo runs to aid in the development of your anaerobic threshold, which is necessary for quicker running. Start with five to ten minutes of easy running, then add 15 to 20 minutes of running at or near your 10K pace to complete a tempo run. Finish with a 5- to 10-minute cool-down period. Run at a pace that feels "comfortably hard" if you're not sure what your 10K pace is.
Read next: What Are the Benefits and Risks of Running Every Day?
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