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Learning how to pace a marathon or half-marathon is an important skill to master before race day. Whether you’re aiming to finish or have your sights set on a personal best, it’s a principle that will always serve you well. Let’s get you up to speed on how to pace your race, along with an easy to reference chart for the common benchmarks that many people are striving for.

How to Pace a Marathon

Pacing yourself appropriately is one (of a multitude of) determining factor(s) that will determine whether you get to the finish line at your desired time or not. If you’ve been running for any length of time, you know how it feels to hit the wall. This is not something we want to have happen on race day, so let’s learn how to pace ourselves the right way.

Marathon Pacing - Technique

You want to maintain a steady, comfortable speed whilst running your marathon. Going out too fast is common; the excitement of the event and a plethora of other competitors are more than enough stimulants to dismiss and supersede your planned race strategy. On the contrary, start too slow, and you risk having to try and catch up later, after mental and physical fatigue has started to take its toll.

Finding the right pace needs to be determined long before you reach the start line, and realistic goals need to be set accordingly. Your training times, current fitness level, and previous race experience should be taken into account. Race environments are seductive, as we’ve already alluded to, and they’ll do their damndest to convince you you’re something you’re not.

With all this in mind, let’s look at a couple of simple tips on how to pace a marathon.

1. Start slow

But like we said, not too slow! A short burst to rally for positioning and find yourself a nice pocket to settle into is acceptable, but anything more is asking for trouble. Better to start slightly slower than your race pace at first, gradually building and conserving energy with the overall effort in mind.

2. Reassess constantly

Be open to the fact that things might not be exactly as expected come race day. It might be hotter or windier than expected, you might feel exhausted from travel or lack of sleep, something might start hurting suddenly—you truly won’t know until it happens. This may force you to adjust your marathon pace, and it’s something you’ll have to be okay with.

3. Use technology

You likely are already, but a friendly reminder in case you aren’t, the most accurate way to keep your marathon pace is to track it. Use a smartwatch or running app to get your pace down to a science, one that you’ve practiced dozens of times before race day. It gives you something to constantly reference and follow along with.

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Marathon Pacing Chart

Below you’ll find the most common time goals for marathoners and the pace you’ll need to achieve to reach them. 

Half-Marathon Pacing Chart

Here is the same type of chart for a half-marathon!

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World Record Marathon Pacing

You might be wondering (like we were), what kind of paces are the best athletes in the world running at? So we wanted to tell you! Here are the world record paces for both men and women in the marathon and half-marathon distance.

Marathon World Record

Men

• Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya set the world record on September 25, 2022, at the Berlin Marathon with a time of 2:01:09.
  
  
• Pace per mile: Approximately 4:37 minutes per mile
• Pace per kilometer: Approximately 2:52 minutes per kilometer

Women

• Tigist Assefa of Ethiopia set the world record on September 24, 2023, also at the Berlin Marathon, with a time of 2:11:53.
  
  
• Pace per mile: Approximately 5:02 minutes per mile
• Pace per kilometer: Approximately 3:08 minutes per kilometer
  

Half-Marathon World Record

Men

• Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda set the world record on November 21, 2021, at the Lisbon Half Marathon with a time of 57:31.
  
  
• Pace per mile: Approximately 4:23 minutes per mile
• Pace per kilometer: Approximately 2:44 minutes per kilometer

Women

• Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya set the world record on October 4, 2021, at the Istanbul Half Marathon with a time of 1:04:02.
  
  
• Pace per mile: Approximately 4:53 minutes per mile
• Pace per kilometer: Approximately 3:02 minutes per kilometer
  
  

These athletes maintained an incredible speed throughout their respective races, setting new benchmarks for endurance and speed in long-distance running. Is it a fair standard to compare yourself to? Likely not.

The average marathon pace for the general population is 10:18/mile (6:24/kilometer) for a 4:30 finish, and the average half marathon pace for the general population is 9:55/mile (6:10/kilometer) for a 2:10 finish!

However, don’t let that stop you from being inspired to achieve your own individual goals in this beautiful sport that we all enjoy.

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Written by Eric Lister – Certified Personal Trainer & Corrective Exercise Specialist