A near-weekly long run Best Hydration Packs marathon training program. Some of these programs specify distances but not paces for long runs. This is a great approach if your marathon goal is to cover the 26.2-mile distance. But if you have a time goal for your next marathon, long runs shouldn’t just be slow jogs during which you just accumulate time on your feet.
The appropriate pace for a specific long run depends on the purpose of that run within your training program. The two main approaches are:
- Doing most of your long runs at 10 to 20 percent slower per mile than your goal marathon race pace.
- Doing a few long runs that incorporate several miles at your goal marathon pace.
marathon training program heart monitor, your long-run pace should be in the range of 75 to 83 percent of maximal heart rate or 66 to 77 percent of your heart rate reserve. This will ensure that you’re running with posture and muscle patterns similar to those used in your marathon pace.
If you do long runs much slower than this, you risk being unprepared for the marathon. Why? Slow long runs reinforce poor running style and do a poor job of simulating the demands of the marathon.
If you run long runs too fast, of course, you risk leaving your marathon performance out on your training loops because you’ll be too tired for your other important training sessions.
Using the suggested intensity range of 10 to 20 percent slower than marathon goal pace, the table below suggests long-run paces for a wide range of marathoners.
The first few miles of your long runs can be done slowly, but by 5 miles in when you are warmed up, your pace should be no more than 20 percent slower than marathon race pace.
Gradually increase your pace until you’re running approximately 10 percent slower than marathon race pace during the last 5 miles of your long runs. In terms of heart rate, run the first few miles at the low end of the recommended intensity range and gradually increase your effort until you reach the high end of the range during the last 5 miles. This makes for an excellent workout and provides a strong stimulus for physiological adaptations. These workouts are difficult enough that you should schedule a recovery day the day before and one or two days after your long runs.
If you do long runs in this intensity range, a 22-mile run will take approximately the same amount of time as your marathon. By running for the length of time you hope to run the marathon, you also provide psychological reinforcement that you can run at a steady pace for that amount of time.
Try to find courses for your long runs that simulate the terrain you will encounter on race day. Practicing the uphill or downhill that you will encounter late in your race can be invaluable to your marathon preparation.
Incorporating Race Pace into Long Runs
Your goal for the marathon is to be able to maintain your goal race pace for 26.2 miles. The physiological demands of this task require a high lactate threshold, an excellent capacity to store glycogen, a well-developed ability to burn fat, and so on. Each of the various types of training in a good program focuses on improving a specific aspect of your physiology for the marathon. But there’s a type of training that integrates the various physiological attributes as specifically as possible for the marathon race.
Long runs at marathon race pace directly prepare you for the demands of the race. The closest way to simulate a marathon, of course, is to run 26.2 miles at marathon pace. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), long runs at marathon pace are very hard on the body. If you run too far at marathon pace, the required recovery time will negate the benefits of the effort. Similarly, if you do long runs at marathon pace too often, you’ll greatly increase your likelihood of self-destructing through injury or overtraining.
Our solution: During your marathon build-up, do long runs in which you include 8 to 14 miles at goal marathon race pace. We recommend doing three of these long runs with pace during a 12-week build, and four during a 16- to 18-week build. Space them three weeks apart, with your last one occurring five to six weeks before your marathon. On your first one, finish with 8 or 9 miles at marathon pace. Add 2 or 3 miles at race pace each time so that your final long run of this type ends with 14 miles at marathon pace.
These runs are the most specific marathon preparation you’ll do. The intention is to stress your body in a similar way to the marathon but to limit the duration so that your required recovery time is held to a few days. On these runs, use the initial miles to warm up, gradually increasing to marathon race pace, then finish the run with the prescribed number of miles at marathon race pace. In addition to the physiological and psychological benefits these runs impart, they’re an excellent opportunity to practice drinking and taking energy gels at race pace.
Where should you do your marathon-pace runs? Races—say a half in the middle of your marathon training build—provide a clear course, plenty of aid stations, and other runners to work with. Be sure to limit yourself to the day’s goal and run them no faster than is called for.
Given the opportunity for no automobiles and frequent fluids, a track could be an ideal locale for marathon-pace workouts, but remember the reason for these runs. The purpose is to simulate marathon conditions as closely as possible. This means running on a road, not doing endless repeats of a 400-meter oval. Learn your goal marathon’s topography, and attempt to mimic it on your marathon-pace runs. Many runners do this when preparing for courses with obvious quirks, such as Boston, but the principle applies for all marathons. Pancake-flat courses such as Chicago also take their toll because your leg muscles are used exactly the same way from start to finish.
Wear your marathon shoes when doing at least one of these workouts. You want to have at least one run of 15 miles or so in your race-day shoes to learn how they feel when you start to tire at marathon pace and whether they give you blisters.
Best Hydration Packs Advanced Marathoning, 4th edition (Human Kinetics, 2025).
