Marathon pace: how to find it and how to train it
Marathon pace is the speed you can hold for 26.2 miles: for most trained runners, between 75 and 82% of their MAS (maximal aerobic speed). Here is how to work it out from a goal time or from your MAS, the sessions that make it second nature, and how your Garmin watch helps you hold it with Running Workout.
Last updated: 2026-10-08
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What is marathon pace?
Marathon pace is the average pace you aim for on race day, expressed in minutes per mile. It sits well below your MAS: the Running Workout marathon plan puts it between 75 and 82% of MAS depending on your level, while a half marathon is usually run at around 85%.
It feels easy in training, and that is the trap. Over 3 miles it seems slow; held for three or four hours, it becomes demanding. Marathon pace work has two goals: recognising the pace without looking at your watch, and holding it once fatigue sets in.
Try it with your own Garmin
Free, nothing to install: connect your Garmin, then ask Claude or ChatGPT for your first workout. It lands on your watch within a minute.
How do you find your marathon pace?
The simplest method starts from your goal time: divide it by 26.2 miles. A 4-hour goal gives 9:09 per mile, a 3:30 goal gives 8:01. The table shows the most common benchmarks.
| Goal time | Average pace | Speed |
|---|---|---|
| 3:00 | 6:52 /mi | 8.7 mph |
| 3:30 | 8:01 /mi | 7.5 mph |
| 4:00 | 9:09 /mi | 6.6 mph |
| 4:30 | 10:18 /mi | 5.8 mph |
The goal still has to be realistic. Your second reference point is your MAS: a finish time that requires more than 82% of your MAS over a marathon is ambitious for most runners. Without a goal time, start from the percentage of MAS that matches your level, as in the next table.
Marathon pace by MAS
Without a goal time, the Running Workout marathon plan sets marathon pace from your MAS: 75% below 8.7 mph (14 km/h), 79% from 8.7 to 10.6 mph (14 to 17 km/h), 82% from 10.6 mph (17 km/h) up. Faster runners can hold a larger share of their MAS over the distance.
| MAS | % MAS | Marathon pace | Finish time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7.5 mph | 75% | 10:44 /mi | ≈ 4:41 |
| 8.7 mph | 79% | 8:44 /mi | ≈ 3:49 |
| 9.9 mph | 79% | 7:38 /mi | ≈ 3:20 |
| 11.2 mph | 82% | 6:33 /mi | ≈ 2:51 |
These times assume a full build-up, with regular long runs and marathon pace blocks. Without that volume, the body cannot sustain this share of MAS for several hours and the real finish time will be slower. The Running Workout pace calculator gives your marathon pace for any MAS.
The sessions that build marathon pace
Marathon pace is mostly trained in the second half of the build-up, in progressively longer blocks. In the Running Workout marathon plan, the progression looks like this:
- Blocks in a quality session: 2 × 2.5 mi (4,000 m), then 3 × 2.5 mi, 2 × 3.1 mi, 2 × 3.7 mi, up to 2 × 5 mi (8,000 m), with 2 to 3 minutes of recovery between blocks.
- Finishing the long run at marathon pace: from 20 minutes at first up to 45 minutes in the peak week, to learn to hold it when tired and to rehearse your race-day fuelling.
- Final test: 6.2 miles (10,000 m) in one go at marathon pace, at the start of the taper.
- Taper: 2 × 1.9 mi (3,000 m), then 2 × 1.2 mi (2,000 m), to keep the feel of the pace without piling up fatigue.
Between these sessions, easy running makes up most of the volume. Running every outing at marathon pace "to get used to it" is the classic mistake: it tires you out without building the endurance that lets you hold the pace on race day.
Holding marathon pace with a Garmin watch
With Running Workout, your connected AI assistant (Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini) records your marathon as a goal, with its date and your target time. When the marathon plan starts, every marathon pace step is anchored to that time relative to your MAS; without a target time, the percentage linked to your MAS applies. Each session reaches Garmin Connect with its pace range, which the watch shows while you run.
Example request: "My goal is a 3:45 marathon. Create a 1 hour 45 long run for Sunday with the last 30 minutes at my marathon pace."
On race day, the plan includes a dedicated session: the first 3 kilometres (about 2 miles) slightly slower than your target pace, then marathon pace to the finish. Once the race is over, the assistant can read the activity in Garmin Connect and compare your actual pace with the target, lap by lap.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between marathon pace and half marathon pace?
Half marathon pace is run at around 85% of MAS, marathon pace between 75 and 82%. With a MAS of 9.9 mph (16 km/h), that is about 7:06 per mile for the half and 7:38 for the marathon.
Should the whole long run be at marathon pace?
No. The long run is mostly easy running; only the end moves up to marathon pace, for 20 to 45 minutes depending on the week. Running all of it at race pace takes a long time to recover from and weighs on the following sessions.
What if marathon pace feels too hard in training?
It is often a sign that the goal is too ambitious for now. Better to revise your target time before the race than during it: ask your assistant to update your goal and to build your next marathon pace sessions on the new time.
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