Marathon goal pace

I'm about 7 weeks away from the marathon (Charlotte Thunder Road), so I guess it would be a good idea to begin determining what marathon pace feels like. In my last marathon training cycle I did a lot of marathon pace runs. I believe this was one of the reasons why I was successful in running a 3-minute PR. There are certain key workouts that I like to do that gives me feedback on my fitness. One workout is an 18-20 mile long run with the last 6-8 miles at marathon goal pace. I alternate this workout each week with a typical steady long run of 18-22 miles. The other workout is running 6-9 miles at marathon goal pace in the middle of the week. I decided to do this workout to test the fitness level. After a 3 mile warm-up, I circled the track checking my splits every half-mile. It was great to see every mile split under 6:00 with the body feeling very comfortable. My splits for the 6 miles were 5:54, 5:56, 5:54, 5:55, 5:54, & 5:49. At the end of the day I looked back at my running log and compared my splits with the same workout from the last marathon train-up. Today, I averaged 5:54 pace vs. the 6:00 pace early in the year. So far training looks promising and I should be on track for a good marathon.

Today’s run: 1:17:56 (12 miles)