I’ve seen a lot of runners who fall into one of two categories when it comes to pacing their running:  Those who go as fast as they can every single day; and those who treat every run like a slow, stop-and-smell-the-roses, trot. Here’s some news that might surprise you— both of these approaches are partially right and partially wrong. Understanding proper pacing can make a big difference in meeting your goals, staying healthy, and avoiding burnout.   

Let’s get into the nitty gritty for just a minute.  What does proper pacing look like? Let’s say that you are training to run a 3:30 marathon.  What should the paces look like for the different types of runs you will complete as part of your training plan?  

Here’s a quick breakdown of the paces:

Race Pace: 8:00/mile

Recovery Pace: 9:31-10:31/mile 

Long Run Pace: 8:49-9:37/mile

General Aerobic Pace: 9:13-10:01/mile

Lactate Threshold Pace: 7:43/mile

VO2 max Pace: 7:03/mile 

What this means is that during the week you are going to have different runs that call for different paces. Let’s look at a real life example of a week that we would assign in the beginning stages of marathon training. 

Monday:  5 miles at general aerobic pace

Tuesday:  6 miles at general aerobic pace with 6x100m strides at VO2 max pace

Wednesday:  6 miles at general aerobic pace

Thursday:  2 mile warm up at recovery pace, 4 miles at lactate threshold pace, 2 mile cool down at recovery pace

Friday:  5 miles at general aerobic pace

Saturday:  10 miles at long run pace

Sunday:  Rest and recover

Notice that during the week the athlete is hitting a variety of paces to work on different speeds and systems.  However, a lot of the week is spent in general aerobic or recovery pace. I recommend that at least 80% of your weekly miles should be spent at these easier paces. These miles at an easy effort should feel like you are gaining energy rather than spending it, preparing for the next hard effort.  It can also be referred to as conversational pace; you should be able to carry on a conversation while running at this pace.  

When planning your week make sure that you include a variety of paces and that every run has a purpose.  Many of those runs will serve the purpose of contributing to your overall mileage while simultaneously allowing you to recover and prepare for the one or two hard workouts that you complete each week.  Appropriately varying your paces based on the purpose of each day’s work will help you get the most out of your training and unlock your potential as a runner.