Q: I am training to run a marathon but am not sure about what kind of goal pace I should set for myself. I have seen race projection charts for 5k's and 10k's based on certain workouts but not one for the marathon. Is there a workout I could do to give me an idea for a goal finishing time I should shoot for in my race?

A: That's a great question as an important part of any race is to go in with a concrete goal; that may be a certain time, a finishing place, or to execute a strategy like making each mile get progressively faster. By setting a specific purpose for each race you will be more likely to push yourself harder than if you just went in without one.

In getting back to the marathon specifically, it is a different kind of beast than a mile, 5k, or 10k race for the reason that it is so long and there are many variables to take into account. Of course training for the longer distance will require getting used to running for prolonged periods of time (your long runs will be longer) but you still have to balance in some speed work and tempo runs to maintain the pace you want. Also, everyone's body handles the distance differently and being that you will no doubt need to rehydrate and refuel during the actual race, experimenting with the best sports drinks, energy gels, or foods will come into play. You can't always be certain just how your body will feel on any given day, and this is true for any other race, but in marathon training there are more factors to take into account.

Still, there is actually a nice workout you can do that can give you a projection time to set for in your marathon. In training for the shorter distances it's usually easier to gauge what you should be capable of running in your race because in practice you can generally run the same distance, or near to it, before the actual date of the competition; there are also a myriad of race calculation charts for them. That isn't the case for the marathon being that you usually aren't going to be running 26.2 miles in practice at or near the pace you ultimately want to run.

Yet a common workout that has been proven to be a fairly accurate marker for what you should be able to accomplish come race day is to do 10 x 800 meter repeats on a track. (You could also do it on a marked course.) You will do a 400 meter recovery jog between each repeat and make sure to take that recovery easy, the aim is to just keep moving. Just as with any other interval workout you want to run each 800 at an intense effort but pace yourself so that you are able to finish all the repeats; if anything it's always better to start the first ones a bit conservative and pick it up as you progress to make the last ones your fastest. After you have finished all of the 800's take your overall average for the repeats and that average will then be your projected marathon time; only instead of minutes to seconds it will be hours to minutes. For example if you were to average 3 minutes and 15 seconds for the ten repeats your projected marathon time would be 3 hours and 15 minutes.

Good luck with your upcoming marathon and then with your goal time in place you can work backwards to figure out your pace per mile. Have confidence in knowing you've put in plenty of hard work to get to the starting line and from there give it your best effort!