How to Pace Yourself for a Marathon

Pacing yourself is one of the most important skills in marathon running and one of the hardest to get right. From my experience running and pacing multiple marathons, the biggest mistake I see happens right at the start. You have trained for months, the crowd is buzzing, adrenaline is high, and suddenly you are running much faster than anything you practiced in training. It feels easy at first, but that early excitement often leads to burnout, fatigue, and a very uncomfortable final miles of the race.

The key is discipline. Trust the pace you trained at. Your training runs teach your body what marathon pace feels like, and race day is not the time to experiment. One thing I personally do is keep my Garmin watch set to lap pace. This helps me focus on each kilometre or mile individually and ensures I am running a consistent and even split throughout the race.

Staying controlled early allows you to conserve energy, stay mentally strong, and enjoy the race as it unfolds.

Here are some stats from the 2024 London Marathon