Recently ran my first marathon (LA) , and finished with a time of 4:23, which I realize ain't bad. Even so, I'm a little disappointed, because I feel I could have done much better.

Like most first timer's, I ran too fast too early. I don't run with a watch, and the first two miles were uphill, so I assumed I'd be unable to run very fast. However, my splits were
10k- 49
half 1:52
30k 2:50

and those first two miles? sub 7:45 pace.
Obviously I have to go much slower. By just about the 30k point my legs were totally shot, I wasn't breathing too hard or anything, but I couldn't do much more than walk (which is why the last 10k or so took me an hour and a half).

What pace should I have been maintaining (For an optimal time)?

Some other things.

1. My longest run had been 22.5 miles, which I'd done in approx 3:23 minutes, a little fast, but had no problems with my legs and could have kept running. No real soreness the next day.

2. When I ran the 22.5, I was about 210. On race morning I was 218. (My eating habits leave something to be desired)

3. It was warm, and after the first two miles there's a lot of downhill running in the LA marathon, so I figured I'd just naturally run a little faster.

Anyhow, I really think I should be able to break 4 hours (ideally 3:45 or faster), and will be running another one either this fall or next spring so if anyone could give me a better idea of how to gage optimal pace

Hi Noob

Formation could probably answer this better, but from what I understand the following might have occurred:

When you run quicker than usually you tend to burn up more of your muscle glycogen, than at your usual economic speed. This would be especially the case.
Thus by 30k your muscles would be effectively out of ready fuel and so you would be relying on fat burning, hense the great desire to walk.
Essentially you probably hit the wall early as you started to quick.

The downhills from can also have a big effect on your quads if your not used to them, as they are fighting gravity to hold up your knees on the downhill stretches.

My advise is to definitly wear a watch in the marathon (even better a HR monitor with a pacing mechanism (eg GPS) this well help greatly to make sure you don't thrash it out of the gates and keep to a comfortable pace.

You didn't mention any nutrition in your post, gel packs etc can also be useful to keep the glycogen levels up and push back the wall, hopefully to 27miles :-)
(ie have one at an one hour, one hour 45, 2hrs 30, 3hrs 15)

Also make sure you carb load the night before, and a taper down in milage for the last 2 weeks will also help so you start with fresh legs.


I hope this helps and all the best in the next one

thanks for the reply, although I guess I was looking more for a numerical estimate for my optimal pace for that run. It's obviously somewhere between 7:40 and 10:00, but if you know of anyway to pin it down better I'd greatly appreciate it.

Hey Noob, congrats on getting the first one under your belt. The first one is just a bear. For what it's worth I'm a big guy too and my first marathon was 4:14 and I think I was about 205 on race day. I did my second in 3:44 and here's what I did. I forced myself to do the first five miles at an 8:40-8:50 pace. If you don't have one, get a Garmin that will tell you your pace continously. Then from mile 6 on I ran at whatever felt comfortable which turned out to be between 8 and 8:15 minute miles. I slowed down at the end but had enough to beat my goal time of 3:45. I've recently been training with a heart monitor and I think it's a great way to build your aerobic conditioning without getting worn down in training. But I did my first 4 marathons without it and have gotten down to 3:28. Good luck

I can't argue with any of the responses you've received, but I will say that we don't really have enough information to say what your pace should have been. We'd really have to see what your training schedule has been, how many long runs you've done, what pace you've done most of your runs, what are your best times for shorter races, and so forth. Then we can begin to make a good estimate.

Hi Noob,

First of all, Congratulation on finishing your 1st marathon. That was an achivement, as I had pretty much the same expectation for my 1st marathon 3 years ago as you had just now. But the main thing (for 1st marathon, I was told) is to finish within the time limit, then you might improve your PB (personal Best) for your next marathon.
Quite number of 1st marathon could NOT finish/reach the finish line, That is SAD to be honest (cause they had so much high expectation but NOT knowing/experience what marathon is like).
The hardest part I found was 33-42K where I hit the brick wall (Futige).
My time of 1st marathon was pretty much as yours upto 33K, but the end, yours is much better by 14 minutes (mine was 4:37)
Then I read more marathon articles, exercised more and smarter.
The 2nd marathon, my PB had improved by 32 minutes to 4:15 (still over 4 hours, which I thought I could did it under 4 hours, this time I hit the wall at 38K). My next target is under 4 hours and so on...(improve step by step).
So the bottom line, Improve your PB, don't compete too much with other and above all, listen to your body when you do marathon, otherwise it will do damage to your body that you will regret later. Marathon, as far as I am concerned, is about competing against yourself inside, unless you're professional athlete.
All the best and take it easy, enjoy your marathon.

Regards,
Down-Under