Marathon Calculator Page

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Three Essential Running Calculators That Help You Conquer Your Marathon

The marathon calculator page contains several useful running calculators.

They are:

Race Conversion Calculator - Use a recent race performance to estimate your marathon running time.

Marathon Training Pace Calculator - Use a recent race performance to establish how fast you should do your running training. You can also use this calculator to work out a likely marathon performance based on your running training times.

Marathon Race Pace Chart - Based on your marathon goal time you can get a pace chart. This pace chart assumes negative splits, so it's a bit different from what you usually see on running websites.

Every running calculator comes with its own little "manual".

Do yourself a favor and make sure you read the instructions coming with each calculator. You need to understand the usability and the limitations of these running calculators.

Running Calculator #1: Race Conversion Calculator

When using this calculator you need to consider a few things.

Longer races are better predictors - It almost goes without saying that for marathon prediction the race you use as a predictor needs to be long enough. 5k is too short, 10k is so-so, 15k is getting there and a half marathon and above is really useful. Don't rely on shorter races alone. The outcome of a short race may provide you with an overly positive marathon time prediction.

Get it right with the marathon calculators on this page!

Use a recent performance - Also pretty obvious is that you need to pick up a recent race performance. Don't rely on a personal best of a year back to establish a marathon goal time. Your recent performance and current fitness is what counts.

Back it up with the right running training - The most important element is to make sure you back it up with the right running training. Endurance is key in the marathon. Many of us, I'd say 90-95% of us, falter in the last part of the marathon. Usually because we haven't done enough 20-milers and runs over 90 minutes.

"I Love This Marathon Guide. It's Really Good. I Don't Get It. You Are Giving This Away for Free??? I Should Have Had This Years Ago. It's Never Been So Easy!" Grab "Marathon Training Secrets" NOW. Run Your Marathon With Confidence.

"Thank you for these emails! As a beginner runner I am really getting a lot of valuable help from your knowledge!" Joe "Loving the tips! Loving them all. Keep it up …" Kursti

Running Calculator #2: Running Training Pace Calculator

marathon calculator

The marathon running training pace calculator is a little bit more complicated.

And you need to use it with care.

You can use it in two ways.

1. Use a marathon goal time to calculate corresponding running training paces.

Suppose you'd like to run your marathon in a certain time.

Based on that marathon goal time the calculator then calculates the corresponding running training paces for you.

So, if those times are in fact close to your running training paces, then the estimate would be that you could reach your goal time.

BUT.... you can't just force yourself to start running much faster in training! That is a certain road to injury. These running training paces need to come to you naturally. Well, naturally, due to doing your running training!

Example. Suppose you'd like to run a 3:59 marathon.
This provides you with:
Easy pace of 6:20 min/k (10:12 min/mi)
Tempo running pace of 5:17 min/k (8:31 min/mi)
Interval pace of 1:57 / 400m (4:53 min/km)
Reps pace of 1:46/400m (53sec/200m)

Suppose your current easy pace is 6:30 min/km, not 6:20 min/km. Well, first of all, you aren't too far off from your goal.

However, you shouldn't start pushing yourself to run 6:20 min/km instead. No, due to diligent training your easy pace will get faster over time. Only when your "natural" easy pace is 6:20 min/km, then 3:59 becomes a reasonable goal.

You also need to make sure that not just your easy pace lines up. Your tempo pace AND interval pace need to be "right" as well.

2. Work out your likely marathon time based on your current running training paces.

An alternative method of use of this calculator is to work out a likely marathon time, based on how fast your running training is at the moment.

When you train regularly, you probably know what your easy pace, tempo pace and interval running pace are.

Now, with a bit of trial and error you can work out what the corresponding marathon time is with those running training paces.

Example. Suppose your easy pace is 5:30 min/km and your marathon is three weeks away. Then what would be a reasonable marathon time to shoot for?

Well, let's try a few different times.

Let's enter 3:40 (3 hrs and 40 min) for our marathon. The easy pace that rolls out is 5:52 min/km.

Then, let's enter 3hr30. The easy pace becomes 5:36 min/km.

So now, let's enter 3hr20. The easy pace becomes 5:21 min/km.

Then 3hr25. Easy pace is then 5:29 min/km.

Just for completeness, let's then enter 3hr26. The easy pace is exactly 5:30 min/km.

So you see, you can quite quickly find the marathon time that corresponds with a certain training pace.

Make sure that all your running training paces line up to the same type of performance. Your easy runs may provide you with a prediction that you can run a 3 hr 26 min marathon. But your tempo runs may indicate a 3 hr 50 min marathon. It's almost always so that you need to rely on the slower outcome, not the faster one!

Running Calculator #3: Negative Split Running Pace Chart

The above marathon pace chart is a bit different to what you normally see.

a) This marathon pace chart assumes negative splits

b) This marathon pace chart does not provide splits for every mile/km

More and more people are catching on to the idea that running with negative splits (first part of the race slower than the second part) is a good idea.

I think there are many benefits to running your marathon this way.

To the second point, the reason I am not providing splits for every km / mile is that most races are not exactly flat or allow for exact even splits for every mile / km.

I think it makes more sense to split it up in the way I have done.

The Following Pages Will Be Useful to You

"I Love This Marathon Guide. It's Really Good. I Don't Get It. You Are Giving This Away for Free??? I Should Have Had This Years Ago. It's Never Been So Easy!" Grab "Marathon Training Secrets" NOW. Run Your Marathon With Confidence.

"Thank you for these emails! As a beginner runner I am really getting a lot of valuable help from your knowledge!" Joe "Loving the tips! Loving them all. Keep it up …" Kursti