Speeds during marathons

"Proctologically Violated©®" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Awl--

I'm interested in how runners pace themselves during a marathon.
At a time of 2:08, the average mile is 4.89 min/mile... !!!! At 2:30, avg
times would be 5.73 min/mile.
If I were to ever achieve ONE five-minute mile, I'd be in 7th heaven....
I'm curious as to what the relative times are at various points during the
race--1st mile time, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 26th.
My impression/intuitive sense is that the relative times would be pretty
constant throughout, as 5 min miles are already so fast, I don't see a
runner wanting to do them much faster in the beginning. Also, in the
snippets of marathons I've watched, the top 5-10 seem to cross the finish
line at a mighty good clip.
Curious as to the details. Any markedly slow points during the race? If
so, physiological reasons?
----------------------------
Mr. P.V.'d
formerly Droll Troll

Do everyone a favor and achieve a 5 minute mile pace by jumping off a tall
building.

Sorry, but I'm visiting yer mom this week, and in her trailer park there are
no tall buildings--no, mobile homes on cinderblocks don't count as tall,
imo.

And no, I cain't run as fast as you--I don't have nearly your number of
irate creditors.

What, no authoritative links this time, Big G?
----------------------------
Mr. P.V.'d
formerly Droll Troll
"Bob Garrison" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Proctologically Violated©®" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Awl--

I'm interested in how runners pace themselves during a marathon.
At a time of 2:08, the average mile is 4.89 min/mile... !!!! At 2:30,
avg times would be 5.73 min/mile.
If I were to ever achieve ONE five-minute mile, I'd be in 7th heaven....
I'm curious as to what the relative times are at various points during
the race--1st mile time, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 26th.
My impression/intuitive sense is that the relative times would be pretty
constant throughout, as 5 min miles are already so fast, I don't see a
runner wanting to do them much faster in the beginning. Also, in the
snippets of marathons I've watched, the top 5-10 seem to cross the finish
line at a mighty good clip.
Curious as to the details. Any markedly slow points during the race? If
so, physiological reasons?
----------------------------
Mr. P.V.'d
formerly Droll Troll

Do everyone a favor and achieve a 5 minute mile pace by jumping off a tall
building.

"Proctologically Violated©®" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Sorry, but I'm visiting yer mom this week, and in her trailer park there
are no tall buildings--no, mobile homes on cinderblocks don't count as
tall, imo.

And no, I cain't run as fast as you--I don't have nearly your number of
irate creditors.

What, no authoritative links this time, Big G?

http://amishrakefight.org/gfy/

The trick is to slow down in the first part.
In my first I was caught up in the excitement of the crowd
and ran more like a 10K pace. That probably hastened
"the wall".

Proctologically Violated©® said:

I'm interested in how runners pace themselves during a marathon.

Most runners try to pace themselves with even splits or negative splits
(depending on terrain).

Quoted message said:

My impression/intuitive sense is that the relative times would be pretty
constant throughout, as 5 min miles are already so fast, I don't see a
runner wanting to do them much faster in the beginning.

Elite marathoners will throw in surges to drop their competitors. These
surges frequently come during the last 10k, but they could occur
anywhere, even from the start.

Quoted message said:

snippets of marathons I've watched, the top 5-10 seem to cross the finish
line at a mighty good clip.

If the race is close, then the last several miles could be faster than
average. Also, if the runner is shooting for some other goal (other
than winning the race), such as a course/world record, personal best,
etc.

Anyway, that's my take on it.

--
Phil M.

rick++ said:

The trick is to slow down in the first part.
In my first I was caught up in the excitement of the crowd
and ran more like a 10K pace. That probably hastened
"the wall".

That, or did you flee it terror at the site of a birdie?

TBR

"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and
more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day
the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the
White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)
"Anyone with degrees from Yale and Harvard is presumed to be intelligent,
but George W. Bush has managed to overcome that presumption."

Proctologically Violated©® said:

Awl--

I'm interested in how runners pace themselves during a marathon.
At a time of 2:08, the average mile is 4.89 min/mile... !!!! At 2:30, avg
times would be 5.73 min/mile.
If I were to ever achieve ONE five-minute mile, I'd be in 7th heaven....
I'm curious as to what the relative times are at various points during the
race--1st mile time, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 26th.

The winners tend to run pretty close to even splits. You can check the splits
for 10k/half/20 miles/finish in the New York marathon by looking at the results
archive

http://www.nyrrc.org/cgi-bin/start.cgi/mar-programs/archive/archive_search.html

Generally, the top guys run fairly even splits overall.

You do get some uneven splits a little further back, because a lot of guys will
try to follow the lead pack, but get dropped. So you might get some guy who runs
a 2:20 by running the first half in 1:05 and the second half in 1:15.

That's not because this is a good way to run 2:20, it's because the guy was
trying to hold on to the lead pack and blew up.

One of the most uneven splits ever was run by Steve Jones. 61:40 at the half,
and 2:07:13 overall (just off the world record of the day) His half marathon
split is a fairly competitive half-marathon time (I think it was just off the
half marathon record of the day). Current WR for the half is 59:xx, but very
few have gone sub 60.

Quoted message said:

My impression/intuitive sense is that the relative times would be pretty
constant throughout, as 5 min miles are already so fast,

Very fast for us. These guys are very light (~130lb) and have very strong
aerobic systems. Like a mini with a V8 engine or something. Most of the fast
marathoners are able to run sub 4:30 for 10k, so a 5 minute mile for them
is like a 6mpm 10k guy running a 6:40 mile, or a 7mpm 10k guy running about
7:45. Brisk, but not really fast.

Quoted message said:

I don't see a
runner wanting to do them much faster in the beginning. Also, in the
snippets of marathons I've watched, the top 5-10 seem to cross the finish
line at a mighty good clip.
Curious as to the details. Any markedly slow points during the race? If so,
physiological reasons?

Really depends on how the race unfolds. Sometimes, the pack may run
conservatively because no-one wants to take the lead, so you might get a
fast finish. But if there's a ``Paula Radcliffe'' running, the pack usually
shakes down not long after the half way mark, and it becomes a war of attrition
with the leaders relentlessly pushing the same hard pace, while the slower guys
fall off/slow down.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi
http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

Donovan Rebbechi said:

One of the most uneven splits ever was run by Steve Jones. 61:40 at the half,
and 2:07:13 overall (just off the world record of the day) His half marathon
split is a fairly competitive half-marathon time (I think it was just off the
half marathon record of the day). Current WR for the half is 59:xx, but very
few have gone sub 60.

Quoted message said:

From what I've read, Jones was one of the most daring runners of the

time (maybe of all time). Willing to risk it all to drop the lead pack.
He was quoted as saying that if he didn't blow lunch by the time he was
done, then he didn't run hard enough.

--
Phil M.