Goal time · Marathon
A 2:55:00 marathon works out to 6:40 per mile, or 4:09 per kilometer. Below are the mile splits for a slightly faster second half, the halfway time to aim for, and the training paces that go with this goal.
The numbers
This plan starts about 1% slower than goal pace and finishes about 1% faster, so the second half is slightly quicker than the first. The elapsed column is what your watch should read as you pass each marker.
| Mile | Pace for That Mile | Elapsed Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6:45 | 6:45 |
| 2 | 6:45 | 13:30 |
| 3 | 6:44 | 20:14 |
| 4 | 6:44 | 26:58 |
| 5 | 6:44 | 33:42 |
| 6 | 6:43 | 40:25 |
| 7 | 6:43 | 47:08 |
| 8 | 6:43 | 53:51 |
| 9 | 6:42 | 1:00:33 |
| 10 | 6:42 | 1:07:14 |
| 11 | 6:41 | 1:13:56 |
| 12 | 6:41 | 1:20:37 |
| 13 | 6:41 | 1:27:18 |
| Halfway (13.1) | 6:40 | 1:28:02 |
| 14 | 6:40 | 1:33:58 |
| 15 | 6:40 | 1:40:38 |
| 16 | 6:40 | 1:47:18 |
| 17 | 6:39 | 1:53:57 |
| 18 | 6:39 | 2:00:36 |
| 19 | 6:39 | 2:07:14 |
| 20 | 6:38 | 2:13:52 |
| 21 | 6:38 | 2:20:30 |
| 22 | 6:37 | 2:27:07 |
| 23 | 6:37 | 2:33:45 |
| 24 | 6:37 | 2:40:21 |
| 25 | 6:36 | 2:46:58 |
| 26 | 6:36 | 2:53:33 |
| Finish (26.2) | 6:36 | 2:55:00 |
Measured against the latest published results of 214 marathons on RunSesh.
One edition per race, from RunSignup races with published results. Fields include walkers and charity entrants, so this describes these races, not every runner in the country.
These are the paces for a runner who can already race a 2:55:00 marathon, worked out with Daniels and Gilbert's VDOT formulas, the method behind the training tables in Daniels' Running Formula. If your most recent race is slower, train at the paces on the page for that time.
Most of your weekly miles, including the long run.
A steady run of about 20 minutes, or longer repeats with short rests.
Repeats of 3 to 5 minutes, with easy jogs between.
Barry Smyth's 2018 analysis of 1.7 million recreational marathoners, published in the Journal of Sports Analytics, found that starting too quickly can result in poorer finish times. That finding shapes why this plan reserves a touch more effort for the back half of the race. At the halfway marker, judge whether your current effort is one you can extend or need to temper.
Daniels and Gilbert's VDOT formulas treat a 37:54 10K as the same performance as a 2:55 marathon, giving you a fitness benchmark grounded in a shorter distance.
The RRCA pace chart developed by Amby Burfoot is pointed on this: "don't begin with a future goal time. To do so increases risk of injury and/or overtraining." Ground your paces in what you have actually run.
USATF certification measures courses by the "Shortest Possible Route," making the official distance a minimum for anyone holding that line. Pobiruchin et al. (2017) found GPS sport watches averaged 42.33 km against the official 42.195 km, 135 meters extra. If a watch logged that much additional distance, it could show a faster average than 6:40 while you're exactly on goal, a gap worth about 34 seconds over the race.
Daniels and Gilbert's formulas treat a 1:23:49 half marathon as equivalent to a 2:55 marathon. If your most recent half marathon sits close to that mark, you have a performance-based signal that your aerobic fitness currently aligns with the full distance demand at this pace.
El Helou et al. (2012) found that above the optimum air temperature for each performance level, speeds fell and withdrawals rose across 1,791,972 finishing performances. Ely et al.'s study of seven marathons found a progressive slowing of performance as WBGT, a heat-stress index combining temperature, humidity, sun, and wind, increased from 5 to 25 degrees Celsius, with finishers from 25th to 300th place slowing more than faster runners as conditions worsened.
