“I reinforce with all of my athletes that pacing is a skill, which means it doesn’t come naturally for most runners,” says certified running coach and personal trainer Laura Norris, who also has a degree in applied exercise science. “These workouts are meant to help you practice, and they’re not pass or fail. Sometimes you go in, struggle, but then you learn and improve for the next time. You further refine that skill.”

Here’s everything to know (and try!) before you get to the starting line, so you run a smarter race.

The Major Downsides of Starting a Race Too Fast

Race-day energy aside, there are a couple of reasons why runners might push the pace too fast too early, explains My Olympic Coach Hiruni Wijayaratne, who holds 10 Sri Lankan national records, including a 2:36 marathon.

“One is psychological,” she says. “Oftentimes, running is associated with the idea that you should be moving fast and have an element of discomfort.” And while yes, some workouts and races are going to hurt (ever race the mile?), it doesn’t all have to be hard. “You can have good, quality work and it feels comfortable,” Wijayaratne says.

Runners who nail short workouts also tend to think they can extend that challenging pace to 13.1 or 26.2 miles.

“We often train in smaller chunks,” Wijayaratne says. “You’re not running 26.2-mile training sessions, obviously. But people feel like they should go faster [during the marathon] because they could handle it in a shorter interval.”

Unfortunately, our bodies don’t work like that. Instead, when you step on the gas too much in the early part of a workout or a race—5K all the way through a marathon or more—not only do you fatigue more quickly, you burn up essential energy stores (namely, glycogen) that you need later if you want to keep going.

“It boils down to fatigue,” Wijayaratne says. “The more you can resist that deep fatigue, the better you’re going to run.”

When you run too fast too soon, your body also starts accumulating more lactate than it can remove, making things feel uncomfortable. Wijayaratne points out that the body, of course, can remove the buildup, but you need to train your body to do that at faster paces (like in threshold-specific workouts).

When it comes to energy, Wijayaratne likens our bodies to a bank. The bank has only a certain amount of cash to give out. Similarly, you have to figure out how to make your energy last from from start to finish, and not use everything in the first three miles and then go broke.

There’s a domino effect, too. If you run your workouts in training too hard, not pacing yourself correctly, you not only don’t gain the max benefits from the workout, but you eat into your recovery time. So by the time your next workout comes around, your muscles haven’t repaired enough to nail the next session.

The good news? There are workouts you can do in training to teach your body (and your mind, especially) how to tighten the reins on your pace, so you’ll run evenly on race day—and maybe even faster.

4 Workouts to Try in Training for Better Race-Day Pacing

1. Progression Run

Why it works: A progression run is designed to slowly help you increase speed so you’re running faster at the end of the workout. These runs are particularly helpful at keeping you running more conservatively in the beginning and getting you to run faster on tired legs.

“Progression runs teach patience and fine-tuning the pace,” Wijayaratne says. Plus, it’ll train your body to have the energy to run the last few miles of a long-distance race, like 10 to 13.1 in a half marathon or 22 to 26.2 in a marathon.

Norris says a progression run like this forces runners to start off more conservatively because they know they have to get faster without stopping to recover.

How to do it:

Head out for 45 minutes. For the first 15 minutes run at an easy pace, a rate of perceived exertion (RPE) of 2 to 3 on a scale of 10.
The next 15 minutes go for moderately easy (RPE 4 to 5).
The final 15 minutes go for moderately hard (RPE 6 to 7).

2. Progressive Mile Repeats

Why it works: A different form of the progression run, progressive mile repeats are more advanced, Norris says.

Because mile repeats have a rest period, runners might think they can run them harder than prescribed. However, “you really have to pay attention pacing,” she says. That’s because if you’re supposed to run each one faster and the first one is too fast, “you’re going to blow up.”

How to do it:

Do a 1-mile warmup, easy jogging.
Run 3 x 1 mile, with 60 to 90 seconds rest between. Run each mile getting faster by 10 to 15 seconds. This means you can’t start at an all-out mile pace; there will be nothing left at the end. Instead, start at a marathon pace or RPE of 4 to 5, and end about a 5K pace or RPE of 7 to 8.
Cool down for 1 mile, easy jogging.

3. Evenly Paced Intervals

Why it works: Most runners can’t run even splits. It’s even harder to run negative splits (running the second half of a workout or a race faster than the first), Wijayaratne says. But evenly paced workouts are like putting a car on cruise control, using the least amount of gas or mental energy as possible while still producing a good result.

“You want to be as calm as possible without huge peaks and valleys,” Wijayaratne says. “You’re training your body and mind to be locked in, a term runners love, without overreacting.”

Running evenly is also really good mental practice, reminding your body to run the prescribed pace mile after mile.

My Olympic Coach Luis Orta, an Olympian, 2:15 marathoner, and Wijayaratne’s husband, recommends this workout to practice even splits for an extended period of time.

How to do it:

Do a 1-mile warmup of easy jogging
Run 7 x 1K at lactate threshold pace (or slightly faster than half marathon pace, RPE 6/7, he says), with 90 seconds recovery walk/jog between
Cool down for 1 mile, easy jogging

Each rep should last roughly the same time, and by the end of the workout, you should be able to run two to three more repeats if you needed to, he says.

If you’re a newer runner, you can run the same workout but do four to five repetitions, lengthen the recovery to three minutes, and slow the pace to an RPE of 5.

4. Cut-Down Intervals

Why it works: For half and full marathoners, Norris likes this variation of progressive intervals because it teaches runners to control race pace earlier on. That’s because harder (but shorter) effort comes later.

“It’s a helpful psychological trick because runners will control the pace earlier on because they’re scared they won’t be able to finish the workout,” she says.

How to do it:

Do a 1-mile warmup of easy jogging
Run 20 minutes at your goal marathon or half marathon pace (depending on your race distance), recover with a 3- to 4-minute jog.
Run 12 minutes at half marathon or 10K pace, recover with a 3 to 4-minute jog.
Run 5 minutes at 10K or 5K pace.
Cool down for 1 mile, easy jogging.

**Other Ways to Practice Not Going Out Too Fast**

Do a Tune-Up Race

If you’re gearing up for a half marathon or marathon, many plans will ask you to run a shorter race several weeks before the big day. You’ll gain several benefits from this—like the chance to practice your fueling, try new gear, and get used to the race-day atmosphere—but perhaps it’s your best chance to keep the pace honest when so much around you is out of your control.

Races can be “a dry practice run, a dress rehearsal for the day that really matters for you,” Wijayaratne says. She recommends that her athletes have a race strategy, which can be tweaked before the goal race.

For example, for a half marathon, Wijayaratne likes to the race into thirds, which she says is a great way to practice pacing: Run the first third conservatively to practice patience, run the second third “locked in,” allowing yourself to cruise and stay even, and finally, in the last third, lean into the effort and push through the finish. (For a marathon, she’ll divide the race into quarters.)

Orta also emphasizes the importance of creating a race strategy. When done right, it will build upon the training you’ve done—so you know your goals are within reach—and it will give you race-day instructions to follow.

Orta gives his runners a pace range (plus/minus 10 seconds), which allows for wiggle room within each mile without blowing up by running too fast, or missing your mark by running too slow.

Add Race Pace Miles to Your Long Run

In order to practice pacing and run race pace on tired legs, Norris directs her distance athletes to include several miles at goal race pace during a long run. For example, for those training for a marathon, she recommends a 16-mile run with the last 4 miles at marathon pace. Or other iterations: 16 miles with the final 2 miles at marathon pace for newer marathoners, or 18 miles with the last 4 at marathon race pace for advanced marathoners.

“This forces runners to partition out their effort, to complete a long runand the race pace workout within it,” she says.

Norris also points out that runners will learn pretty quickly what happens if they don’t control the pace. “It’s a good teachable moment,” she says.

Heather Mayer Irvine

Contributing Writer

Heather is the former food and nutrition editor for Runner’s World, the author of The Runner’s World Vegetarian Cookbook, and a nine-time marathoner with a best of 3:23. She’s also proud of her 19:40 5K and 5:33 mile. Heather is an RRCA certified run coach.