mas_runner wrote:This is a very interesting discussion and pertinent to me. 9 minute positive split on Sunday (1:47/1:56). I have only run 2 marathons so don't have very much experience at all and earmarked 3:45 to be my goal (calculators for my HM put me at 3:35). I decided to test just how good my endurance was by going out at 3:35 pace and see how long I could hold it. The answer was roughly 30 kilometers.
I don't really have enough experience to say whether if I had gone out more conservatively that I would have fared better or whether I would have struggled at the same point. It did feel like what was slowing me down was less muscular and more in the joints (knees/ankles), I didn't get the burning quads until much later in the race and my groin/hip muscles didn't hurt at all this time (they were very sore in my first marathon).
I guess I just need more data to see whether it was a good strategy or not, as to whether I would have got sore and slowed down as a function of distance rather than speed.
How did your mileage compare to last time? And what was the positive split last time?