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V1per41 t1_irb12zx wrote

Reply to comment by yogert909 in Eliud Kipchoge's New Marathon World Record, Visualized [OC] by chartr

The point they are making is that if you are in charge of pacing people to a 3:00 marathon you need to be able to run that time fairly comfortably. If that time represents your max effort then there is a good chance you miss the mark.

The marathon that is hiring you doesn't want something like that to happen so they get someone who is capable of running a 2:40 so that 3:00 is a straightforward and easy effort for them that they are guaranteed to hit.

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yogert909 t1_irbuc5y wrote

Right. I know what they are saying but I think that is wrong.

I’ve never run a marathon, but I’ve cycled for years. And at least for me, a 2-3% increase in speed on a long ride is the difference between a comfortable ride and possibly needing to stop and catch my breath.

I’m sure there are some 3:00 pace setters who can do 2:40 or 2:30 but it’s not as easy as it sounds.

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V1per41 t1_irc70z9 wrote

I guess I might be confused about what you're saying then. Are you saying that people who pace for 3:00 marathon times only have a PR around (3:00 * 0.97) 2:54?

I think depending on the day / weather / how training went, a single person can expect a 10 minute swing in their Marathon time. This is why you would want some one capable of at least 2:45 to give yourself that margin of error.

I have no idea what marathon directors actually do, this is just my guess.

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spyder994 t1_irclhk5 wrote

The marathon I'm running next weekend requires that pacers demonstrate that they have run a marathon in a time at least 15 minutes faster than their pace time.

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yogert909 t1_ird6f8m wrote

Yea 2:45 sounds reasonable for a comfortable 3:00. A 10 minute swing sounds reasonable. But people were talking 20-30 min which seems excessive.

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phyrros t1_ircbp1f wrote

I only ran a half Marathon once but i didn't train went out drinking the day before and am a smoker. I only ran because a friend got sick and asked me to run in her stead. I planned to stop after 5 or 10k but there was this guy with this timeflag in front if me so i just followed.

Long Story short: when my body started to tell me that He really wasn't in the mood anymore i was a Kilometer away from the finish line, so i finished...and spend the next month cursing my decision because everything hurt.

Anyway, i got offtrack because i misunderstood your debate: those time people are people which comfortably can run these times. So for sure a 3hr timesetter can run far below 3hrs

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