Whereas the 5K and 10K are skewed in favor of fitness over finesse, any race distance that takes an hour or more to complete requires a bit more strategy than it does guts. That’s why having a good estimate of goal pace and then practicing it in training is an absolute requirement to be ready for your best performance on race day.” FREE Higher Running Pace Intensity Spectrum Chart. Since half-marathon pace falls somewhere between those two thresholds for most of us, it makes it a hard pace to “feel.” Running close to a threshold is much easier for most runners. We have some FREE Training Plan download options (note: these are not nearly as detailed as our. The lactate threshold is roughly one-hour race pace (half-marathon pace for really speedy runners, but too fast for most) whereas the aerobic threshold is roughly two and a half hour race pace (half-marathon pace for some of us, but a bit slow for many-and marathon pace for a few up front). “Part of the reason that half-marathon pace is such a weird pace for many runners is that it lies between two key thresholds: The anaerobic or lactate threshold and the aerobic threshold. McMillan Running has the perfect definition for the nuance of the half-marathon distance:

Download half marathon pace times