How to use a pace band without overthinking it

A pace band is the least glamorous and most useful thing I wear on race day. It is a strip of paper with my target splits on it, folded around my wrist, and it has saved me from myself more times than I can count.

What it is

Print your goal time as a list of splits, one per mile or kilometre, and you have a pace band. Some show the split for each segment, some show the total elapsed time you should see on the clock as you pass each marker. The elapsed version is the one I prefer, because at mile 18 I cannot do mental arithmetic, but I can read a clock and compare it to my wrist.

Even or negative, and how to choose

When you build a band you usually get a choice of strategy. Here is how I think about it.

• Even splits. Every mile the same. This is the honest default and it is hard to beat. Most personal bests are run close to even.
• Negative splits. Start a touch slower, finish a touch faster. Brilliant if you have the discipline, because it banks energy instead of time. The second half feels strong instead of survival.
• Positive splits. Start faster, fade at the end. Nobody plans this on purpose, but it is worth printing once just to see how much a fast start costs you later.

For a first marathon, I tell people to print a gentle negative split, maybe two percent slower for the first half. It feels almost too easy early, which is exactly the point.

The discipline part

A pace band only works if you obey it when it is boring. The danger zone is the first three miles, when you are fresh, the crowd is buzzing, and the band says slow down. Listen to the band, not your legs. The legs are lying.

I have a simple rule. If I am ahead of my band in the first half, I ease off, every time, no debate. Time banked early in a race is borrowed at a brutal interest rate.

Make one in a minute

Head to the predictor, enter a recent race, pick your goal distance, choose your split strategy, and download the pace band as a PDF. Print it, fold it, wear it. Then trust it when it counts.