If you want to hit a 3 hour marathon pace then you will need to will need to run at around 6:51 minutes per mile or 4:15 minutes per kilometer to dip in at just under 3 hours.
This is a quick time for this distance and you will have put in a lot of hard training to get to that stage so every second will count and can be the difference between getting a sub-3 or not. We’ve included the splits below in both miles and kilometers as we know most runners have a preference even if the race markers will usually be in miles counting up to that magical 26.2mile finish distance.
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Pacing in miles
| Miles | Split |
|---|---|
| 1 | 06:52 |
| 2 | 13:44 |
| 3 | 20:36 |
| 4 | 27:28 |
| 5 | 34:20 |
| 6 | 41:12 |
| 7 | 48:03 |
| 8 | 54:55 |
| 9 | 01:01:47 |
| 10 | 01:08:39 |
| 11 | 01:15:31 |
| 12 | 01:22:23 |
| 13 | 01:29:15 |
| 13.1 | 01:30:00 |
| 14 | 01:36:07 |
| 15 | 01:42:59 |
| 16 | 01:49:51 |
| 17 | 01:56:43 |
| 18 | 02:03:35 |
| 19 | 02:10:26 |
| 20 | 02:17:18 |
| 21 | 02:24:10 |
| 22 | 02:31:02 |
| 23 | 02:37:54 |
| 24 | 02:44:46 |
| 25 | 02:51:38 |
| 26 | 02:58:30 |
| 26.2 | 03:00:00 |
Pacing in km
| KM | Split |
|---|---|
| 1 | 04:16 |
| 2 | 08:32 |
| 3 | 12:48 |
| 4 | 17:04 |
| 5 | 21:20 |
| 6 | 25:36 |
| 7 | 29:52 |
| 8 | 34:08 |
| 9 | 38:24 |
| 10 | 42:40 |
| 11 | 46:55 |
| 12 | 51:11 |
| 13 | 55:27 |
| 14 | 59:43 |
| 15 | 01:03:59 |
| 16 | 01:08:15 |
| 17 | 01:12:31 |
| 18 | 01:16:47 |
| 19 | 01:21:03 |
| 20 | 01:25:19 |
| 21 | 01:29:35 |
| 21.1 | 01:30:00 |
| 22 | 01:33:51 |
| 23 | 01:38:07 |
| 24 | 01:42:23 |
| 25 | 01:46:39 |
| 26 | 01:50:55 |
| 27 | 01:55:11 |
| 28 | 01:59:27 |
| 29 | 02:03:43 |
| 30 | 02:07:59 |
| 31 | 02:12:15 |
| 32 | 02:16:31 |
| 33 | 02:20:46 |
| 34 | 02:25:02 |
| 35 | 02:29:18 |
| 36 | 02:33:34 |
| 37 | 02:37:50 |
| 38 | 02:42:06 |
| 39 | 02:46:22 |
| 40 | 02:50:38 |
| 41 | 02:54:54 |
| 42 | 02:59:10 |
| 42.2 | 03:00:00 |
Training for a 3 hour marathon
You will have to be dedicated and consistent in your training if you want to achieve this time, ensuring you complete your weekly sessions of tempo runs, speed runs and long runs, with the typical marathon training build up of around 12 weeks.
Tips for completing a marathon
Running a marathon is never easy and if you’re aiming for a fast time like sub 3 hours then you may encounter some mental challenges as you aim to cross that finish line.
We’ve written ‘10 tips to help you complete a marathon‘ with advice and tips for the mental challenge of pushing on when your brain is telling you to stop.
