4 hour marathon pace chart

If you’re aiming to run a 4 hour marathon pace then you will need to will need to pace your run at around 9:09 minutes per mile or 5:41 minutes per kilometer to finish in at just under 4 hours.

This is a good time for this distance, but not impossible for many runners, although 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-4 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 26.2 mile finish distance.

Pacing in miles

Mile Split
1 00:09:10
2 00:18:19
3 00:27:29
4 00:36:38
5 00:45:48
6 00:54:58
7 01:04:07
8 01:13:17
9 01:22:27
10 01:31:36
11 01:40:46
12 01:49:55
13 01:59:05
13.1 02:00:00
14 02:08:15
15 02:17:24
16 02:26:34
17 02:35:44
18 02:44:53
19 02:54:03
20 03:03:12
21 03:12:22
22 03:21:32
23 03:30:41
24 03:39:51
25 03:49:00
26 03:58:10
26.2 04:00:00

 

Pacing in km

KM Split
1 00:05:41
2 00:11:22
3 00:17:04
4 00:22:45
5 00:28:26
6 00:34:07
7 00:39:49
8 00:45:30
9 00:51:11
10 00:56:52
11 01:02:34
12 01:08:15
13 01:13:56
14 01:19:37
15 01:25:18
16 01:31:00
17 01:36:41
18 01:42:22
19 01:48:03
20 01:53:45
21 01:59:26
21.1 02:00:00
22 02:05:07
23 02:10:48
24 02:16:30
25 02:22:11
26 02:27:52
27 02:33:33
28 02:39:15
29 02:44:56
30 02:50:37
31 02:56:18
32 03:01:59
33 03:07:41
34 03:13:22
35 03:19:03
36 03:24:44
37 03:30:26
38 03:36:07
39 03:41:48
40 03:47:29
41 03:53:11
42 03:58:52
42.2 04:00:00

Is 4 hours a good time for a marathon?

Based on the table below sourced from Asics finishing in under 4 hours would put you in the top 43% of male runners and top 21% of female runners.

 Men  Women
Less than 3 hours  4%  1%
Less than 3 h 30 min  18%  5%
Less than 4 hours  43%  21%
Less than 4 h 30 min  64%  43%
Less than 5 hours  81%  65%
Less than 6 hours  97%  91%

Just completing a marathon is a great achievement and you will be part of the 0.01% of the global population who have finished a marathon this year. What an achievement to celebrate no matter the time it takes.

Ultimately please don’t compare yourself to other runners as your finishing times will vary depending on many factors such as fitness levels, gender, age, your race experience, as well as the type of course.

Training for a 4 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.

As you will be on for feet for a long time during these long runs, building up endurance, both physical and mental, will be key.

Ultimately your long training runs will help you dictate what your estimated finish time will be so check out the pacing charts to see where your half marathon and 20 mile runs aline with a predicted full marathon finish time.

Tips for completing a marathon

Running a marathon is never easy and if you’re aiming for a time like sub 4 hours then you may encounter some mental challenges as you aim to cross that finish line, especially after spending four hours on your feet.

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.

What to eat before a long run

On your long training runs and on your actual marathon you will want to ensure you’re fueled correctly to ensure your glycogen stores are topped up. If you’re not fueled correctly before you head out then you’re asking for trouble and risk ‘hitting the wall’ or ‘bonking’. Read what to eat here.

4 hour marathon pace chart 1

Tips for pacing London Marathon

London Marathon is arguably the biggest marathon in the world and so we’ve put together our tips and advice for it and how on-the-day elements can affect your pacing such as the weather, course elevation, and in the case of the London Marathon the sheer number of people taking part.

Author
Adem Djemil
I only started running at the age of 37, completing the Couch to 5k course, and since then I've been hooked, running 4 times a week and even completing several marathons and an ultra!