Race tactics...

Well good old Lloyd asked me if I posting about what my tactics would be for the race on Sunday, so here goes.

I'm not really 100% what to expect still as it's my first marathon but I think the plan will be as follows. I think I'm going to start out to try and run a 3hr 45min race. The bonus of Canberra is that they have pacers in the race, so this will help a lot. So I think I'll start myself behind the 3hr 45min man. This will mean a 5min 20sec km pace, which I tested out on my last long run. This went OK, but I did drop it down for 5kms during the run as I was suffering from a cold at the time. However all in all it went pretty much on track and I was OK. So I think I'll start off at this rate, and if all is going well at halfway, then I'll push to go at around 5min 10 sec kms.

I've read a couple of postings now where people have said it's much better to start slower and work your way up the field, rather than be the one that's hanging on. However my alternative race strategy is to go out at 5min 10sec kms and see how that goes. The thing is, the first 10kms should feel very comfortable like I'm not putting in any effort at all. So this could be a good option for me, to see how I'm going and if it's feeling comfortable at 10kms, then this is a good pace to stay at. If I manage to maintain this I'll do a 3hr 38min marathon which would be top draw to be honest. So... hmmmmmm what should I do?