Why You Don’t Need "Race Pace" Training
Endurance races aren't powerlifting meets - stop training like it is
Earlier this year, I signed up for my first road half marathon since getting into endurance sports six years ago.
I’ll be honest… I was shitting my pants.
I knew it would be hard and painful, and I doubted I could perform well.
My stretch goal was to break 1:30. That meant holding 6:52 pace for 13.1 miles.
The problem?
I’d never done that before…
And I hadn’t done much training at that pace.
My long runs were slower. My intervals were faster.
I didn’t have a stack of “race pace” workouts to point to and say…
“Yeah, I can hold 6:52s.”
Could I really sustain that pace without rehearsing it in training?
Turns out… yes.
The Misconception About Race Pace
There’s a misconception I see over and over in endurance sports:
An obsession with training at “race pace” to prepare for competition.
Here’s the truth: race day isn’t about rehearsing pace…
It’s about executing fitness.
The formula that works looks like this:
Most training in Zone 2
Some training in Zone 4/5
Race in Zone 3
This is the Polarized Training approach I prescribe athletes and follow myself.
Notice what’s missing?
Endless “Race Pace” workouts.
The Difference From Strength Competitions
This is where endurance training diverges sharply from strength training.
If you’re peaking for a powerlifting meet, you do spend lots of time near your goal lift.
You progressively build toward your competition attempt with heavy singles, doubles, and triples.
The closer you get to the meet, the more often you handle near-max weight.
But if you try to apply that same strategy to endurance? It backfires.
Why?
You carry too much fatigue - you don’t recover enough for your Z2/endurance work to be quality
You miss out on more fitness - you don’t get the fitness that comes from harder Z4/Z5 threshold and V02 intervals
In endurance, the smarter approach is paradoxical:
Train slower most of the time
Train faster some of the time
Learn to execute in the middle when you compete
You should never expect to go faster in a race than you’ve gone in training
The Wrong Approach
Here’s the flip side - what not to do:
A few years back, I struggled to get an athlete to buy into the Polarized Training approach I outlined above.
His Z2 runs were too hard (living in Z3)
He skipped his Z4/Z5 intervals
He raced once a year
The result?
He blew up on race day, faded toward the finish, then told me he needed “more long runs.”
I did not agree.
I told him he needed better execution in training and more reps in competition.
My Favorite Race-Prep Session
But race pace isn’t useless.
You just need it in the right dose, at the right time.
For a road half marathon or 70.3 prep, my favorite session looks like this:
Long Interval Run (82 minutes):
10 min warm-up
6 × 30/30s (30 sec Z5 / 30 sec Z2)
20 min Z3 tempo
10 min recovery jog
6 × 30/30s
20 min Z3 tempo
10 min cool-down
The goal is for both 20 min Z3 sets to be steady and consistent.
And here’s the magic of this session:
Your pace in these sets will reveal your half marathon race pace.
A Short Case Study
I did an abbreviated version of that workout ahead of my half marathon.
Unexpected travel and family needs had me opt for a more condensed version with:
5x 30/30s instead of 6
10 min Z3 sets instead of 20 min
The result:
I ended up running 6:56 pace in the race.
I knew that I was a little quick on the 10 min sets.
Had these been 20 mins, I would have likely been right at that race pace.
Why this session works:
The 30/30s do three things:
spike lactate levels in your muscles
elevate your HR
add a touch of muscular fatigue
Then, shifting directly into Z3 tempo forces your body to:
clear lactate while holding steady effort
at high heart rate
under fatigue
Your Heart Rate should settle just below threshold, and remain steady through the set.
These are the physical and mental skills you need to runs strong in a race.
But listen…
You don’t need to do this weekly. Or even monthly.
One or two sessions in the final few weeks before race day is enough to dial in the feel of race pace.
The Key Insight
Race pace isn’t the goal of training - it’s the outcome.
Build your engine in Zone 2
Sharpen your edge in Zones 4 and 5
Then, late in the build, touch Zone 3 just enough to know how it feels
That’s the formula that allowed me to run 1:30 without logging endless 6:56 miles in training.
Do the same, and race day won’t be about doubt or guesswork.
It’ll be about showing up fit, sharp, and ready to execute.
Ready to Train Smarter?
If you’re tired of guessing on race day and want to apply this approach inside a structured team environment…
The next Tribal Training 4-Week Cohort starts October 7th.
The cost is $450, but I’ve opened two early-bird slots for $300.
👉 DM me to grab one.
How much does heat need to be accounted for? I just checked my last long run, and 85% of a 9 mile run was in zone 4. This probably means i need to slow it down a bunch, but I wonder if part of the reason my heart rate was high because it was so hot.