Pacer Support Guide · Part 11 of 33
Relative Pace Offsets
Remember one number — your target pace — and apply simple plus or minus offsets. Includes a worked example session for a 4:15 marathon group.
Marcel Lennartz
1 min read
To remove the need to memorise detailed split charts, every segment target is expressed as a relative offset (± seconds per km) from the target overall average pace. Pacers therefore only need to remember one number – their target pace – and apply simple additions or subtractions.
A positive offset means slower than target pace; a negative offset means faster.
Example: Training Session 01, full marathon 4:15 (race pace 6:03 min/km)#
| Segment | Distance (km) | Offset (s/km) | Pace (min/km) | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | +30 | 6:33 | Very slow, controlled warm-up |
| 2 | 3 | +10 | 6:13 | |
| 3 | 3 | 0 | 6:03 | Race pace |
| 4 | 3 | −6 | 5:57 | |
| 5 | 3 | −12 | 5:51 | |
| 6 | 2 | – | ? | No pace given – calculate during the run (see pace corrections) |
| Total | 16 | 0 | 6:03 | Final average must equal target race pace |