Race Strategy for the Athens Marathon

Having looked back at what it took to get this far, it is time to talk about what I am going to do this Sunday—or at least what I am going to try to do.

The Athens Marathon has something that makes it difficult to plan a race strategy or set a target time. That something is THIS:

You look at the profile and think, “surely it cannot be that bad”, or, as some people have told me, “if you reach the top of the climb in good shape, you can make up time on the descent”... sweet summer children. Then you go online to read race reports and discover that bloggers who run Athens fall into three categories.

• Those who set off very conservatively and made up places towards the end, but finished well outside their usual times.
• Those who tried to hold the pace on the climb and blew up before reaching the top.
• Those who climbed at a good pace while trying not to blow up, then ended up crippled by cramps on the downhill kilometres.

Objective 1: Create a fourth category—the runner who set off briskly, climbed well and did not suffer muscular failure on the descent.

As Objective 1 is going to be a tough ask, and I know myself well enough to realise that I fit perfectly into the second category, I am going to set myself another objective: to finish in the top 10% of the race. Why? Basically because, even if things go badly, you can never be quite sure what position you are in, so psychologically it should be easier to keep pushing. If I set myself a specific time, halfway up the climb I know I will lose heart as soon as I see the pace slipping away.

It will be difficult, but since the Athens profile is no place for personal bests, I need to set myself a challenging target (I think I have only managed it in New York) and use it to try to put together a good marathon.

Yesterday I did one of those things that only running geeks tend to do: I picked a few marathons I know, or would like to know, and worked out the time needed to finish in that top-ten-percent bracket.

It is clear that Athens is not a marathon for spectacular times; it is more like the world capital of the marathon meltdown. As long as I stay under that reference time my morale will remain intact. Even if it slips away a little, I can always revive myself by remembering that “the finish is downhill”.

My race tactics are more or less clear, especially for the first half:

• Start to km 10: 4:35/km pace. I think I need to take some advantage of the “friendly” part of the profile and, at the same time, see how that pace feels in a race ahead of the Seville Marathon, where I will need to run the first half at around 4:30/km. In theory I will be in much better shape there, so I will not worry too much if it does not go perfectly here.
• Km 10 to km 31: Since holding 4:35/km will be a pipe dream, my first fallback will be 4:43/km so I can keep dreaming of a personal best :) If that is not possible either, I suppose the sensible thing will be to shelter at 5:00/km for as long as I can, then ride out the storm until I crest the climb at km 31.
• Km 31 to the finish: Have you run marathons? If so, you know that anything I might write here would be a lie.

As for the problem with my tooth, it is easing. I no longer need ibuprofen for the pain, although there is no escaping the antibiotics until next week if I want to clear the infection. I do not know how I will react to the medication during the race, but that is not something I can train for, so I will not even think about it.

There it is in writing. I am heading out for my final five kilometres, then I need to pack before we get on the plane.

Θα σας δούμε στην Αθήνα (or something like that)

Originally published in Spanish on 6 November 2014. Read the original article. English translation prepared on 14 September 2026.