Edinburgh, United Kingdom · May
Pacing the Edinburgh Marathon
Net downhill, coastal and exposed
Starts in the city and runs out along the coast into East Lothian. Net downhill overall, with a long exposed out and back section where the wind, not the gradient, decides how the day goes.
Official site: dates and entry
Dates, ballots and entry rules change every year and are not listed here. Check the official site.
How to pace it
The net downhill profile gives this course a reputation for fast times, and it earns that reputation in the years when the wind cooperates. In the years it does not, the same course produces some very slow ones.
The coastal out and back is the reason. It is exposed with very little shelter, and it runs away from the city and then comes back along broadly the same line. A tailwind on the outward leg becomes a headwind on the return, over a similar distance, at the point in the race where you are least equipped to deal with it.
This makes a helping wind early into a warning rather than a gift. If the outward leg feels unexpectedly easy and your splits are unexpectedly quick, the most likely explanation is that you will pay for both on the way back. Run that section on effort and let the pace read whatever it reads.
The early descent is free speed in the same way any downhill start is: only if you do not spend it.
Worth knowing
- Treat a helping wind on the outward leg as a warning about the return leg.
- The coastal stretch is exposed with almost no shelter to run behind.
- Net downhill does not mean uniformly downhill. There is still climbing in the profile.
What the common targets ask for
| Finish | Per km | Per mile |
|---|---|---|
| 3:00:00 | 4:16 | 6:52 |
| 3:30:00 | 4:59 | 8:01 |
| 4:00:00 | 5:41 | 9:09 |
| 4:30:00 | 6:24 | 10:18 |