Fitness Fatale

Marathon Nutrition for Female Runners

How to Pace and Fuel for a Tune-Up Race (Marathon or Half Marathon)

A tune up race is a great way to practice your fueling, pacing and mindset for an upcoming goal race without as much pressure!

What is a Tune Up Race?

A tune up race is a race that is run during training for a goal race. It is usually a shorter distance race (but not always).

What Distance Should You Run a My Tune Up Race and How Long Before the Race?

Ideally your tune up race will be the next closest distance.

For a marathon, run a half marathon tune up 4-8 weeks out.

For a half marathon, run a 10K before.

For a 10K, run a 5k 2-5 weeks before (or run 2, shorter recovery).

You do not want to run a race any closer than 3 weeks before your goal race as it will compromise your performance in the goal race.

Use a Tune Up Race to Practice Your Fueling for the Longer Race

This is especially important when it comes to marathon training. A half marathon is a great opportunity to test out carb loading, your pre-race dinner, your pre-race breakfast and your fueling DURING the race. That includes hydration and electrolytes too!

Watch this video for more guidance on how to fuel, pace and approach your tune up race.

A few questions about Tune Up Races I answer in this video:

  • What does my tune-up race result mean about my goal race time?
  • Can I predict my marathon time with a half marathon?
  • Should you taper for a tune up race?
  • Should you carb load for a tune up race?
  • Should I race a tune up race all out or run it at my marathon goal pace?

Can I Predict my Marathon Time with a Tune Up Race?

Before you rush to plug in your tune-up race result into a race predictor calculator, remember this: it’s just ONE training run.

A tune up race can provide ONE piece of data and feedback on your training to help you or your coach estimate your ability to achieve your marathon or half marathon goal time. But a tune up race is usually run without a full taper and your training isn’t complete. Plus, if you’re training for a marathon, the workouts are going to look different than training for a 5K or half marathon.

A tune-up race CAN be a PR, but even if its not, it doesn’t mean that you can’t PR your marathon.

You’ve got this!