A lot of marathon and half marathon training plans do a great job building a combination of strength, speed, and endurance that are all going to be necessary on race day, but often lack workouts specifically focused on mental preparation and practice. With a race as long as 13 or 26 miles, the mental aspect of racing becomes more and more critical; that’s a lot of opportunity to lose focus. Adding one or more race simulation runs in the latter phase of a training cycle can provide that additional mental and physical practice that will translate to a successful race day performance.

Timing
Plan your race simulation 4 to 6 weeks before a marathon, or 3 weeks before a half. Replace your week ending long run with the race simulation workout. The point is to place the workout at the end of a long week of training, so that you can work through some built-up fatigue during the run. During the race, you’ll be well rested, and so things will feel easier. If you are training for a marathon, you can also add a shortened race simulation just before you begin your taper to lock in your focus (an organized half marathon race is a good option for this).

Distance
The distance should be long, but not too long. For a marathon, the max race simulation should be about 20 miles. Many like to run 26k for a marathon race simulation (I’ve even heard of making little mile markers for each kilometer to practice reacting to race-day stimuli). For a half marathon, 7-8 miles is sufficient. The concept is to run a distance that you know you can handle, but that will take mental and physical focus to finish at a quick pace.

Pacing
The pace must be race pace. This is the critical idea – you are showing yourself that you can run race pace for an extended distance, even when you are feeling a bit of fatigue. There should be moments when you feel like you can’t maintain the pace, but focus will get you through these moments and build the right confidence for race day.

Other Stuff
Everything else should be like race day. If you can get a look at the course profile ahead of time, try to run a similar set of hills. If you know there will be big crowds at the race that will slow down the first mile or so, run the first mile or so at a slower pace but still finish in the right overall time. Wear what you’ll wear on race day, carry what you intend to carry, and take in calories and water (marathoners) on the schedule you plan to use during the actual event. Start the run at the scheduled race start time, following what you plan to eat that day for breakfast, etc. This is a true dress rehearsal, even though it doesn’t happen the night before.

After you get your race simulation run in, make some notes about where you still have opportunities to improve (where did you feel weak, which water/food breaks didn’t feel right, etc.). You’ll be able to spend the last few weeks of training shoring up these little areas so that you’ll be in peak form right at the proper moment, when the starting gun goes off. Also take some time to feel good about this accomplishment, and let that confidence fuel your fire as you get closer to race day – you’ll be ready to go out and set a PR.

Written by Caleb Masland. Caleb Masland is a “serious amateur” runner who believes that ordinary people are capable of reaching their personal goals through smart training and hard work. Caleb has been running for 20 years and shares his training philosophy, which is aimed at maximizing genetic potential and overcoming the typical athletic bonk, at http://bonkproof.com.